Will Creighton School become a charter?
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Will Creighton School become a charter?
Kristen Graham
Teachers at Creighton Elementary School got e-mails today informing them they were being force transferred at the end of the school year. Panicked educators wondered: does that mean the school's fate has been sealed?
Creighton, in the Northeast, was one of four Philadelphia School District schools slated to be turned into a charter in September. But community protests - and the Creighton school advisory council's pick of a teacher-led turnaround over any charter option - caused the School Reform Commission to hold off on making a decision on Creighton.
Spokesman Fernando Gallard said Thursday night that no decision had been made on Creighton, and that the letters appear to have gone out in error.
Creighton was to be taken over by Universal Companies Inc., despite the school advisory council's choice. Universal officials have lobbied the advisory council in recent days, and earlier this week, district officials held a closed-door meeting with the Creighton community.
The SRC has not said when it will vote on Creighton's fate, but officials have acknowledged that they must decide soon. The SRC will meet next on May 31.
Easy explanation: Universal sent out the emails. They take over space at 440, they decide which meetings are public, and now they decide who works where.— brinsley- Completely shady. It's going to be really murky over the next couple of years.— gtown_teach
Comment removed.- And this is happening but Universal had yet to pay a DIME on their lease for Audenreid. What a crooked system there is in this city!— SeaMichelle
- This reminds me of the Ackerman HR debacle of a couple of years ago when letters were sent telling teachers they needed to sign a 1-page contract. Th union put a stop to that nonsense right away.— nikki1231
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- Dear Gentle Reader,
Please know that BarbarC is actually Tankleyd who was permanently exiled for left wing hate-speak by the editors.
Shim is actually an elderly AA male activist from West Philly. Tanksleyd has been outed by former girlfriend Barbara. According to Barbara, Tanksleyd is in arrears in his property tax. That tax funds the School District of Philadelphia. Therefore, Tanksleyd is part of the problem and has no right, and apparently no shame, to comment on the problems facing the education system. He is a loud mouth bloviated fraud. Tanksleyd's opinion is therefore invalid.— Magistra® - Comment removed.
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- The City and the State are constantly throwing money into the Philadelphia School system. People are always screaming "Fix the Schools" The "Schools" and the teachers and the administrators can only do so much. It is the Parents that need to take an interest in their childrens education. It is the Parents that need to instill study skills and discipline. It is the parents that need to sit with the little ones and check on the older ones to make sure that the work is getting done and getting done correctly. Stop blaming the system and look in the mirror. Do you make your child sit at the kitchen table after dinner, no tv, no playing until the work is done. Do you check your older childrens work? If they are struggling do you help them or get them the help they need? Teachers have your children for a few hours every day, and not at all in the summer, it is your job as a parent to make sure that your child follows up on the lessons in school. The City and the State cannot continue to pour money into the school system in the hopes that the "money" will fix it. Only parent involement and participation in your childs education will fix the system. Stop with the excuses, "I work", ect ect, we all work, we all have busy lives. I am a single mom, no help from my ex, and I sat with my son, pushed him, and monitored him straight through high school graduation,and I worked.— storm3
- Hey Pumpkin Head - You obviously should not call people dopes when you don't know the difference between cypher and siphon(or sometimes syphon). I went to Northeast High in the P.S.D. and even I know not to throw stones when I'm standing in that glass house. I've taught at both Kensington High School and a Charter in the same area and I can tell you that Charters are not better for the teachers and corruption can and does happen, however, Charters are much better for the students and families who care about the education of their kids because they are held to a much more stringent educational AND behavioral standard. If we even want to try to address the systemic problems of the district, we must bring back disciplinary schools to get the students out of the schools that make learning impossible for the students who want to learn. We all accept the concept of Magnet schools but invariably drop the ball at the other end.— Quantumdave
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- Charter Schools kick out kids with disabilities, behavior problems, or just low test scores. That is the only thing that makes them more appealing to parents. They won't tell you that they keep the money when they kick the students out, though. When they get sent back to their neighborhood public schools, we pay for educating those kids twice. Unfortunately, even with the best of the best pilfered from our public schools, they aren't achieving at the level you might expect. Charters don't work! EMO's don't work! Stop stealing our public money and giving it to private corporations! If public schools are failing, it's because the SRC won't let public schools do anything about it. Schools with too many suspensions are labeled as "dangerous" and have to submit to more interference fro the SRC. If the SDP is out of money it's because they have wasted money on failed programs and costly standardized tests not connected with the curriculum. Make no mistake, the state caused this budget crisis, and the state is responsible for unsafe schools. The state is trying to kill the unions and suck as much money as possible out of our city before they all get kicked out of office. — PhillySteel36
- Creighton you going to Universal and guess what Kenny Gamble ain't even paying for the the building. You guys get to join Bulford School et al with their @25% PSSA scores. Reform Philly style, taking care of the boyz.— poogie
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.
