Palmer School’s charter is revoked – Philadelphia Daily News – January 18, 2015

THE END OF the Walter Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School is official.

The School Reform Commission voted unanimously last night to revoke the school’s charter for a host of reasons, including poor academic performance and fiscal mismanagement. The school closed abruptly Dec. 31 due to financial difficulties.

Meanwhile, City Councilwoman Cindy Bass urged the SRC to approve Germantown Community Charter, one of 40 applicants, while acknowledging the district’s financial crisis.

“I feel the need to be very selective in my support of charters, and we need to just [evaluate] each charter on its individual merit,” said Bass, who represents the district where the proposed school would be located. She pointed to the loss of Germantown High and Fulton Elementary, both of which closed in 2012.

“We must right what has been wrong and we need to have more educational options in Germantown,” she said.

Activist Joe Budd lauded the commitment of residents and businesses to help the skills-based school succeed.

“We’re doing this because we care about the children of Germantown,” said Budd, who is part of the coalition proposing the charter.

Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a youth-advocacy organization, released a report yesterday recommending that the SRC deny all of the charter applications. It cited the SRC’s responsibility to ensure the fiscal stability of the district and said many of the proposed charters would serve fewer high-needs students than the typical district school.

The legislation authorizing the city’s new cigarette tax requires the district to accept new charter applications and permits any denied applicant to appeal to a state board.

The district is in the second and final phase of hearings on the applications and must vote on them by Feb. 20.

SRC chairman Bill Green conceded that the district is not required to approve any new charters, but was careful to leave the door open for the possibility of approving one or more applications.

“No new law requires us to approve charters with deficient applications,” Green said. When asked if approving any new charters would financially harm the district, he said, “I just couldn’t even speculate at this point how many are deficient or not.”


The Philadelphia Daily News – January 18, 2015 – Read article online
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150116_Palmer_School_s_charter_is_revoked.html#wmjgzAJLpZLaEdch.99