2 Phila. schools appeal loss of charters

Two Philadelphia charter schools have appealed to the state charter-appeals board in Harrisburg decisions by the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to not renew their operating charters.

Germantown Settlement Charter School filed its appeal Thursday. Renaissance Charter School in Mount Airy submitted its the next day, Michael Race, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said yesterday.

The board will assign a hearing officer within 30 days of accepting the appeals and will schedule hearings.

Officials at both troubled charter schools had vowed to appeal the SRC's unanimous decisions Oct. 15 not to renew their five-year operating charters. Both schools opened in 1999 and had their charters renewed in 2003.

It was the first time since the first charters opened in Philadelphia in 1997 that a school's operating charter was not renewed following hearings.

Both charter schools will remain open during the appeals process, Barbara Farley, a district spokeswoman, said.

The SRC in April took initial steps toward closing the schools. Hearings were held during the summer.

Based on the documents presented and testimony given during the hearings, the five-member commission said Germantown Settlement Charter School should be closed because it had failed to abide by the conditions of its charter; was plagued by fiscal mismanagement; had a history of poor academic performance; and failed to meet the state requirements that charters submit timely annual reports and have at least 75 percent of teachers certified.

Renaissance was cited for poor fiscal management; failing to submit required annual financial audits; having a history of low student test scores; failing to meet the state law that requires charters to have at least 75 percent of teachers certified; and failing to focus on science, technology and the arts as promised in its charter.

Germantown Settlement has 456 fifth through eighth graders. Renaissance has 212 students in sixth through eighth grade.

The schools' attorneys could not be reached for comment.

The Philadelphia School District's inspector general and the U.S. Attorney's Office have launched investigations of Germantown Settlement Charter School to determine whether some of the $31 million in taxpayer funds the school received over nine years was diverted to prop up other nonprofits operated by its parent group, Germantown Settlement.

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