As Lionheart Classical Academy in Peterborough moves through its second-ever week of operations, some of its students are riding buses with ConVal students.
Students in several Monadnock region communities attending the public charter school are allowed to board ConVal School District buses at existing stops on its bus network in Peterborough and Sharon, ConVal Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders stated in a recent news release.
Lionheart is a newly opened charter school in Peterborough affiliated with Hillsdale College, a private, conservative non-denominational Christian college in Michigan. The school at 10 Sharon Road saw its first day of classes Aug. 31 with about 195 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to Hancock resident Barry Tanner, chairman of the Lionheart Board of Trustees.
Charter schools are public, tuition-free institutions that offer an alternative to traditional public schools and are run by an independent board of trustees, according to the New Hampshire Department of Education. They are issued a charter for five years that includes a mission statement, student goals and objectives and an educational program.
Charter schools are funded through a mix of private donations and state relief, with public charter schools in New Hampshire spending $9,473 per student during the 2019 fiscal year versus $19,720 by traditional public schools, according to the state Department of Education.
While affiliated with Hillsdale College, whose president, Larry P. Arnn, previously chaired then-President Donald Trump’s 1776 Commission, Lionheart officials have said the school will have a non-religious, apolitical curriculum. Tanner previously said the school’s “… limited affiliation with Hillsdale” didn’t draw major concerns from the state Education Department.
The school is independent of the ConVal School District, but Tanner stated in an email that the two have a “… cooperative relationship and share a mutual goal of providing the best possible education to students who attend.”
ConVal’s bus network will take on students from all nine member towns of the ConVal School District, Rizzo Saunders stated in the news release: Antrim, Bennington, Dublin, Greenfield, Francestown, Hancock, Peterborough, Sharon and Temple.
“We are pleased to welcome Lionheart Academy to the greater ConVal community this fall, and are committed to fulfilling our statutory obligations in support of students who will be attending,” she stated.
Rizzo Saunders said Tuesday that these obligations mean ConVal is only responsible under state law concerning public charter schools for providing transportation to Lionheart students in the area of Peterborough Elementary School. But in addition to this, ConVal is allowing Lionheart parents in other ConVal district communities to designate their child’s area as Peterborough Elementary so they can be picked up by Peterborough and Sharon buses.
Tanner said Lionheart has had conversations with ConVal about transportation that have focused on students who have disabilities and Individualized Education Programs. IEPs are plans developed to bolster education results for children with disabilities, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
It was in those discussions that ConVal determined Peterborough to be Lionheart’s home district, which defines its statutory obligations, Tanner said.
Lionheart doesn’t have any of its own buses, Tanner said, but he added that the school is exploring buying buses as a future possibility and determining how much funding going forward would be needed for the school’s annual budget. Its first-year budget is about $1.5 million, he said.
ConVal has 32 routes that drive about 3,200 miles a day, according to Rizzo Saunders. She said it costs about $63,000 to add a route, so the district is not expanding its services to create more.
“This accommodation … is a step we believe will ultimately support students and families in the broader ConVal community,” she stated.
Tim Nail can be reached at 603-352-1234, Ext. 1436, or tnail@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @timmnail. These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.