At the SRC

At its June meetings the School Reform Commission:

• Voted unanimously to negotiate an educational accountability agreement with Mayor Nutter. This was in response to a nine-page letter that the mayor sent to the District demanding in-depth disclosures about the District’s finances and personnel. The agreement was signed one day later at City Hall during a news conference at which the mayor, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis, Superintendent Ackerman, and SRC Chair Robert Archie gathered with other local and state elected officials.

• Heard Superintendent Arlene Ackerman flatly deny rumors that she was negotiating with the SRC to get out of her contract and leave the District. “This may be wishful thinking for some, but I’m here, let me be really clear about that,” Ackerman said.

• Passed a resolution authorizing the collection of city taxes for the District for the 2012 fiscal year. 

• Adopted two policies, one on “rightsizing” and one on “adaptive reuse” to govern its plans for school closings and disposition of School District properties.

• Voted down, 2-1, a resolution introduced by Commissioner Joseph Dworetzky which would have initiated the process of revoking the charter for Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School. The SRC has twice previously been unable to muster the necessary three-vote majority to approve renewal of the school’s charter. The school’s charter expires this year. The school has applied to the state charter board to resolve the logjam.

• Approved a $2 million authorization to retain 27 outside law firms to represent the District. Some of those firms include: Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, Blank Rome LLP, Cozen O’Connor, and Fox Rothschild LLP.

• Following a rebidding process, approved a five-year, $8.5 million contract with Elliott-Lewis Corporation to continue to provide property management services for the District’s central office facility at 440 N. Broad St.

• Approved a $3.7 million contract with Communities in Schools of Philadelphia to provide social service supports at 34 high schools to pregnant/parenting teens through the implementation of the ELECT (Pennsylvania Department of Education Leading to Employment and Career Training) and ELECT Fatherhood initiative grants.

• Voted to approve a $14.6 million contract with 45 local providers of comprehensive early childhood services to operate child care slots under the state’s Pre-K Counts program. Some of the largest providers include: ASPIRA, KenCrest Services, Kinder Academy, and the YMCA of Philadelphia & Vicinity.

• Voted to approve a $350,000 donation from the Children’s Literacy Initiative to continue to support existing model kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms, and to support expanding the project to new sites identified as non-Empowerment and in need of support as recommended by the District’s Office of Early Childhood.

• Approved a $255,000 contract with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Philadelphia Inc. to provide comprehensive mentoring services to students at Edison, Fels, and Frankford High Schools.

• Voted to expel 10 students.