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Gov. calls to nullify charter vote
By Patrick Anderson

Responding to months of community outrage here, Gov. Deval Patrick has asked the state Board of Education to nullify its approval of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School and begin deliberations on the charter again.

"The proposed charter for the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School has caused deep division within the Gloucester community at precisely the time when we need people to come together," Patrick wrote in a letter to state Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester and Board of Education Chairwoman Maura Banta, and received yesterday by the Times. "Because it is essential that the community has utmost confidence in the transparency and integrity of the process, I am writing to ask you to reopen and reconsider your decision."

As of yesterday, neither Chester nor Banta had responded to the letter. Jonathan Considine, a spokesman for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, would say only that "we are taking this matter very seriously" and "will respond in a few days."

The letter calls for a new Board of Education hearing in Gloucester on the merits of the charter school to replace the Nov. 11 meeting at Fuller School which no board member attended, a perceived slight and central bone of contention among locals who said it invalidated the process.

On top of his call for reconsideration, Patrick has also ordered Secretary of Education Paul Reville, his top lieutenant on school matters, to meet with stakeholders in the Gloucester charter debate to try to "get to a point of agreement that will be mutually beneficial to everyone," a spokesman for the Executive Office of Education said yesterday.

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