Math, Civics and Sciences charter board voted privately to close the school, violating the Sunshine Act

After listening to parents’ impassioned pleas to keep the school open, the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter board voted Thursday night to close the school after the 2023-24 year.

But the vote does not appear to be legal; it happened in executive session, after more than 50 parents, students and community members were told to leave the school. Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act stipulates that votes must be taken in public.

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

Veronica Joyner, founder of the 900-student school, announced last month the school would close 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.

Lewis Small, the school’s lawyer, told The Inquirer Friday that the vote, taken late Thursday night, was 3-2. He also said that Parents United for Better Schools, Joyner’s nonprofit, has already voted to sell the North Broad Street building.

Before members of the public were told to leave, MCSCS board president Lamar Waples and treasurer Spencer Hill both said they would vote against closure. Voting for dissolution were vice president Ronald Johnson and members Lisa Sawyer and Charles Witherspoon. Member Nyne Sellers was not present.

“I think it’s a valid vote, absolutely,” Small, the lawyer, said. “What would it matter if it happened in public or not? You don’t have any other choice right now.”

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

Peng Chao, the district’s chief of charter schools, disagrees.

“We have become aware that a majority of board members of the charter school may have decided last night, outside of a public meeting, to close the charter school,” Chao said. “If the charter school’s board takes a legal, official vote to close the school at a properly advertised public meeting, the School District will acknowledge the closure decision. Until then, the school district remains prepared to support families and students at any time with respect to school options.”

Members of the public gave the MCSCS board an earful at a free-form meeting before being ushered out Thursday night. Some simply praised Joyner, but others wept or shouted, visibly angry.

Zakiyyah Salahudin, parent of an MCSCS junior, said she couldn’t understand why Joyner’s departure had to mean closure. She suggested the school 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.

“The board of education did not revoke the charter,” Salahudin told the MCSCS board. “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.”

Small said it would not be possible for another charter organization or nonprofit to take over MCSCS, though there is precedent; the Mastery Charter organization took over Hardy Williams in 2011 and Frederick Douglass Charter School in 2015.

“Where are you going to find another building?” Small said. “Where are you going to find another person to finance it? Listen, I feel very bad about it. I love the school, too.”

Joyner — who had staff hand out thick pamphlets touting the “Veronica J. Joyner legacy,” with photos of MSCS graduates and lists of their accomplishments, as well as promoting the school’s high graduation rates — has said that no one can replace her, and that while she’s retiring, she’s not going to stop working. She’s going use her nonprofit to improve charter schools in Philadelphia and beyond, she said.

Joyner, 73, is hailed by supporters as being a hardworking administrator who gives her personal phone number to every parent and student.

Small emphasized that point Friday, and said that the board “pushed her into this” by offering MCSCS a one-year charter instead of the customary five-year charter after it found academic and operational deficiencies with the school.

“She’s just disgusted with the whole thing — I can tell you that the restrictions that they put onto the school and their desire to remove the school was profound,” Small said. “She’s going to fight them in a different way, and now she’s got plenty of money to do it.”

Small said Joyner would “fight” the board by strengthening other charter schools, which compete with traditional public schools for students, and by advocating for an elected school board. Philadelphia’s is the only school board in Pennsylvania that is appointed, not elected.

The charter office and school board have moved to close other charters, but did not do so with MCSCS.

Asked for comment Friday after the vote, Joyner directed a reporter to Small, but she addressed the issue at Thursday’s meeting.

“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 of the district, charter office and school board.

Salahudin, one of the parents who spoke out Thursday, lodged a formal objection to the board’s move to end the meeting to vote in secret. She said Friday she was exploring what recourse members of the public had, including legal options.