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Firm News

B&L’s David Heim Successfully Negotiates Five-Year Renewed Charter for Community Academy Charter School

As previously reported, on April 28, 2015, after years of legal battles in multiple courts and administrative agencies, B&L’s David Heim procured a legal victory for B&L’s client, Community Academy Charter School, when the State Charter Appeal Board reversed the 2011 and 2013 decisions by Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission to nonrenew and revoke the School’s Charter. Reversing the School Reform Commission’s decisions, however, was not the end of the journey as there were still significant issues left open, including the start date of the new charter, the number of years the new charter would last, and many other issues over specific provisions. After months of negotiations, David successfully negotiated all of these issues and procured a five-year renewed charter for Community Academy, which was unanimously approved by the School Reform Commission at its November 19, 2015 public meeting. The Community Academy Board of Trustees also voted to approve the five-year charter during its recent public meeting, wherein Community Academy’s CEO included the following in the formal Meeting Minutes:

“Mr. Proietta stated that the negotiations took four months and several back and forths over details of almost every paragraph and specifics of language. He wished tothank the law firm of Bochetto and Lentz PC and particularly David Heim, Esq., who represented CAP before Court of Common Pleas, Commonwealth Court, and theCharter Appeal Board to successfully right the wrong that was done to CAP by the former members of the SRC.”

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