Supporters of charter criticize Butkovitz report

Supporters defended the People for People Charter School at Wednesday's School Reform Commission meeting and lambasted a city controller's report that raised questions about its financial management.

Robert Strain, a businessman and vice chairman of the North Philadelphia charter's board, said he was troubled by City Controller Alan Butkovitz's report, for which neither he nor any of his fellow board members were interviewed.

"Speaking on behalf of the People for People Charter School board members, we are serious and involved in monitoring the charter school budget," Strain said.

Dozens of supporters stood while he and four others testified about the school, which is seeking to renew its operating charter for another five years.

Leonard Jamison, a board member of the People for People nonprofit, also took issue with the April 8 report, which alleged several conflicts of interest between the school and the related nonprofit.

The school was founded in 2001 by the Rev. Herbert H. Lusk II, who is chairman of the charter school and the nonprofit board.

"The report sought to portray Dr. Lusk and People for People as beneficiaries of the People for People Charter School. Rather, they have been benefactors," Jamison said.

People for People was one of 13 charter schools the Butkovitz report focused on. The report, which was completed after more than a yearlong investigation, cited repeated examples of complex real estate arrangements in which charters leased or rented facilities from related nonprofit organizations, excessive salaries for chief executive officers, compliant boards whose members are handpicked by school chiefs, and rampant conflicts of interest.

The controller also concluded that the Philadelphia School District had failed to monitor charter schools, leaving it and taxpayers "extremely vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse."

The commission also heard from parents and staff of the KIPP Philadelphia Charter Schools, who urged the commission to vote in May on KIPP's request to add an elementary and high school. KIPP operates middle-grade charter schools in North and West Philadelphia.

"I am well aware of the negative media that some charter schools have recently received," said Aaron Bass, who would be principal of the new high school. "But there are many schools, like KIPP, that have not been accused of any wrong doing."

Bass said that KIPP employees had been working all year to ready the new elementary and high schools, and that teachers had been hired.

"We need to have our proposal approved in May in order to have school next year," Bass said.

Beditza Cadillo, whose middle-school-age daughter would be a member of the first KIPP high school graduating class, pleaded with the commission to move quickly.

"Not voting for the expansion of the KIPP charter is the same thing as saying no to my daughter's college degree," Cadillo said.

After the meeting, Marc Mannella, CEO and founder of KIPP Philadelphia Schools, said he was dismayed when he learned from district officials two weeks ago that the commission would not consider KIPP's expansion application until June.

Benjamin W. Rayer, an associate superintendent who oversees the district's charter office, said after the meeting that staffers were reviewing 28 applications for charter expansions.

"We're moving as fast as we can," he said.

A total of 67 charter schools operate in the district.

Also at the meeting, the commission voted to hire a former consultant and superintendent candidate to a new, $180,000-a-year position.

Leroy D. Nunery II is "chief of institutional advancement and strategic partnerships." He started April 1.

In June, the commission approved a $90,00 contract with Nunery's educational consulting firm, PlusUltre L.L.C., to help implement Imagine 2014, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's strategic plan.

Nunery, who has also worked for Edison Schools and the University of Pennsylvania, was a finalist for the superintendent job won by Ackerman.