Allentown schools give Vitalistic Charter School 60-day notice of intention to revoke charter

The widely expected decision follows a five-month investigation that identified numerous financial, educational and operational problems at the Bethlehem school.

The Allentown School Board has formally notified the Vitalistic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley that its charter could be revoked.

The widely expected decision follows a five-month investigation that identified numerous financial, educational and operational problems at the Bethlehem school.

The board voted 9-0 Thursday to inform Vitalistic of the alleged charter violations, giving the school 60 days to provide documentation disputing the district's findings.

If the school fails to make its case, or fails to respond to the district, the school board will vote to revoke its charter, according to district documents.

"We're giving them a chance," board President Robert Smith Jr. said. "We don't want a fight. We're just reacting to the fraud that's happened and the fact that they are not giving students the education they're entitled to."

The board voted without discussion on the matter, which was discussed in detail during a committee meeting earlier in the month. No representatives from Vitalistic publicly spoke.

Vitalistic Principal Ron DeIaco has said he can prove false many of the claims made in the investigation, and he will appeal any future decision to revoke the school's charter.

The school is operating at a $93,000 deficit, has had trouble paying its mortgage, and staff members have worked without pay several times in the past year, according to the school district.

Smith said Vitalistic has used money intended for educational purposes and spent it on such matters as paying electric bills.

"That's fraud," Smith said. "We're going to give them 60 days to get their house in order and if they don't we'll revoke them."

The school has failed to provide the minimum 900 hours of instructional time required, and is falling short in mental health services and special education offerings, according to the district.

DeIaco has acknowledged the district is not "fiscally solvent" but said he is meeting with various organizations to establish a "funding stream" to resolve that issue. He has not identified those groups.

DeIaco also disputes claims many of the educational findings identified in the investigation, and has said updated teacher schedules will prove the school is exceeding the required 900 hours instruction.

Among the other findings from the investigation were that Vitalistic is failing to provide to mental health services as contemplated in its charter application.

Only 6 out of the 117 students receive mental health services at Vitalistic, and the school appears to lack a fully-executed contract for those services, according to the district.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has also cited Vitalistic for 33 violations of special education laws, according to the investigation results.

In its letter to Vitalistic, the school board says only 40 percent of Vitalistic staff are fully certified, although a district official earlier this month said the rest of the staff had gotten certified since the investigation began.

The investigation also found the school was not making required employee retirement contributions, had failed to implement a standards-aligned curriculum system, and that the board of trustees lacked a majority quorum.

Although most of its students come from Allentown, Vitalistic is a joint charter school with both the Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts. Both districts participated in the investigation.

District officials previously said if the Allentown School District revokes the charter, Vitalistic cannot continue to operate with the Bethlehem Area School District alone unless it files paperwork to turn it into a single-charter school.

However, Bethlehem Superintendent Joseph Roy has publicly urged Vitalistic to agree to an orderly closure at the end of the school year rather than going through the expense of appealing the vote to revoke the charter.

Contact Allentown reporter Colin McEvoy at 484-894-2549 or cmcevoy@express-times.com.

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