John Paul Jones Middle School
PHILADELPHIA - A federal judge has ordered a Philadelphia charter school to close after failing to meet conditions to which it agreed.
Saying Memphis Street Academy not only failed the Philadelphia school district but also its students, Judge Chad Kenney on July 14 told John Paul Jones Middle School to accept responsibility.
MSA had argued the School District of Philadelphia's decision to take Jones Middle's charter was racially motivated, as most of its students are Black and Hispanic. That isn't the case at all, Kenney wrote.
"The Court holds MSA to the promises it made to the School District of Philadelphia," he wrote.
The conditions MSA agreed to be held to - and failed to meet - were guardrails to provide adequate education for its students. Instead of uplifting its students, MSA blames their demographic backgrounds for its own shortcomings.
"These excuses deprive MSA's students of the education they deserve. MSA must surrender its charter."
From 2001-18, the School Reform Commission governed SDP while it was declared a distressed school district. The SRC created the Renaissance School Initiative to issue charters for schools, and the SDP issued a five-year charter for Jones Middle as a Renaissance Charter School.
A 2013 article in The Atlantic touted a dramatic downtown in violence at the school, once known as "Jones Jail." But the school failed to reach academic, attendance and other goals. In 2022, a decision was made to close it, leading parents to file suit in federal court.
Those plaintiffs made claims under constitutional protections against discrimination, but Kenney's ruling notes SDP has not renewed the charters of only two of 98 schools, "the majority of which serve predominantly Black and Hispanic student bodies..."
MSA had negotiated a new charter agreement with new academic standards but failed to reach any of them. When SDP moved to revoke the charter, MSA resisted and continued to operate, Kenney wrote.
Its 2018 academic performance was measured against MSA's prior performance and that of similar schools, not schools district-wide. Failing to hit those goals allowed triggered a surrender clause in the charter agreement.
"MSA agreed to surrender its charter if it did not meet certain conditions," Kenney wrote. "It ratified and operated under the 2018 charter for years, seeking only to invalidate the provisions of the 2018 charter when the terms no longer benefited MSA.
"MSA has not pointed to any evidence in the record to show a dispute of material fact that support its affirmative defenses. The 2018 charter is a valid contract that is being validly enforced."
