News in Brief
Busy spring for charters: Applicants and renewals
Aug. 31 is deadline in teacher contract talks
Walk-in center’s aim: Boost college completion
News in Brief
Busy spring for charters: Applicants and renewals
The fates of more than 30 current and proposed charter schools are in the hands of the School Reform Commission this spring.
The District received 17 new charter school applications last fall and chose six finalists for review at a public session in February. The six include a school for foster care youth; a second KIPP campus, in West Philadelphia; and a school to prepare students for careers in entertainment management.
A charter review panel will make recommendations on the applications to the School Reform Commission, which will “most likely happen in May,” said Barbara Farley of the School District Office of Communications.
In May the SRC will also revisit 11 charter school applications that were deferred from May 2007.
Meanwhile, the District’s charter school office is close to completing its work on 16 charter renewal applications. The schools up for renewal are Architecture and Design; Christopher Columbus; Discovery; de Hostos; Freire; Germantown Settlement; Imani Education Circle; KIPP; Maritime Academy; MaST; Math, Civics & Sciences; Philadelphia Academy; Renaissance; Renaissance Advantage; Universal Institute; and Young Scholars.
The charter office will make recommendations to the SRC about whether to approve, approve with conditions, or deny each renewal application, Farley said.
Charter school enrollment in Philadelphia has grown to almost 31,000 students in 61 schools, with another 2,500 students enrolled in online “cyber charters.” Two additional charters are already approved for opening in 2008-09.
-Erika Owens
Aug. 31 is deadline in teacher contract talks
The School Reform Commission and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers began negotiations on a new teachers’ contract February 5, with the current four-year agreement expiring August 31.
Both the SRC and PFT say they are hoping to reach a deal that will facilitate the success of students in the classroom. “We share the same core mission – educating children,” said SRC Chair Sandra Dungee Glenn in a statement
Recently re-elected PFT President Jerry Jordan said the first priority in the negotiations is safety. “Teaching and learning cannot be successful absent safety and respect,” he said.
Other priorities cited by Jordan and the PFT include lowering class sizes; expanding preschool education programs; ensuring the inclusion of art, music and libraries in every school; creating middle school programs to help students at risk for dropping out; and better incorporating high-level academics and job-preparedness programs into high schools.
Dungee Glenn said the SRC is still gathering input by “talking with administrators and our education folks about issues that have come up…and really looking at some of the things that they see as critical needs to helping us move the reforms forward.” In addition, the District has invited parents to voice ideas regarding priorities in the negotiations.
One key issue affecting negotiations is the growing cost of health benefits and pensions.
Though Governor Ed Rendell has proposed an $86 million increase in the state’s basic subsidy for Philadelphia schools this year, Dungee Glenn cautioned, “We’re not out of the woods yet. The governor’s budget is wonderful news, but I don’t think it’d be fair to say that [Philadelphia is] a well-funded district. We still have a structural deficit.”
-Stephen Kummerling
Walk-in center’s aim: Boost college completion
An unassuming office at The Gallery now houses information, resources, and support to help adults complete college.
Graduate! Philadelphia opened its outreach office at the Philadelphia Education Fund’s College Access Center at 9th and Market Streets on February 5. The shared site means that “a family can walk in and while one parent is working with their middle or high school student, another parent can work with their own advisor,” said Hadass Sheffer, executive director of Graduate! Philadelphia.
A joint effort of the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Graduate! Philadelphia has a straightforward mission: “to increase the number of adults with college degrees in the Greater Philadelphia area.”
Mayor Nutter made that mission a central piece of his inaugural address, setting a five-year goal of doubling the percentage of Philadelphians who have completed four years of college – a figure that now stands at a strikingly low 18 percent.
Graduate! Philadelphia estimates that 70,000 Philadelphians started, but never completed a college degree.
Prospective college students can drop into the center and meet with an academic advisor to discuss their academic history, college goals, and a plan for degree completion. Advisors also help students gather tax documents and fill out the federal financial aid application before the May 1 PHEAA grant deadline.
Several local colleges have partnered with Graduate! Philadelphia. Its website, www.graduatephiladelphia.org, details programs available at the colleges and lists upcoming events and workshops.
The City of Philadelphia and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation fund the program.
-Erika Owens