The saga of the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School shows that the folks who created Pennsylvania’s charter school law failed to consider one thing: the human ego.
Because I’ve been a reporter for as long as I have, I remember when Pennsylvania passed its charter schools law.
I was working for a newspaper in Berks County — otherwise known as the home of Taylor “I’m so overexposed it’s a wonder I’m not on fire” Swift — when the law was passed as part of a group of educational reforms that included things like educational standards and a bunch of tests connected to them.
(Since “education reform” seemed to be the buzz phrase of the late 90s, it also created a cottage industry of educational consultants. Private jets and Porterhouse steaks for everybody!)
The idea behind Charters was to allow non-profit and for-profit entities to get into the education business. With the promise of producing innovations in education, the charter school entities were given the kind of leeway that anyone would appreciate.
But while the law was aimed at giving people the chance to remake education, and probably took a lot of things into consideration when it was created, there’s one thing it missed. And, unfortunately, the students at the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences charter school are about to be adversely impacted by it.
That something? The human ego. Particularly, the ego attached to the school’s founder, Veronica Joyner.
Back in October, Joyner announced that not only was she retiring, but she was also closing the school because, and this is what she’s said on the record to reporters, she believes that no one can educate her students the way she can.
Okay…
So, when I saw an article from Kristen Graham and Maddie Hanna of the Philadelphia Inquirer this morning about an effort to keep the school open and how it failed, I wasn’t surprised.
On Thursday, a group of parents, politicians, School District of Philadelphia officials and Charter School activists came to the school’s board meeting to try and broker a deal to keep the school open. Despite the school’s issues with academic performance — one of the reasons why Joyner decided to retire was because the School District had only committed to renewing it’s charter for a year — the students like the school and parents were concerned about next steps for their kids.
The plan they came with was to give the MCS charter to Naomi Johnson-Booker and the folks at the Global Leadership Academy so that the school could stay open. Granted, GLA’s record with the district wasn’t much better — the company had just been denied a charter for a new high school and currently has one pending — but a tentative agreement had been reached between Booker and Joyner for GLA to take the high school students from the MCS, which is a 1-12 school.
But Joyner’s ego would not be denied…and the MCS board let it govern its decision to go ahead with the school closing.
(Did I mention that in addition to closing the school, she’s selling the building, which is across the street from the School District building on Broad Street and will probably fetch a pretty penny? No. Well, now I have.)
Now, I’ve interviewed Joyner a few times and have seen her ego up close. Because I had some serious Southern manners instilled in me by my parents, I decided that our last conversation would be just that. I won’t get into the details, but she’s one of the many people I’ve interviewed that don’t quite understand the difference between journalism, which is what I do, and public relations, which is what you can’t afford to pay me to do.
But I didn’t think that someone who claims to be so concerned about Philadelphia’s children would be so willing to take the only school that many of them have ever known away from them.
I guess I shouldn’t be, though. This is the same woman who denied a graduating senior the chance to go to his prom, his senior trip, and other activities connected to one’s senior year because he was unlucky enough to get shot.
Hopefully, those who believe in the Charter School Law and the concept of charter schools will come up with a way to keep an out-of-control ego from devastating a community of students.
But then again, some of the egos of the folks who created this law are pretty out of control as well. More on that next week…
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