Every other location. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Every other location. Why is this being treated -- I don't understand, why does this Philadelphia School District think it is above the law and it is unique? I don't understand that. I don't understand, if every other school district, if every other school district is adhering to what the Department of Education is stating, I don't understand with whatever you just expressed, why do you think you are above it? I don't understand that.
We certainly do not think we are above the law. We do think that we have a right to express our view of what is an appropriate interpretation of state law. And if it becomes necessary for a court to determine what that interpretation is, then that's the way that the Democratic system provides 159 RESOLUTION 980766 for people to have issues of law determined. And we cannot speculate or make a judgment as to why other school districts have responded to this issue in the way that they have. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: I guess this would be my last comment, Madam Chairperson. I apologize, because I don't want to be argumentative with anyone. Obviously this will be solved in court. And I personally think it is a mistake from a perception standpoint. Now, you may argue from a legal standpoint. And you and Clay seem to be very intelligent and adept attorneys, and that's great. But you are going to lose from a perception standpoint. Because my observation is that if 500 other school districts are addressing this particular issue because of common practice in some way, I think it is a mistake. I am just giving you my opinion. I am no lawyer. I am giving the perception of the John and Jane Q. Citizen.
We appreciate your opinion. 160 RESOLUTION 980766 CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Madam, members of the panel, we will hear these last two questions from Councilman Cohen and State Representative Horsey. And then we will bring up Michael Carp and Panel 3 and ask that you stand by, because we are not done. Just as in the case of Superintendent Hornbeck, we don't want to lose an important panel member.
Chairwoman, we all can't stay here this afternoon. We have some other obligations that we have to address. So we will try to stay as long as we can and have someone here throughout this session. But we all cannot stay for the duration of the afternoon. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Certainly. We all have other obligations, too. Please work with us. Now, we excused the Superintendent, but we will ask that you work with us. We all have other obligations. REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: Madam 161 RESOLUTION 980766 Chairperson, I just have one observation to make just one quick one, and that is, you have not answered my question. My question is, why hasn't the Philadelphia School District developed a process, a plan, a plan, for transportation of charter school kids? You have not. You just said you have gone to court. You just said there is nothing in the provision. But the Philadelphia School District hasn't developed a plan for charter school children. I mean, the state will mandate one, if that's what you're interested in. But why hasn't the Philadelphia School District done that? (Applause.) CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: With that, we are going to hold up, our stenographer has to change. So we will take a break for a few minutes to allow that time. (Short recess.) - - - 162 RESOLUTION #980766 CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Last question for 3.
Thank you, Madam Chair. If I were sitting at the desk at the table where the school district representatives are and I were asked the question that Representative Evans asked, I think I would want to be able to say "we treat the charter students the same as we treat the public school students," and I'm mystified that I'm not hearing that. And I hear a lot of other things that I have great difficulty understanding, "we're in court, we can't talk," all of which from a public point of view is not healthy conversation. Why can't you say "We treat charter students just like all other public school students."
Thank you, Councilman Cohen. I'm sorry, I thought I did say that, that we provide transportation to the charter schools on the same basis that we provide transportation to our own students. If they're special ed students whose IEP requires that they have transportation, they get transportation.
All right. Thank you 163 RESOLUTION #980766 for that answer. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: We'll ask you to stand by. Panel 3. Thank you. We know we're rushing everybody and we know we're holding up everybody at the same time. Everybody's testifying does not have a schedule, and we're sorry to rush everybody. I will read Panel 3 names: Charter school representatives, Ms. Gail Hawkins Bush, Alliance Charter School; Ms. Madeline Shikomba, Center for Economics & Law Charter School; Mr. Hector Bonilla, Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community Bilingual Charter School; Mr. Michael Carp, who has to leave, Family Charter School, so we're asking him to come up immediately and make his presentation; Dr. Vuong Thuy, Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School; Dr. Phil Esbrandt, Drexel University/Foundations Technical Assistance Center for Public Charter Schools; and Dr. Gail Meister, Drexel University/Foundations Technical Assistance Center for Public Charter Schools; West Oak Lane Charter School; and also Ms. Christine Wiggins Imhotep Charter School. 164 RESOLUTION #980766 Michael Carp, would you make your presentation first? Would somebody pass him a mike because he has to leave. I promised him this morning, and we want to allow him to make that presentation and then we will continue. Thank you very much. We will not call on Mr. Michael Carp, Family Charter School to make his statement.
Thank you very much, Councilwoman Blackwell, and thank you everybody who is with you today. I just wanted to say that our charter school, which is Family Charter School, has dedicated itself to serving the children in the Mantua Section primarily who we felt had the most needs. We actually went to the local elementary school and we asked the principal to identify for us the children who are in the pre-K and the K program in her school who had the most needs and needed the most help. We went to the public housing development, we went to the Scattered Site Housing Office, and we asked all these people which children are most at risk, which children have the most needs, We'd like to work with them and give them a very humanistic approach and a very intensive approach to help them and work with their families. 165 RESOLUTION #980766 We view it as a whole family program. I think what you'll find, if I divert just for one for second, among all the charter schools that you've seen here and from my experience in speaking to all the charter school people, every charter school is special in that it is really, truly committed to a section of the community which is identified. Some work with older children, some work with younger children, they're all different ranges. But what you will find consistently is the charter school groups have said we have a group of people who are not well served by the system as it is and we want to put our hearts and our soul in to dedicating ourselves to giving a better life to these children. And it's that compassion, that sense of commitment which translates through the whole school. That's really -- to explain to everybody, that's I think the most important single thing that makes these schools work. It's that human element that the leadership in that school and the staff together with the leadership have really imbued into the students. In our school, I say our most singular attribute is we view it that every child that's in 166 RESOLUTION #980766 our school, every child, we take a personal emotional commitment that we want that child to succeed. We take the view that every child has a right to have a decent life, that every child has a right to be loved, every child has a right to go forward into their life with some kind of strong, good self-image, and not just educational piece, but also the sense that someone loves that child, that someone cares about that child, and that child can grow up in an emotionally healthy atmosphere. We, in fact, doubled the number of people in each classroom after the first week because we saw the devastation that many of these children felt. We have 14 children in a classroom. After the first week, we had an aide in every classroom besides the teacher because we saw that children needed that extra nurturing. But that's typical of the kind of feeling that the charter school folks often have. They really want to reach out and help the children. In our school, again, we are seeing that by early on putting in the effort to working with the children, being patient, and especially working with each parent. I'll give you an example of a 167 RESOLUTION #980766 couple of things we do that are a little bit different. We start off with attendance. By the way, our school has children, mostly kindergarten and 1st grade. We have one combined class of 2nd and 3rd grade. In every year we will add on another grade. As the kids get older, we'll move on. But we start off with attendance. We want every kid to be in school every day. When we have parents who don't deliver the kids to the school, we call up immediately. When no one's answering the phone, when the mother is sleeping, when there's a problem getting the child to school, we go to the home, we pick up the kid, and we bring that child to the school. " We extend that to working with parents. We require the parents to drop off the child into the school building, not just the kid walks over.
We expect the parent to drop the child off every morning and pick the child up inside the school building every afternoon. We're able to have contact almost every day where necessary with the parent. Where the parent doesn't bring the child and someone else does, we will contact the parent on 168 RESOLUTION #980766 the telephone in the afternoon, in the evening, we will follow through to speak to the parent. But again, our focus is -- and we do have parenting programs, but the focus is having everybody have a strong personal commitment to helping that child to do well. And that's what we feel is necessary for children. And I will tell you, we have seen in the last three months -- we've already been in operation three months -- a truly dramatic improvement with many children who being at the beginning of the school year we thought maybe would not be able to work out very well, would need a lot of special assistance, would need a lot of individualized learning programs. And we've seen by having a lot of compassionate understanding with the child, there's been a big different. By the way, another thing is different from a lot of other schools, we never send a child home from school for discipline. When a child does not act well in school, we have found the child has to be worked with and talked to. But for us, saying to a child, "you misbehaved, you're being suspended," this does not help the child. This teaches the child that if you want to get out of 169 RESOLUTION #980766 going to school, just misbehave and they'll reward you by sending you home. But again, this is all part of the that compassion and dedication to the child that we have found to be successful. It's not easy, but that's why charter schools, hopefully, will get more public support because of the dedication that all of us in the movement have to truly focusing on the child. That's our basic thing. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Let me say that this school is in my area. It's located in Mantua. This school has a lot of parents who are fourth generation folks who receive assistance. It's in the same area as McMichael Public School where we a kid, a youngster named Tylon Kyler (ph) to meningitis I guess about a year and a half ago and with whom many of the parents -- these are like fourth generation kids who've come from broken homes and who've had a very, very difficulty time. " And what Michael Carp is bringing to 170 RESOLUTION #980766 treat a whole family, he calls it Family Charter School, to double the adults who are in the classroom, to try to reach out to make sure a whole family eats, to try to really, really take on people at the bottom rung of the ladder and to seriously be involved with them is a 24-hour-a-day job. And all that it entails, going to homes, interacting with these families in this community really, really are he absolutely deserves to be commended, and we personally and certainly this committee and all of us owe you a sincere debt of thanks for what you're doing. We thank you. Thank you for being here.
Thank you very much, Jannie. (Applause.) CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Gail, you can introduce yourself and then proceed with your testimony. Thank you.
I want to thank you very much for having this hearing today. I think it's been both worthwhile for the school district as well as for the charter school movement. I'm Gail Hawkins Bush, and I am the chief operating administrator and director of the Alliance for Progress Charter School, which is 171 RESOLUTION #980766 currently located in a temporary facility on North Broad Street, but as of January 1, we will be located 18th and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. We are founded by Women's Christian Alliance, which is the oldest social service agency in North Philadelphia. It's over 80 years. It was started by a black female doctor, Dr. Coppen to foster programs for foster children and specialized social services. We are from K to 3. We have three Kindergartens, two 1st grades, two 2nd grades, and one 3rd grade. We are open from 7:00 in the morning until 6 o'clock at night. We are a 11-month school with a total wrap-around services. I'm very lucky this afternoon to have several parents from the Alliance for Progress Charter School. I ask that they raise their hands. Some of them were here earlier, as well as our parental engagement coordinator Jacklyn Winston who works hand in hand with our parents. We believe very firmly that young people in particular this age need to be steeped in standards, computer technology, as well as foreign languages. We teach two foreign languages from the kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. We are very 172 RESOLUTION #980766 much meeting a need in our community because of the influx of lots of housing development, and we are fortunately located across from a local public school and we're providing a need because of our class size. We are class size in all our 7 classes. We originally were going with two 8 kindergartens, and we found the need was so great 9 that we decided to open a third kindergarten. 10 We are very much involved in the 11 partnership between the parent and student as well 12 as the school. And so we work very, very closely 13 with the parents. We have embarked on some very 14 creative endeavors. We're getting ready to launch 15 what we call the observation card which will be like 16 the said report card but it will have a joint 17 feedback from the teacher as well as the parent so 18 that we can work very collaboratively together with 19 our students. 20 Because we are fortunate enough to be 21 founded by Women's Christian Alliance, we can offer 22 the kind of intimate social services designed to make families whole in that particular North Philadelphia area. We are very excited about our new 173 RESOLUTION #980766 facility, and we will moving in our new facility as of January to start the new student year. Our parent participation is overwhelming. We get more parents out than I've seen in other endeavors that I have been involved in in education in Philadelphia. And you all know that I come from a long history of both higher education as well as being a consultant to many educational agencies here in Philadelphia. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Questions?
Our anticipated capacity eventually will be almost 300 students.
Do you plan to maintain primary grades or are you going to go up through the middle grades?
We are looking to going up to 174 RESOLUTION #980766 middle grades. That is our future goal. At this point, we'll take the third grade to the fourth grade, the fourth grade to the fifth grade, and we're chartered to the sixth grade. We are very -- the board at Women's Christian Alliance realizes there's a great need for additional forms of education in our particular area. So they would like us to consider going up to the eighth grade or perhaps even into high school once we reach that plateau.
But your plan as you're presently structured is K through 12 --
Right. Or two grades, depending on the need. But we find that in your our particular area, as you know, Councilwoman Clark, there is a great need for the earlier services such as kindergarten and comprehensive kindergarten care. As I said to you before, we are from 7:00 in the morning until 6 o'clock at night. We have a full breakfast program and lunch program, and we provide both before-school and after-school care. 175 RESOLUTION #980766 We're also an 11-month school, which is a very different kind of concept.
You said that, I wasn't quite sure what I that means. What does an 11-month school do and how does it compare to a or 7 a 10-month school. 8
Well, we will keep our 9 students involved in an educational process practically up until the end of July 30th, and then August, everybody needs a vacation, August will be a free month both for the teachers as well as the students. But we will engage them in, to coin another person's phrase, edutainment during the summer that will then grasp the concepts that they've learned for the full year. So education will be an ongoing process.
So your kids don't go to school from September until June?
No, they'll go from September until July. We started September 13th. We opened a week later, but they will go from September to July. We also -- other than just the normal holidays, presentation as we call them, the Christmas holidays and Thanksgiving, our school day 176 RESOLUTION #980766 is longer and we attend school longer. Our school year is longer.
How do you do with respect to holidays? Is the holiday schedule the same as the Philadelphia School District schedule?
We don't have some religious holidays off, and we're not off on certain major holidays that we feel that it's important for our students to be involved in school. As you know, our community is steeped in latch-key kids, and so for us, having our particular student population with us is much more of a benefit kind of educational experience than it would be for them to be at home.
May I? Just to pursue that further, do you do this within the funding the school district provides?
Not at this point, other than supplementary grants that we're all entitled to and are expected to apply for.
Well, I don't 177 RESOLUTION #980766 understand how you manage the longer school year and the longer school day.
Yes. We have a before-school program and an after-school program. We have teachers that we've contracted from September to July 30th.
Yes, they do. And they get professional development. They're contracted -- by contract, they are required to attend professional development sessions once a month. We have teacher meetings every two weeks. We're very steeped because we have some collaborative relationships with some of our universities in our area.
What percentage of your teachers are certified by the State?
In other words, would 178 RESOLUTION #980766 you meet the regular requirement?
Yes, we meet -- we just went through a very intensive evaluation from the State. We all did. And ours was very successful. We had a very fair and just evaluation.
Gail, just let me be clear. You have teachers who come to work at 7 o'clock in the morning?
No, no, no. I'm sorry. Our teachers start at 8:30. I don't want to mislead you. We have a before-school program. That is, we have part-time people that work in that before-school program. We have one of our teachers, though, who operates and administers the after-school program that starts from 3:00 to 6:00.
At the same rate as a person who works from 8:30 -- 179 RESOLUTION #980766
No. Her teaching salary is contracted through the Alliance for Progress Charter School. Her after school component which is connected to the Freedom School is contracted through Women's Christian Alliance.
I just want to be clear that as wonderful as your staff is, and I know some of them and I know them to be wonderful and I know the work that you're doing, they do regularly work a fairly standard school day.
And an elongated school day actually is a before-school program and a after-school program?
Managed by professional teachers as well as part-time people in the before-day and part-time people in the after-school program?
And you do this to accommodate working parents whose schedules require them to drop their children off and still get to work on time and get home from work without breaking 180 RESOLUTION #980766 speed laws in the evening.
Okay. What has been the acceptance of this program? How old are you?
I was going to say, wait a minute, Councilwoman Clark. Can we talk here? Is this a matter of record? And we know each other well. I'll let Dwight deal with that. Is that on the Scrabble board or what? (Laughter.)
All right. I thank you very much. I wanted to ask those questions to clarify the record. Thank you, Madam Chair.
My name is Chris 181 RESOLUTION #980766 Thomas Wiggins. I am the principal of Imhotep Institute Charter High School. Imhotep is I-m-h-o-t-e-p. And we are a math, science, and technology twilight school. Right now we are at 7500 Germantown Avenue, and soon we'll moving to 21st and Godfrey in the community that is known as West Oak Lane Germantown area. We service, as many of our schools do, high school students. And I wanted to correct the record. I heard the School District say that most of the charter schools were elementary. There are charter schools, eight of 13 them service middle and high school children. So I think that math teaches me that there are more serving middle and high school students in this City addressing the needs of middle and high school children. Our school day is 12:30 to 6:00. We have a before-school program that has the students going to places of work or across this community being involved in education, and they are all required to do service learning in before-school program, and we are multi-site. Once a week, like today, there are 50 students at the African-American Museum. There are students that go to Arbory for science. There are students that will be going to Freedom Theater. 182 RESOLUTION #980766 They go to the libraries, but it is part of their actual school day to travel once a week and learn from around the City of Philadelphia and use those resources that are available to them. I wanted to make note that my colleagues all are concerned in talking to you about children families, parents, community, education, teaching and learning and realize that some of our challenges come from the issues of School District of Philadelphia who basically had lawyers and accountants talking about issues. And we basically are dealing with how we can address the needs of children in this City. So most of us came up with an idea that met the needs of children and families in this City. I am a School District of Philadelphia child. I went School District of Philadelphia schools. I had all of my children to attend School District of Philadelphia schools and I am the child of two administrators from School District of Philadelphia. So I have a strong love for public education. My only reason for opening a charter school is realizing that there were needs of a lot of parents and children that were not being met in 183 RESOLUTION #980766 our traditional public schools. And I also know when we talked about school reform, as a former teaching and learning network facilitator trying to go into the classrooms and work with school reform where doors were shut and people were told not to go in deal with change in the Martin Luther King cluster, not being allowed to work with teachers for the benefit of children, that charter schools came about because many of us wanted to do that after school reform and make it happen now. As a parent of a child that was in the top 10 percent, but yet when she went to the college was said that she was a remedial reader, I was concerned because I totally supported public education and thought that sending my child to public school was the best thing I could do for her. And then sitting there and having college professors say that this child did not have writing skills or research skills to do a research paper because in the traditional schools it is not mandatory to do a research paper until grade 11 or 12. And yet and still colleges and university want our young people to be able to do research and to write very well they need to start it in elementary school. So 184 RESOLUTION #980766 we're not trying to have an adversarial relationship with any system, we're just trying to do what's best for children and address the needs of our parents. Generally, I know that in working with all of the directors, I see a completely different environment than when I went to cluster meetings or meetings with administrators that were only dealing with my school or my building or my environment.
Everyone comes together to see how we can support each other and help the children in this community. The equity issue is a big issue especially because as community-based organizations, we need support to make sure all of our children get the same things as a child in the School District of Philadelphia. A charter school cannot write a $38 million check to go and build a building for their school. They must find a way in that same basic operating budget which should be just for the program, to not only build a school, pay the salary, have a after-school, before-school program, have any other extra program, everything has to come out that operating budget. And quite often, it is a challenge because it is moved by the community. We just need to make sure that the School District of 185 RESOLUTION #980766 Philadelphia, the City and all see us as public school and that our children get what is fair and equitable and free public education since that's what our parents in community asked for.
Good afternoon. I have a question for Gail, and I guess Christine can also respond. This is regarding the equity issue. I met with Christine and a few of her staff on Friday, and Yvonne Epps and I were having a discussion about the communication school. And, Gail, you're building a new school. And in your testimony you said that there's a collaboration that you have with several universities. I don't want to get into all the details or don't really want to know a whole lot, but how can you do a new school and -- is it because of some outside fund-raising?
No. Our school, as you know, and perhaps I didn't make that clear, we are founded by Women's Christian Alliance. Woman's Christian Alliance is, as you know, one of the oldest social 186 RESOLUTION #980766 service agencies in North Philadelphia; it's over 80 years old. And our school -- and when we say we're building a new school, we have to make that real clear. Yes, it is a new facility, but it is a modular facility which makes a big difference in building construction, as you are aware of. Because we were founded by Women's Christian Alliance, Women's Christian Alliance then decided that in order to bring this to fruition that they would lease a building for our particular use as a school. And we've had some angst because we have not been able to get into that building. We will be moving in that building very shortly. And so we had to seek other options for space such as the Y and the OIC Human Service building. Our collaboration with the local universities is not in dollars. It is in kind, professional development. My personal relationship, I am, as you know, a full-time ABD student at Temple, and I was lucky enough to have some working relationship with the School of Ed. So we formed those partnerships that way, but not with dollars. And I have to make that real clear. Of course, you know this, Donna, that the -- Councilwoman Miller, excuse me. The charter school 187 RESOLUTION #980766 law does not allow us to buy any kind of facility. We have to renovate within certain specifications and certain rules and regulations. So WCA which is our founding agency, and that's very important, under the leadership of Marilyn Rivers decided to deal with this because of the need of their particular survey in the community, and as you know, what's going on as far as the development of housing and the increase of people moving into that part of North Central Philadelphia. There's no doubt that there's lots of movement on Cecil B. Moore Avenue. I mean, it's amazing to see what happened, but we're not reaping any kind of empowerment zone money or any kind of specialization based on that other than our relationship with Women's Christian Alliance which is the founding agent for the Alliance for Progress Charter School. I don't know whether I've answered your question, but I wanted to make that clear.
Our collaborative efforts with -- and that's a plus for us. As the other directors know, that we are fortunate enough to have an agency that is steeped in history and tradition 188 RESOLUTION #980766 in that community and to be connected with that. But we have universities, as you know, are crying and colleges. Michael Horsey knows this, I have a very long intimate relationship with Community College of Philadelphia. I've been working there for too many years to even mention because then Councilwoman Clark will understand how old I am. So quite frankly, that is what I bring to the table in essence in developing this particular process. But it's all in kind, and that's important.
That's great. And people also ask how did West Oak Lane Charter School, Representative Evans, seems as if in terms of just their facility just a little different, a little bit better, and I was wondering if it's better for a charter school to connect itself with maybe a CDC or with an organization such as Women'S Christian Alliance.
I'd just like to mention, my name is Phil Esbrandt and I'm the executive director of Foundations. One of the sets of observations we will be making about some of our 189 RESOLUTION #980766 work with charter schools deals with just that kind of concept and we take a look three different kinds of organizations that the current charter schools seem to fall in the categories, and that's one of them. Having some association with CDC or community based organization, and it's had success already.
Okay, thank you. I do have a couple more questions. Does your faculty belong to the PFT? Are they unionized?
No. Charter school law says that they have the right to form or they have to do that, but they can't belong to PFT to the current organization as representing the teachers' union in the City.
Councilwoman Miller, they can organize, all the schools can organize. People can organize the school. It can be the PFT, it can be the UAW, anybody, or their organization. They can organize.
Earlier when Dr. Ryder testified, he said that -- I don't know 190 RESOLUTION #980766 whether he said it or Mr. Skief said it. That one of the good things about a charter school is that they can be independent of the state mandates that make it burdensome to do some of the things you've talked about in terms of reform. What are some of those mandates that seems to be a barrier to improve the quality of education to our children? Anybody can answer. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: While he's coming, let me say that State Senator Shirley Kitchen was here, so we do want to note her for her attendance and to thank her. She couldn't stay, but she did come and we want to acknowledge her presence at our hearing. Thank you.
John Skief is my name. One of the most important impediments is the fact that if you -- nowadays, the public school system is divided into what is called small learning communities. Each one of those small learning communities has a mission or something that brings the teachers around that. One of the important things for a charter school is that we can choose who our staff will be. So therefore, those who are serious and committed to what we're trying to do can 191 RESOLUTION #980766 be a part of us. A lot of the work rules which forbid certain things to go on, we can do and we have the opportunity to do. So it's those types of bureaucratic things which have been identified within the public school as impediments we're free of.
If they unionize, won't you still have those kind of things happen?
Well, as far as we're concerned, we have to, charter schools must provide the same benefits as the public schools do. And as far as I'm concerned, if you relieve the need for a union, that is, you listen to your teachers, you take advice and consent from your teachers, and you're fair to your teachers, then we don't have to worry about some outside entity deciding for us what's best for our children.
Well, I've heard that teachers have helped paint and helped clean and helped fix up buildings and all those kinds of things that you just don't normally don't have. I'm used to doing that type of stuff coming from a nonprofit world where everybody wore a lot of different hats. Okay, thank you. 192 RESOLUTION #980766
Again, Phil Esbrandt from Drexel University Foundations. There's a lot of flexibility, but there's also a lot of ownership so people who start an organization begin to build it from the bottom up have a certain pride and ownership of that which they then translate into personal action to get things done. And so there's a commitment to participate with leadership to make the school work, something that also cuts across the parents that want to be involved as well as staff members. I think all these groups will explain in some way how that happens because that's part of their record so far.
Good afternoon, Madam Chairperson and Members of the City Council and also State Representative. I don't know your name, but I know. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Michael Horsey.
Excuse me for that. My name is Vuong Thuy, V-o-u-n-g; the last name, T-h-u-y. I am not the Principal of a charter school, but I'm the headmaster of a charter school. I am the headmaster of the Multicultural Academy Charter 193 RESOLUTION #980766 School in the Logan Section of Philadelphia, one of the poorest neighborhoods. You represent us, Councilwoman. At this point, we're serving 125 student from many different part of the world, from Asia, from Europe, from South America, from Africa. Next year we will serve 150, and the following year we'll serve 200. Our children are international, many of them LEP students. LEP means Limited English Proficient student. They come as far as Northeast. Many of them are children of Russian emigrants or Ukrainian emigrants. I'd like to talk about that. That create a problem for us. I realize that this hearing has been going on for quite a while and many of you have not had a chance to relax or to take lunch. I'm not here to brag about our school. I'd like to take this opportunity to show to you that the concept of charter school does work. For example, our daily attendance is 95 percent, and we have one or two latenesses every day; sometime none. I remember vividly five years ago when I was still a teacher at Olney High School, the new principal and he raised the attendance rate from 40 194 RESOLUTION #980766 to 60 percent, and he got $150,000 award. And we are achieving now up to three months 95 percent. So we must have done something right. Beside that, when we have the first parent meeting, 85 parents out of 125 show up. For years I was serving at 7 Olney High School, I did not see many parents 8 showing up for that. Here again, this is an 9 indication that we must have done something right. 10 Talking about the staff, 100 percent of 11 our teachers are certified, 100 percent. And we pay 12 them from 8:00 to 3:30, but many of them stay until 13 6 or 7 o'clock every night, weekend as well. Don't 14 think that I'm exploiter. They volunteer their 15 time. They must love the school, they must like the 16 children. When I was teaching at Olney high school 17 I came to the school five minutes before 8:00 and I 18 left 2:30, and now my school day is 6 o'clock in the morning until 9 o'clock at night, seven days a week. If you don't believe me, pick up the phone; I'll answer the phone. So there's dedication right here. Why do we dedicate ourselves? Because we believe this will change the public education. We are a public school. Many times the parent called the School District of Philadelphia, 195 RESOLUTION #980766 they were told we are not, we are a private school. And that is very misleading and very troublesome for me. There are many things that I feel troublesome because of communication between the School District of Philadelphia. Many of you have covered these issues very well, but let me remind you of the law. The law right here that you and other people wrote. Section 172 say transportation must be provided to our students. So if the School District of Philadelphia refuse to do that, then maybe the staff have to do that. Now, we lost so many students. Most of them came from Russia, from Ukraine and they could not come to school because there's no 16 transportation. And the children emigrants, they do not have money to pay for the transportation. Believe me, some of them was crying. They wanted to come to school, but they can not because of this. There's something wrong right there, right here. And also communication from the School District has been troublesome many times. They make the public statement saying that they work with us, they support us, they do everything to make us survive. This is an example. In October, we 196 RESOLUTION #980766 received communication from the School District of Philadelphia about free workshop. And there's $333 per participant, $333 per participant, and they said they want to work with us, they want to support us.
I'd like the City Councilmembers and Lady Chairman to have a copy of this. This is really bothersome because it seems to me, and I hope that I'm not wrong, that they want to make some money out of this. To pay $330 for workshop, that doesn't make sense to me. Now, here again they say that they open the facility for you to use. " That bothers me, too. If they cannot provide it, don't make the statement. That is bothersome and misleading. Now, we have educated dropouts and former gangs of -- students who are former gangs. We're going to showcase the school on the 10th of December when the Indochina-American Council supporting organization will have the 16th annual award dinner. Many of you have received invitation. Come, we'll showcase to us. 197 RESOLUTION #980766 So my point here is that I left the public school system after years of service 4 because I believe that this work and I think is 5 working and very much for your attention. 6 CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you, Dr. 7 Thuy. A question from Councilman Cohen. 8
Doctor, was this Bowl 9 Content Institute, was this available to the 10 teachers in the regular schools and did they have to 11 pay the tuition? 12
The tuition was 14 charged to teachers in the charter schools but not 15 in the rest of the public schools? 16
I think your 18 complaint is well made. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Yes, and we would hope that the School Board would take Mr. Ingram will take a flyer back. And Mr. Armbrister, please take one of these and then if you would report to the Chair of this Committee, we will make -- myself and Dwight Evans as co-chair, we will make sure that we 198 RESOLUTION #980766 communicate the response to other members of the committee and to charter schools. Question from Councilwoman Miller to Dr. Thuy.
May I ask one more thing about transportation? When I was at Olney High School, all the students, Limited English Speaking student who live outside the neighborhood school was provided with transportation. And we have many LEP students in our school right now. I'd like to you look into that to see if there's any equity in that. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you. I'm sorry, question will be for Mr. Armbrister. We'll let them testify, but Councilwoman Miller has a question for you with regard to this.
With regard to funding, special ed funding. I wasn't in the room 19 when the School District's panel was up. It's my understanding that the charter schools received special education funding but that funding does not include additional dollars for mentally gifted children whom it's my understanding is also -- regular public schools, it's my understanding they receive money mentally gifted as well as the 199 RESOLUTION #980766 learning disabled under special ed, and someone told me that charter schools cannot receive that funding for mentally gifted kids.
Under Act 22, the special education funding mechanism was changed so that there would not be a reliance upon funding for individual classifications, but that the funding would be averaged for a variety of classifications in the local school district and so a flat rate is now applied for special a ed student attending a charter school.
Irregardless to whether they're mentally gifted or whatever. You want to add something?
Yes. Clarence Armbrister, managing director of the School District. I'm advised by Ms. Castelbuono that with respect to mentally gifted, the definition that's used for funding purposes is a federal definition, and apparently the federal definition does not recognize mentally gifted as a classification, is my understanding.
Does that mean that payment is made on the basis of the mentally gifted child being a special ED child?
It means exactly the opposite, Councilman, that they're not because it's not recognized under federal law.
Councilwoman Miller's point was very well taken. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Mr. Bonilla.
My name is Hector Bonilla. I'm the principal of the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community Bilingual Charter School. Our story is similar to the others. Hopefully by early spring of 1999, we'll be in a new facility on North Fifth Street and Cuyuga. We are a dual immersion bilingual school for the Spanish and for the English. We also have a core value system that we insist that all our students adhere to, citizenship cooperation, fairness, honesty, integrity kindness, pursuit of excellence, respect, and responsibility. We are located in one of the most economically depressed sections of Philadelphia, and we decided that we wanted to have smaller classes. So we are limited to 20 students per class, and 201 RESOLUTION #980766 presently we have 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. We will have a 7th grade next year, and by the year 2000 we're going to add an 8th grade. We have an extended year. We went from September 8th, and our class will last until July 16th. We have an extended day. We start classes at 8:30 sharp and we let them out 4:15 in our present facility. When we move to the Cuyuga Street facility, we will go to 5 o'clock. m. m. Because we are in a depressed community, it is our belief that sometimes our kids need to be with us more than other places. We have all of our parents have to sign a contract to have their students the matriculate in our school, that they will participate in the school and that they will adhere to the rules of the school and that includes helping students with homework. We also have a Parents' Council which now has recently constituted itself, which means eventually that the majority of our school board members will be parents. And again, I repeat, that since we serve a disadvantaged community, and although our students all over the City of Philadelphia, we earmarked the Hunting Park area as 202 RESOLUTION #980766 our target area. However, since we're not located on Sixth Street and Lehigh, we've had to provide bus services to our students who live in Hunting Park area because most of them come from very disadvantaged families, and that is costing us $700 a week. Our projection is that by the time we open up our new building, that will cost us between 80 to $90,000 to bring our students to our school. At present we have 93 percent attendance rate. I think that measures favorably with any other -- with the School District's standards. I don't want to editorialize, but I've heard a lot of speakers. And again, the other principals or headmasters of the charter schools, we all say the same story, we deal with children. That's our primary reason for doing this. I've heard some things said by people from the School District. I'm a new kid on the block, I'm not native to Philadelphia so I'm not privy to some of the stuff that happened before. However, I do know that federal law requires that special ed students be bussed. But that's not really something that's coming out of the goodness of the heart of the District of law Philadelphia, that's mandated by 203 RESOLUTION #980766 federal law. And yesterday I lost a student, an outstanding 4th grade student because her mother who is a full-time student in a physicians' assistance program at Temple University who walks four miles in each direction with a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old, drops of the 6-year-old at another school, then drops off her daughter at our school, had to leave because she no longer has an automobile. Secondly, she has a sister who has a problem with substance abuse so now she's had to take in children of her sister, which means that she has to take those kids to another facility. So rather than come to our school which she wishes to be at, she has to take them to a school that's closer to her, not necessarily her choice. Her choice is that because of economic constraints, she has to take her children to the school that's nearest to her neighborhood school as opposed to the school that's going to provided her children with the best education.
CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you, Mr. Bonilla. Truly sorry. Thank you. We have Dr. Gail Meister. 204 RESOLUTION #980766
Madam Chairperson, there is more school at the table to make a presentation -- two more, excuse me. And then maybe Gail and I can make our presentation. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: All right. Ms. Madeline Shikomba, you want to go next, Center for Economics and Law Charter School.
Hi, my name is Madeline Shikomba, spelled S-h-i-k-o-m-b-a. I'm the director of the Center for Economics and Law Charter School. I would like to extend my heart-felt thanks to Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and State Senator Dwight Evans for the support they've given me and my school during the past couple months. Without their support and help, I don't think I would be around here today. And I'd also like to extend my thanks to Ann Verna for her support. As you know, my school ran into some difficulty in the past couple weeks in terms of the location of the building in which we were in. The owner of the building had misled me in terms of the situation in terms of how fast he would have the building ready. And as a result, some of the things that were supposed to be ready were not prepared to 205 RESOLUTION #980766 have ready. And our building was shut down because it violated certain fire code regulations. Despite the fact that it was shut down, we were able to reopen and relocate ourselves within two weeks at the Lincoln University Urban Center. Despite the shutdown, to attest to the faithfulness of my parents, I only lost 40 students out of 183 students I had. Now, that tells you the faith that the parents have in the charter schools by the fact that they remained with me. In fact, during our shutdown, we gave out educational packets so that the students would not lose too much time in terms of their education development. " So you can see that they believed in the program. They believed in my program and wanted to stay with my program. Since we have reopened, we have readmitted at least six students who had transferred to other schools. And today in the past week we have admitted three new students who were never were even in the school. So that also attests to the fact of how strong people believe in the charter 206 RESOLUTION #980766 school and also in a program that I am conducting. If you read the newspaper articles, the articles dealt with the building. It didn't deal with my program or say anything negative about my program because my program is strong and it's a very good program. We offer courses in economics, math, science, language, English, entrepreneurship, and computers. Macon has allowed us to use their computers, and so our students are now involved in a computer program. We are now at the point where we are asking the State to give us our funding because we are in compliance with them as far as we understand. We have submitted our budget, and that was due to some misunderstanding on the part of my accountant as to what he was supposed to do. But a budget was submitted. We are compliance with our staff. Everyone is certified except for one teacher. And we also received our certificate of occupancy from Lincoln, and we're in the process of negotiating with them for a lease. So we feel that State should be willing to release our funding that they have held up and so we're asking them to release our funding. 207 RESOLUTION #980766 The School Board has, because of our lack of CO and a lease, we have not signed our charter. However, because we do have both of those now inhand, we expect to sign our charter very soon. They have sent in an investigating team to investigate my program, but my understanding from what I've talked with the team, they have not found anything wrong with my program per se and I do not expect to have any negative things in the report that they will be sending in. Again, I'd like to stress the fact that parents are gung ho for charter schools. They want us and they feel that we can answer a need that they've been missing in terms of their children's development, and I think that we can fulfill those needs. I do not think that the crisis that I was involved in is in any way negatively impacting upon nor should it be negatively impacted upon the charter schools. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you very much, Ms. Shikomba. We know of your struggles and certainly support you.
You've really been, quote unquote, hanging in there. 208 RESOLUTION #980766
Excuse me, Madam Chairman. May I say one thing for the record? When we implemented charter school legislation a couple years ago, we recognized that some charter schools would have growing pains. So being cognizant of that, I'm willing to send a letter Secretary Hickcock and try to get your funding also. Thank you. (Applause.) CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Tod Reynolds. I'm the director of operations for the West Oak Lane. West Oak Lane Charter School opened up on September 15th of this year through no small effort of State Representative Dwight Evans and the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation. We were fortunate enough to be of the charter schools to work with the CDC who was established in the community and it was a large, large effort on their part that enabled the school to open up. We currently have 548 students in our school, kindergarten through fourth grade with plans to go to 5th grade next year and a grade each subsequent year. Our curriculum is science and 209 RESOLUTION #980766 technology based. We have over 110 computers being placed in the last rooms and the computer lab in the school. So students and parents will have a large amount of access to the curriculum and the things that will be done in the classroom. We have a very successful parent volunteer program where parents when they come in the morning have the option to stay with their student in the classroom and act as volunteers to see the activities that are going on in the classroom and to work throughout the building supporting the staff and their child while they're in the school. We have a large after school program that services 75 to a hundred young people from the school on a daily basis and they are through various activities until their parents can come pick them up that goes through approximately 6:30. We have a successful program that is working very well and students are being monitored and they're working in small reading groups and their reading levels are being chartered at an early stage where if there are any problems they can identified and dealt with in an early basis instead of waiting until they're in the 4th, 5th, 6th grade to identify those problems. I'll be brief because I know other 210 RESOLUTION #980766 people have things to say. But some of issues that have come up concerning transportation and allocation are very important issues, but as my colleagues have also brought up, the lack of funding or capital for facilities to be built, there are a lot of new charter schools that are coming into existence, there are a lot of existing charter schools that wish to expand, and the lack of funding in the charter school law to accommodate or to assist us in expanding these schools to service more children I think needs to be addressed. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you very much. Let me say to those on the next a committee meeting Health and Human Services Committee, we are sorry to delay you. We have one more panel to hear so my guess is we'll be here a half hour and then we should be done. We have one or two speakers here and then we have one more panel and we will done. We have wrap up and be done. But I think it will take us a half hour if anybody's waiting or has to make a phone call or step out for a minute. Thank you.
Councilwoman 211 RESOLUTION #980766 Blackwell, Councilmen and Councilwomen and State Representatives, it's a pleasure to be here and share the microphone today with a number of educator entrepreneurs. I use that phrase warmly to describe these people who have more than stuck their necks out to make a difference for their school and their community. Actually, one other way I describe this group, they help communities achieve dreams. That's how we look at the start of charter schools in the State of Pennsylvania. My name is Phil Esbrandt and I'm the executive director of the Drexel University Foundations Technical Assistance Center. Freddie Reeseman heads the Division of Education at Drexel and Ronda Lower (ph) who is the CEO of Foundations formed a partnership last year. The partnership was originally designed to develop charter schools and charter school models. That program led to the formation of a Technical Assistance Center. We have worked with in the last 14 months 70 charter founding groups and operators, 70 different schools. Most of those, I'd say about 90 percent of those, in Pennsylvania, although we've worked in other states as well. 212 RESOLUTION #980766 There is a different dream for every one of those 70, a different plan, a different concept, yet all of them, I found, have been on target with holding children first and trying to serve parents and community in very positive ways. To try to put a handle on these 70 groups, Gail and I have worked to try to identify them in small groups, in groups of three. And Gail Meister who is the Associate Direct for the Technical Assistance Center will start to review and give you some of the characteristics of the group and some of the background generally that has described this movement in charter education today.
Good afternoon. I think you've heard in the descriptions of how people got started with their charter schools, as we have heard, there are three different types. We characterize them as grass roots groups of individuals who may not be educators; they might be. They might be parents who get together because they're seeking a more appropriate education experience for their children. They're not associated with any particular non-profit groups. The second kind of group are those that 213 RESOLUTION #980766 represent existing non-profit or profit making groups that deliver educational services to children or provide other youth serving activities. These have some kind of experience in the community already and exist as organizations. Generally speaking they're providing supplementary services and then now seek as charter schools to expand into the schooling area. The third type of group we see is a group that is associated with something like a community development corporation. They seek to establish a school because it's an outgrowth of their mission to serve the community and to revitalize the communities they serve. Schools for these groups are instruments to attract or retain families in the neighborhoods and serve as a means for improving the educational outcomes they want for their whole community. There's some implications for these three different types as they struggle to become charter schools to acquire their resources and the facilities they need to have smooth operations. Just some of the things we see very quickly. For the grass roots groups that he have 214 RESOLUTION #980766 no kind of affiliation with a settled or established group institution, they labor under the disadvantage of institutional informality and newness. They lack a formal organization. They lack the kind of history such an organization would bring. They also lack the resources to absorb the planning that has to go into the long and careful planning that has to go into establishing a charter school, and they lack access to capital. For the second category of groups that seek to establish charters, those that are existing preschools or private schools or other youth serving organizations, they actually have an advantage when they seek to become charter schools that they have some established policies and procedures and so they're able to start up more smoothly. They have an initial advantage. Thirdly, the charter schools which grow out the association with community development organizations have a deep advantage in terms of resources because those organizations with which they're associated have track records in the community, they have proven ability to obtain financing, and they often have facilities for a 215 RESOLUTION #980766 school. An issue that also affects how charter schools work is size. There is several ways that size impacts what charter schools can do and become. Now smallness is generally a characteristic that's a positive distinguishing feature for charter schools. Starting small and staying small allow an organization to solve some of the issues of identity and unity and leadership and vision that are problems for larger organizations. But in Pennsylvania it's economically infeasible to be too small because they have to look to fund-raising and large volunteer efforts to provide the kind of capital and resources they need to run their schools that is not provided by the per pupil allocation. So it's a problem especially in the first year we are they're at their smallest.
The Technical Assistance Center has five full-time employees, but it has 40 part-time consultants that work a little bit or in great detail with individual charter planners and operators. Some of the major issues we would like to reinforce came out dealing with financing and facilities today for many of the speakers. From our 216 RESOLUTION #980766 observations, there are some very credible partnerships that have been created through charter schools that may not have been possible without the start-up of charter schools. Some of the facilities, YMCA's community centers, church community centers, all have now served as facility partners with some of the charter schools. So some of the citations Gail made about the cost of start-ups and the inability of small groups to be able to finance certain facilities needs are made up by a community commitment and a partnership with charter schools. As indicated, charter do not receive any subsidy from the State concerning renovations, small amounts of construction, and purchase of property, which could lead to charters. I've heard from more than one charter planner that the good facilities are gone. Where do you go to next to find the facilities that can be converted to charter schools? There are only so many abandoned A & P type stores or factory buildings or office buildings that can be utilized for charters. And so some provision needs to be provided to establish a revolving loan fund or bond fund at the state level so that subsidies can 217 RESOLUTION #980766 be made to support the school renovations and constructions that needs to be done. We are also disappointed this year that the conversion process was not followed through on through a number of school districts, including Philadelphia. Approximately charter school 8 groups attempted to move from the planning document 9 stage to the application stage through a conversion 10 process. Some of those schools, the faculty and 11 parents voted. In other schools, they realized they 12 couldn't get majority votes and they couldn't get 13 information about the cost of converting a facility. 14 In areas where there are very few students 15 proportionally to ten years ago, using a facility, a part of the school could be used for a charter school or the entire school could be. But without a definition and an agreement on what it costs to convert from public school operation normally in a school district to a converted charter school,1 that becomes an impossibility. So we recommend that a committee be formed to be begin to work with state officials, local school district officials and some people in charter school conversion process to try to develop a formula that can be used, not only 218 RESOLUTION #980766 Philadelphia, but state wide, to guide the respective sides through the process because voluntarily I don't see too many school districts and chatter applicants seeing eye to eye on the process as well as the cost for the conversion. So we recommend that the task force become part of the consideration that the legislature that makes this coming year. We also are in the process looking at the differences in the start-up experiences of charters in their first year. The experience for many schools has been the opening, the approval and then actual work to get the school open has been very close to the opening day of school. In part, the State Department to their credit has begun to try to shorten the amount of time it takes to get start-up funds available to the local charter approvals. And so what we see this year as planning for this next round for applicants to be approved state wide which should make money available as close to April 1st as possible. So we're seeing in many application budgets a full-time position for a principal, for instance, for from July to June 30, '99 to 2000.
But we're also seeing one-quarter of 219 RESOLUTION #980766 principals from April 1st of '99 to June 30th of '99 to be involved in the planning process and successfully organize the very large number of details that are necessary to open a school and to go from nothing through a construction process through a program development, hiring all staff, developing policy or regulations that govern how we're going to take this vision and implement it, try to extend it from a month or two or three to at least five or six months prior to the opening school. I think we will guarantee more success and fewer starter problems in the first year if the State Department and local charter applicants that are approved work on that start-up funding earlier. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you very much. Certainly we will have one statement and then we will ask our last panel, Panel 4, to come forward. Mrs. Wiggins wants to make a statement. And if my colleagues don't mind, we will waive questions in the interest of time.
I just wanted to say, I know it came up earlier about Central, that Imhotep does have students from Central, we have students from Bensalem, from Cheltenham, from Darby who take 220 RESOLUTION #980766 public transportation. I have students from Sol and a couple of the 38 process schools, so I wanted to make sure -- I hear you talk about a lot our young people who are at risk that are applying for these charter schools. But I also have a lot of our academically talented young people from across this City applying for these charter schools, and it's not just at risk children. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you very much. Your point well noted. Thank you so much. Ms. Pat Halpin-Murphy, Director for Government Relations Philadelphia Federation of Teachers; Ms. Shelly Yanoff, Philadelphia Coalition for Children and Youth; Ken Campbell, Advantage Schools; Venard Johnson, Healthy Family Healthy Life; Dr. Walter Palmer, The Philadelphia Coalition for Education Reform and School Choice; Ms. Janet Dubinsky, Garden Court Community Association; and Mr. Eugene Bivens, N.A.A.C.P. We're glad to have all have all of you. And we will say to the next committee meeting that this is our last panel. Commissioner and all who are here, this is our last panel and we're glad you get a chance to hear what we do on 221 RESOLUTION #980766 the Education Committee, but we know this was not your plan. But we thank you for your patience. And certainly this last panel, I know many of you, I know Janet Dubinsky was here at 8:30 or 9:00 this morning. I know all of you have been around all day long, Ken from out of town, and just we thank you, thank you for your patience and we're sorry it's taken so long to get here, but we're grateful that you persevered. And as Councilwoman Clark says, you certainly developed a fore-record on what has happened here and what the issues are. Shelly, you want to begin?
Thank you, Councilwoman. Good afternoon, legislators and councilpersons. I want to thank you for having me here. I'm Shelly Yanoff, Executive Director of Philadelphia Coalition for Children and Youth. I want to thank you for having the hearing. It is critical that we establish a public record about what's going on in all of the schools in the City and in the charter movement as well. We believe the questions are important ones, and hearings such as this one will begin to answer whether charters can be major instruments of change and positive for the 222 RESOLUTION #980766 kids, not only that attend them, but throughout the system, or whether they're sort of boutiques on the education highway. In many ways charter schools can strengthen public schools because they can operate differently, reshape their practices to meet student and teaching needs, and implement different practices because kids must be and can be reached in a variety of ways. Since charter schools can throw off some of the system-wide constraints, they can show us by some of the results and practices what differences some changes can make under what circumstances. And that what was Representative Evans you were alluding to earlier, is a system in place to do that. It is hoped that the learning from some of the experiences can be brought then to the larger system. But charter schools also can hurt the public system by draining off needed resources by unfairly avoiding trying to educate the less able or fewer children with special needs by promising to provide quick fixes and by isolating some children. In order for charter schools to help in the critical task of educating the City's children, 223 RESOLUTION #980766 there must be educational, fiscal and governance accountability. You've heard today about educational accountability and about some fiscal questions. I want to skip down; the hour is late. I want to say that if we could do a couple of things in changing the charter law or practice, we probably could cut down tremendously on the adversarialness of the atmosphere. The main thing I think is if the State could create a separate pool for charter funds, then the public system will not feel that it is being jeopardized when one child from the 3rd grade in this school and two children from the 4th grade go because -- in fact, the Commissioner of Health is here, and her previous experience will tell you when you close one system, you don't seeing start seeing savings for a while. And so the system that you're seeing in one school, you can't start closing a classroom just because 5 kids or 10 kids have left. And so you've got a real loss with a public system this way, and that's been explored earlier today. So if the state could, number 1, create a separate pool of dollars for charter schools and then hold the school districts harmless for the first five years and then 224 RESOLUTION #980766 see how big is the pool, what has happened, what can we do, what is the results, then we would tremendously advance, I think, both the atmosphere and our ability to see what's going on. The second issue is that there's been a lot of discussion about transportation. And Councilwoman Blackwell, you co-authored a resolution 9 in the spring to deal with the fact that it costs Philadelphia school kids alone in the Commonwealth, we are the only ones that it costs kids who are in high school or who choose to go to a school not in their neighborhood, not who were sent because of special ed needs or deseg, but who choose. Those kids don't get bussed or free transportation. It costs them $9 had a week; $9 a week in a school district in which 80 percent of the kids are eligible for free or reduced lunch is a lot of money. So that when you see the argument and tension over transportation, it is a sense of unfairness that the public school kids feel and families feel because they're not having their children bussed in the same way or provided free tokens.
So if we could seriously deal with the high cost of SEPTA tokens for all of our kids, whether in 225 RESOLUTION #980766 private or public school, we would advance that wall a lot and, again, have more of a sense of equity then we've seen so far. Further, if we're not willing to create the pool of dollars -- Representative Evans, you and I have discussed this before. If we would then take the cap off of the State funding and start again having one shot, one reimbursement for each child in the school district that comes in, then the funds could more easily follow the child. But they can't follow the child if they don't start with the child, and they currently don't. At least that's my understanding of the current state formula. All in all, I think that charters can be a tremendous instrument for change if we monitor them, if we make sure that we give the governance issues the kinds of tools that are needed in order to make decisions, and we don't set up competition unfairly for funds in the earlier days particularly. So we would urge you to hold the systems, all of the school district -- and I was talking with people from Bucks and Allegheny last night about this. If we would hold the districts who are sending kids to charter schools harmless in their funding pattern 226 RESOLUTION #980766 for a period of five years, then we could assess and then we might see what works and what doesn't and we would have severely cut down on the animosity or adversarialness of the system. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you. Ms. Pat Halpin-Murphy, Director of Government Relations Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Thank you, Chairwoman Blackwell. Thank you for inviting us here today. I'd like to thank also Councilman Cohen, Representative Dwight Evans and Representative Mike Horsey Michael. I'm here today for the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers, and I do bring greetings from Ted Kirsch and Jerry Jordan from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Also, my colleague Janet Rider from the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers is her, or at least she was earlier, and I'd like to recognize her as well. Pennsylvania is now in its second school year for charter school operations. It may be early to reflect on the specific record of charter schools established in the fall of 1997. And it is 227 RESOLUTION #980766 certainly, in my opinion, too early for those charters opening in the fall of 1988 to look at them in any specific way. However, I think it's an excellent time to look at the impact of charters on the public school system and its children, and I'd like to make two points in that regard. First is that charter schools cost the school district over $12 million a year. And of course, we support the funding of the charter schools. That's the law; that's what needs to happen. However, currently, this money is taken away from the instructional program for children in the regular school system in order to be given to the charter public schools. And we do of course recognize the charter schools are public schools. And an I agree with many of councilmen and representatives who was making that point today. I don't think that that in general is understood by the public at large that the charter schools are public schools. But this $12 million is lost to the regular public school students. Also this $12 million expenditure nearly wipes out the total of City Council special $15 million appropriation for the school district. Each year recently the 228 RESOLUTION #980766 council has appropriate had special amount of money for the school district, and as it turns out, the amount of money lost in funding the charter schools almost wipes out that appropriation. The state does not fund the cost of the charter schools, with a small exception and that is for those children who are transferring from private or parochial schools into charter school, and there's a small pot of money to reimburse the school district for that additional cost. But the State does not fund the charter schools. And actually, Shelly Yanoff and I did not coordinate our testimony, but we did come up it seems with a somewhat similar idea. And that is for the State of some responsibility for this funding. Many of you may know three weeks ago right before the legislature adjourned for the session, there was a voucher bill circulated in the Senate caucus and in a few other places. In that proposed voucher school bill, there was language that would have held the local school districts harmless had a voucher proposal passed. It's unfortunate that the charter school bill did not contain a similar provision. I don't think it's too 229 RESOLUTION #980766 late, but it did not that contain that provision. So you have an unfortunate situation -- and it isn't just the Philadelphia School District, by the way. It's all of the school districts. You've probably read about Neshaminy and, I think, Bensalem, they were not aware that a particular charter school was opening in their area, didn't budget for it and they had to appropriate money that left their budget completely out of whack for this school year. And I would suggest to you that when you're reviewing what happened today, that you consider if there is some way to hold the school district harmless for the very appropriate costs of funding the charter school system. The state does not make that provision.
Is it then your suggestion there needs to be a separate line item at the Harrisburg level for charter schools so as to not reduce the grant for the Philadelphia Public Schools?
That would be one way to handle it, a separate line item. 230 RESOLUTION #980766
Yes, that would be one very, I think, expeditious way of handling it.
Perhaps Representative Evans might be in a better position and more knowledgeable about that than I would be. But I certainly would make that recommendation, and we would certainly support that kind of effort.
Ms. Halpin, what answer do you give to the suggestion made by many people that since the charter schools came into existence, the public school system is educating less children and that the funds are allocated fairly according to the formula that was presented to us previously by the school district?
Perhaps I'm not the most appropriate person to comment on that, Councilman Cohen. But my understand is that the 231 RESOLUTION #980766 funds are allocated to the charter public schools on the basis that was provided for in the charter school legislation. And many of the concerns that both the district and the charter schools have really are in areas that are outside the law. I think probably both groups agree that if you look at the specifics provided for in the statute, the State requires the local school district all across the state to fund their local charters in a very specific way, and my understanding is that Philadelphia as well as the other districts are in fact doing that.
The second point that I would like to make in this regard is that starting in 1999 a state appointed board will be able to approve the creation of new charter schools that a local school district has disapproved. The school district here in Philadelphia will no longer control what charters operate in Philadelphia, nor will any local school district have final say on what charters operate in their district. This has enormous quality and cost implications. Those charter schools that have been approved so far both 232 RESOLUTION #980766 here in Philadelphia and other areas around the state, have genuinely been community initiated schools that have grown from local needs and from local people. Once you move away from that, you are opening the possibility of others instituting charter schools in the district, and neither Philadelphia School District nor the Philadelphia City Council will have any say about that. You may in fact think that a particular charter school application is not worthy either because of the quality of their management or for whatever reason when they seek approval, and the local district may say, no, it doesn't meet the criteria. But that decision can be overturned. I'd also like to make note that the charter schools that have been approved so far have in fact be genuine non-profit organizations in Philadelphia. We're beginning to see for-profit companies operating charter schools. Now, the law says that the governing body must be non-profit, and in fact, the letter of the law last been met, but we're increasingly seeing both here in Pennsylvania and in other areas throughout the State, for-profit change quite frankly looking to start charter 233 RESOLUTION #980766 schools in a much wider basis. And I think we've seen that in the Philadelphia area as well. Mosaica, which is a for-profit company opened a charter school in Bucks County. In fact, many Philadelphia children are going to it. And recently Mosaica announced that they're going to be opening I believe three additional charter schools in the suburban right near Philadelphia but right outside our boarders. And starting in 1999, the local school district is going to have really has no say over. There will be another board can approve them.
Excuse me. If you can't do it directly, how then does the State look the other way and permit it to be done indirectly? If it can't be a for-profit and run a charter school, it is a legal fiction to have a non-profit run the school and then sub out the actual operation of the school to a for-profit. I mean, we're certainly capable of seeing -- that's not even opaque, that's just clear.
I can't disagree with you, Councilwoman Clark. But that in fact is what is allowed under current law and is beginning to happen. And I would suggest to you that it's 234 RESOLUTION #980766 probably going to happen on an increasing level.
So Goddard and all of the proprietary schools will start to mine this rich load of ore.
I think that's something we definitely have to consider as a possibility, and I think the ability of a non-local board making that decision increases the possibility. So this is two general points I'd like to make. Additionally, we know that this committee the council persons and the state representatives are concerned that Philadelphia children receive the best education possible, whether those children are in regular public schools or charter public schools. With this in mind, however, we ask you the following -- and this is in no way a comment on any existing charter school and certainly is not a comment on any charter schools we heard about today. These are overall concerns that we have that we'd like to alert you to. And we'd like to ask that you insist charter schools be staffed by certified teachers. And I was delighted to here from Dr. Thuy and others that there are 235 RESOLUTION #980766 schools using certified teachers. We believe that all professional staff must be appropriately certified. Currently only 75 percent are required properly certified in the charter schools. We believe that is a defect in the law and we think it's going to come back to haunt us, our children, and the charter schools. Secondly, we ask that you insist that no 10 charter school discriminate on the basis of religion, race, culture, economic status, or any other unique feature. Again, I want to emphasis this is no comment on any of the existing charter schools, but this is a concern that we have seen because of developments in other areas of the country and we're concerned about that. Also be particularly vigilant that no charter school screen out children with disability. Charter schools are public schools and must not be allowed to discriminate. We also ask that you insist that charter schools be institutions designed to generate financial profit for investors. One for-profit company is already operating in Bucks County and enrolling Philadelphia students. We think that is just the beginning. 236 RESOLUTION #980766 And my last point is that we've heard testimony and we know from our own experience that there are a number of children who have great difficulty in public schools, particularly the older children, and have a great difficulty functioning in current regular public school system, and alternative schools have grown up both within the public schools and outside. In fact, one of the original charter schools, Community Academy, was one such school. And we think that for those students who -- particularly we have students that come back from incarceration situations and we think maybe charter schools might be an appropriate aspect for those particular students. The Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers stand ready to work with you as you evaluate the impact of charter schools on Philadelphia school system and school children, and we that you very much for holding this hearing. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you so much. Thank you.
Madam Chair? CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Councilman 237 RESOLUTION #980766 Cohen, a question for the PFT?
Throughout the discussions, I noticed an underlying criticism, not only of the school district, but of the unions that represent these school district employees. And I'm wondering, I'm hoping that somehow or other the charter schools do not become a vehicle for anti-union activity, and I'm also hoping that the school unions are concerned about the criticisms they've heard so that maybe at some point we can come together so that the labor organizations are not viewed as impediments, I think that was the word that was continually used, as impediments to the fully effective teaching of students, particularly students that don't seem to be learning as we would hope they would in the public school system. But I would like to see the day when we don't have demarcation around union represented schools and non-union represented schools. I just think it's an area that everybody's got to pay a lot of attention to. I cannot accept the notion that have unions 238 RESOLUTION #980766 which exist to protect the people that perform the services can in anyway been detrimental. And I just think it's a subject that all public service unions have to consider. And I'm hoping that in whatever fashion unions work that they consider that. One other question to ask. There were also questions raised about organization and the ability to organize. I believe I understood that there's no impediment to union organization to charter schools, is there?
The law specifically provides that charter schools may be organized under Pennsylvania's Act 195, Collective Bargaining Law. The restriction is that they may not belong to the same collective bargaining unit, U-N-I-T. I spell that because people sometimes thing I'm say "union." They can belong to the same union but not the same what they collective bargaining unit. So that is provided for under the charter school law.
I'm just not clear. They may not be in the same bargaining unit as what?
As the employees in the regular public schools. A way to compare it might be with the way AFSCME is organized who works 239 RESOLUTION #980766 for the City of Philadelphia. Each of the different bargaining units, like the water employees are in one unit, the trash collectors are in another unit, the social workers may be in another unit, but they can all belong to the same union.
Except that in the examples you cite, people are perform being different duties. I would understand that teachers in the charter public schools are performing the same function as teachers in the traditional public schools.
As Councilwoman Clark says, and I think I have to accept it, it seems like an artificial distinction. But that's the law, you said.
Yes, I think it's very artificial. And we proposed in the law that the charter school employees be allowed to organize in any way that they see fit just as any other public workers are entitled to, but we did not carry that argument.
Your suggestion makes 240 RESOLUTION #980766 an awful lot of sense. Thank you.
Pat, one of the things that organized labor needs to do is insinuate itself into this dialog because its silence is being construed as opposition.
I understand that. But this just can't be "an" episode. There has to be a continuing dialog with unions actively involved in it or else you will be seen as the impediment; and if you don't speak up, it will be on your own head that you haven't taken the opportunity to help structure a position that everybody can live with. And I do think unions have been very, very silent with respect to this.
Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you. Representative Mike Horsey. REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: Just one or two questions real quick. So a person who goes from the Philadelphia School District and works for a charter school, he gives up his or her union membership? How does that work? 241 RESOLUTION #980766
Yes. I taught in the Philadelphia Public Schools. If I was still teaching at Simon Gratz and left to teach at one of the charter schools, I would terminate my employment status with the Philadelphia Public School and I would become an employee of that charter school. And that charter school would be able to set the terms of my compensation and working conditions with the exception that the law does provide that they have to provide health benefits and that I would still stay in the state retirement system. But other than that, you're not under the protections of the PFT contract. REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: I don't know if this is an appropriate question or not. Has your encouraged members of charter schools to join or come or become or to be unionized?
We are very open to the employees of charter schools becoming organized. REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: Has your union encouraged such organization?
There are conversations going on as we sit here, Representative Horsey, and I would be happy to talk 242 RESOLUTION #980766 with you appropriately about that where I would not be perhaps getting into an area that is, you know, a private situation. Not private to me, but private to the employees and the school involved. REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: I understand. Just one last question. What is the total number of teachers who work in the City of Philadelphia, just teachers?
Approximately 12,000. REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: And what is the total number of paraprofessionals?
Well, there's approximately 26,000 employees in the school district. Approximately 12,000 of those are teachers. The others are paraprofessionals, non-teaching assistants, other -- REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: So the general percentage rate is 50/50, a little less than 50/50 teachers, so on and so forth.
Right. Something slightly under a majority are teachers. 243 RESOLUTION #980766 REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you. I think we can continue this discussion. We were talking to Representative Evans about folks who start all over when they have benefits, and he was talking about people being a sabbatical. So I guess at some point in our growing pains we'll have to deal with that as an issue. And I've been approached by many charter schools about them trying to have people from their other schools work with them and work with them part-time, which we're told they have been told they can't do. That's another issue that seems to be a real problem and kind of a punishment. And when I asked the School District about it, they said it was the City's fault somehow.
I don't know what the status is on sabbaticals. Sabbaticals are provided for state law, not by local district arrangement. And I'm sorry, but I've never really thought through that issue or looked into it. If the charter school employees are public school employees, then conceivably they would be covered by the sabbatical arrangement. But I can't speak authoritatively on that until I look it up, but I'd 244 RESOLUTION #980766 be happy to do that. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: At some point we really would like that issue resolved. I've had many, many charter school operators complain about people that worked with in their other jobs before they came not being able to work with them at night or on weekends or run some program, another sports program and that sort of thing because of city law.
It's not city law. That I do know definitively. In terms of sabbaticals or working for two different school districts, it's not a city issue. Now, there may be, if they work City Recreation Department, there may be city ordinances that cover that. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: I mean people who work in other schools. A lot charter leaders came out of the public school system. They, of course, have relationships with people in their old schools, their former schools. And they are told that those former employees, as long as they work for the same school district, they cannot in fact work with them part-time or on weekends or at night.
That's the law governing sabbaticals, which says that if you 245 RESOLUTION #980766 accept --
Yes, if you're on sabbatical you cannot then accept paid employment. I believe that's how that is written.
But if you want to work in a volunteer status or if -- a person that's dead on the horns of the dilemma, they have to decide whether they want to stay in sabbatical status or whether they want to be employed. But you can not have the benefits of both because they collide in the law on sabbaticals. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Councilman Cohen.
Just one question. In the charter schools, they get paid by check.
What's on the check? Does it Philadelphia School District or does it say the name of the charter school? 246 RESOLUTION #980766
I would perhaps would ask that someone from a charter school would be a better position to respond to respond to you, Councilman Cohen.
I think you're right. Is there anybody here from the charter schools that would know the answer? Before you answer, does it apply also to the Mosaica School?
Well, one of the benefits of a charter school is that you can do your own contracting. And so therefore, any employee of mine will get a Harambee Institute of Science and Technology check. Just to clear up the other statement that was made, I was formerly a teacher in West Philadelphia High School, but I was also a teacher of their evening school, their teacher preparation program, their in-service program which I taught in the evenings. Once I got my charter, I was told that if I worked for a charter school, I could not in any way work for the public school on my own time, during the summertime or any other time. So it goes both ways. Also, those teachers who are 247 RESOLUTION #980766 working in the public schools that may want to work after school with my school have been prohibited from doing that.
And what is the reason for that? REPRESENTATIVE HORSEY: Is that in the charter school legislation?
Once again, when Philadelphia is unique, Philadelphia is unique to other districts around. I had never heard anywhere across the state that you cannot work after your employment for a charter school or vice versa. That's the rule.
John knows I've told him he can work anytime he wants to, as long as he doesn't want to get paid. There's a provision of the Philadelphia charter, the home rule charter against dual employment. It says if your employee is getting part of his salary out of the City budget cannot go over work for the State or for the school district or anyone else. You can't double dip. There's a provision in the charter against double dipping if your salary is paid for out of the city treasury. So I've told John, sometimes we have 248 RESOLUTION #980766 summer institutes that are being paid for totally out of grant funds. The not money's come from the City. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: But if it's all the school district, how are you double dipping when everybody works for the school district? Excuse me, I'm sorry. We should identify you for the record.
They do not work for the school district, they work for the charter schools. They are not working for the School District of Philadelphia. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: This is one in and out questions. On one thing that seems to the advantage of the board it seems they are out, and on other instances they're in. This is the in and out whole nature of all of this business that creates problems.
Part of the things we're talking about here are some ways that the laws are inconsistent and need to be changed, and this is one of the things we're bringing up. This is one of those instances. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKMAN: Thank you. That 249 RESOLUTION #980766 was Jackie Sparkman and Clay Armbrister from the school district for our stenographer. They are listed under Panel 2 of your listing. Janet Dubinsky. Thank you for patience to all of you.
That's all right, Councilwoman. I'm very happy and pleased to be here. I don't come as a member of the professional education community. I come as a representative of a 50-year-old community organization, Garden Court Community Organization, of which I am currently proud to be the vice president and education chair. We're in Councilwoman Blackwell's district, and I believe part of our district is also in Representative Horsey's area, including the school I've been working most closely with which is a K through 8 school, the Henry C. Lee School, which I'm sure he knows quite well. I came to this as a novice on charter schools, and I did a lot of homework to play catch-up. I've taken a great deal of interest. I spend much time every week over at Lee working with the parents, working with teachers, working with various projects questioning the administration, 250 RESOLUTION #980766 questioning the students, which is led me into the exploration when I was asked to testify about charter schools. We have a lot of problems in the school system that until you actually set foot in the schools on a daily basis are not necessarily apparent to everyone. I'm going to try to bring my focus around where we started. Do we need charter schools? Quite probably, we do. They are here whether we like it or not. They're in states. 12 They're in the State of Pennsylvania, they're in the 13 District of Columbia. This is something that we 14 have to deal with. Some people may like them; some 15 people may not. Many people in the general 16 community even among so-called, quote, educated 17 segments of the community have to be made to 18 understand that, A, they are not voucher schools; 19 people don't understand that, that they are part of 20 the public school system. And there seems to be a 21 lot of confusion about that here today. 22 We found that in Lee School this is 23 certainly one area among those of us who work with 24 the parents and the teachers could be something that 25 could be explored. I wouldn't have necessarily 251 RESOLUTION #980766 thought that a couple months ago until I did some charter homework with getting some information from your colleague Representative Robuck's office. And doing my homework, I did not realize, for instance, that a charter school could be set up as a sub-set of an already existing public school. This is something that would help deal with among other things probably both gifted and behavioral problem children depending upon which end you wanted to approach it. I think that I'm not going to make a big long statement among all of you who are far more versed in educational matters than I am except to say that this is something that needs to and must be further explored to afford all the children in this school district the best education that we can give them, and I don't see that that's necessarily happening as things stand at moment. So we can't around to turn down any explosion that we can achieve to further and better the education of our children whether they be K through 8 or across the street at West Philly High 9 through 12. These kids need all the help that we can give them. I myself don't have any children in 252 RESOLUTION #980766 school district. I am a product of the Philadelphia public schools, K through 12. And I am a tax-paying home-owning citizen in this City. And my interest isn't personal; I don't have a personal ax to grind, I don't work for the school district. I try and work for our community in general and try to bring the best I can to it, and that's what I'd like us all to try and do for our kids. If this means further explosion by all of us and a little accommodation on each side for possibility of charter schools, I think it's something we need strongly to consider. And therefore, I personally support this resolution that we continue to explore it. And basically that's what we're here about, to see -- to bring it to it's most basic terms, should we go forward, should we go backward?
We're approaching a new millennium. Things aren't the same as they were when I was in school. My suggestion is that we go forward. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you, Ms. Dubinsky and thanks for all the volunteer work you do at Lee School. Ken Campbell, Advantage Schools.
Good morning. I am 253 RESOLUTION #980766 Ken Campbell from Advantage Schools. And I'll start out by saying I am actually proud to be from one of the companies that a lot of people like to talk pretty negative about right now, which one of the for-profit companies operating schools around the country. We operate exclusively in urban areas where kids, we believe, need it most. I'm going to talk to you today not really about Advantage Schools because that's something I do now and I haven't done that long. C. I'm a big supporter of public charter schools, and I'm big supporter because we need to talk about and find innovative solutions to help kids. There's been a lot of talk about money today. But you know what? Kids are out there struggling, and I'm not ashamed to say in most cases those are kids of color. Those are kids of color who are stuck in communities where they don't have options and who are stuck in schools where they don't have options. So we can talk a lot about where the dollars go and that sort of thing but there were a 254 RESOLUTION #980766 whole group of parents back here in the back of the room that send kids to some of these schools and right now they feel like that's the only lifeline they have to make sure their kids are able to get a quality education. So let's kind of put it in right context if we're going to talk about charter schools and what it is they're designed to do and that's to help kids. We've had a lot of talk about where the money goes, does the school district -- are they treated unfairly because dollars flow with the kids. I haven't heard a lot of talk today from the school district about what they're doing to retain some of those kids. They have, in my opinion, a monopoly right now. And I can guarantee you right now, Microsoft is not allowing AOL and all these other places to just step into their market and take their customers without a fight. Microsoft each day is becoming more and more innovative to keep people attached to and working with Microsoft. People don't want to leave because they provide a quality product. And so I really think what we should focus on and what I would like to hear the school system say is, "this is what we're doing in response to. " And I think with a little more innovation and a little mor creativity, they can negate of the some of the pull that charter schools have right now pulling students away from the public schools. And I guess all the creativity right now is just in the charter schools, and I think that has to change. I would like to see much more cordial working relationships between the school system and charter schools. I think it's a natural. I think there are a lot of things they can learn, not just how well students perform, but how do you pay teachers. All charter schools don't pay teachers the same way. All charter schools don't evaluate teachers the same way. Not all charter schools use the same curriculum or the same teaching methods. How the school is the school structured? How much power do the teachers have? How much power do the parents have? Why are charter schools getting 95 percent attendance with kids who have dropped out of traditional public schools. All those are the types of things that I believe the public school system should be studying and not simply waiting for the Stanford 9 to come out to see how well the students 256 RESOLUTION #980766 have done at the end of year. I think there are ongoing lessons. Each charter school is very different. It's impossible to lump them all together and say charter schools did X or charter schools did Y. A charter school is simply a vehicle, and a group of people have gotten together and done a whole lot of work to put a proposal together that they think is going to be effective with kids. And some of those are going to work, and quite honestly, some of those are not going to work.
But right now in our public system, a lot of schools aren't working, but nobody's really looking at them to figure out are they working; and if not, why not? So I think we need to do some of those things. I think there are a lot of impediments right now to charter schools for them getting up, open and operating on time and starting on time the way they're supposed to be. I hope the City can do some things about that. " So that when it's time, you 257 RESOLUTION #980766 know. " All those sorts of things are just obstacles that are kind of in the way of these schools and it's a very sharp learning curve that they have to go up in order to be able to operate effectively. So I would hope that the City can help, you know, to bridge some of those gaps tort schools. And another thing I think is very important is finding a way to just provide general for. I was listening to one of the charter operators talk about some of the problems she had, but my question would be how many people in the City or the school system picked up the phone and said, "hey, I hear that you're having some problems. " These are all kids, kids who in most cases don't have any other options. " And that bothers me, it just bothers me. Finally, I think another way the school system can really help is just to provide more -- they can actually provide fee-based services to schools. There's some expertise that you have in the public school systems that charter schools don't yet have that can really make for a win win situation for both. One good example would be employee background checks. All schools have to do them. Why not pay the public school system do them for you when they're doing them for everybody else? What about athletics. There are any number of ways. Charter schools aren't looking for a free ride. They are looking for some equity and they are looking for some help in ways to make this whole thing work for them. I have a prepared statement. I think you all have a copy of it. I just totally blew that away just interest of time. But I just wanted to kind of give some general thoughts and comments after the conversations that I heard today. I mean, I really want to see public schools, traditional public schools rise to the challenge. I want them 259 RESOLUTION #980766 to do more innovative things. I want them to increase the amount of programs that are available. " And if you haven't seen a charter school application, I don't know if anybody has one with them, by the time you get finish it's about that big. That's for a single school to operate because think they can do a good job with kids. I would encourage every public school to have to do the same job, even half, you know. Even half, I think would be a big plus. And Madam Chairman, thank you for inviting me. It's been interesting day. I've actually enjoyed it quite a bit. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you for coming. We know you come from out of town, that you come Washington and also Boston. We appreciate you coming in and being so patient with us all day. Councilwoman Clark is twisting my arm, but it's the only question. We have three people, Mr. Bivens and Dr. Walt Palmer, and Vernard Johnson in order that they choose, and we are done. I promise. 260 RESOLUTION #980766
Mr. Campbell, I thank you for your comments, and I wish we had more time because I am one who has a very strong skepticism about proprietary schools. And nothing that I've heard from you today has done anything to dissipate my skepticism and I can't do it on the record. Maybe you and I will stand out in the hall and have a go at it. Still, all of us have the same shared hope that young people will be educated to a level that permits them to function as adults, either in advanced education or directly into the world of work. But quite frankly, in Philadelphia it is all a hope because we don't have enough experience to go on. We now must look at the components of these systems and guess at whether we have enough of the right things to make it work. And I have devoted this day, not looking for ways to kill it, looking for ways to support it. And I listened creatively to see whether there are things that I in my 12 years of chairing the Education Committee and almost 20 years here can contribute. Public education is not perfect. But it and labor unions made the middle class. And when public education was as new as charter schools, they had a 261 RESOLUTION #980766 100 percent attendance rate. So let's not brag about our attendance rate until the newness has warn off and people are then starting to exercise that natural apathy when the newness is gone. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Gentlemen, in any order.
My name is Vernard Johnson. , and I'm the parent of a 7th grader at the World Communications Charter School. I had a daughter who graduated from Philadelphia Public Schools, and by her report card, was a good student and decided that she wanted to be a nurse and went to community college, and we paid a year for remediation. We wanted to pay for her education as best we could. That's why as a family we chose community college because it was something that we could do for our daughter in terms of paying for her education and not having to have her pay a grant or a loan back. And the year that we had to pay for remediation was really a surprise to us because she was a good student. Next year she's going to go to Westchester and we won't be able to pay for that, but she won't have so much to pay 262 RESOLUTION #980766 back. I wanted to say that because we've been supporters of Philadelphia Public Schools. But you can't sacrifice your own and then sacrifice another one and get the same results. So in 4th grade, the elementary school that my 7th grader who is now in 7th grade was in was having some serious discipline problems, and my fourth grader began to complain to us about it, and we took her out in the middle of year and sent her to a private school and paid tuition for two years. And this year we decided that when we had an opportunity to apply to the charter school that Dr. Ryder operates, we did so. And she's a happy kid right now. She's happy because she's around a bunch of kids who are happy being in that school. And they believe they're learning. I asked her why she's so happy. " She didn't actually think she was learning in the private school that we sent her to, so it's not that you always get what you give your dollars for. I wanted to make that point. On the other side of this, my company has a focus on public health. And we focus a lot of children and children's health and children's safety. And for six years or so we were active in 263 RESOLUTION #980766 the traditional Philadelphia Public Schools where we called in the question in front of this Council and other places their concern about the children's health and safety to the point that one nurse, at least when we were active in the traditional public school was responsible for 1500 students' health care. And we're now working -- and had no 9 intentions of changing. We were disappointed that we don't believe that the traditional public schools have a very good plan for emergencies and disasters, not just fires, but emergencies and disasters. And it's like beating your head against a brick to get them to understand what you're talking about. So at some point you want to move on. So we've moved on and are more involved in charter schools in Philadelphia and in Chester, and they seem to have a willingness, this kind of open-arm kind of approach where they're willing to at least sit and listen and to invite others in who can help them develop health and safety plans and curriculum that can help -- I think the biggest part in I'm saying is to help develop curriculum that it may not always be a licensed teacher, a licensed professional who bring to you what you need. Certainly the firemen may not 264 RESOLUTION #980766 be a licensed profession. But he certainly can come into a school environment and talk to children and talk to teachers and other staff about the health and safety of a school and what needs to happen and help build that into the curriculum. That's what I'm seeing at least in charter schools here in Philadelphia at this point. We're involved right at this moment with a construction company.
I don't think they mind me saying their name, Barkley White Construction Company, where the president of that company and partner have been meeting with Dry Ryder and his staff in the World Communications Charter School to look at developing a constructions trade curriculum, something that I think is sorely needed, not just for the children in this town, but for the adults as well so that we can study the construction trades and industry that we've been locked out of. Our children could study that at an earlier age and qualify for apprenticeships in the trades when they become seniors or Grade 13. That's something that we had a hard time working with the traditional public schools in introducing those kinds of programs. 265 RESOLUTION #980766 I just want to tell you about the connection between the charter school and the community. This lady over here from Garden Court was talking about that. I think that there's a spirit that exist, I don't know that it's a new spirit. I think people just been waiting for an opportunity. There's spirit that exists between charter schools and communities that I don't believe exists in a traditional public school, at least for us. And I want to give you a couple examples of some things that we're doing in the Worlds Communications Charter School and then get out of here to go meet 30 of our health club students who meet every Tuesday at 2:30. We'd invite you to come and see what we're doing with them at the school at Broad and South. There is a critical need in southwest Philadelphia for better services from retailers who sell food. And a lot of the stores in our community sell food especially dairy products that are expired. The dates have expired. I'm glad to see the health commissioner in the room so she can hear what we're saying on this piece. A lot of mothers who are entitled to WIC commodities shop in these 266 RESOLUTION #980766 stores where the items are a day or two away from expiring if they haven't already passed the expiration point. We're working with students both in Chester and at the World Communications Charter School here and in what we call an action research project. That project involves them going out into the Kingsessing Paschall community in southwest and researching what stores exist in the community, what they sell, and looking at the expiration dates of the products that they sell, especially the milk. And we're going to release a report soon about what we have found. On Friday this week we're going to Washington with students from the World 16 Communications Charter School here and 20 students 17 from charter school in Chester to meet with former 18 Mayor Goode who is with the Department of Education 19 and the Secretary of Education as well as some 20 people from the Department of Agriculture to discuss a couple of things. One is America Reads. Our students are going to get involved with the America Reads program. They are going to kind of cross what they do with American Reads and connect that to a good solid nutrition program. And we're hoping that 267 RESOLUTION #980766 the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture will work with our kids here in Philadelphia and in Chester to support their efforts to open and operate a food cooperative in southwest Philadelphia, one where we will have fresh fruits and produce available for sale but we're also going to explore what it takes to sell WIC commodities. And the students are also working with people of Haitian decent and Asian decent and helping them to write down what their concerns are about the foods that are available through the WIC program. Now, a lot of folks may say "well, what does that all have to do with anything," but it's addressing a major issue that exists in our community and the charter schools both charter schools, both charter schools, the one here and the one in Chester, were open to working with us on that effort and having their kids do the research project.
And I just use that as a basis to say that I think there's a good opportunity for the traditional public schools to look at what charter schools are doing in a short period of time to develop relationships in the community. I'll close with this, these two points. 268 RESOLUTION #980766 I've been to about four parents meetings this year at the World Communications Charter School that has 450 students. There haven't been less than 200 parents at any one of those meetings. For me, that is a change. The first meeting that I attended was at the Board of Education the auditorium right down the hall from Superintendent Hornbeck's office where there were about 400 parents who signed the sign-in sheet. I think that's a change. It shows something. The other point I want to make is this: This guy other over here was saying about the dollars, we talk about dollars today and we talked very little about curriculum, what's being offered, what kids are learning. I don't hear any squawking when a kid goes on office role and the school continues to get the money but the kids out in the street. I don't see anyone going after him or her. All I see is a district that let's the kid stay in the street, be on office role, and gets the dollars. I think my oldest daughter was a good student and a good person. I think my 7th grader is a good student and good person. I think that my wife is good person. I think I'm a good person. We're 269 RESOLUTION #980766 active in our kids' education. We're active in the community. When we left the district, there was no 4 effort at all to ask us why or if we wanted to come back what conditions we wanted to come back under. It was like, "bye, see you later," and the only thing that they're concerned about now is the dollars that really belong to my child and my family that could be used to support us to make sure that she gets a quality education. I heard a concern about not discriminating against the disabled. But at the same time I heard that maybe charter schools would be a great place for those returning from incarceration. If that's not discrimination, I don't know what it is. And, you know, I'm not much on profit organizations doing what I consider to be public and private sector work, but we've allowed Tenent to come into this town and to provide health care for folks without really understanding what they're going doing and who they're going to serve when the times get hard. So I'm willing to work with anyone who is willing to work and has demonstrated that they're willing to work with our kids for the 270 RESOLUTION #980766 betterment of the kids and for the communities that we live in. And I'll close with this: The construction people that we're working with are concerned that the school district isn't producing the kind of student to be the kind of employee that they want. And I think if we have an opportunity to mix the professional world with our kids and their education in schools, I think we should take the opportunity to do it. And if the traditional schools have shut down their wood shops and their metal shops and their autobody shops, if there's an opportunity to bring an Ike Tillman from Ledlow Autobody into a school that wants to put a focus on that trade and Ike doesn't have a teaching certificate, I think we need to find a way to get the Ike Tillmans of the world into the classroom. So I would caution you about listening to the rhetoric around, make 100 percent of the professional staff teachers because you see what we've got right now with 100 percent of the professional staff being teachers. We've got a state representative who's concerned about a school in his area. We've high school in South Philly that 271 RESOLUTION #980766 they say is producing well and is questionable if those statistics are real. We've got the School of Science and Engineering on the disabled list based on the schools own evaluation plan, it needs special attention.
And the old head around the teachers are not teaching our kids because they maybe come from a different ethnic background has kind of raised its head again. So that's what I wanted to say. Thank you for letting me be here. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you very much. Thank you Vernard. Dr. Walt Palmer. Thank you, all of you for your patience.
Only councilwoman Jannie Blackwell could get me to come early and say late. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: But I've done this to all of you before. But I promise next time you will be first. Vernard, Walt, Dr. Bivens, I'm telling you, they're always last, but I promise next time, and I say that on the record.
First of all, I want to thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell, for inviting me here. My name is Walt Palmer. I am director of the 272 RESOLUTION #980766 Palmer Foundation which is a research training institute on social justice and social action which I've run for over 40 years. I'm also here representing the Philadelphia Coalition for Education Reform and School Choice and the African-American Grassroots Coalition for School Choice. I also recognize State Representative, my dear friend, Dwight Evans, and State Representative Mike Horsey as well. I'm want to say up front that the notion of charter schools is not a new notion. Today we heard a lot of people talk about charter schools and talking about it as if it somehow just came out of the blue. Charter schools have been for years, or the concept, the model of charter schools have for years been alternatives to education which was absent in various communities. Historically in American society if it were not for alternative schools many African slaves would never have been educated. If it not for Christian decent people white and black setting up alternative ways to educate the slaves, they would never have gotten educated. Poor white indentureds of Europe and America would have never gotten educated had there 273 RESOLUTION #980766 not been models of charter schools, schools operating without a charter both in pre-colonial and post-colonial period. The idea that charters are new also disturbs me because clearly in the 1900s when the great migration of blacks from out the southlands to the north when they were meeting hostility northern whites, they too had to find alternative ways of education. African-Americans were late to get into education in elementary, secondary, junior high schools, and colleges in American society. We need to constantly remember that. You talk about charter schools and alternatives, you talk about choices. Everybody in America has choices, particularly the middle class. Today I'm here to talk about black and poor because the truth of the matter of the 217,000 students, over 75 percent are African-American and/or Hispanic. Of the numbers you talk about 50 percent to 60 percent or more dropping out before they finish high school, we're talking about largely African-Americans and Hispanics whose numbers drop out faster than African-Americans. In American society we have gone through almost several hundred 274 RESOLUTION #980766 years of white skin approach and black skin disadvantage, which clearly is phenomenal which suggest the social hierarchy maintained a status of whites different than that have blacks. The truth is that unless we look towards alternative ways born within the community many times outside of the structures for finding ways to deal with these social conditions, there is no answer. I'm an educator. I've been an educator all my life. When I graduated from high school in the 1950s, I set up my own school, the Black Peoples University of Philadelphia at 329 South 52nd Street, and ran it for 30 years. And it was there that John Skief learned about alternative education and reform. It was there that Dr. Ed Robinson was able to hone his skills in helping to train people in the community. It was there that young David Richardson, the former state representative, learned his skills. And the list can go on and on of people in Philadelphia who took advantage of alternative education when it was not popular in the 1950s and '60s. In the 1950s cents and '60s after I had acquired a degree in education and had already 275 RESOLUTION #980766 passed certification for teaching both in day and evening schools, while I was still teaching in my own school for 30 years, I helped to organize and lead a demonstration for reform in the City of Philadelphia against the Board of Education.
On November 17, 1967, through the help of and the call of young African-American students in the junior high schools and high schools, we orchestrated a call for a shut-down of the public schools of Philadelphia for educational reform. Over a hundred thousand children marched out of the schools and a significant number marched on the Board of Education, but we had already trained some or 30 15 students representatives on how to negotiate with 16 former Mayor Richardson Dilwort and Superintendent 17 Mark Shea and were successful in negotiating for 18 reforms like a student Bill of Rights, like a dress 19 code, like being able to have their representation 20 inside the history books. America American was not 21 a reality before 1967 in the public schools of 22 Philadelphia. 23 The public schools of Philadelphia has 24 been good for a lot of people. And I believe in 25 public education and I support public education, 276 RESOLUTION #980766 particularly good public schools. But I take the same stance that former secretary of education Bill 4 Bennett takes, be damned public education if it's destroying our children, shut it all down and start all over again. Radical approach. Certainly our state legislators and our City Council people are never that radical, and we don't expect that. But clearly they've got hear the moaning and crying of the new, the neo-slave, young black men and women and young African-American poor and young Hispanic poor and poor whites who are trapped in a system. The problem is not just more money to solve it, because we're talking about a problem which is structural, a problem indeming, a problem that is institutionalized, a problem that has cultural pressure, imposing cultural values on children who can't rise to meet the same demands we put on them. Charter schools were a natural outcome. Teachers unions were not in favor of charter schools in early days. I helped five years ago to help legislation which went into the State of Pennsylvania, and I personally lobbied and fought to try to get people like State Representative Evans and State Representative Mike Horsey and others in 277 RESOLUTION #980766 the black caucus to take the leadership in education reform in the City of Philadelphia because what's good young black African-Americans and young Hispanics is good for young whites as well. We've proven that through a hundred or more years of fighting with civil liberties. When blacks acquired those civil liberties, guess who else got them? All people in American society. Charter schools are not an experiment. When you talk about charter schools, holding them to a standard that we've never held the public schools to charter schools have yet to talk about having these large disparities. Truly a good strong charter school is a progressive school which allows us to be able to have not 75 percent teacher certification, but only 50 percent. You need less teacher certification. Martin Luther King and Albert Schweitzer could never have taught in a public school without being certified. What do we a miss when we in fact put the same constraints on everyday people who are fighting for their lives? It's a battle of their lives. This is not a battle of money, which is really what this issue is more about than anything else. 278 RESOLUTION #980766 Education is a growth industry in American society. The fight against charter schools and this whole idea of the driving of money lies more around the fact that people want to maintain the status quo because of privilege. If in fact we maintain the status quo, the people who have traditionally been able to get the contracts will keep them. The people who continue to get the promotions will keep them; the tenure, will keep them. The people who will continue to buy or sell the toilet paper, the pencils, the books, they'll keep it. The construction contracts will stay in the same place, they'll keep them.
It's a golden opportunity for African-Americans to see themselves not being students, but to run their own schools, become entrepreneurs. The State of Pennsylvania put 15 to 17 billion dollars a year in education. That's an awful lot of money. And yet what happens is we do not get the same bang for our buck. If we were in fact in a business holding people to a business standard, the product that we now see coming our of most of public schools would force that business into bankruptcy. And no banker would put more money 279 RESOLUTION #980766 into it. No, the charter schools are good. The charter schools need support. The State needs to go further. Tim Daniels and others need to really lobby for greater capitalization so many of these schools when they're starting up have greater start-up capital. They need to reduce the down time for them getting the money to operate. It's a business opportunity. Wouldn't it be wonderful if in fact many of the African-America churches on every corner had a school? Wouldn't it be great if they replaced the bars with schools? But as long as African-Americans don't believe they have the ability to control the education and run the education of their own children, they'll leave them in the hands of other people. Representative Clark makes a good point. Teachers' unions are seen as adversaries because they block the doors for many of reforms. You cannot do that and at the same time be seen as a person who is participating. Public education has magna schools which are great. Nobody wants to shut down Jenks, nobody wants to shut down Henry, nobody wants to shut down good schools. But often times 280 RESOLUTION #980766 those who criticize the faults of the school system are often times seen as pariah within the community. They attempt to shut their voices down. Well, mine is not one of those that can be shut down. Special education can be handled in public schools and also in charter schools, and more money should be made available for that. We need to recognize the fact that there's a culture within the public school system that you're fighting, a culture of nepotism, a culture of internal controls, a culture of greed, a culture of politics, a culture of special interests. And that is why there is much resistance. It is conceivable that the public schools will have to learn and do as all other business do in America, consider the possibility of out-sourcing. Larger is not better. We don't ever need to see again two and three and four thousand children inside of one great big megalopolis, all concrete. I've challenged the black clergy, where were they when the fight for reform was going on? Where was the black clergy when in fact prayer was taken out of the schools? Where is the black clergy 281 RESOLUTION #980766 when dogs are allowed to come in and sniff? Where is the black clergy when in fact lockers are being searched and seized? First and fourth amendment rights being violated. Where are were they? Where are they now? You cannot really support two masters. The gift they may get from union alliances and from political alliances are not sufficient. They're not sufficient. Charter schools are often times been used and seen in the same way as some of the people sitting behind me are treated. It's all right but not in my backyard. The truth of the matter is if it's all right for one, it's all right for all. We won't take those who may be mentally challenged in our backyards or those who may in fact be mis-educated in our backyards, but we'll take prisons and halfway houses in our backyards. More driven by profit and greed than it is by need. Clearly, I think what happens is it's very, very important for us to look at education reform in its totality. It is impossible for us to not to talk about public education and the maintenance thereof. At the same time, it's impossible for us to talk about meaningful reform 282 RESOLUTION #980766 and not take into account home education.
It may be as many as percent of the American population who 4 have the ability to have children in school are 5 educating themselves in their homes. You cannot 6 talk about reform without talking about charter 7 schools and magna schools. It's a part of the 8 equation. 9 Finally, you cannot talk reform without 10 talking about scholarships and vouchers, where parents will be given the right to choose a school of their choice and the money should follow the child. Because in America, the American democracy, it's fundamental. Freedom is the ability to make choices and know what the consequence of the choice is before you make it. Most Americans have understood that and have had choice. But the poor, particularly African-American poor and Hispanic poor seldom get the choice to pick housing, to pick a job, to pick education. Those who would dare block the door for those reforms are really the enemy of the people whether they're black or white. Middle class black people suffer from some of the same malaise that often times their counterpart white middle class professionals suffer from, too, and 283 RESOLUTION #980766 that is, they already experienced using and operating and selecting choice to send their children to the school of their choice and at the same time would have the audacity to talk against the prospect of the poor having the same right. Thanks you. ) CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you, Dr. Palmer. Last, but certainly not least, Mr. Eugene Bivens. And we're sorry your wife Dr. Bivens had to leave but we thank you both.
I have copies of my presentation here. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you.
I'm Eugene Bivens representing the NAACP Education Committee. At the outset, we want to say that we lament the fact that the public schools have declined to the point where this public hearing has to take place. Public schools could have been saved if school districts had reformed disciplinary procedures so that youngsters who wanted to attend school could do so in a safe environment. Most 284 RESOLUTION #980766 acknowledge that charter schools and vouchers were first proposed to establish safe school environments for pupils and fearful parents. This could have been done if school districts shortened the process of due process when transferring an unruly pupil to an alternative setting. The signatures of 80 percent of the teachers of a disruptive pupil should be enough to have that pupil transferred to a discipline school. There are other reforms that unsuccessful school districts failed to address. Such failures include: The failure to develop an administrators exam recruit the most committed individuals. Two, the failure to adopt or examine strategies used successfully elsewhere and pleaded for by the public. Such strategies are now being used successfully in charter schools such as uniforms in the schools, cameras in the classroom, cameras on school buses, and finally the use of phonics so pupils can learn to read. The Philadelphia Inquirer articles of August 25, 1998 and March 19, 1998, pages listed here report these successes. The American Teacher newsletter states 285 RESOLUTION #980766 that the Learning First Alliance, an alliance of organizations that includes the AFT, NEA, and national organizations representing school boards, principals, school administrators, teacher educators, parents and others issued a paper calling on educator and policy makers to adopt policies consistent with available research on how to teach reading effectively. That research, asserts the paper, calls for a strong emphasis on phonemic awareness. Superintendent David Hornbeck has steadfast refused affirmatively act on the use of phonics in the teaching of reading. We posit that the main reason young males lose interest in school is because of their inability to read. These tragic circumstances lead to low self esteem often an even more tragic journey into criminal behavior. An idle mind is a devil's workshop. These strategies, rejected by unsuccessful school districts, can now be implemented in charter schools. This is good. The charter choice is not to be confused with the voucher choice. The proposed voucher plan as reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer would give 286 RESOLUTION #980766 parents $350 to $1,000 per child, based upon income. A voucher system would lead us back to the same old problems. The same unready pupils would be forced upon the schools, and there would be further destruction of what is left of the public schools. A myriad of other problems would ensue. Inept administrators would cause school after school to fail. When schools fail, we find brand new materials that unsuspecting teachers ordered, now out on a school platform waiting for the trash truck, promoting further waste. I've seen it. I've seen it with the Keystone school. What then happens to the child who wants a transcript to attend college and his high school has closed? This is only one example of what vouchers could bring about. To a lesser extent, same could happen to charter schools. The idea to establish a joint State/ City committee to guide us through this critical period of educational and social development is good. We hope that joint hearings lead to this initiative. Certainly we cannot go on with charter fighting the school districts for scarce resources, 287 RESOLUTION #980766 each with their own bias. A house divided cannot stand. Nebulous areas of funding like transportation, where the school district claims inability to perform, need to be attended to.
Possible recruitment of some of the parents to be licensed bus drivers with the appropriate vehicles may be one solution. A joint, odd member, City and State Charter School Committee funded by both bodies, with staff from the Education Committees of each, may be one method of alleviating the growing pains of charter schools in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Education should have representation on the committee. The committee should elect its own chairperson. The Pennsylvania Department of Education should have the task of initiating the formation of the committee with authorizing legislation. Let us move on. Thank you for listening. CHAIRWOMAN BLACKWELL: Thank you very much. We certainly thank you for staying all day. We apologize to the those committee members for the 288 RESOLUTION #980766 Health and Human Services Committee. We did not mean to delay you. We did not expect some of my colleagues asking questions that would delay you. We hope your hearing goes as well as ours has. And with this, if there are no further comments or questions, we would recess the committee subject to the call of the Chair. Thank you. Certainly, all of the guests who were here, let me say a special thanks to State Representative Dwight Evans who co-Chair and State Representative Mike Horsey, all the guests who came out of town, all the people from across the State. All those who represent private company and interests were all contacted by State Representative Dwight Evans and his office, and we certainly thank him because we could not have had a hearing without the State being involved. Thank you. ) - - - 289 I N D E X RESOLUTION 980766 PAGE MICHAEL CARP, Family Charter School --------- 164 GAIL HAWKINS BUSH, Alliance Charter School -- 170 CHRIS THOMAS WIGGINS, Imhotep Institute ----- 180 DR. VUONG THUY, Mult-Cultural Academy Charter School --------------------------------- 192 HECTOR BONILLA, Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community Bilingual Charter School --------------- 200 MADELINE SHIKOMBA, Center for Economics & Law Charter School ------------------------- 204 TOD REYNOLDS PHIL ESBRANDT, Drexel University/Foundations Technical Assistance Center for Charter Schools -------------------------------- 211 GAIL MEISTER, Drexel University/Foundations Technical Assistance Center for Charter Schools -------------------------------- 212 SHELLY YANOFF, Philadelphia Coalition for Children and Youth ------------------------------ 221 PAT HALPIN-MURPHY, Government Relations Phila. Federation of Teachers ----------------- 226 JANET DUBINSKY, Garden Court Community Association ---------------------------- 249 KEN CAMPBELL, Advantage Schools ------------- 253 DR. WALTER PALMER, The Phila. Coalition for Education Reform and School Choice ----- 271 DR. EUGENE BIVENS, NAACP Education Committee- 283 290 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of December 8, 1998, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION ___________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR and Notary Public ___________________________ Debra A. Whitehead, RPR and Notary Public