Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter board hears an earful from parents, fails to publicly vote on school’s closure

The Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School Board of Trustees broke its long silence on the school’s closure Thursday night — but it declined to vote publicly on whether the school will close, and did not say when it would do so.

Still, two of the six board members said they were against closure after listening to several parents and community members speak passionately about MCSCS, founded nearly 25 years ago by Philadelphia educator Veronica Joyner. It now educates 900 students in grades 1 through 12.

Joyner said in October she’s closing the school in June because she wants to retire, because no one can do the job she does, because the nonprofit that owns the school building — also run by her — wants to sell it, and because she feels disrespected by the Philadelphia School District’s charter schools office and its school board.

» READ MORE: Can a Philly charter close because its founder says so? Here’s what to know about Math, Civics and Sciences.

“I’ve heard over and over today that my school is a model,” said Joyner, whose staff handed out not board agendas but pamphlets explaining the “Veronica J. Joyner Legacy.” “Let me take that model out and try to help other schools.”

Joyner said the nonprofit, Parents United for Better Schools, needed the money from the sale of the building to execute on her vision to improve other schools in Philadelphia and beyond.

“If I’m going to help other schools, I will definitely need whatever is in this building to help other schools,” Joyner said. “Every school in Philadelphia should be having the same standards that I have here. Every school should be a good school.”

More than 50 parents, students and community members attended the board meeting, held in the North Broad Street school’s cafeteria. To a person, every speaker said that Joyner, who will be 74 next year, deserved to retire.

But most speakers said they couldn’t understand why the school had to close just because Joyner wants to leave.

Rayanna Tomlin, mother of an MCSCS fifth grader, said she was baffled by the lack of succession planning.

“If Joe Biden died right now, we know who the president is going to be,” Tomlin said. “Nobody on this Earth is greater than God. You have an amazing staff, and I think it’s selfish the way that you’re just going to let your legacy die because you’re retiring.”

The 90-minute-long meeting drew strong emotions.

Melissa Thompson wiped away tears, and said her daughter cries at night because she doesn’t want to go to a new school.

“She came from public school, and she didn’t like it,” said Thompson, who addressed the board directly. “Please, I beg you. I’m praying that you don’t do this to these kids. It’s bigger than Ms. Joyner.”

Zakiyyah Salahudin, parent of an MCSCS 11th grader, thanked Joyner for her service, but was incredulous that her planned departure would mean closure.

“The board of education did not revoke the charter,” Salahudin said. “Why should the school give up a valuable charter, displacing over 1,000 students and dedicated staff? There are many successful and qualified men and women across this city who could do this job.”

Salahudin, a former board member of the now-closed Eastern University Academy Charter School, said that MCSCS should take the district’s proffered one-year charter, then form a committee to work with the charter schools office to resolve academic and compliance issues.

Cayla Waddington, an MCSCS senior, couldn’t attend the meeting because she was in Chicago, attending a mock trial competition with her classmates. But she called into the meeting to make her voice heard.

Joyner, Waddington said, “should not take everything that we have built from us because she wants to retire now. I really want our school to stay open. I hope that our board votes to keep it open, and grant us a new chief administrative officer and try to find us another building.”

Some speakers stepped to the microphone solely to praise Joyner, not to question her decision. Olufemi Fadeyibi, a former school principal who first met Joyner as a student decades ago, said seeing Joyner “deal with students transforms the character and the nature and the confidence of students.”

“I wish you well,” Fadeyibi said. “I pray for you, and for the gravity of this decision.”

Charter schools are public institutions — supported with taxpayer money, run by independent boards but in Pennsylvania authorized by local school districts. The Philadelphia school system has not indicated it wants MCSCS to close — in fact, it offered the one-year renewal. (Typical charter renewals are five years, but Philadelphia’s charter office said it found the school had academic and operational deficiencies.)

That clearly rankled Joyner, who earlier told The Inquirer that her board had agreed with the closure, but couldn’t say when it had voted.

“To me, it was an insult that after 54 years of working and 25 years making this school the top school that I get offered a one-year charter, and my scores are higher than their scores? When my scores are higher, I should be evaluating them,” Joyner said.

Reginald Streater, Philadelphia’s school board president, said in a statement that he respected Joyner’s “commitment and mission to engage in the hallowed duty of educating children. For that, she deserves her flowers from all of those who admire her works. That said, let’s not make this about any one individual,” Streater said; instead, it’s about children, the school, and academic achievement.

Thursday night’s meeting had no public agenda or formal board structure.

Joyner first spoke, followed by a speech from Lewis Small, the school’s attorney, who criticized the district’s charter office as “conflicted and biased against charter schools.”

After speakers were heard, board president Lamar Waples indicated he was not in favor of closure.

“I’m an advocate for the school staying open,” said Waples, an MCSCS graduate. “I do not want the school to close. But I’m only one person, only one vote.”

Spencer Hill, the board treasurer, said the parents’ clear wish to have the school open weighed on him. He didn’t know what was going to happen with the charter, Hill said, “but if we vote to keep this school open, and I will, I’ll be along for the ride. I’m willing to try.”

Board secretary Lisa Sawyer told the audience the board “heard you loud and clear,” but did not indicate which way she would vote.

No other board member spoke. When officials indicated the meeting was over, a cry went up from the audience; the board had publicized that it would vote after the hearing, but said it was going into executive session and that members of the public had to leave.

Salahudin said she wanted to file a formal objection; votes must take place in public, under the state Sunshine Act.

“They just said the meeting is over, and so the meeting is over,” said William Jacobs, the school’s head of maintenance and Joyner’s brother. “I’m saying that we’re closing the building. The meeting is over.”

Audience members asked when the board would decide. No answers were forthcoming.