SRC renews 12 charters, votes down Delaware Valley, Universal Bluford

THE SCHOOL REFORM Commission voted yesterday to renew the charters of 12 schools and not to renew two others.

Delaware Valley Charter High School and Universal Bluford Charter School were not renewed based on recommendations from district staff. Both schools will remain open, pending an appeal process that could take more than a year.

Delaware Valley, located on Old York Road near Wagner Avenue in Olney, opened in 2000 and has 696 students. According to the district, the school failed to meet academic standards, with declining reading and math scores over the last three years. The school also failed to meet standards for organizational compliance and financial stewardship.

Ernest Holiday, CEO and principal at Delaware Valley Charter, was among a handful of speakers who disputed the district's findings regarding academic achievement.

"One hundred percent of our seniors are accepted into higher institutions of learning, trade schools or the military," Holiday testified. "That is a requirement for graduation. We are simply in the business of producing well-educated graduates."

SRC member Bill Green challenged Holiday's assertion, pointing to the school's math-proficiency rate, which fell from 48.6 percent in 2010-11 to 20 percent in 2013-14, and reading-proficiency rates that dropped from 55.5 percent in 2010-11 to 21.7 percent in 2011-12, but rose slightly to 37.9 last year.

Holiday contended that moving to using the state Keystone exams and adoption of the Pennsylvania Common Core were to blame. He also maintained that a report conducted by the state's Education Department found different results.

Universal Bluford, a K-6 school that was converted to a charter in 2010 as part of the district's Renaissance Charter initiative, has 592 students. Bluford, located on Media Street near 57th in the Carroll Park section of West Philly, does not meet standards for academic achievement or organizational compliance and is approaching the standard on financial stewardship, the district's charter office concluded.

Among Bluford's supporters was Sophie Heng, a parent of three Bluford pupils. She testified that the school has tremendous supports in place to help students achieve.

"Voting to [not] renew the charter would be a mistake," said Heng, whose voice cracked with emotion. "I have personally listened to parents who have been disappointed because they were unable to send their children to Bluford because they lived outside of the catchment area."

Although several SRC members said Bluford had made improvements in climate and culture, they said that ultimately it had missed the mark academically.

If the decisions are appealed, the two schools will have a full hearing in front of a third party appointed by the SRC.

The following schools were approved for five-year renewals with conditions: Independence, Mastery Lenfest Charter, Mastery Smedley, Mastery Harrity, Mastery Thomas, Folk Arts Cultural Treasures, People for People, Universal Daroff, Imhotep Institute and MaST Community. Also approved for five-year renewals were Mastery Mann and Northwood Academy.

A scheduled vote on Russell Byers, a school recommended for renewal, was tabled.