The Palmer school's success rates in academic achievement and attendance exceed rates at most comparable public schools, setting it apart from many other charters in Philadelphia and around the country that have performance records worse than public schools in their districts.
"Palmer's school is essential because there are quality-of-life issues being taught along with academics," said Chad Lassiter, President of the Black Men at University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, Inc. and a supporter of Palmer's school. (Palmer has taught at Penn's Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice for nearly two decades.)
During the 1960s, Palmer's activism around improving public education in Philadelphia from curriculum changes to staffing increases to physical conditions like fixing leaking school roofs prompted predictable harassment from authorities and surprisingly ire from professed liberals, whites and blacks alike, who bristled at Palmer's stress for community control of schools.
However, that same day Ackerman found time to visit two North Philly schools one located just blocks from the Palmer School.
One of those two schools she did visit, the Vaux School, is an inner-city high school adopted by Ackerman as part of her reform agenda, which provides increased resources for selected schools aimed at securing improvements. The Ackerman-adopted Vaux School has lower academic achievement and attendance rates than Palmer's high school.
Dr. Ackerman has been accused by critics of having a combative attitude similar to that of Michelle Rhee, the recently resigned Washington, DC public schools head who riled many DC residents with her "my-way-or-the-highway' approach.
Last month Pennsylvania's Department of Education notified Ackerman it was withholding $1,678,579.18 from funds for the District to provide the Palmer School its disputed payment. That notification letter "strongly" encouraged the District to "resolve" the dispute; a suggestion District officials' spurned opting instead to appeal the state's action.
DC's Rhee, like Ackerman, receives credit in some circles for incremental increases in test scores however critics point out nuances in those scores glossed over in public relations campaigns touting those improvements.
"Philadelphia includes charter schools when they want achievement statistics to look good but it downs charters when it come to paying for them," said Dr. Palmer.
The Palmer School's lawsuit challenges the District's asserted authority to cap enrollments at charter schools citywide, a policy that would seem to violate a state court ruling covering school districts statewide barring such caps.
Philadelphia School District attorneys argue that caps are valid since charters accepted the caps as part of their renewals.
But Pennsylvania State Senator Jeffrey Piccola, Republican chair of the Senate's Education Committee, argues that charters have "no choice" but to submit to the District's approval restrictions to continue operating a circumstance he feels is both coercive and inconsistent with state law . He has filed a brief with the appeals court siding with the Palmer School.
State legislators, Democrat and Republican, as well as nine of Philadelphia's 17 city council members have called on Superintendent Ackerman to provide the disputed funding to the Palmer School.
A June 28, 2010 letter to Ackerman from the Philadelphia state legislative delegation credited the Palmer School with creating "a comprehensive and robust intervention program dealing with underperforming students." It urges Ackerman to support "this school's educational achievements through adequate funding."
City and statewide charter school organizations back the Palmer School.
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