N.J. sub firm won't lose Phila. schools contract

Despite months of missing goals and leaving classrooms unstaffed, the Cherry Hill firm charged with handling city schools' substitute-teaching services will keep most of its Philadelphia School District work and not have its contract canceled, officials announced Thursday.

Going forward, Source4Teachers will staff only short-term substitute jobs; the district will again manage long-term substitute staffing. Many had called for the contract to be canceled outright.

On any given day in October, Philadelphia had more than 500 short-term absences and vacancies for the firm to fill. At its high point, this week, Source4Teachers filled roughly 30 percent of the jobs.

It had promised to staff 70 percent of vacancies on the first day of school, and 90 percent by January.

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said the district had outsourced substitute staffing because it was not doing an adequate job itself - last year, it managed to staff about 65 percent of substitute jobs. For Philadelphia to take the bulk of the work back would be counterproductive, he suggested.

Hite, who had earlier said his patience had run out with Source4Teachers, acknowledged the firm had not measured up. But, he said, if the district canceled its Source4Teachers pact outright, it would lose the 265 teachers now in the sub pool and the 400 more awaiting clearances to work.

"Canceling the contract does not generate any savings," Hite said in an email to staff. Source4Teachers "is only paid for the substitute positions it fills."

Appearing before the School Reform Commission at a raucous meeting Thursday night, Source4Teachers president Kendley Davenport said the firm had to do better.

"I want to publicly acknowledge that we have underperformed," Davenport said over the boos of a hostile crowd that expressed its displeasure all night with a cowbell, a tambourine, and jeers.

Still, Davenport said, the company was ramping up its efforts to recruit teachers, offering higher pay and investing in advertising campaigns.

"We're confident that Source4Teachers is the right partner for the district," Davenport said.

Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said the district's contract amendment did not go nearly far enough.

"The district needs to take control of assigning substitute teachers, totally," said Jordan, whose union represented most substitutes under the old system.

Speakers at the meeting also expressed outrage that the district did not cancel the Source4Teachers contract.

"There is no reason to continue to pay this company," said Lisa Haver, a retired district teacher. "The decision not to cancel this contract is completely irresponsible. It is a betrayal of the students."

The SRC did not need to act on the contract amendment. The commission did, however, take action on three charter schools.

It voted not to renew the charter of New Media Technology Charter School in the city's Stenton section, a process begun in 2014. The SRC cited numerous reasons, including poor academic performance, financial problems, and failing to provide students with the rich technology experience promised in its application.

The school's founding CEO and founding board president went to federal prison in 2012 after admitting they stole $522,000 in taxpayer money to prop up a restaurant, a health-food store, and a private school they controlled, and for defrauding a bank.

Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School received a new charter, closing a protracted legal battle. The SRC had attempted to shut the North Philadelphia school amid complaints about shaky finances and low test scores.

After three contentious SRC votes and a few forays to the courts, the state Charter Appeal Board ordered the SRC in May to grant the K-12 school in Kensington a new charter.

After a close vote, Ad Prima Charter School, with campuses in Frankford and Kensington, saw its charter renewed with dozens of conditions. Ad Prima is one of four charters founded by Dorothy June Brown. The veteran educator is awaiting retrial on federal charges of defrauding some of her schools of $6.3 million.

kgraham@phillynews.com 215-854-5146 @newskag www.philly.com/schoolfiles