Board Rejects New Charter Application

Board of Education Action Meeting: February 29, 2024
Members of the Caucus of Working Educators of the PFT present their petition for the end of the punitive 3-5-7-9 absence policy to the Board of Education (Photo by Lisa Haver)

by Lisa Haver

In a 6-3 vote, the Board of Education voted to deny Global Leadership Academy’s application for a charter high school. Board members cited numerous reasons for their votes, including the substandard proposed curriculum and the questionable affiliations with charter management organizations and legal firms. Two board members cited plummeting academic scores at GLA’s Renaissance charter, Huey Elementary. President Reginald Streater cited GLA’s failure to remedy an issue that the board cited in its previous denial–the organization’s claims that it was GLA but not really part of GLA.  As APPS’ Deb Grill said in her report about GLA CEO Naomi Johnson-Booker’s claim of non-affiliation: “That might be true if one doesn’t count the name, the academic model, the relationship with business consultants Charter Choices, and her position as CEO of GLACS.”  Grill, in her testimony, reminded the board that over half of the city’s charter schools are under-enrolled, thus there is no need for any new charter school.

The consideration of even one application for a new charter costs the district dearly in time and money. Two hearings preceded this decision. The Charter School Office must conduct an in-depth evaluation of the application and review hundreds of pages of attachments. CSO Director Peng Chao gives presentations to the board at several points in the 6-month process. At this meeting, Chao gave another extensive presentation on the GLA application, followed by a lengthy question-and -answer session from the board. In addition, the board’s deliberations just before the vote took over half an hour, and fourteen of the thirty approved speakers addressed this one topic. Three elected officials spoke in support of the GLA application.

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Board of Education Must Deny GLA Charter Application

by Deborah Grill      

There are several reasons why the Board of Education should deny Global Leadership Academy’s application to open a third charter school, a high school in North Philadelphia at its February 2024 action meeting.  The district already has 82 existing charter schools, most of which, including the two existing Global Leadership Academy schools, have not outperformed the district’s public schools. In fact, one reason why the Board of Education denied this application the first two times it was submitted, in addition to the very flawed application, was GLA’s poor performance at Huey Elementary, its Renaissance charter school.  The district’s current 82 charter schools cost the district considerably in tuition fees and stranded costs. The district cannot afford any more charter schools without further diminishing the education of the students in its existing schools, who must try to learn in understaffed and toxic buildings, with many basic resources paid out of the pockets of teachers. In addition, the district does not need any new charter schools, as over half of the 82 operating now are under-enrolled. 

Almost all of the founding members who attended the January 23 public hearing either had worked at one of the current schools, were currently employed by GLA, or had a business contract with GLA. No public testimony was heard at this hearing.

This third application from Global Leadership Academy Charter High School is less than truthful, as was the case in the first two. The applicants continue to disavow their two existing charter schools, both of which contain the name “Global Leadership Academy”.  During the public application hearing on January 23, members of the applicant’s founding coalition went out of their way to distance themselves from GLA’s two existing schools.  There are four separate entities here, often referred to interchangeably during the hearing. Unintentionally or not, this muddies the waters of the relationship among the schools, the applicant, the management organization, and the academic/business service.

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Board Message to District Charter Operators: No Consequences for Substandard Performance

Board of Education Action Meeting:  January 25, 2023

by Deborah Grill, Lynda Rubin, Lisa Haver

Board Caves on Charter Renewal                   
At this action meeting, the Board of Education sent a clear message to all charter operators in the district: no matter how inadequate the education you provide to your students, no matter how many barriers to enrollment you use to exclude children, no matter how precarious your finances–we will let you carry on. The Board disregarded the law and its own procedures and policies when it caved to obvious political pressure and voted unanimously to reverse its previous decision and renew Southwest Leadership Academy Charter School. Dawn Chavous, charter lobbyist and now co-chair of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Education Sub-Committee, testified in favor of renewing the charter.  Board members offered a variety of rationalizations but never explained how this one charter managed to be reconsidered for renewal after two votes not to renew. As Lisa Haver pointed out in her testimony, the Board voted last year for non-renewal after an extensive legal process in which data and evidence were reviewed, public testimony was heard, and the charter administrators had time to explain their failure to meet standards. The Board was now reversing itself without presenting any new evidence or explanation, she said.  The Board’s round-robin of questions before the vote amounted to a charade in which they acted as if this was just another renewal consideration, not an unprecedented reversal that ignored all data and evidence entered into the record.  Only one Board member asked what would happen if SWLA failed to carry out the conditions listed in the agreement.  Charter Schools Office Director Peng Chao responded that they could note that in the next renewal evaluation in 2027. In other words, there will be no enforcement of the conditions in the agreement, which has set academic conditions even lower than those that Southwest had failed to meet in its last evaluation. Chao also stated that his office remained open to collaborating with the school to ensure they meet the conditions. No board member pointed out that the CSO can only do that by manipulating the current standards and conditions and that only the school’s administration and staff could make sure that their students received an adequate education. One board member, apparently unaware of charter schools’ enrollment limits, suggested that the school needed to get more students to boost finances. More funding for Southwest Leadership Academy would of course mean less funding for District schools. This 5-year renewal will cost the district a minimum of $10 million. When Board leadership claims, repeatedly, to be “child-centered”, it seems that doesn’t apply to children at substandard charter schools.

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Parker’s Choice of Education Advisors Raises Questions

January 2, 2024

The following commentary was written by APPS co-founder Lisa Haver and published in The Philadelphia Hall Monitor on January 2, 2024

The most striking feature of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Sub-Committee on Education is its dearth of educators. Her selections raise questions about who will have more influence on education spending and policies in her administration. The list contains just one public teacher and one principal, and no one is identified as a parent or student. There are numerous representatives from businesses and nonprofits but none from grass-roots community groups. In contrast, there are several charter administrators and investors. One of the four vice chairs, Dawn Chavous, is a charter school lobbyist and consultant. Some representation from the charter sector is expected, but Parker’s selection of those whose schools have performed so poorly that they face non-renewal is puzzling, especially those cited for questionable financial practices and sexual harassment.

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