Members of the Lancaster community excoriated a proposal for a sports-infused charter school during a hearing with the School District of Lancaster school board Tuesday night.

Brian Ombiji, founder of the professional soccer club AFC Lancaster Lions, looked on as Lancaster residents, one after another, walked up to the microphone at McCaskey East High School and picked apart his 100-plus-page charter school application.

The proposed school, called the AFCLL Academy Charter School, would serve students in grades five through eight and focus on educating children through sports, particularly soccer. Its plan is to serve about 100 students starting in August 2021, with the hopes of doubling enrollment in five years.

“In my opinion, charter schools are detrimental to communities,” Susan Knoll said.

“If anything, it seems this institution will only exacerbate inequality by taking away tax dollars from our SDoL students,” Laura Shelton said.

Other commenters included representatives from La Academia Partnership Charter School, the lone brick-and-mortar charter school in Lancaster city, and the Lancaster NAACP.

La Academia Principal Tommy Henley cited issues with the school’s curriculum and instructional models, its seemingly narrow focus on sports, and its seeming failure to fill a need in the community.

While he admires Ombiji’s “grittiness and relentlessness,” Henley said, “they aren’t closing a gap that the district or the only charter school in the district isn’t closing.”

The Rev. Al Williams, speaking on behalf of the Lancaster NAACP, said the group is not convinced the proposed charter school would provide a fair and equitable educational option for students in the city, which, historically, require more services such as English as a second language programming.

The public comments followed a lengthy question-and-answer session between Ombiji and School District of Lancaster solicitor Howard Kelin.

Kelin pressed the 38-year-old former professional soccer player from Kenya on topics from the school’s finances and location to its mission and level of community support.

The proposed charter school has not collected any letters of support from community organizations and has not pre-enrolled any students. Its budget outlook shows a nearly $5 million deficit in five years. It doesn’t yet have written agreements as to where the school will be located or where the students will play soccer.

The conversation got heated at some points, particularly when Kelin asked about the process by which the school would enroll students. There was a question of whether the school would hold tryouts. Ombiji, however, dismissed that.

“I think we are reading different English, my friend,” Ombiji said.

Ombiji didn’t have many clear answers for the financial questions. A representative from Charter Choices, a consulting firm that would manage the school’s finances, did not attend.

As to where the school would be located, Ombiji said he’s discussed sharing the nonprofit Attollo’s facility on West King Street. That, however, would only fit about 50 students, Ombiji said. Currently, the AFC Lancaster Lions play soccer at Roberto Clemente Field in Lancaster, Ombiji said, so they would likely use that for the school’s athletic programs.

In the end, Kelin didn’t seem satisfied with Ombiji’s answers.

“Why not just have an independent soccer club?” he said. “It almost sounds like this is a soccer club in search of a charter school as opposed to a charter school itself.”

Ombiji started the meeting by suggesting the proposed charter school and the school district could collaborate to improve educational opportunities for students in the city.

“We coach the children in the city. We know they’re motivated,” he said. “We know they want to go and play (soccer) in college.”

Ombiji wasn’t alone. Other members of the proposed charter school’s founding coalition also spoke in favor of the school.

Dean Kline, senior managing director of an education ecosystem at the University of Southern California called Rossier EdVentures, said the school will build a strong team of educators to determine the direction of the school.

While neither he nor Ombiji are educators in the traditional sense, Kline praised Ombiji for his passion for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, his high expectations for students and relentlessness, “which you’ll get to realize.”

The Lancaster school board is expected to have another hearing, where board members will get to weigh in, on Sept. 29. The board is expected to vote on the application on Oct. 20.