Young Scholars Charter School Plans to Add Students

The school's officials are applying for a revision of its conditional building use in Baldwin Township so as to increase enrollment.

Officials from the Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School are having no trouble finding students. In fact, children are on a waiting list to gain admission to the public school found on Newport Drive in Baldwin Township. But whether or not the school's building will legally be able to hold all of those kids is another matter. On Tuesday night, Young Scholars President Dr. Melih Demirkan and CEO Alpaslan Ozdogan appeared before the Baldwin Township Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners to officially apply for a revision of the school's conditional use application in the township. Demirkan said that officials at Young Scholars, which has a current enrollment of just fewer than 180 students, want to add 40 more …

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Young Scholars Officials Say That B-W's Refugee Population Was Targeted

Stance is different than that from a couple of months ago.

Founders of the Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School, which will open in Baldwin Township this coming fall, said that they chose to open their public charter school in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District because of its large refugee population, according to a May 26 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article. The Post-Gazette reports that Young Scholars' representatives specifically called out Whitehall Borough, which has the highest refugee population in Western Pennsylvania. The B-W School District is currently considering a 2011-12 budget that sets aside $300,000 to cover projected increase in charter school tuition as a result of losing enrollment to Young Scholars. B-W Superintendent Dr. Lawrence C. Korchnak reported that, as …

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Young Scholars Responds to Patch Readers' Concerns Over Mailings

Also, the school's board of directors is revealed at an open-house session.

Mailings When some readers of the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch began receiving mailed application materials from the Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School, a tuition-free public charter school that is set to open in Baldwin Township this coming fall, many other readers were asking, "Where are mine?" Young Scholars, as a public school, cannot set criteria for whom it recruits to enroll other than trying to find interested residents of the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. Still, before the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch published an April 13 article about Young Scholars' mailings, several readers sent the B-W Patch news tips claiming that mailings from Young Scholars to their homes over the previous few weeks may have shown a bias …

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Daily PatchCast: Gym Lease Ends, Charter School Concerns & Book Battle

A roundup of the region's top stories for Friday, April 15.

Here are today's top stories from Patch sites in your region: East End Fitness Lease Ends, Owner Looks for New Space Residents Concerned Over Charter School's Mailings Gymsport Gymnasts Place at State Competition Keystone Oaks Students Come Out on Top in Book Battle Movies to Get You in the Earth Day Mood (Video rundown of those stories to the right of this page.)

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Residents Concerned Over Charter School's Mailings

Several readers are reporting a potential bias in Young Scholars' applications process.

"There is (sic) no criteria. We cannot do that, because this is a public school." Those were the words of Melih Demirkan, a Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School board member, when he spoke during meetings of the Baldwin Township Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners on March 28. "(Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania) will be for primarily Baldwin-Whitehall students,” Demirkan also said in March, noting that the tuition-free public charter school would only enroll students from outside of the Baldwin-Whitehall School District if it could not fill its classrooms with exclusively B-W students. He also said that, other than a student being a Baldwin-Whitehall resident, students would not be given preference for …

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Daily PatchCast: Charter School Approved, 54th Straight Pirates Opener & Fashion Show

A roundup of the region's top stories for Thursday, April 7.

Here are today's top stories from Patch sites in your region: Young Scholars Charter School Approved, on its Way to Baldwin Township Meet New High School Principal Lori Pavlik Regent Square's John Wray Heads to 54th Straight Pirates Opener Fashion Show Benefits Bridgeville Library Three Upper St. Clair Boy Scouts Advance to Eagle (Video rundown of those stories to the right of this page.)

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Young Scholars Charter School Approved, on its Way to Baldwin Township

The Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners says that the school fits the township's zoning code.

"The issue we have before us tonight is a zoning issue only, and as long as they meet the zoning requirements, regardless of how we feel or whatever other information there may be, that's irrelevant." Those were the words of Nick Pellegrino, a Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners member, before Pellegrino joined his fellow board members in voting, 4-0, on Tuesday night in favor of approving the Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School's application to open a tuition-free public charter school in the township. The township's board is made up of five members, but board member Bob Downey was absent on Tuesday. "Personally, I've looked into it," Pellegrino said, "and I'll reserve my personal opinion. It's a zoning issue tonight…

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Sound Off

Sound Off: How Should the Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners Vote on Young Scholars on April 5?

Tuesday's township meeting will determine the future of the Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School.

Representatives from both Newport Drive Properties and the Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School appeared in front of both the Baldwin Township Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners on March 28 to formally co-apply for "Conditional Use Approval" of township space to open a public charter school. After reviewing application materials and interviewing the applicants, the Baldwin Township Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the township's Board of Commissioners grant the approval. The Board of Commissioners also reviewed the application materials and interviewed the applicants on March 28 but will not decide the applicants' fate until it meets again at the Baldwin Township municipal building on Tuesday, …

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Daily PatchCast: Charter School Recommendation, Stink Bugs & Fish Fry Battle

A roundup of the region's top stories for Wednesday, March 30.

Here's a look at the top stories from Patch sites in your region: Young Scholars Charter School Discussed Heavily at Baldwin Township Meetings Monday Night Carlynton Asks Keystone Oaks About Merging Carlynton Seeking to Merge with Area Districts Mommy, the Stinkbug Scissor Ninja Moms Talk: Abercrombie's Kiddie Push-Up Bikini Battle of the Fish Fry (Video rundown of those stories to the right of this page.)

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Young Scholars Charter School Discussed Heavily at Baldwin Township Meetings Monday Night

The Baldwin Township Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the school by the township’s Board of Commissioners. The township will officially decide on April 5.

“Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School will be the first multilingual and multicultural elementary school in the greater Pittsburgh area,” said Kim Gales-Dunn of J.R. Gales & Associates, Inc., “with a unique and proactive alternative to traditional public education. “It provides an ideal, dynamic, global-learning environment for the intellectual and social development of its students.” Gales-Dunn, who works for the civil-engineering company hired by Young Scholars to submit a “Conditional Use Approval” application to open a public charter school in Baldwin Township, began the interview portion of Monday night’s Baldwin Township Planning Commission meeting with those statements. She stuck to those guns all night, as did …

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