Charter School Representation

Kleinbard serves as outside counsel to numerous Charter Schools throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Our attorneys advise schools in all aspects related to the operation of a charter school, including: initial charter applications; 501(C)(3) tax-exempt registrations; attendance at expulsion and disciplinary hearings; drafting Board policies, Codes of Conduct and Employee Manuals; conducting Board trainings; charter renewal process; purchase and leasing of real estate, including handling zoning matters in connection with obtaining use permits to operate as a school; real estate construction and improvement projects; management company contracts; financing options; advising on employment matters, including handling claims filed with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission; and relations with the School District of Philadelphia.

Examples of our attorneys' recent successes in representing charter schools include:

• successfully representing a Philadelphia charter school in a hearing before the School Reform Commission challenging the School District's decision not to renew its charter. The hearing resulted in the School Reform Commission granting the school a full 5 year charter renewal. This was the first successful challenge of the non-renewal of a charter in Philadelphia
  
  
• successfully representing Boys Latin of Philadelphia, the first all-boys charter school in Pennsylvania, in obtaining a charter from the Philadelphia School Reform Commission in face of opposition from several law groups who had opposed the proposed school on the grounds that a single-sex charter school would violate the state and U.S. Constitutions.
  
  
• representing a charter school in the acquisition of a building and completion of a $8,000,000 construction project, which included successfully obtaining zoning variances, negotiation of agreements with a construction manager, architect and several subcontractors.