Bell-ringing ceremony at AMY Northwest

Posted in October 2012 Edition | Permalink

The District’s annual bell-ringing ceremony for the first day of school took place this year at AMY Northwest Middle School. On hand to participate were (from left) the mayor’s Chief Education Officer Lori Shorr, School Reform Commission Chair Pedro Ramos, AMY Northwest principal Marco Zanoni, Superintendent William Hite, Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon, and AMY Northwest 7th grader Benjamin Frazier (in front). The ceremony marked the first day for AMY students at their new Roxborough site.

CAO Penny Nixon to take year leave Nov. 1

Submitted by Paul Socolar on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 21:02 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

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Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon will be taking a one-year sabbatical from the School District starting Nov. 1. Nixon had been the second-ranking District official and top instructional leader until the recent appointment of Paul Kihn as deputy superintendent.

District, Mastery reach agreement on serving disabled students at Clymer Elementary

Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 21:52 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

Updated, 7:55 p.m.

by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks
 

The School District of Philadelphia and its largest charter school turnaround operator have agreed on the outlines of a deal that will prevent the relocation of 12 severely disabled children from one of the city’s Renaissance charters.

The deal avoids a potentially traumatic move for students in two Multiple Disabilities Support (MDS) classrooms at Mastery Charter Clymer Elementary in North Philadelphia. It also allays, at least for now, the concerns of disabilities rights advocates that the District had established a precedent for exempting charters from their responsibility to educate some of the city’s most vulnerable – and expensive to serve – students.

“I think we came up with a really positive solution,” said Courtney Collins-Shapiro, deputy chief innovation officer at Mastery Charter Schools. 

“I think this is a good sign of the District and charters partnering.”

Listen to Benjamin Herold's report for NewsWorks Tonight

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.