Pennsylvania has a larger percentage of high-performing charter schools than the national average, but it also has more underperforming ones. As a result, charter students on average are lagging behind students in regular public schools.
As Mastery Charter School at Thomas prepares for its first graduation next month, good news is pouring in to its South Philadelphia campus. And some of it has an Ivy-league flavor.
What began as a federal probe of a single charter school in Northeast Philadelphia two years ago has spread to at least 18 schools and may be the largest federal charter investigation in the country, experts say.
An investigation of 13 charter schools has found excessive salaries and rampant conflicts of interest, among other problems, according to a draft of the city controller's report.
Rosemary DiLacqua's husband was in trouble.
Joseph J. DiLacqua, a captain in the Philadelphia Police Department, had been charged in early 2002 with covering up the drunken-driving accident of a fellow officer, and the family needed $15,000 to pay for a lawyer.