OK seen likely for 7 new charter schools

Philadelphia's charter-school community got a long-awaited boost yesterday after school district officials indicated that they were prepared to approve seven new charter schools, including one designed to serve foster children and another that would allow students to earn up to 60 college credits.

Six would open in the fall, the seventh a year later.

If the School Reform Commission approves the schools as expected at its next meeting on Wednesday, the action would add an estimated 1,360 students to the publicly funded charters - pushing their enrollment to more than 33,000 students in the fall.

If taken together, the city's 63 existing charters and the seven to come are larger than Pittsburgh's public-school system, the state's second-largest district, with 28,000 students. (Two charters are fighting the reform commission's attempts to close them due to academic and financial problems.)

The new schools, which will cost the district $13.3 million next school year, will help ease overcrowding and provide students with quality educational options, school officials said.

Sandra Dungee Glenn, chairwoman of the reform commission, said she supports the proposals because they help the district address strategic needs.

"As we have cleared our vision, as we have clarified our strategy, I feel that we are now better prepared to take some action," she said.

The commission conditionally approved the proposals more than a year ago, but postponed the final decision largely due to a money shortage and to better match the proposals with the district's needs.

"We are elated. It's been a long time coming for Eastern," said Yvonne Turner, of Eastern University, which would open a charter this fall with 102 students in grades seven and nine with plans to extend from seventh through 12th grade.

The charter, to be housed on the university's new East Falls campus, would allow students the chance to earn up to 60 college credits.

The Arise Academy Charter, also planned for this fall, is possibly the first public, nonboarding school designed for students living in foster care, said Jill Welsh Davis.

Backed by the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, the school would open in Center City and serve 200 students in grades nine through 12.

The school "will up [students'] chances to live good, independent lives," Welsh Davis said. "About 75.2 percent of [foster] kids are dropping out of high school."

The KIPP West Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School would be modeled after the KIPP group's North Philadelphia middle school that opened in 2003.

KIPP - Knowledge is Power Program - operates 66 college-prep schools across the country. The new school would open this fall and enroll 345 students in grades five through eight with a day lasting from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students also would attend classes every other Saturday and one month during the summer.

"We're a college-preparatory network of schools, and yet many of our children come to us behind," said Marc Mannelle, founder and chief executive of the North Philadelphia KIPP school. "There's no magic bullet, there's no special sauce that's going to help them catch up . . . other than rolling up our sleeves and working harder than anybody else."

Three of the new schools would help reduce crowding.

* Tacony Academy Charter, with 450 pupils, kindergarten through fourth grade, and eventually 1,075 students through 12th grade, would ease classrooms at Spruance, Ethan Allen and Disston schools and later at Lincoln High.

* Franklin Towne Charter Elementary, K-8, would ease crowded classrooms at Bridesburg, Richmond and Sullivan.

* Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter, K-12, also would ease crowded classrooms at Spruance, Ethan Allen and Smedley and eventually at Frankford High.

Philadelphia Polytechnic Charter would open in September 2010, district officials said, to give the school's backers more time to work on the curriculum and other areas. *