Two charter operators are interested in taking over the Samuel B. Huey School at 5200 Pine St., and a committee that includes parents of current students will spend the next month or so figuring out which one they think will work best.

Image source: Google Street View.

The School District of Philadelphia announced yesterday that the Global Leadership Academy Charter School and SABIS Educational Systems are interested in Huey, one of three public schools that will be converted into charters next year as part of the District’s “Renaissance Charter School Initiative.” The others are Jay Cooke Elementary and John Wister Elementary, both in North Philly. All three were designated as “low-performing” schools.

Global Leadership Academy currently operates a K-8 school at 4600 West Girard Ave. that includes about 700 students. SABIS is a Minnesota-based, for-profit company that operates 12 charter schools across the country.

An advisory committee for each school includes District employees, two external stakeholders and, for the first time, five parents or guardians of current students, which a District spokesman said will be “the foundation” of each committee. Their job is to “solicit feedback from other families about the strengths and weaknesses of current school programming as well as wants and needs from turnaround partners,” according to a District statement. 

The inclusion of parents grew out of protests from many that they were being shut out of decisions about their children’s schools. Hite defended the decision to convert to charters in an October Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, noting that more than 70 percent of students at all three schools reading below grade level.

Parents and guardians who are not on the committee but want to comment on the process are encouraged to send e-mails to renschools@philasd.org or call 215-400-5999.

The committee’s recommendations will go to Hite, who will make a recommendation to the SRC, which is expected to vote on the charters during its Jan. 21 meeting.

– Mike Lyons