Roberto Clemente Charter School is a small, urban, public

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

located in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The school is located at 4th and Walnut Streets in Allentown. It serves students in grades K through 12. As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 626 students, according to

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

data. Approximately 94% of the students then enrolled at Roberto Clemente Charter School were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

. In 2011, Roberto Clemente Charter School applied to the Allentown School Board to broaden its program to include kindergarten through 5th grades. The application was denied by the Allentown School Board 5 against-4 vote. The Charter School's board appealed to the Pennsylvania Charter School Appeal Board, which in August 2013 reversed the Allentown School Board's denial decision, allowing the expansion of the charter school. In March 2014, Roberto Clemente Charter School reached an agreement to purchase a school building on Cedar Street in Allentown. Roberto Clemente Charter School is named for

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. On December ...

, a 12-time

Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual Fielding (baseball), fielding performances. It is awar ...

winner with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

whose

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

career was cut short by his 1972 death in a plane crash. Roberto Clemente Charter School is one of four public charter schools operating in Lehigh County in 2013. According to the

Pennsylvania Department of Education The Pennsylvania Department of Education is the executive department of the state charged with publicly funded preschool, K-12 and adult educational budgeting, management and guidelines. As the state education agency, its activities are direc ...

, in 2012, there were 50,605 children in Lehigh County who were enrolled in public charter schools.Pennsylvania Department of Education, Charter School Enrollment 2012-13, 2013

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control 2000 establishments in Pennsylvania Charter schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 2000 Schools in Allentown, Pennsylvania Public high schools in Pennsylvania Public middle schools in Pennsylvania