SRC hears report on "Renaissance Schools'

Parents and students will know by January which failing Philadelphia schools will be overhauled, but the number will be fewer than the 10 originally proposed under Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's "Imagine 2014" strategic plan.

And an advisory council with parents and community representatives will be created for each of those schools to select, by spring, the approach that will be used to transform it, panel representatives told members of the School Reform Commission yesterday.

The "Renaissance Schools" are a key component in Ackerman's five-year strategic plan, which calls for closing up to 35 failing schools over the next five years and reopening them as charters or as schools run by outside groups or individuals with successful track records.

While there may not be time to resolve legal issues for the failing schools to become charters by next fall, the district will be able to allow charter operators to take over schools under contract, the group told the commission.

The broad-based, 60-member panel spent the last two months coming up with a process for selecting schools, developing a timeline, and suggesting strategies for overhauling schools with chronic academic problems. The group's leaders briefed the commission on its initial recommendations.

The advisory group did not say how many Renaissance Schools would begin transformation in the fall. But Ackerman, whose plan is in sync with the recommendations of U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, said the first group would be smaller than the 10 she originally envisioned.

"The Department of Ed is saying, rather than doing a lot of schools, it's better to do a smaller number . . . and do it right," she said after the meeting.

The panel has scheduled four meetings next month throughout the city to gather feedback. Ackerman has promised that parents and students will have a voice in deciding what the transformation looks like.