Independence Charter School is considering opening a school in West Philadelphia.
Officials from the school, which currently has one location at 1600 Lombard, are trying to gauge interest in the school from the local community, a key part of a new charter school application. If approved, the school would likely be located in the 19139 or 19143 zip codes, according to the letter, which was posted on neighborhood e-mail lists.
The 19139 zip code covers an area west of 45th Street to Cobbs Creek and north of Spruce Street to Westminster. 19143 runs south from Spruce to the river and west from 45th Street to roughly 60th Street.
New charter school applications are due at the School Reform Commission by Saturday. Public hearings on the applications are expected by next month. The SRC then has up to 75 days to approve or reject a charter application.
The district currently has 86 charter schools that enroll some 67,000 students. This is the first time since 2007 that the SRC has considered new applications for charter schools, thanks to a provision in the $2-per-pack cigarette tax. There could be as many as 50 applications, according to reports.
Penn Alexander School (Photo West Philly Local).
In other school news, the School District of Philadelphia has published the procedures for the year’s kindergarten lottery at Penn Alexander School for the 2015-2016 school year. Applications will be accepted between Jan. 20 and Feb. 27. The lottery will be conducted and letters will be sent to parents during the week of March 9.
• Two proofs of residency within the Penn Alexander catchment are required.
• Head Start and Early Intervention applications are also due within the same time frame.
• From the District’s website: “Parents are strongly encouraged to participate in the School Selection Process beginning October 17, 2014 and ending 5:00 PM on December 12, 2014. The School Selection online application can be reached by going to schoolselect.philasd.org.”
• Admission decision will only be communicated in writing. No phone calls.
More information and application materials can be found on the Office of Student Enrollment and Placement website.
– Mike Lyons
November 13th, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Could someone post the letter that was sent to neighborhood email lists from Independence Charter?
November 13th, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Notification from: Independence Charter School
Hello ICS Families,
I am reaching out to you as CEO of Independence Charter School. Recently, the School District of Philadelphia informed the charter community that they are now accepting applications for new charter schools. This is exciting news for our school community. ICS has been exploring growth beyond our current building at 1600 Lombard. We are looking into the possibility of locating a new school in the 19143 and 19139 area.
Our application is due on November 15th and a key component of the application is gathering support from the community. We need letters of support from our ICS families and friends of ICS families, as well as names of local organizations that might be interested in a new Independence-style charter school in their area.
Attached is a sample letter of support. You can print it, sign it, and email it back to ICSG…@icscharter.com. We will also send a paper copy of the letter home with your children this Thursday.
You can email ICSG…@icscharter.com to request additional information and/or to provide contact information for community groups or individuals who might support ICS’s expansion into these neighborhoods.
Thank you,
CEO Tom
Support lettter — http://goo.gl/TVyyHY
November 14th, 2014 at 12:07 pm
Not one Charter approval until District Schools are made whole!
November 14th, 2014 at 1:42 pm
The opening of an new charter school in the neighborhood would permanently damage Penn Alexander, Lea, and on all public schools in Philadelphia. I agree strongly with the comment above that there should be no charter expansion until the state has provided adequate funds for all public schools. Every student added to a charter school reduces resources for neighborhood schools.
November 14th, 2014 at 8:45 pm
Ugh! Yeah, it’s not just some overall ideological thing: a fancy charter like Independence in the middle of University City would siphon off a great deal of the most academically-prepared and well-supported students (and the district money attached to them) out of the regular neighborhood schools. Penn Alexander will be fine, but this will hit Lea hard.
November 14th, 2014 at 10:32 pm
They should look into the old Most Blessed Sacrament school building at Chester Ave and ~56th St. It’s huge and in good repair, and the charter school that’s there now is looking to get out of its lease.
November 14th, 2014 at 10:58 pm
I disagree that this is bad news for Penn Alexander and Lea. Kindergarten applications to PAS have fallen off a cliff over the past three years since uncertainty became a issue. From what I hear buyers with young kids are simply choosing other neighbourhoods. A shorter wait list at independence charter could make parents more comfortable betting on our neighbourhood.
As for Lea, from what I hear they are full too. When there was that big mess with the kindergarten registration line two years ago, and everyone was urging PAS catchment parents to consider Lea, the parents who did put in applications for Lea ended up being turned down.
November 14th, 2014 at 11:32 pm
Lea is not full. Capped-out Penn Alexander students have been continually referred to Lea for placement and enrolling, including this September.
I believe the issue with transferring in the past has been mostly with the school district’s main office administration not capacity at the school. 26 voluntary transfers to Lea for kindergarten were ultimately approved for 2014-2015. As alluded to in this post, the voluntary transfer process has been re-branded as the School Selection Process and is now entirely online. There is some hope that the process will run better going forward with results actually reflecting space available at schools.
November 16th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
I agree fully that there should be no more charter approvals until all district schools are fully funded. We don’t need any more schools with lotteries in West Philly. Strong, supported neighborhood schools are exactly what we need.
November 17th, 2014 at 11:03 am
The lottery at the main Independence Charter, particularly for the Spanish immersion program is ridiculous, what is it around 900+ lottery entrants for less than 30 spots these days. Its a ridiculously sought after program.
I certainly question the wisdom of the district adding any net new charter seats in these current fiscal conditions but considering the high level of demand for ICS maybe expansion could be considered for ICS if it is offset by closings of the less high-performing, less insanely sought after crappy charters already open that are not serving kids well.
Also worth noting, it sounds like in this story they are suggesting a location well West of even Lea which still has strides to make in terms of capturing kids from immediately surrounding catchments. If ICS goes to deep into 19139 in the high 50’s, low 60’s, is that going to impact Lea any more than it would any place else in the city? 60th and Vine isn’t exactly “Univerisity City”. Just a question.
November 17th, 2014 at 11:08 pm
Will this new Independence Charter School have special education programs such as Autistic Support, Life Skills Support, or Emotional Support? If a new ICS campus doesn’t have a plan to serve children with significant disabilities in the same way that the School District of Philadelphia can, then the school doesn’t deserve to open. Charter schools are publicly funded and technically have to serve ALL children. Does ICS have students with significant disabilities? Presently, they don’t serve many. They didn’t have enough students with intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, emotional disturbance, or autism for there to be percentages for these disabilities. ICS only had percentages for the 2013-2014 school year for students with learning disability, speech-language impairment, and other health impairment. See the data here at PennData: http://penndata.hbg.psu.edu/BSEReports/Data%20Preview/2013_2014/PDF_Documents/Speced_Quick_Report_SD675_Final.pdf.