New life for an embattled Kensington charter school
Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School, which has been fighting for its life for several years, won a victory Tuesday in Harrisburg.
Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School, which has been fighting for its life for several years, won a victory Tuesday in Harrisburg.
By a vote of 4-3, the state Charter Appeal Board said the Kensington school deserved a new, five-year operating agreement.
In 2013, following a public hearing, the School Reform Commission voted not to give the school a new operating agreement because of low test scores and concerns about its financial management.
Charter officials immediately tweeted Tuesday's news and posted it on the school's website, noting that the state board had ordered the SRC to renew the school's charter.
"From the very beginning, we have believed that we would prevail because Community Academy is a good school with a solid reputation in the community," Joseph H. Proietta, the school's founder and chief executive, said in an e-mail to The Inquirer.
"Over the past few years, we have taken many attacks on our school's integrity and outcomes, but no one has been able to prove that our school is not sound and our students are not successful. We have maintained our independence and educated thousands of inner-city young people who have made successful lives for themselves," he wrote.
"We are glad this nightmare is finally over."
A spokeswoman for the SRC declined comment.
Community, which opened in 1997, is the city's oldest charter. The K-12 school at 1100 E. Erie Ave. has 1,205 students.
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