MARBLEHEAD - Dozens of students probably will be missing from the Marblehead charter school when it opens next week, a change from years past when about 100 students waited, unsuccessfully, to get into the school.

A report from last week shows total enrollment at 197, short of the school's traditional 230-student maximum. Another five students were on a waiting list for the fifth grade, which had a much larger number of students than the other grades and may add a classroom this year. Nina Cullen-Hamzeh, the school's interim academic director, said two more students enrolled Monday.

Where each grade was traditionally allotted some 46 students, 23 per classroom, the enrollment report shows grades with as few as 32 students, or 16 per class.

Cullen-Hamzeh said the enrollment shortfall won't wreck Marblehead Community Charter Public School financially and could benefit parents and students.

"Which parent would complain about 18 kids (per class)?" Cullen-Hamzeh asked. "As a teacher and a parent, those numbers are fabulous."

Why are so many kids leaving?

One mom, Laura Towey of Salem, said her daughter's first year at the charter school was her last. Towey said she was criticized for asking questions: Whether a teacher who'd given up her pay so she could vote on a new contract for her boss would return as a teacher next year and whether the public school should pay for Head of School Tom Commeret to visit France after a drunken-driving arrest. (Commeret was placed on probation.)

"I thought, 'Hmm, arrested on a DWI, and wants the school to pay for him to go on a wine-tasting tour because he's giving a one-hour speech,'" she said.

Debi Melnick, a former chairwoman of the board of trustees who is studying to become a school administrator, said the school has been paying lip service to the idea of serving students.

"I don't see a lot of focus on the kids. I hear, 'So we'll split the fifth grade so we can have three classes of 20.' But that's because they need the money, not because it's in the best interests of the fifth-graders," she said.

Melnick, who resigned as a trustee in the spring, said the school had had a waiting list for enrollment for at least the last eight years.

The school has had a controversial year, with a majority of the trustees resigning in the spring and its founding head of school, Commeret, placed on administrative leave on an allegation he attacked a student who thought he was drinking alcohol in his office.

Commeret has pleaded not guilty to felony assault with a dangerous weapon and his trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 1.

Despite the troubles, another mom said she supports the school and likes what it has to offer. Suzanne Wright of Swampscott said she has a son starting his third year at the school and a daughter excited to start as a fourth-grader next week.

She said she liked the school from the beginning, when she visited during students' presentations and saw them having confident conversations with adults about their work. Her son was intrigued just inside the doors, when he saw that fourth-grade math students had built bridges from wood.

Wright said the controversies hadn't affected the professional staff and what happened in the classroom. She worries that they could erode the school's future.

"It is a choice for me, so I worry about the school because I like to have the choice," she said.

Cullen-Hamzeh said people are realizing the school still works well for students.

"Proof is in the pudding. As things get calmer and people realize yes, we are moving forward, people will realize the academic program is not only stable but fabulous," she said.

Jack Buba, a trustee who leads the school's finance committee, said even if the school doesn't reach full enrollment, it can fully fund all its programs.

"Because we have sound fiscal management, we have a really big reserve to take us through times like this," he said yesterday. "Obviously, our reserve doesn't last forever. We would organize the school around the available students with no cuts to the program."

If the enrollment shortfall remains, the school would miss hundreds of thousands of dollars from its budget. The charter school receives about $10,000 for each student's "home" district.

Lower enrollment at the charter school - and a trend that has more students coming from farther away - leaves the Marblehead public school system anticipating more students this year. Donald LeClerc, principal of the town's Village School, said he had to add lockers and a cafeteria table to accommodate new students.

"We have a total of - now they're not all from the charter - over 70 new students over last year," LeClerc said yesterday. "It was an eye-opener."

With a lower number of Marblehead students at the charter school, much of its enrollment comes from towns such as Swampscott, Salem and Lynn, as well as farther-away communities including Gloucester, Nahant and Saugus.

Cullen-Hamzeh sees opportunity there.

"We're very excited that we have students coming from a bunch of different communities, which is pretty cool," she said. "It's great when we have a more diverse student body."

Cullen-Hamzeh said the school remains focused on the students. She boasted of expanded counseling opportunities for students and parents.

"It's all about the kids: What do the kids do? What do the kids need? All this hoopla has been about grown-up problems," she said.



Marblehead charter school enrollment

Grade 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Total

Marblehead 18 30 17 9 15 89

Swampscott 9 7 9 3 5 33

Salem 0 8 6 5 9 28

Lynn 5 3 1 9 3 21

Peabody 0 1 1 1 3 6

Beverly 0 0 0 2 0 2

Gloucester 0 1 0 0 0 1

Nahant 7 3 2 1 0 13

Saugus 0 2 0 2 0 4

Upcoming year 39 55* 36 32 35 197

Last year 46 46 47 46 45 230

* Fifth-grade enrollment is 55 with five more on waiting list. School may create three classes for average of 20 students.

Source: Marblehead Community Charter Public School enrollment report of Aug. 17; Massachusetts Department of Education