Catasauqua Area School Board heard more testimony in a special meeting Monday from parents and students in favor of a medical charter school proposed in the district.

About 20 people attended the continued hearing, which began in December. Craig Haytmanek, an ear, nose and throat doctor from the Bethlehem area, proposes opening Medical Academy Charter School in September to serve 100 ninth-graders and 100-tenth graders, with plans to eventually expand through Grade 12.

So far, school organizers have 120 students interested in attending the charter school proposed at 330 Howertown Road in the borough at the former Catasauqua Area Middle School now owned by developer Abe Atiyeh. The school board must approve the charter for the school to open in the district.

Mita Desai, a Bethlehem Area School District parent, urged school directors to approve the charter school, saying the program will help better prepare students for medical training.

Joe Konrath, an Allentown School District parent, said his daughter Megan, an eighth grader, was saved from leukemia by local doctors and now wants to help others by pursuing a medical career.

"We feel this is the best option for Megan to reach her goals," Konrath said.

Steve Frey, who lives near Walnutport and worked in health care for 50 years, is a strong proponent of the school.

"I can only imagine what open doors await my children and the students of the Medical Academy," Frey said.

Officials have said the school would lease the building from Atiyeh for roughly $235,000 for the 2012-13 school year, a figure that would climb to $500,000 by 2016. Organizers said that's because the school would use only 19,000 square feet the first year and 40,000 in 2016.

Howard Kurtz of Synergy Educational Consultants, who is working with school organizers, said officials have submitted a proposed budget to the school board for consideration as well as responses to the board's curriculum and support concerns. Organizers have also worked to solicit health care facilities to partner with the proposed school.

"We've really gotten a lot of institutions interested in our endeavor," Haytmanek said.

Haytmanek said his alma mater, Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, has agreed to accept students from the school. Agreements are also in the works with Penn State, St. Luke's Health System, Alzheimer's Association, Miller Memorial Blood Center, a veterinary clinic and others.

"A week doesn't go by where more people aren't coming on board," Kurtz said. "What we're proposing is a much more concentrated yet intimate program."

The school's goal is to provide students with education and training so they can gain direct-entry positions in the medical field, such as nurse's aide jobs, or be prepared to enter two- and four-year medical programs at colleges and universities.

"I think this will be a feather in the cap of the Catasauqua Area School District," Haytmanek said.

There were no comments offered in opposition of the charter. School directors plan to vote on the application at the regular board meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 13.

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Catasauqua school board hears more of plans for medical charter school