Charter Schools Office December Newsletter Visit our website

HOLIDAY WISHES! DON'T FORGET! Meet Our Newest Members FY19 Audited Financial Statements FEATURED OPPORTUNITIES  Philly Reading Coaches - OST Initiative CHARTER SCHOOL FEATURE  2020 Philadelphia Public League Competitive Spirit Championship PPACS Wins Christmas Choir Competition WE NEED YOUR VOTE! Please participate in our poll below by clicking the corresponding box of your choice. December 17, 2019 Greetings Sector Leaders, As 2019 gradually comes to an end, I want to acknowledge and thank you for supporting the children of Philadelphia throughout their Fall semester. We recognize the amazing work each of you do and want to extend our appreciation. We’ve had a very eventful start of the school year. Among our highlights include the addition of two new schools, Philadelphia Hebrew Public Charter School and MaST III. We are also extremely grateful for the partnership and collaboration demonstrated by schools in the 2019-20 renewal cohort. Earlier this month, the CSO presented all Round 1 schools for renewal and the Board of Education has already voted to renew six schools -- months ahead of the prior year. More information about each of these items can be found on our website. In addition to all of the great work taking place, we are also excited to welcome four new members to our CSO team who will assist in supporting the collaboration between our office and your school. Lastly, just last month our office held its highest attending Fall Convening where we engaged with the sector and collected feedback, particularly in an effort to listen to your suggestions and strategically organize support for your schools’ operations. We heard enthusiastic feedback and interest in partaking in additional informal site visits in 2020. We will update the sector with this exciting development and look forward to visiting your schools in the Spring. As always, please make sure to read below for important information on upcoming deadlines, events, and opportunities. And on behalf of the entire CSO team, we wish you and your families a happy holiday season! Sincerely, Christina Grant Chief of Charter Schools and Innovation

What do you enjoy most about the winter Holidays? Watching holiday movies with family! Select The delicious treats! Select Winter break, of course! Select

CSO UPDATES

New CSO Team Members The CSO is excited to welcome the following new members: Rebecca Dunn, Cameron Voss, Tom Dreitlein, and Brittany Bronson. You can visit our CSO website here to learn more about our members and their work streams.

Transportation Feedback Friday, December 20, 2019 The Office of Transportation is conducting a brief survey to measure the quality of service and performance of school vehicle vendors that provide school transportation. The Office of Transportation will share this data directly with vendors. Please note, individual school names and responses will NOT be shared, only general feedback. If you have not already done so, please complete the five minute survey here by Friday, December 20, 2019 . If your school has more than one vendor, please complete a separate survey for each. Contact your Transportation Analyst if you have any questions.

Water Testing The CSO holds charter schools accountable for water testing via the Charter Schools Performance Framework. The Water Quality Standard (within the Food, Health, and Safety Category of the Organizational Compliance and Viability Domain), requires school operators to comply with applicable water quality requirements and to post its most recent water quality testing results on its publicly available website. Section A-703.1 of Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code requires school operators to contract with a testing agency certified by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to perform inspections at least every five years.

UPCOMING CSO EVENTS & DEADLINES

FY19 Audited Financial Statements Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Audited financial statements are due to the CSO in Epicenter on Tuesday, December 31, 2019 . If you have any questions, please email Tim at [email protected] .

DPO SPR Review The District Performance Office (DPO) shared links for Round 2 of the School Progress Report (SPR) Preview Window via email on December 6th. The preview window closed on December 11th . You now have access to virtually all metrics that will determine your final SPR score, which you can estimate using DPO’s SPR Calculator . In early January, the CSO will send an email with instructions for charter school leaders to sign up for SPR preview appointments, which we expect to occur during the week of January 20th. During these appointments, you can review your final SPR prior to its official release. Questions about the SPR can be sent to [email protected] .

CHARTER SCHOOL FEATURES

2020 Philadelphia Public League Competitive Spirit Championship The CSO would like to congratulate all of our charter schools who participated in the 2020 Philadelphia Public League Competitive Spirit Championship. Several charter middle schools placed in their divisions while multiple charter high schools qualified to compete at the State finals. Listed below are all of our schools who participated in the spirited event.

Alliance for Progress Charter School Belmont Charter School Esperanza Academy Charter School Eugenio Maria De Hostos Charter School Franklin Towne Charter HS Freire Charter HS General David B. Birney Charter Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School Imhotep Institute Charter School KIPP DuBois Academy Charter School Mastery Charter Cleveland Mastery Charter Hardy Williams Mastery Charter Simon Gratz Mathematics, Civics, and Sciences Charter School Preparatory Charter School Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School Young Scholars Charter School

PPACS Wins Christmas Choir High School Competition  Philadelphia Performing Arts - A String Theory Charter School was recently crowned as champions for B101's annual Christmas Choir Competition.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS, FAMILIES & SCHOOLS

Philly Reading Coaches Philly Reading Coaches, a volunteer-based early childhood literacy after-school program that partners with the Mayor’s Office of Education, is seeking high school students who may be interested in joining a program that pairs dedicated community volunteers in a student-led, evidence-based model that focuses on reading motivation. This opportunity is meaningful way for high school students to give back to their community while building their resume, college applications and community service requirements. For more information, you can visit their website here or contact Colin Pepper at [email protected] .

Click the highlighted links to learn more! For Students & Families Pathways to Success Job & Career Fair AP Central Low-Cost Home Internet Access College & Career Readiness Resources Family & Community Engagement (FACE) For Schools PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN)

Click here to view the CSO November Newsletter. Our January newsletter will include pertinent deadlines and further updates. Please email Jasmine at [email protected] if you have feedback, questions, and/or submissions for the newsletter. Would you like to have your school or one of your scholars featured in an upcoming CSO Newsletter? If so, please email Jasmine at [email protected] .