Laboratory Charter School of Communication and Languages is requesting to move its 3 campuses (two in Overbrook and one in Northern Liberties) to 2 locations, including 3300 Henry Ave. Laboratory intends to move to its new location in order to consolidate resources and enroll more students. Grades 6-8 would move to 3300 Henry and attempt to increase enrollment from 195 to 475.

Despite being told by the School Board during the last application process, the public was not given ample notification. The CEO emailed several people including school and community leaders on December 16, 2019 notifying them of the amendment to be submitted. The president of the Friends of Mifflin then invited the CEO to the East Falls Community Council on March 9, 2020. A presentation was given by the school and flyers were distributed. This was the ONLY interaction with the larger East Falls community.

We all agree that students deserve a quality education - one that empowers our youth in a safe and caring environment. However, upon review of Laboratory Charter, it’s clear that it does not hold a consistent track record when it comes to quality education. In fact, a recommendation of non-renewal of its charter has been issued in recent years and "concerns remain about the Charter School's financial health, particularly the ability to maintain sufficient cash flows." 

So why, then, would the East Falls community want this charter to relocate into our neighborhood when it has not engaged the community, has a record of non-renewal, and has not conducted - to our knowledge - a traffic impact study?

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In Philadelphia, it is a requirement that charter schools engage the local community and district-managed schools before moving in. Why then is a vote scheduled on April 30th for Laboratory Charter School of Communication and Languages to relocate to East Falls (3300 Henry Avenue) when there has been very little outreach to the community and local public schools in the 19129 catchment?

Should Laboratory Charter School of Communication get to forgo the process? The School Board explicitly told Laboratory to engage the community to which it intends to move, but it did not do that. Saying no to Laboratory would send a strong message to them and other charters attempting to circumvent the process that this will not be tolerated.

As a community member, I am concerned about the following consequences that would result from this charter relocating to East Falls:

TRAFFIC AND SAFETY:  The impact of an additional 500 youth being transported to school each day on Henry Avenue, which carries 23,000 vehicles each day through East Falls, poses serious risks. Henry Avenue is already designated as one of the most dangerous thoroughfares in the 4th council district. With a singular exit and entrance into the driveway at 3300 Henry Avenue, it’s not yet well understood how students, particularly 6th grade students, will travel safely to and from school each day. 

Here in Philadelphia, there were over 100 traffic deaths in 2018. Forty-two of those deaths were pedestrians and eight were children. Has the Charter performed a traffic study to analyze the impact this relocation will have on community and student safety? One should be completed and the results made public before a vote is held.

NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL IMPACT: Laboratory Charter School intends to service almost 500 6-8th grade students by 2024 at the new proposed campus in East Falls. As our neighborhood school, Thomas Mifflin School, makes extraordinary strides each year — including the most improved test scores in all of Northwest Philadelphia, Lindback award winning principal (2020) and teachers, and an incredibly engaged parent network — our community is deeply concerned about the impact to our local K-8 public school.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: Currently, Laboratory Charter has three campuses that it plans to fold into two. It projects 175 new students needing transportation to the East Falls campus. While some of these students will be able to get a Transpass, CEO Andrea Coleman-Hill did state that the 6th graders would arrive by bus. Was an environmental impact study performed before deciding to relocate three campuses into two? 3300 Henry was the site where Pierce Elementary School was temporarily relocated and it had disastrous effects for our neighborhood. Because buses cannot enter or exit the campus, they were forced to idle on local streets for up to an hour. During this time, the exhaust fumes were filling the air and neighbors could not leave their parking spaces because buses could not and would not move. 

FINANCIAL CONCERNS: Laboratory Charter has shown a history of bad financial decisions. Giving them more money via increased enrollment is a terrible idea given their inability to manage their funds. As stated in the Amendment Evaluation Report: "Concerns remain about the Charter School's financial health, particularly the ability to maintain sufficient cash flows. The Charter School has a projected deficit of $178,137 for SY 2019-20, and had a negative fund balance and only 17 days cash on hand at June 30, 2019. With only very small surpluses (less than 1% in Years 1 and 3, less than 2% in Year 4, and less than 3% in Years 2 and 5) projected for each year included in the budget projections, the Charter School is extremely vulnerable to even small unanticipated increases to expenses or losses of revenue, and cash flow could be a significant concern in at least the next two to three years." How can this school be trusted with even more students and more money when they cannot manage their money now?

For these reasons,  we ask the School Board of Philadelphia to say "no" to the proposed move of Laboratory Charter School to 3300 Henry Avenue.