District to review six charters

By Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Philadelphia Inquirer

An arts-based school and an all-male high school modeled after Boston Latin are among six charter-school proposals that will be heard by the Philadelphia School District on Tuesday.

A team of experts evaluated all 10 charter applications submitted to the district last month and concluded that the four other proposals required more work.

"Some did not score high enough to merit a hearing," William Tomasco, an official in the district's charter-school office, said yesterday.

"I'm very pleased that we made it to the next step," said David P. Hardy. His proposed Southwest Philadelphia Academy for Boys would offer a classical, college-prep education, including four years of Latin.

William D. "Hanif" Moore, president of a group that wants to open the Southwest Leadership Academy in Southwest Philadelphia in September, said he was thrilled his application for a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school emphasizing character education had made it through the first phase. His application was denied last year.

Alfonso Sorichetti wants to open the Philadelphia Alternative Charter High School in Center City for at-risk students.

"We're looking for the students that are dropping out of school, who are failing and not coming to school on a regular basis," he said.

Students would work closely with mentors, and their computer-based instruction would be tailored to their needs.

The proposed Pan American Academy Charter School in West Kensington would stress academic achievement, science, and arts and culture, according to Nicholas Torres, a founding member of the group.

Torres, president of Congreso de Latinos Unidos Inc., said the community-based nonprofit would be a strategic partner for the elementary charter.

Applications for TrueBright Science Academy and Northern Liberties also advanced to the hearings. TrueBright, a high school proposed by a group of professors and scientists, would focus on science and math, while Northern Liberties would be a elementary charter focusing on the arts.

Cyprian Anyanwu, president and founder of African Congress USA Inc., was disappointed his proposal for the Philadelphia Multicultural Academy Charter School had been turned down.

He wanted to establish a charter that would improve strained relations between West African immigrant students and African American children by integrating them in an elementary school.

"I do not know what the next step will be," Anyanwu said.

In the past, the district held hearings on all charter applications. Under new procedures adopted by the district this fall, a 13-member panel of experts reviewed the proposals in advance of the hearings.

That provision is not contained in the state's charter- school law. The Philadelphia School District is allowed to deviate from the law because it was taken over by a joint state-city board in December 2001.

Contact staff writer Martha Woodall at 215-854-2789 or martha.woodall@phillynews.com.