HARPSWELL

A new public charter school slated to open in September is continuing to enroll students and has less than a month to finalize key aspects of its operation, including its location.

John D’Anieri, head of school for Harpswell Coastal Academy, said he is working on a lease agreement to allow the school to occupy West Harpswell School, which closed in 2011.

The building — once owned and operated by School Administrative District 75 — now belongs to the town.

Harpswell selectmen signed a memorandum of understanding

Monday that lays out the broad parameters of a lease agreement.

Harpswell Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said the town is negotiating a more specific lease of no longer than three years.

Harpswell Coastal Academy has until June 1 — 90 days before the school opens — to finalize a lease, D’Anieri said.

Meanwhile, the charter school has been exchanging contract documents with the Maine Charter School Commission that D’Anieri said puts into legal language what was agreed on when the commission unanimously approved the school’s application Feb. 5.

The contract language “basically says, this is what Harpswell Coastal Academy is, how many kids we’ll enroll, what we expect for academic outcomes,” and is a set of expectations the school will be held to, D’Anieri said.

“One of the nice things about a public charter school is, if we don’t meet targets and educate kids the way we say we will, we can be shut down,” he said.

The charter school had 60 students express intent to enroll in grades 6 and 9, which was the school’s threshold. As of Monday, 49 students had committed to enroll, with more on a waiting list.

D’Anieri said he expected to reach its cap of 60 students “within a week or so.”

About half of the enrolled students will come from within

SAD 75, with as many as 20 from Harpswell; about 20 will come from Brunswick and another 10 from Freeport, Bath and Lisbon. The school will add classes in grades 6 through 12 in future years.

Harpswell Coastal Academy has been approved by the IRS for nonprofit status, D’Anieri said, and has adopted the SAD 75 school calendar, including vacation and snow days and late starts on Wednesdays.

The school is responsible for providing transportation to students in Brunswick and SAD 75, and is in talks with SAD 75 and other school districts regarding the sharing of transportation and specialeducation costs.

The charter school has recently hired one science and one math teacher, D’Anieri said, who will be introduced at an enrollment potluck dinner tonight at West Harpswell School.

The Maine Charter School Commission is scheduled to vote today on a charter school contract for Harpswell Coastal Academy — as well for the Fiddlehead School of Arts and Science and for the Baxter Academy for Technology and Sciences — at 1 p.m. in room 500 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta.

Potluck forum

WHAT: enrolled student and
family potluck
WHEN: 6 p.m. today
WHERE: West Harpswell
School, Ash Point Road