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Philly Designates 14 'Renaissance' Schools

By PW Staff

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jan. 28, 2010

Metro reports that 14 underperforming Philly schools will be placed in the Renaissance Schools program that gives a private company a shot at running public schools. "It’s the latest reform attempt after controversial partnerships with Educational Management Organizations began in 2001. District officials insist that this time communities will have more input and that the “turnaround teams” selected to run the schools must demonstrate a proven track record for fixing failing schools. “We are not going to experiment with children in these schools,” said Ben Rayer, head of charter and new schools. “I think there’s a little more clarity in regards to what these reformed schools would look like because with the EMOs the school district kind of went back and forth with ‘Is this privately managed, or district-managed or quasi-managed,’” said Sheila Simmons of Public Citizens for Children and Youth. “They seem to have put a lot more thought into the different elements of how this would work.”"