Private managers lose 6 schools

The Philadelphia School District's six-year-old experiment of placing public schools under private management got a shake-up yesterday.

The district's governing commission voted to take six of the schools back under its wing as of July 1, and granted contracts of just one- and three-year durations to the remaining 32 schools.

The six schools that will return to the district's management have spent five years in so-called "Corrective Action II" status under the federal No Child Left Behind law - meaning that they have made little academic progress, school officials said.

Last year, the six schools achieved either just one or none of their "adequate yearly progress" targets under the same federal law, said district Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who recommended the changes to the School Reform Commission.

"What I've learned from [private management] is that there is no one-size-fits-all, and there is no silver bullet. . . . We need to be tailoring and matching models to the needs of schools," SRC Chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn said.

She noted that all six of the management organizations would still operate schools, though fewer of them in some cases.

"There are changes in the number of schools that they may have and which schools they may have, and that's appropriate," Dungee Glenn said. "It's been six years - it's time to sort it out."

Edison Schools Inc., a for-profit company based in New York, will lose four of the 20 schools it manages - Gillespie, Harrity, Potter-Thomas and Stetson.

Temple University, which manages four schools, will lose one, Dunbar. Victory Schools, a New York for-profit, will lose one of its six schools, FitzSimons High.

FitzSimons, which Victory converted into an all-boys school in 2005, should be given more time to find its footing, said Anna Figueroa, president of the school's Home and School Association.

"My concern is not to change leadership, be consistent," she told the SRC before the vote. "Our kids have come a long way and we don't want to go backwards."

Todd McIntire, general manager for Edison Schools Inc., said that the company was disappointed to lose Harrity and Potter-Thomas because both were making progress in improving the schools' learning climate, student attendance and rate of suspensions.

Others, however, supported the move.

"Based on the data that I've seen, returning a number of schools under the umbrella of the school district is a good idea," said Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. "The district is probably better prepared to provide the children in those schools with the highest-quality education.

"I understand Dr. Ackerman plans on providing those schools with the additional supports that they need to be successful," he added, "which we have been calling on for years."

Ackerman said that among the targeted interventions that will be provided to each of the six schools are: A parent outreach worker, teacher coaches, more teacher professional development, content specialists to work with special-education and English-learning students, a permanent substitute teacher, more library money and a social worker.

The SRC also voted to give one-year contracts to five of the six management organizations to continue running a combined 20 schools. These schools made some progress, school district officials said, but not enough to be considered success stories. At the end of next school year they will be reassessed to determine if they will remain with their manager or taken back by the district, Ackerman said.

The schools that will remain with Edison Schools for one more year are: Alcorn, Barratt, Hartranft, W.D. Kelley, Kenderton, Locke, Ludlow, McMichael, Penn Treaty, Sulzburger, Tilden and Waring.

Foundations, Inc., a New Jersey-based not-for-profit, will retain for a year Kinsey, Martin Luther King and Pastorius. Temple University will keep for a year Ferguson. Universal Companies, a Philadelphia-based community development organization, will keep E.H. Vare. Victory Schools will retain for a year Pepper, E.W. Rhodes and Wright.

The school district will help these schools "review and revise their academic plans," Ackerman said. "So, we're going to provide them with some intensive advice . . . about how to improve achievement and to accelerate the progress."

The 12 most successful schools will be allowed to stay with their managers for the next three school years, the SRC voted. Edison will keep Anderson, Comegys, Huey and Shaw. Foundations, Inc. will keep Fulton. Temple University will keep Duckrey and Meade. Universal Companies will retain E.M. Stanton. The University of Pennsylvania will keep Lea and A. Wilson, and Victory Schools will keep Bethune and Pratt. *