Two troubled city charters will have delayed school start dates, and one is eyed for immediate closing

The start of school will be delayed for two troubled West Philadelphia charter schools, and the Philadelphia school board has scheduled an emergency meeting Friday that could result in one school being closed immediately and the other closing at the end of the 2022-23 school year.

The dramatic developments happened Thursday morning, with Daroff and Bluford Charter Schools notifying parents via social media that classes “will not be starting school for students on Monday, Aug. 29, as previously planned. The start of the school year for both schools will be delayed. Children should not be dropped off at or should not be walking to these school locations during the week of Aug. 29 to Sept. 2.”

At the same time, the school board, which has oversight over all Philadelphia charters, made public notice of an emergency meeting that could result in Daroff closing immediately, with its students shifting to Bluford for this school year, and Bluford ultimately surrendering its charter at the end of the coming school year.

» READ MORE: School District has ‘serious concerns’ about two Philly charters

The board had publicly voiced “serious concerns” this month about the academics and operational integrity of Bluford and Daroff. The schools, as of last week, have no apparent management structure and double-digit teacher shortages. The board also raised red flags about safety.

Large numbers of staff had left the two schools.

The school district had also since reached out to Bluford and Daroff families stating the board’s concerns and encouraging them to enroll their children in other district schools, leaving many parents scrambling one week before school was scheduled to start.

According to board documents, Daroff will surrender its charter immediately, Bluford’s capacity limit will be raised to up to 700 students, and it will absorb all Daroff students whose families wish them to transfer to Bluford. But at the end of the school year, Bluford will give up its charter, too.

Bluford will revert back to the district on July 1, and the school board “reserves all rights to take immediate steps to revoke the Bluford Charter and order the closure of Bluford prior to June 30, 2023,” according to an agreement to be voted on by the school board Friday.

Both schools are former neighborhood district schools that after years of academic underperformance had been turned over to Universal Companies Inc. to manage as charters. But the schools’ shaky track record caused the board not to renew both schools’ charters in 2020. The Bluford board had been appealing that decision in court; a state panel upheld the Daroff nonrenewal this spring.

Following tension between the Bluford-Daroff board and Universal, the company ended its management agreement with the schools at the end of July.

A spokesperson for the combined Bluford-Daroff board said this weekend that some of the safety concerns cited by the district had to do with damage done to the building when Universal removed its property at the end of the contract. Universal representatives denied that charge unequivocally and said Bluford and Daroff staff watched their staff remove the company’s belongings, and cameras filmed the removal. No police reports were filed.

Representatives from Bluford and Daroff did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The Philadelphia school board is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Friday.