The Notebook

Stories tagged: School Advisory Councils

School Advisory Council summit to be held Saturday

Submitted by Wendy Harris on Thu, 11/01/2012 - 13:30 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

There has been a push from a coalition of community groups to spread School Advisory Councils (SACs) to more District schools. On Saturday, Nov. 3, community members will join SAC teams, parents, students, and others interested in serving on one of the councils for an SAC Summit.

Creighton: Exception to the Renaissance rule?

by Bill Hangley, Jr. Posted in Summer 2012 Edition | Permalink

For three of this year's four Renaissance Schools, the selection process is over. The public meetings are complete, the School Reform Commission has voted, and barring any unforeseen complication, next September they'll open as neighborhood charter schools.

But at Creighton Elementary in the Lower Northeast, supporters of a unique plan for a teacher-led administration are holding out hope that their school can buck a very big trend.

District releases Renaissance charter recommendations

Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 17:23 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

District staff members have recommended new managers for four recently designated Renaissance charter schools.

Their proposal, to be voted on Thursday night by the School Reform Commission, would award Mastery Charter the school it wanted, introduce two new providers to the District's aggressive school turnaround initiative, and overrule a vote by Creighton Elementary's School Advisory Council (SAC) to keep the school under District control.

The District recommends that:

Creighton be operated by Universal Companies,
H.R. Edmunds Elementary be operated by String Theory,
John Paul Jones Middle School be operated by American Paradigm,
Cleveland Elementary be operated by Mastery.

More schools to become Renaissance charters

by Benjamin Herold Posted in April 2012 Edition | Permalink

Undeterred by a bleak budget picture, District officials announced in February that four more low-performing traditional public schools will be converted to charters as part of the Renaissance Schools initiative.

As Renaissance match process gets underway, intrigue begins

Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 18:18 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks

In a new twist on the District’s process for converting low-performing schools to charters, six pre-approved turnaround teams have publicly declared at the outset of the Renaissance match process which schools they will – and will not – be competing to manage.

Two developments stand out:

Parents and community members at Jones Middle School in Kensington will have just two turnaround teams to choose between: American Paradigm, which has never before attempted a turnaround, and Mosaica Turnaround Partners, the lowest-rated among last year’s approved teams.

Mastery Charter, the city’s largest charter operator, will put all of its considerable resources into competing for just one school, Cleveland Elementary.

One Voice for teaching and learning and the next superintendent

Submitted by Samuel Reed III on Wed, 02/08/2012 - 19:24 | Permalink

One Voice, an alliance of parents, students, and teachers, is gathering a group to testify at the next School Reform Commission meeting on Monday. The next SRC meeting will be another strategy, policy, and priorities community discussion, and it will be focused on curriculum and career and college readiness. Wendell Pritchett, chair of the curriculum committee, will run the meeting with Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon.

One Voice plans to testify about how the budget crisis may be causing the District to overlook the importance of teaching and learning.

District crafts plans to expand School Advisory Councils

by Paul Jablow Posted in December 2011 Edition | Permalink

The School District is finalizing plans to expand and improve School Advisory Councils, with the aim of introducing them into additional schools and training members and school principals about their roles.

Philly's first SAC Summit draws hundreds

Submitted by thenotebook on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 15:55 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Paul Jablow

About 250 parents, community members, principals, teachers, and District officials braved an unusual fall snowstorm on Saturday to attend the first citywide summit on School Advisory Councils.

The "SAC Summit" at Benjamin Franklin High School was a key step in District plans to put functioning SACs in an increasing number of schools, perhaps close to half of those in the city.

Advisory councils proposed for lowest-performing schools

Submitted by thenotebook on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 14:14 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Paul Jablow

"We don't want to sacrifice sustainability for speed."

This will be the reasoning behind the newest plan to phase in School Advisory Councils in more schools in the District, according to the official charged with coordinating that effort.

Karren Dunkley, chief deputy of the District's Office of Parent, Family, Community Engagement and Faith-Based Partnerships, said on Monday that the District would soon develop a proposal to launch SACs in the 115 lowest-performing schools.

Some call for action on King report

Submitted by thenotebook on Fri, 09/23/2011 - 11:13 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Bill Hangley, Jr.

As Philadelphia digests the scathing report prepared for Mayor Michael Nutter on the political pressure surrounding Martin Luther King’s ill-fated charter, the question becomes what to do with the troubling findings?

The report, written by Nutter’s Chief Integrity Officer, Joan Markman, concluded that last spring, former School Reform Commission Chair Robert Archie helped state Rep. Dwight Evans mount a “sustained back-channel effort” to secure King’s charter, worth a possible $12 million a year, for Evans’ longtime associates at Foundations, Inc.