The Peters Township School Board held a public hearing pertaining to an application filed by the Dogwood Charter School to locate its facilities inside the school district. Beth Opat is the founder of the school and she said that she is searching for an appropriate building to house their kindergarten through eighth grade program. Dogwood had been open earlier this year in a former church school in Bethel Park. Township officials indicated that according to their zoning rules, the building did not conform to building codes designated for schools. Those decisions forced the closure of the school. Opat said that her school is looking to partner with the school district to offer an education based on the Charlotte Mason curriculum approach to education. That approach takes an active engagement process to education as opposed to the passive engagement found in traditional schools. Opat said that the approach is effective for divergent students and students identified with ADHD or ADD. After the presentation, school board members asked pointed questions about the organizational skills of the school. They asked about their successes academically and how they were measured. Questions about academic measures were not able to be answered. Directors seemed concerned about the ability for the school to operate. Several audience members did speak. All of them spoke of the emotional turnarounds their children experienced once they attended Dogwood Charter. The hearing was continued. Another hearing will be scheduled in early 2025 before directors vote on allowing the charter school to locate in the township.