Tag: Charter School Accountability

Board Must End Practice of Renewing Substandard Charters

by Lisa Haver, Deborah Grill, Lynda Rubin, Ilene Poses

At its August 17 action meeting, the Board of Education will vote on the renewals of nineteen charter schools. After just one brief presentation by the Board’s Charter Schools Office at the June meeting, Board President Reginald Streater announced Board recommendations for fourteen of the19-school cohort, directing CSO Director Peng Chao to negotiate renewal contracts with the operators of those schools. Thus, without any Board vote or any public hearing, the Board decided in effect to renew most of the charter schools, despite the fact that only one had met standards in all three major categories. Streater made no recommendation for the remaining five, all of which had received a “Does Not Meet” rating in at least one category. 

Should the Board vote to renew all nineteen, the district would be spending approximately $470 million over the next five years.  Of that, approximately $20 million will be spent on CEO salary and compensation. Review of the CSO renewal evaluations shows that:

  • 13 did not rate “Meets” in Academics
  • Board recommending renewal for 8 of the schools rate below “Meets” in Academics
  • 5 of the 19 schools have been operating under expired agreements
  • 3 of the 4 schools in their first term rate “Does Not Meet” in academics
  • 9 of the 19 are well below authorized enrollment

Continue here to read information on each school up for renewal


Board Addresses Possible Charter School Conflicts of Interest

Ears on the Board Of Education: January 26, 2023

by Diane Payne

FINALLY! 

Before the vote on the three Charter School renewals appearing on this agenda, President Streater made a statement about his concerns surrounding the interrelatedness of Charter School Boards, Charter Management Operators, and attorneys.  He made clear that overlapping Boards and attorneys do not provide the adequate protection needed to be good stewards of public funds.  This is one of many aspects of charter operations that are never publicly discussed except by APPS.  It is almost impossible to follow the money funneled into charter schools and know who is benefitting from public funds and whose pockets are being filled with the many interconnected groups. (More detail on this will appear in the voting section.)

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Philadelphia’s school board is failing children with its lack of charter school oversight | Opinion

The playground at Universal Daroff Charter School, which closed just before the 2022-23 academic year began
Aubri Juhasz / WHYY

The following commentary was written by APPS co-founder Lisa Haver and published by Billy Penn on September 19, 2022

Students and families at two Philadelphia schools thrown into chaos just before the academic year have yet to hear those who could have prevented it take any responsibility.

Instead of providing explanations for what happened at Bluford and Daroff — the latter was shut down, and the former will close at the end of the year — Universal Companies, awarded charter contracts for the two West Philly elementary schools over a decade ago, has stonewalled those school communities.

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Board Accepts No Responsibility for Charter Debacle

Special Meeting of the Board of Education: August 26, 2022

by Diane Payne

The August 28, 2022 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, on the emergency at Daroff and Bluford charter schools previously managed by Universal Education Companies, reported:  “School board officials said the schools’ demise resulted from repeated instances of adults failing children.”  The Board made clear at this meeting that those adults don’t include them.  

Universal Companies Abandons Two Charter Schools
The Board called this special meeting, with the legally required minimal notice buried the day before in the Inquirer and a brief notice on their website, to approve agreements with the individual boards of Bluford and Daroff charter schools.  President Joyce Wilkerson and Board Members Mallory Fix Lopez, Lisa Salley, Reginald Streater and Sarah-Ashley Andrews attended in person; Leticia Egea-Hinton, Julia Danzy, Chau Wing Lam and Cecelia Thompson  remotely. Superintendent Tony Watlington, after answering the initial roll call, stated he is “still in a learning phase”, then remained silent for the duration of the meeting. 

Continue reading here.