Tag: Aspira Charters

Watlington Administration Fails to Fully Staff Schools

Board of Education Action Meeting: September 24, 2026

by Lisa Haver

Girls High students protest overcrowded classrooms before Board meeting. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

At the Board of Education’s September 3 mandatory public hearing, fourteen members of the public addressed the board on a number of issues, including the facilities plan and the impending closure of seventeen public schools. APPS member Deborah Grill testified at this meeting, that the board, with little public notice, moved the date of the hearing up from October 15 to the day before Labor Day weekend; that is probably why attendance was lower than usual. Lisa Haver asked the board how it could adjourn that hearing without uttering a single word in response to the parents, students, educators and community members who came to speak to them. The board, which is made up of religious leaders, civic leaders, educational leaders and a mental health practitioner, did not offer one word of comfort to the Lankenau teacher who broke down in tears, begging the board, “Please do not close Lankenau.” The board has hung banners in 440 with slogans including “the children come first”. A board that closes children’s schools is not for the children. They serve as little more than lackeys for the mayor who appointed them and her political backers.

Girls High Students School the Adults
About 150 students from Girls High rallied before the meeting to demand that the district fix the ongoing understaffing at their school. Three testified about the severe overcrowding in a number of classes. One freshman told the board that she is in a class of 50 students with only one teacher. She told the board and Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr, “We need what we say we need. You cannot say what we need until you talk to us and come to our school.”

Continue reading here

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.

Board Caves on Tax Abatements for Developers

Education Meeting, September 21, 202

by Lisa Haver

Members of the board paid tribute to two educators who passed away this week:  Temple President JoAnn Epps and former district superintendent Constance Clayton.  Board President Reginald Streater proposed that the board vote to name district headquarters “The Constance E. Clayton Education Center”. This type of action deserves more time and consideration. There have been many notable Superintendents and Board Presidents, including Dr. Ruth Wright Hayre, the first African-American president of the board.  As APPS member Barbara Dowdall pointed out in her testimony, Dr. Clayton was a strong supporter of school libraries and worked during her term to put a Certified Teacher Librarian in every school. Now, fewer than five schools have full-time librarians. The board can honor Dr. Clayton by restoring school librarians with full-time teacher librarians to every school. 

Continue reading

Board Must Deny All New Charter Applications from Global Leadership, Aspira and Perseverance

by Deborah Grill, Lisa Haver and Diane Payne

This district opened its first charter school in 1998.  Every year, those lobbying for and profiting from the privatization of public schools have promised to improve education for the city’s children.  They said that the district had an obligation to create charters for the good of the children and the community.  Twenty-five years later, we can see that the charter experiment foisted upon the city and its families has failed.  Because of the backing of well-funded PACs and special interest groups, with their increasing political influence, charters have avoided accountability to the same communities they made 6their promises to.  

The district has had many years to learn that the aspirational language of charter apps is rarely achieved.  Charter renewal evaluations don’t measure whether the schools have fulfilled their promises of innovation; they cite standardized test scores and other data. 

To read the reports on the applications click here