BY ABBY FOX

The possibility of a kindergarten-through- sixth grade charter school being established in the neighborhood has become much more likely, now that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded a parent group in Warwick a $750,660, three-year grant to implement it.

“We need the state to formally approve us to be a charter school in order to receive this money, and we need to secure the Potowomut Elementary School building in the neighborhood from the school committee,” said Jackie Procopio, a vice president of PATH.

“To take advantage of this opportunity and to meet contingency requirements for future funding under the federal grant, PATH must not only gain approval from the Board of Regents, but also must be fully funded in the Governor’s 2009-10 budget with an estimated amount of approximately $742,700.”

For now, though, PATH board members saw the grant as a crucial validation they’ve been waiting for.

“The state under-estimated our efforts from the beginning, being a grassroots application, but we’ve struggled and plugged through every step of the way and this is the ultimate approval,” Procopio said.

 The group is inspired by other people’s enthusiasm, too. “The neighborhood’s very aware that this process is taking place,” she said. “I have gotten positive feedback from people; they’re excited to know something might really happen.”

The grant “makes us a viable organization,” said President Laura Wilkinson. “I think people are very excited.”

The award includes a first-year budget of $369,643 for planning and program design, refinement of desired educational results, and professional development of teachers and staff.

If the school receives approval from the state’s Board of Education and Board of Regents, more funding is dependent on future Congressional budgets and federal approval, the press release stated. Plus, “the R.I. Office of the Auditor General must certify that it has approved the financial stability of PATH’s sponsor, The Warwick Museum of Art, in addition to approval of the financial plan for the school.”

The school’s mission is “to offer an elementary school experience, hallmarked by excellence in humanities and technology education, school self-governance and family engagement,” according to a press release. The PATH school capacity is 180, or 20 students per classroom. PATH planners would like to move away from the school committee model and have the school’s authority be a Board of Directors, made up of parents, teachers and community members and an   executive director.

The school would have a “multi-disciplinary program,” Procopio said, where teachers would explore “all the different ways that students learn,” and “create partnerships” with other schools in the state.

Wilkinson said a charter school presents “the ability to govern yourself,” and to “take ownership of the school, the process and the curriculum. We would be our own school district and the teachers would not necessarily be part of a union. We would have more flexibility to negotiate a teacher contract.”

Joe Gleason, a vice president of PATH, said it would put “a well-rounded education for the children in our hands. We’re not going to have to go toe-to-toe with a union. We’ll be in control of our own destiny.”

Parents need to have a say in their children’s day-to-day education, Gleason said, and “you don’t have that in today’s educational process.”

Whether it’s holding classes six days a week or opening the school from 8 in the morning until 5 at night, he said, “as long as we meet the scores, we have an ability to run the facility the way we want.”

Gleason said, “We’re really going to be pressing our legislators to help us get funded. If we don’t get funded, we lose the grant, and to lose that type of money would be a travesty.”

Wilkinson said, “We’re pushing as hard as we can through the political circles but who knows in these economic times what will come of that.”

She sees hope in that the charter school would fill the need left by the closing of Potowomut School last year;  it’s not as though they’re establishing a new school from scratch.

“We want to keep in the neighborhood a high performing elementary school,” she said. “People are very supportive of it. And it’s not just a Warwick school; we can accept students from anywhere in the state. We assume we would draw from Kent County but anyone can certainly apply.”

Getting federal money for a school before the state has given approval is highly unusual -- and PATH knows it.

“Usually you get approved and you get your funding; we’ve got funding and haven’t been approved yet,” Gleason said. “I’m hoping we can circumvent the process a little bit.”

On the local level at least, “We’re getting a lot of support with the school committee members in Warwick,” he said.