Private failures
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission is removing outside managers of six public schools and putting the campuses back under the control of the city sc hool district, The Philadelphia Inquirer says. The six that are returning to district control are Gillespie, Harrity, Potter-Thomas, Stetson, Dunbar and Fitzsimons. The schools have repeatedly failed to meet state standards and district targets. They will receive intense district support, including teacher coaches, targeted professional development, a parent-outreach worker, and a social worker.
Private managers at 20 other schools have been given one-year contracts and have been warned that they may lose their contracts if improvements are not made. Private managers at 12 schools have been given three-year extensions.
Do you think school districts should continue to experiment with using privatized management for running some of their campuses?
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October 7th, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
Here’s a story about another Philadelphia school. Visit www.kheperacharterschool.com for a case study on how legislation with good intentions can be undermined. After the founders expended three years of painstaking work, the board found pretexts to eliminate them a mere two months after the school opened.