Mar 22, 2018 2 min read

DONORA – A charter school that wants to locate in the Mon Valley has expressed interest in purchasing the former Donora Elementary Center building.

Prominence Charter School is interested in the property, which was purchased by the borough in 2014. The building had been considered as a possible satellite campus for Allegheny County Community College, but the college recently decided against pursuing that plan. Borough administrator John Bedner said the building costs the borough about $14,000 annually to maintain.

At a special meeting Tuesday, state Rep. Bud Cook, R-West Pike Run, asked council if it had a plan for using the former school. Mayor Jim McDonough said the borough is open to hearing all proposals. Councilwoman Cindy Brice said the board wants to develop a plan that would use the building, rather than leaving it abandoned.

Rich Massafra, president of Prominence Charter School, approached council about its interest in purchasing the property with a target start date of August 2019 for the school. The school would begin with classes for kindergarten through eighth grade and would add a grade in each of the following four years to become a K-12 school.

The school filed an application to Ringgold in 2016 for a charter but was denied, mostly because it hadn’t secured a building. At that time, it was in negotiations to use the former Monongahela Elementary School building.

Massafra said the school plans to submit another charter application by June and needs to secure a building.

“We don’t have a proven track record, but we have a detailed plan,” he said. He added school founders have many years of charter school experience. The school would employ about 30 teachers with two classes per grade.

“Our school is one-on-one learning, small classrooms and competency-based learning,” he said. Massafra said there are plans to remodel DEC and add modular classrooms, as the building is too small for Prominence’s needs.

Board President Jane Ackerman said council needs to look over the packet of information it received and discuss the proposal. In the meantime, council agreed to have a walk-through of the property with members of the proposed charter school.