Former students of shuttered charter school return for last time
Solomon Charter School, was supposed to be a cyber school but opened at 12th and Vine, closed abruptly last week.
MANY STUDENTS of the shuttered Solomon Charter School returned to its Center City building yesterday, four days after the school's board of directors voted unanimously to close it down.
Parents and grandparents, along with their K-12-age children, filled the third-floor cafeteria to retrieve their academic and medical records and to say goodbye to classmates and staffers. Students also returned their loaned computers to the school, which focused on Hebrew and Mandarin languages, and met with recruiters from other charter schools such as Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners and PA Virtual.
"I thought I was putting them in a school where they could actually grow and they felt comfortable and safe here," said Cassandra Brookins, 32, whose two sons were in the sixth and seventh grades at the school. "Now they're kind of in limbo."
Solomon's acting chief operating officer and principal, David Weathington, said that almost all transferring students have found spots in other schools.
The school shut down a week after the Pennsylvania Department of Education notified officials that some classrooms were in a building where a clinic that treats sex offenders also operated. A Megan's Law registrant was also found to be sharing space in the school's 1209-1215 Vine St. building.
But there were also other issues with the property occupied by the school, which applied for a cyber charter from the state but instead opened in 2012 as a brick-and-mortar school.
The state had sought to revoke its charter after claiming that Stephen Crane, the school's first CEO, excluded significant information from the charter application forms when he applied to the state, among other alleged violations.
Weathington said he had been brought in last May "to clean this place up."
But issues such as the clinic and mold in the building prompted safety concerns, he said. He recommended closure, and the school's four board members, including Crane, voted in agreement Friday, Weathington said.