"The sweetheart deals are over," said West Philadelphia High senior Lawrence Jones-Mahoney during a sign-waving demonstration outside the school district's headquarters yesterday.

"We have to stop dealing [with companies] and try to put the students first. Try to put my school and all of the other [academically struggling] schools first, because we really need it," he added.

The protesters rallied outside the school district administration building on North Broad Street at 4 p.m. before briefly stopping traffic by positioning themselves into the shape of a heart at the intersection of Broad and Spring Garden streets.

Their targets, known as educational management organizations (EMOs), have collectively been paid more than $107 million by the district since 2002 to manage some of the lowest-performing schools.

But studies released last year that assessed the EMOs over five years found that their schools generally have not improved as much as other schools controlled by the district.

The protesters said the EMOs - Edison Schools Inc., Foundations Inc., Victory Schools, Universal Companies, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania - should not get contracts to manage 70 schools that were recently identified as needing reform under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

"We need more funding for school books, new qualified teachers, better principals and teachers that actually have the education to teach us," said Leslie Ramirez, 14, who attends one of the 70 schools, Mastbaum High .

Cassandra Jones, the district's interim chief academic officer, said decisions have not been made on how the 70 schools will be reformed.

The process for overhauling the schools, she said, is ongoing and the task force that is studying reform models includes students, parents and other community members.

"When a decision is made, it will be based on data . . . It will be based on evidence of success. We have not made any decisions yet," Jones said.

She noted that EMOs that have been successful at some of their schools will be considered for inclusion in the reforms, which will begin in September.

Yesterday's protest was organized by the Philadelphia Student Union, Youth United for Change, Pennsylvania ACORN and the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project. *