Agora Cyber Charter names new CEO

After a troubled 2015-16 academic year, the Agora Cyber Charter School in King of Prussia has a new CEO.

The Agora board Monday named Michael Conti, the former head of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter, to lead the school, which provides online instruction to 6,000 K-12 students across the state.

Conti had been Agora's interim CEO since early August. The board voted Monday to make the appointment permanent.

After serving for four years as CEO at Pennsylvania Cyber in Midland, Beaver County, Conti stepped down in July to take the helm at Agora.

"It was just time to take on a new challenge," Conti, 58, said in an interview Tuesday.

He said he was attracted by the chance to work at Agora while it is in a rebuilding period.

Agora experienced difficulties over the last year, including the rapid turnover of top administrators and financial problems that caused the school to eliminate 139 positions in February.

"For me, it's a wonderful opportunity to put things I have learned over the past 17 years in cyber education to work here," Conti said.

He replaces Chad Antonio, who was named Agora's top administrator earlier this year.

Marilyn Maggio, president of Agora's board, described Conti as "the missing piece to the puzzle we've been trying to solve for the past several months."

She said in a statement: "He possesses an impressive amount of cyber school experience, demonstrates a passion for cyber education, and has already successfully led a school through a transitional period."

Conti was promoted to CEO of Pennsylvania Cyber in June 2012 after Nicholas Trombetta - that school's founder and former CEO - left.

Last month, Trombetta pleaded guilty to a federal charge of tax conspiracy in connection with a scheme to siphon $8 million from the cyber he had founded.

Agora board chair Maggio said Conti's acceptance of the top post at her school meant "we can strengthen our vision and focus to the overall improvement of Agora."

Agora had blamed the financial woes it experienced last year on the nearly nine-month impasse over the state budget.

Conti said Agora's finances had stabilized and improved since then.

"We are in very good fiscal shape at the moment," he said. "I think we're in a very good position to rebuild and grow."

During 2015-16, the state Department of Education also repeatedly pressed Agora to provide information about attendance, test scores, and financial data to address concerns about the school's operations.

A spokeswoman for the department said Tuesday that Agora had complied with the requests.

"The department's consideration of those documents, as well as its examination of Agora, is ongoing," said spokeswoman Nicole Reigelman.

Agora has been seeking a renewal of its operating agreement from the department since October 2014.

martha.woodall@phillynews.com 215-854-2789 @marwooda