Finalists picked to reform failing city schools

Six nonprofits have been selected to radically reform nine failing Philadelphia School District schools, officials announced Tuesday.

Five organizations currently operate charters and are planning to turn district schools into charter schools. Another wants to take over schools but staff them with district teachers.

The six potential managers of nine "Renaissance" schools are: Johns Hopkins/Diplomas Now, Aspira Inc. of Pennsylvania, Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Mastery Charter Schools, Universal Cos., and Young Scholars Charter Schools.

Five additional Renaissance schools will be run directly by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman. All of the Renaissance schools will have a longer school day and year and Saturday instruction. No more than 50 percent of the schools' current staff can remain at the new schools, which must take all students currently eligible to enroll.

All of the providers have track records running successful public schools in urban areas, said Carly Bolger, manager for the Renaissance initiative. They were selected on the basis of detailed proposals describing how they would achieve academic success at schools that have long performed poorly, Bolger said.

"These are going to be neighborhood schools, and we wanted to be certain that they were comfortable with what that means," said Bolger.

The plans will be made publicly available, officials said.

The Renaissance process must move on a tight timeline in order to get schools ready to open in September.

Next, school advisory councils - made up of parents, teachers and other community members - for each of the nine schools will tour the providers' current schools, interview the turnaround team and hold community meetings at which the public can ask questions. The councils will then make recommendations for a provider match to Ackerman.

Ackerman's final recommendations are due in early May, with a vote by the School Reform Commission expected May 19.

Not all of the finalists will necessarily get to operate schools, Bolger said.

"This does not mean that they will all get a school," she said. "They are all qualified to go on to the next step, which is meeting with the communities."

It's not yet clear whether school councils will meet with all six providers, Bolger said.

"We want to be able to provide a broad variety of options for each school council," said Bolger.

In 2002, the district handed over 45 schools to outside managers, an experiment widely regarded as a failure. Ackerman has said that the district has learned from its mistakes.

Ackerman's "Imagine 2014" strategic plan calls for up to 35 low-performing schools to be radically restructured in the coming years.