Stories tagged: Universal Companies
District promises to get tough with new Renaissance charter operators
Submitted by thenotebook on Tue, 04/02/2013 - 18:24 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner
The Philadelphia School District is vowing to take a hard line on two issues that have caused confusion when charter operators take over traditional public schools: special education and facilities costs.
Even as the District tries to convert three more of its schools into charters, officials and parents alike are wading through confusion over “exceptions” that past administrations granted to outside managers in previous years of the District’s Renaissance school turnaround initiative.
Renaissance charters meet neighborhood enrollment targets except for Universal
Submitted by thenotebook on Mon, 01/28/2013 - 19:19 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner
Philadelphia's independent Renaissance school operators are bringing families back to struggling neighborhood public schools that they have "turned around" -- with one notable exception.
District hosts open houses for Regional Talent Centers
Submitted by thenotebook on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 12:51 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
By Kofi Biney
When you first walk into Universal Audenried Charter High School, you are greeted by banners displaying various positive messages, such as “My future begins here,” “I help others succeed,” and “I will overcome.”
Audenried isn't just promoting this can-do attitude through its banners, but as the location of the South Philadelphia Regional Talent Center.
'Persistently dangerous' schools down in District; Mastery touts Gratz progress
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 15:39 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
Briana Jackson said her life changed when Mastery Charter took over Gratz High School a year ago.
The self-described former troublemaker, now a senior, said that the transformation isn't yet complete; she still gets detentions now and then. But the person who was regularly suspended has turned into a serious student, athlete and student-government member with her sights set on attending Howard University and becoming a nurse.
Partnership has raised more than $50 million to give to 'great' schools
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Thu, 08/23/2012 - 22:45 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
The two-year-old Philadelphia School Partnership, at the center of the city's strategy to support "great" schools regardless of who runs them, announced Thursday that it was more than halfway to its goal of raising $100 million from area foundations, corporations and individuals.
At a press conference attended by Mayor Nutter and School Reform Commission Chairman Pedro Ramos, PSP executive director Michael Gleason said that his group has commitments for $51.9 million.
$1.8 million: District price tag at Audenried and Vare this year
Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Mon, 06/04/2012 - 17:54 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks
The District is paying an estimated total of $1,776,832 to completely subsidize the facilities costs of charter operator Universal Companies in two District-owned buildings this school year.
The costs cover 14 District staffers across the two buildings, including three building engineers, four custodial assistants, and seven general cleaners. Services being provided free of charge by the District this year also include utilities, trash pickup, and cleaning and building engineer supplies.
On Friday, after months of delay, District officials announced they had reached a resolution with Universal on a long-standing dispute about facilities license agreements at the two South Philadelphia schools, which were both awarded to Universal last year as part of the District’s Renaissance Schools initiative.
Universal gets go-ahead to run Creighton
Submitted by Paul Socolar on Fri, 06/01/2012 - 18:06 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
[Updated, 9:30 p.m.] After hearing passionate testimony Friday afternoon for two competing proposals to overhaul Creighton Elementary School in the Lower Northeast, the School Reform Commission came down on the side of Universal Companies. They voted 4-0 in favor of the recommendation by School District staff to authorize Universal to submit a proposal to manage the school as a charter starting in the fall.
District rejects Creighton teachers’ proposal
Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 12:06 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks
District officials have shot down an effort by teachers at Creighton Elementary to stave off charter conversion and lead their own school turnaround effort.
A teacher-led proposal calling for a council of teachers and community members to assume control of the school “does not provide sufficient evidence of the…ability to implement, manage, and sustain a large-scale school turnaround at Creighton,” wrote Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon in a memo dated May 29.
Romney gets some hard questions at Universal-Bluford; Nutter protests
Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 16:01 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney visited Universal-Bluford Charter School Thursday morning, a day after he made a major speech outlining his education platform before a conservative Latino group.
Local and national political coverage of the Philadelphia visit highlighted how some Universal teachers challenged him for saying that class size doesn't matter. Mayor Nutter drew a crowd outside and gave Romney a hard time.
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.
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