SRC livetweets: Charter closures and more
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
SRC livetweets: Charter closures and more
Kristen Graham
Hello! With so much up in the air for the Philadelphia School District, every School Reform Commission meeting is a big one. Tonight's meeting, scheduled to begin at 5:30, is no different.
The two biggest items on the agenda are Renaissance school approvals and charter closures.
Renaissance schools: the SRC will vote on whether to give four struggling district-run schools to charter organizations. The four - Creighton, Cleveland, H.R. Edmunds and Jones - will likely be matched with Universal, Mastery, String Theory and American Paradigm, respectively, if the SRC adopts recommendations made by its staff.
But some people aren't happy about the decision to turn these schools into charters, continuing the district's strategy of handing over low-performing schools to outside organizations. Some members of the Creighton, Edmunds and Cleveland communities have said the district failed to give them adequate resources to improve and is now giving up on them. They also suggest their selection for the Renaissance program was politically motivated.
Thomas Darden, the district official in charge of the Renaissance program, said that was not the case, that politics played no part in the decision.
"That's just completely false," Darden said. "Internally to the district, we went through an exhaustive analysis to name these schools Renaissance schools."
The SRC will also vote on recommendations to close three troubled charters - Arise Academy, Hope Charter and Truebright Charter. Supporters of each say they are turning around and should not be closed.
Expect a packed house and a long meeting - almost 50 people have signed up to speak. Follow along with me here! If you're on a mobile device, click here to follow along.
Shouldn't Universal pay the bill for the first school building they're squatting in before the District gives them another?— stevestevestevesteve- How about we have a 7 year moratorium on charter schools until full accounting of the books are provided.— solobrutha
- How about we get rid of charter schools altogether and stop lining the pockets of political donors with funds intended for public education?— F. Harry Stowe
- this live video i'm watching is such a joke.
"we can't visit every school" - yes you can.
SRC failed. fire them. not everyone else.
when you keep taking funds and teachers away from schools, then overcrowding the classrooms and not letting schools deal with discipline the right way, then you've just forced them into struggle and possibly failure.
30 elementary kids should not be in the same urban classroom. that's proof that the SRC and PSD do not care about the schools or the kids.
college kids can handle this, not little kids.
smaller class size and send the bad kids AND PARENTS to reform schools to get their act together.— theupsetteacher - Amazing. They are voting on closing three charters because they are abysmal failures but will then turn over four district run schools to charters.— mick-of-the-moment
- there are many high perfoming charters in phila. Do you all realize that the charters do not recieve the same per pupil allotment as the school district. The state funds the district...the district skims off approx 25 to 30% the balance goes to the charter. Charters do better in many cases for less $$$. Sure some dont measure up but then many public schools dont measure up either— Philly Truth
- @Phillytruth--The Philly charter system is a disgrace. In many cases they are much worse than the neighborhood schools. Their successes are far outweighed by theft, scandal, jail terms for administrators and abysmal student performance. I have yet to read about Philly principals going to jail for stealing money intended for children at the same rate as I see with the charters. Where you get this 25-30% "skimming" I have no idea; just more charter propaganda.— mick-of-the-moment
- And for every charter school opened that is money the doesn't go to the public schools!— phillymom1967
- wtf are you talking about F harry stowe...? you must be joking, right? are you really going down that road of associating education with politics? let me guess... your a card carrying lib right... some poker face you have mate. how do our public schools rank world wide? but no, no just keep things the way they are. you union pigs sicken me. scum of the earth parasites. how much more funding do the public schools need.... how much more taxpayer money can you idiots waste?— FBO4ever
- Charter schools are nothing more than for proffit management companies taking money out of public education, they can only provide safer schools because they are overloaded with administrators so there are more adults to discipline students who misbehave, in district schools there are typically and principal and a vice principal if their budget permits, in a typial charter there are a principal and 3 or 4 vice principals. There is no equity here.— BRIT
- if you want to talk about overloaded administration look at the phila school district.
Charter schools are not yet perfect but offer an alternative that is producing students equivalent or better than the district at a hell of a lot less money. Charters actually save taxpayers dollars.— Philly Truth - You do understand that the district has to pay the charters right? You also realize that charters charge a mint, right? So how is it saving tax payer money? — Shehateme
- I repeatedly express in past posts that accountability and perfection are not synonymous. The fact that a few have been found guilty of inappropriate behavior and punished for that behavior shows that charters are accountable. In a district where financial mismanagement runs rampant, academic success is poor at best, and issues with safety are a sever concern, do you really believe not one person has committed an offense that he or she should be indicted for? That's not accountability, that's keeping a poor status quo system running.— phillytruth
- At least they layed you off, right? — Shehateme
- so I guess all the elitists who wanted to criticize the public school system and thought they could do a better job.... were wrong? surprising.... good thing we crippled our state education budget by subsidizing all these joke schools.— KingOfPhilly
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.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
