Black charter coalition, supporters blast Philly school board, calling it ‘downright funky stinkin’ rotten to the core’

A coalition of Black charter school operators and their supporters came out swinging Tuesday, saying the Philadelphia school board was “corrupt,” calling for replacement of most of its members, and objecting in strong terms to its handling of an independent report on whether the board and its charter office are biased against them.

“We need to look at President Reginald Streater and the school board and we need to say to them: ‘You are wrong,’” Larry Jones, CEO of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School in Southwest Philadelphia and member of the African American Charter School Coalition, said during a news conference in Harrisburg Tuesday.

The AACSC said it represents 18 Black-led charter schools. Citywide, there are 83 charters.

Despite the report’s findings of “inherent conflicts of interest” between the district and the charter schools it authorizes, “unique challenges” faced by Black-led charters, and lack of training for district staff on implicit bias and antiracism, Jones said that Streater and the school board “decided to manipulate that and boil it down to one phrase” — no “overt racism.”

Jones said he would not call Streater a racist, but “if I find bias and racist policies and you go out of your way every day to defend that, you’re the closest thing to it that I can ever think of.”

He accused Streater of “hiding information” and called on Philadelphia’s next mayor — likely Cherelle Parker, the Democratic nominee — to “nonrenew that school board right now.” The mayor chooses the nine members of the school board; he or she is free to choose from among current members or pick new ones. All must then be confirmed by City Council.

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams used stronger language in castigating the board, saying it was “downright funky stinkin’ rotten to the core. Corrupt.”

Williams, a longtime charter advocate, called Streater out personally, saying Streater was acting “like he’s Mr. Black man of America,” then harming Black children with his actions.

Streater, in a statement, said he would “not address the attempts to slur my reputation and my Blackness by other Black folks, or the factual misrepresentations” but said that “my record in life, professionally and via service to my community, speaks for itself” — adding that serving on the school board requires absorbing “wrongheaded” attacks on behalf of “Black, and all other students” in the city.

He said the report stands on its own, as do the reasons why some Black-led charters have closed.

“Let’s stop the name calling, let’s be passionate and pragmatic, let’s do it from a student-centered paradigm, and let’s focus on the facts. Our children deserve it. Our city deserves it,” Streater said.

Mayor Jim Kenney affirmed his support for Streater and the board through Sarah Peterson, a spokesperson.

The board faces many difficult questions and is tasked with the incredible responsibility of moving Philadelphia schools forward after generations of disinvestment,” Peterson said in a statement. “Our administration is grateful for their leadership and service. Mayor Kenney is confident in the board’s judgment and commitment to the success of all students, and in President Streater’s leadership.”

The report, released Oct. 6, was commissioned by the school board in December 2021 in response to complaints raised by the coalition about the disproportionate closure and rejection of minority-led charter schools. While charters operate independently, they are publicly funded and authorized by local school districts.

Between 2010 and 2021, eight of the 13 schools the district moved to not renew or revoke were Black-led, according to the report by the Ballard Spahr law firm, which called on the district to press for changes to the charter law to address “the inherent conflicts of interest present in a system in which the same entity serves as the charter school authorizer/evaluator/funder, and a competitor to charter schools.”

Among other recommendations, the report also suggested the board separate its charter schools office into two separate offices, one that handles charter-school authorizing and another that handles charter support.

The interim chief of the district’s charter office, Peng Chao, was appointed permanent chief by the board on Oct. 12, following the report’s release.

Both Williams and Jones also took issue with that promotion — with Jones calling it tantamount to appointing an abuser to monitor his victims.

“You’re getting your butt out of there,” Williams said to Chao, who was not at the news conference. “I’m not saying that as a threat, I’m saying it as a promise.”

In a statement earlier this month, Streater said Chao’s promotion “is the culmination of his continued commitment to leadership focused on steering the [charter office] to be the ever-evolving partner, resource and dependable professional office that it aspires to be under what has been a challenging environment, including, but not limited to, the pandemic.”

The charter coalition has an ally in school board member Lisa Salley, who in a post on her personal Facebook page, encouraged public education supporters and charter families “to demand new leadership and restructuring of the charter school office. We must ensure zero tolerance for racially motivated or unintentional biased actions.”

Salley also apologized for the board’s characterization of the report and the way it was released, on a Friday afternoon with little time for advocates and the public to absorb the nearly 200 pages of fact-finding. Salley also said after scrutinizing the report, she found it “does not specifically rule racism in nor out.”

Coalition leaders planned to meet with lawmakers at the conclusion of their news conference Tuesday.

“The authorizing system is broken in Philadelphia, and we can no longer rely on the people who created the problems to fix them,” said Dawn Chavous, a charter parent and spokesperson for the coalition.

Williams said he believes “every Philadelphia legislator should be on fire with this report,” and encouraged charter supporters to be forceful, as well.

“When you all go in there, you need to light them up,” Williams said. “Why are you waiting to get involved in this conversation? I wanted chairs flying around, voices rising, I want to hear all that stuff.”