The payment to Dorothy June Brown’s firm settles four lawsuits involving Agora Cyber Charter, an Internet-based school that has 5,500 students throughout the state. Agora is one of at least six Philadelphia-area charters whose finances and operations are under federal scrutiny.

Under the terms of the settlement, obtained by The Inquirer under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law, the state agreed to pay Brown $1.7 million. The rest came from the for-profit company that ran the school, K12 Pennsylvania L.L.C. In addition, taxpayers will cover more than $700,000 in legal fees.

The settlement severs all ties linking Brown and her company, Cynwyd Group L.L.C., to the charter she founded in 2005. The Education Department also agreed to halt a revocation of Agora’s operating charter, and the school itself is now governed by a new board.

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Cyber school founder gets $3 million to cut ties by Martha Woodall

From Inquirer.com

IU1 Executive Director Charles Mahoney said the idea was brought to him this spring by Ringgold School District Superintendent Gary Hamilton.

Hamilton, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, suggested to Mahoney that the IU create the cyber school as a way to save districts money.

Currently, public schools must pay tuition for students who attend cyber schools – bills that add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for districts.

In addition to saving districts money, an IU cyber school would give them more control over what students in cyber schools are learning, Mahoney said.

He said between 15 and 18 representatives from districts in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties sit on the committee to come up with a plan of how the cyber school will work. It has met once and will meet again this month.

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IU may create cyber school by Dawn Goodman

From Observer-Reporter.com

The old United Steelworkers of America Local 1212 hall on Midland Avenue had been offered to the nonprofit Beaver County Industrial Museum as a site for its planned exhibit dedicated to the county’s historical steel and glass industries.

However, PA Cyber’s Chief Executive Officer Nick Trombetta said the state Department of Education recently notified the school that it qualified for about $2 million in stimulus funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The money, he said, has to be spent on renovating existing buildings for instructional purposes.

Trombetta said the decision to use the union hall as instruction space was based on two factors: PA Cyber’s need for additional office space and the museum’s need for building renovations. He said the idea is to use the money for both purposes.

PA Cyber, which is now using the hall as warehouse space, will spend about $1 million on renovations, following a plan outlined by the museum’s architectural firm, Hayes Large, which has offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

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PA Cyber’s fix-up of union hall sounds good to museum group, too by Bob Bauder

From Beaver County Times

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Blendedschools.net is an online K-12 curriculum based on Pennsylvania educational standards, with more than 150 member districts statewide.

During an earlier presentation, Blendedschools regional representative Jon Rednak said member districts have used the program in a variety of ways, including creating their own cyber school, professional development, alternate and gifted education, and summer school and credit recovery.

The program also offers several language courses uncommon to high schools, including Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.

District administration officials say entering the Blendedschools.net program will save the district money.

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Blendedschools.net lets students earn a Dover diploma by Andrew Rusonis

From The York Dispatch