Seated (l to r) Robin Baney, Dr. Sal Raspa and Edmund O’Meally sign the charter as school board members and staff look on.
Leonardtown, MD — The St. Mary’s County Board of Education has formally extended the charter of the Chesapeake Public Charter School for another five years. That is the second five-year extension for the K-8 school located on Great Mills Road.
At the board’s Wednesday, September 10 regular meeting the contract was signed by Board of Education President Dr. Sal Raspa, board attorney Edmond O’Meally and Robin Baney, chairperson of the Chesapeake Charter School Alliance, the school’s governing body.
The signing comes two weeks after the board was given an update by Education Director Angela Funya on the school’s performance and the efforts to correct the situation in which they lost their non-profit status. See Bay Net story on that presentation: /news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/38895
The signing of the charter extension was “very symbolic” according to School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano, who was attending his last meeting before moving on to become Superintendent of Schools for the state of West Virginia. Martirano noted that his first task as new superintendent 10 years ago was getting the school’s first charter signed.
Martirano said the charter school is just one of the system’s many accomplishments since then in creating alternate opportunities for students, under the theory that “one size doesn’t fit all.”
Chesapeake Public Charter School is the only charter school in Southern Maryland. Board member Mary Washington noted the school had a 200-student waiting list for admission. “We are now a model for the state of Maryland,” Washington said.