On September 1, 2010, founding board members of Mountain Maryland Public Charter School submitted a proposal for Allegany County’s first public charter school. The proposal was received at the Board of Education building by Sheree Witt, Director of Pupil Services and the Charter School Liaison for Allegany County Public Schools.  The 362-page document has been under development since September of 2009.

Public charter schools are tuition-free public schools open to all students. According to the Maryland Charter School Network website, charter schools are created by community members and have greater independence in exchange for high accountability for student outcomes.

Maryland passed its first charter school law in 2003. Since then, 42 public charter school have opened throughout Maryland.  Mountain Maryland Public Charter School will be the first public charter school in western Maryland.

Charter school teachers are required to be certified by the Maryland State Department of Education.  Charter schools must also meet the learning standards set by the state.

Over the past year, the group has conducted community-wide surveys to gather input from parents with school-aged children and researched charter school programs to develop their proposal.

Veronica Mingolelli, Chair of the Mountain Maryland P.C.S. Board reports, “We have met with a great deal of enthusiasm.  People are really excited about having more options for their children within Allegany County’s strong public education system.”

The school's educational program will be driven by a project learning approach with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning and arts integrated into the curriculum.

Mountain Maryland Public Charter School aims to open in September 2011. The school will serve grades K-4 its first year and each year add a grade until 2015 when it serves grades K-8.

Mountain Maryland Public Charter School will be located in Cumberland and is open to Allegany County residents. Information and registration events will be held throughout the Fall of 2010.

Information about Mountain Maryland Public Charter School’s educational program and founders is available at www.mountainmarylandpcs.org.