Camelot awarded contract to operate alternative education programs for Lancaster School District

(Lancaster, PA – May 17, 2011)

Moved by the impressive turnaround results Camelot has brought to the Buehrle Alternative Education School, the Lancaster School District today unanimously approved a contract for Camelot Schools LLC to assume management of Phoenix Academy, a school for students with academic and attendance problems.

In addition to the new three-year contract to operate Phoenix, the board also awarded Camelot a three-year contract to continue running Buehrle, which enrolls about 100 students who have been suspended or expelled from their original schools for disciplinary violations. Phoenix will enroll 350 students.

Lancaster School District Superintendant Pedro Rivera has pointed to the excellent job Camelot has done at Buehrle as well as Camelot’s track record of dramatically raising academic standards at the accelerated schools the company operates in Philadelphia as reasons for asking Camelot to take over Phoenix. In addition, Rivera said using Camelot will save the district more than $1 million a year, $3.6 million over the term of the contract.

As a provision of the contracts, Camelot has to meet certain benchmarks. For example, at Phoenix 70% of students who are two or more years behind grade level have to advance by at least two grade levels in 12 months. Seventy-five percent of students who are one year behind have to catch up to grade level in 12 months. And graduation rates at Phoenix must be maintained at about 85% per year.

“The results we have seen after our first year in Lancaster validate the reason for Camelot’s existence, to help students who have lost their way to find themselves again,” said Camelot CEO Todd Bock. “We are grateful for the huge vote of confidence from the Lancaster School District in putting another 350 students’ education in our hands.”

Phoenix Academy students have fared poorly in state standardized tests and have low attendance rates. In addition, a very high number of students drop-out. Those are the realities that led the district to look to Camelot, a national leader in alternative education. Camelot will employ a longer school day than other schools and feature a more structured environment.

Students will begin and end each day in Camelot’s trademark “townhouse” sessions. At these meetings, students and staff discuss school issues and recognize student accomplishments.