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Wilkinsburg board pulls school's charter
Tuesday, July 17, 2001 By Eleanor Chute, Post-Gazette Education Writer
Wilkinsburg School Board last night revoked the charter of the Thurgood Marshall Academy Charter School, making it only the second charter school in the state to have its charter revoked.
Eleven minutes after the call to order and after only one parent chose to address the board, the board voted unanimously to revoke the charter. Board member Jerome Garrett was absent.
The revocation is effective immediately, but the academy has the right to file an appeal within 30 days to the state Charter School Appeal Board. Charter school officials could not be reached for comment last night, but they have said previously they would file an appeal, which would allow the academy to remain open during the appeal process.
The resolution stated that the academy had violated its own charter, failed to meet the requirements for student performance, failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management and audits, and violated state laws, including those governing children with disabilities.
No board member spoke before the vote, but immediately afterward board member Ray Griffith urged academy parents to put their energies to work in the regular public schools.
"Tell us what you want, and we will build it into the regular schools of Wilkinsburg," Griffith said. "There is no need to splinter our resources."
By state law, the school district pays for each resident child attending the academy, a figure which totals about $1.5 million a year.
The only parent to address the board before the vote was Elaine Harris-Fulton, who has two children who attend Thurgood Marshall.
She urged the board to give the school another year, saying parents are willing to help turn the school around. She said the administration has changed at Thurgood Marshall.
"We are now asking the school board to give the parents a chance to rectify the mistakes made," she said.
Charter school officials were not seen at the meeting, but parents who have children at the school talked to board members after the vote.
Gladys Malone, whose child is to begin second grade at Thurgood Marshall in the fall, said she liked the academy better than the district's Kelly Elementary School, where her child attended kindergarten.
The school, which opened in fall 1999 and had one year left on its charter, had about 230 children in kindergarten through 10th grade this past school year. It plans to add 11th grade in the fall.
If Thurgood Marshall officials file an appeal, the state board is required to make a decision within 90 days. If the appeal board upholds the school district, then the academy still can appeal to Commonwealth Court. It would be up to the court to determine whether it could remain open during that appeal.
At the charter school's board meeting last week, academy board President Aaron Scales said the board planned to file an appeal if the school district revoked the charter. Scales could not be reached for comment last night.
If the academy is closed, the school district is prepared to accept the children whenever necessary, even if it is mid-year. School board President Jean Dexheimer said there is room in the district for the children.
Only one school's charter has been revoked in Pennsylvania. That was last year for the Creative Educational Concepts Charter School, located in a church basement in Chester in the Chester Upland School District in Delaware County. The state Charter School Appeal Board upheld that revocation.
Wilkinsburg School District had a long list of complaints against Thurgood Marshall, including its reluctance to submit records to the district.
School district Solicitor Isobel Storch said the academy's records showed that only 34 percent of the staff was properly certified and only 36 percent had records of valid clearances for child abuse and criminal records. State law requires 75 percent of teachers in a charter school to be certified and 100 percent of staff to have clearances.
At the public hearing last month, students and academy officials asked the district for a second chance, saying the school was helping children and its problems were solvable.
While the revocation process continues, the academy is working to try to improve. The charter calls for the academy to follow the Modern Red Schoolhouse school reform program, which takes a standards-based approach to professional development and teaching. It never has.
Last week, Scales said the academy board and teachers would meet at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow with a representative of the program, followed by an academy board vote on the program.
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