Familiar names will run more Philly charters
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Familiar names will run more Philly charters
Kristen Graham
The Philadelphia School District just announced three companies won the right to be considered to run three public schools being given to charters. They're all familiar names - Mastery Charter Schools, Universal Companies and Scholar Academies.
All currently run at least one Renaissance school - that's a low-performing district school given by the district to a charter company.
Mastery runs Harrity, Mann, Smedley, Clymer and Gratz High; Universal runs Bluford, Daroff, E. Vare and Audenried; and Scholar Academies runs Frederick Douglass. All three operators also have freestanding charter schools in the city, as well.
In a release, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said the organizations "meet the district's commitment to select only those with a track record of successfully addressing the urgent needs of our chronically low-performing schools. I look forward to receiving feedback from our School Advisory Councils as we work together to find the best match."
The advisory councils, made up of parents and community members from each of the schools chosen for turnaround, will interview the finalists and make recommendations to the district on which they want to run their school beginning in September. The district, in its fourth year of Renaissance schools, historically endorses the advisory council choice but in a few cases has overruled them.
The School Reform Commission makes the final decision on matching school to turnaround team; that vote is expected in late April or early May.
Eight companies had applied to run the turnaround schools. Of the five unsuccessful bidders, three currently run Renaissance schools - American Paradigm, Mosaica, and String Theory. But two others would have been newcomers. CSMI Academies runs Chester Community Charter School and Creative Minds Partnerships does not currently operate any schools. But its founders, a local songwriter and singer, count Universal co-founder Kenny Gamble among their mentors. On their website, they say their aim is to operate a Renaissance school that focuses on science and technology; the arts; wellness; and parent engagement.
This is a developing story; check back for more information.
My philly income taxes are NOT gong to these schools.— Filly5- Highway robbery. Charter schools are a license to steal.— DarnelX
- Most definitely. As we have already seen, the people behind the companies who run these charters are the most corrupt in the city. There is no evidence suggesting that the charters perform any better than their conventional counterparts. — jverlin
- philadelphia public schools have also been stealing for decades but I guess that's okay. funny darnel, nowhere in your post are you concerned with, you know, edumacation. shill.— dreinterests
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CROOKS.- If there weren't big corporate buck behind all this , it would make no sense.— hmmm
- It's getting near tax time an I don't know WHO these operators are, but the schools are not publicly run SDP schools.. @Tammy if they want to be crooks it's not going to be with my tax dollars.— Filly5
- Transparency? Accountability? Not necessary !— slugo
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
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