The School Reform Commission on Wednesday approved a new charter school to be located in the Parkside neighborhood in West Philadelphia. KIPP Parkside is scheduled to open during the 2019-2020 academic year with grades K-4.

The school’s opening was one of the stipulations the SRC placed on the approval. The school’s application proposed opening in the 2018-2019 school year. The SRC also limited the school to grades K-4, adding that it could expand to the proposed K-8 if it performed well.

KIPP Parkside garnered unanimous approval from the SRC, which denied the applications of two other schools – the Friendship Whittier Charter School in the West Allegheny neighborhood and the Deep Roots Charter School in Harrowgate. Only three proposals made it through the full process this year. The evaluation reports for all three proposed schools are available here.

About a third of Philadelphia’s approximately 130,000 public school students attend charter schools, second only to Detroit among big cities.

The School Reform Commission is scheduled to vote on three proposed charter schools, including one in West Philly, during a special meeting this Wednesday (Feb. 8) beginning at 4 p.m. at the auditorium at the school district offices at 440 N. Broad Street.

The meeting is the final step in the charter review process. The three proposed schools include KIPP Parkside that would be located in the West Parkside neighborhood. Under the proposal, which can be found here, the new school would open for the 2018-2019 school year and have a projected enrollment of 860 students by 2022. The district had several questions about the fee structure that KIPP, which runs four other charters in the city, set up for the school, according to an evaluation report released last month.  Continue Reading

The School Reform Commission last night approved the conversion of the three more public schools to charters, including the Samuel B. Huey School at 52nd and Pine.

The Global Leadership Academy Charter School, which currently operates a school at 4601 W. Girard Ave., will take over Huey beginning in the fall. The SRC also voted to convert Cooke (Logan) and Wister (Germantown) Elementary Schools into charters. The charters are tasked with turning around the “chronically under-performing” schools, often against the wishes of parents. Huey has an enrollment of about 550 students.

Meanwhile Councilwoman Helen Gym, who was elected last fall in part for her dedication to public schools, called for a moratorium on charter conversions.

Samuel B. Huey School (Google Street View image)

Global Leadership Academy Charter School may soon take over the Samuel B. Huey elementary school at 52nd and Pine. On Monday, the School District of Philadelphia announced Global Leadership Academy as a match recommendation for Huey, through the Renaissance Charter Schools initiative.

Global Leadership Academy currently operates a K-8 school at 4600 West Girard Ave.

Jay Cooke Elementary in North Philadelphia is also slated to become a charter school.

“The Renaissance Charter Schools initiative is one of our most successful interventions to improve student achievement at struggling schools,” superintendent Dr. William R. Hite said in a statement.

The next step in the school conversion process is consideration by The School Reform Commission (SRC), which will consider both schools in the Jan. 21 action meeting. If approved by the SRC, Global Leadership Academy would take over Huey this fall, in the 2016-17 school year. The charter operators will be invited to submit a Renaissance Charter School application subject to a vote at a future SRC action meeting.

Huey and Cooke parents protested the conversion last year.

Here’s a short update on Independence Charter School West (ICS-West), a new elementary school opening in September 2016. The school’s location will be at 56th and Chester, according to a recent announcement. The school also has a new website: www.icswest.org.

The school will initially be a K-3, mainly serving families from Southwest, West, and Overbrook areas. Applications will be accepted until February 1. More information sessions have been added this week for those families who are interested in applying:

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Lucien E. Blackwell/West Philadelphia Regional Library
125 S. 52nd Street

Thursday, Dec. 10, 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Woodland Academy Child Development Center
5401 Grays Avenue

Friday, Dec. 11, 10-11 a.m.
Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek library branch
5800 Cobbs Creek Parkway (59th/Baltimore Ave.)  Continue Reading

As was reported earlier this year, one of Philadelphia’s more successful charter schools, Independence Charter School, will be opening a new elementary school (ICS West) in Southwest Philadelphia in September 2016. The school will be primarily serving families in Southwest and West Philadelphia, as well as Overbrook.

To learn more about the school and its enrollment process, families are invited to one of the open information sessions held at area libraries. Two next information sessions are scheduled at the Cobbs Creek library. Updated information on community meetings can be found on the school website.

Currently, the following meetings are scheduled for prospective families:

Monday, Dec. 7, 10-11 a.m.
Friday, Dec. 11, 10-11 a.m.
Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek library branch
5800 Cobbs Creek Parkway (59th/Baltimore Ave.)

The school will initially be a K-3 for September 2016. A grade will be added each year, ultimately becoming a K-8 school, according to ICS West board member Dyana Reid.

The school is focused on global citizenship and language acquisition, and instruction will be about half Spanish/half English. “Students and families are not expected to already speak Spanish, though it’s fine if they do,” says ICS West board member Dyana Reid.  Continue Reading