Board Must Do More to Defend Public Schools in the New Year

Board of Education Action Meeting:  December 7, 2023

by Lynda Rubin and Lisa Haver

On the day before this meeting, Board President Reginald Streater appeared as a panelist at a special hearing of the Education Committee of City Council. The hearing,  held remotely and presided over by Committee Chair Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, was the most recent in a series convened by Council to discuss alleged racial discrimination by the district against Black charter operators. Councilmember Quetcy Lozada was the only other Committee member to attend. Streater’s panel consisted only of him. A second panel featured one professor from Alabama and another from Arkansas, both testifying on behalf of charter operators. The third panel was made up of local charter school administrators. The committee apparently did not invite anyone who may have had an opinion not shared by charter operators. The allegation that the district has discriminated against certain charter operators was accepted as fact, even though an independent report commissioned by the Board concluded that there was no intentional discrimination on the part of the district in non-renewal decisions. There was no discussion of the data and performance that resulted in charters being placed in non-renewal status. Lisa Haver signed up as one of the registered public speakers. She questioned how charter operators now had a problem with a performance framework that they helped to formulate. 

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Board Remains Silent on Crucial Issues

Board of Education Action Meeting:  November 16, 2023

by Lisa Haver and Deborah Grill

This relatively brief action meeting was notable more for what the board did not deal with than the items on the agenda. 

Earlier this month, Southwark Elementary became the latest district school to be closed indefinitely after exposed asbestos was found. Students’ lives and routines have been disrupted. Some are being bussed to South Philadelphia High, others to Childs Elementary.  Yet the board said nothing about it–whether students and staff may have been exposed, how long it will take to contain the asbestos, what the cleanup will cost or when the school would reopen. 
The board also maintained its silence on the impending closure of the Math, Civics and Science charter school, located directly across the street from district headquarters. MCS CEO Veronica Joyner declared last month that she was retiring and that since she alone could run the school, it would have to close. She also declared her intention to sell the school’s building, owned by Parents United for A Better Education, an organization she heads. The board of education, rather than exerting their authority as authorizer and overseer of the city’s charter schools, offered only vague promises to help MCS students find placements in district schools.
Parents and students attended a gathering at Math Science Civics on November 2 that had been billed as a meeting of the school’s board. But there was no agenda, no roll call of the board, and no reading of official minutes. APPS members who attended heard distraught parents and students beg for the school to stay open. Continue reading

Charter Operators Must Disavow Threats and Calls for Violence

Board of Education Action Meeting:  October 19, 2023

by Lisa Haver and Deborah Grill

For the second time in a week, charter operators held a rally in front of school district headquarters. At the first, State Senator Anthony Williams, speaking on behalf of the African American Charter School Coalition, targeted a district employee, disparaged Board President Reginald Streater, and called for violence at the next board meeting. Williams, a frequent beneficiary of charter supporter Jeffrey Yass,  accused Streater of harming children while acting “like he’s Mr. Black Man of America”. Williams also issued a veiled threat to Charter Schools Office Director Peng Chao, calling for his removal. He then incited violence against board members, district staff, and community members when he told charter supporters that he wanted to see “chairs flying around” at the next board meeting. 

No member of the Coalition disavowed Sen. Williams remarks when they returned to the steps of 440 just before Thursday’s action meeting. In her testimony, Lisa Haver reminded board members that this was not the first time that the charter operators had made unfounded accusations against Charter Schools Office staff and that the board failed then, as it does now, to defend them. She urged board members to have the “decency” to stand up for their own employees against these attacks. None of the board members responded. 

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Charter CEOs Collecting High Salaries, Benefits and Bonuses

by Lisa Haver, Deborah Grill, and Lynda Rubin

Three of the six most highly paid administrators identified in String Theory’s most recent tax information are members of the Corosanite family:  Chief Executive Officer Angela Corosanite, Chief Information Officer Jason Corosanite, and Director of Facilities Thomas Corosanite. Their total salary and compensation, as listed in the charter management organization’s  2021 IRS 990, comes to almost $900,000. String Theory manages only two schools in the city, but the company has six administrators making over $100,000 in salary and compensation. In addition, each school has its own CEO. Why does a network of only two schools need so many highly-paid administrators? 

There are no guidelines for charter compensation, that is, no schedule of salary steps as there is for district principals and administrators.   Ad Prima charter, a small charter school with 600 students, has a CEO, a principal and a “site director” on staff, all paid over $100,000.00 in salary and compensation. Community Academy charter has a CEO, deputy CEO, a Chief Academic Officer and deputy CAO. Pan American, an elementary school with 750 students, lists eight administrators. Folk Arts Cultural Treasures (FACTS), on the other hand, has one administrator making over $100,000. Global Leadership Academy is a two-school network. Each school has its own CEO–one making more than the district’s superintendent, the other making slightly less. GLA’s principal  made over $11,000 more than a district principal with seven years or more of principal experience.  

Click here to continue reading and to find out what the CEO and administrators of each charter make in salary and compensation.