Since we last updated you, our school community continues to make tremendous strides in the fight to stay open.

Recent PVAAS (Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System) results show that Memphis Street Academy exceeded expectations in the 2021-22 school year, outperforming the state average with an impressive 90% compared to 75.6% of the state. You may have seen a feature in Al Dia highlighting the impressive achievements: https://aldianews.com/en/education/education/philly-school-scores-well.

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, MSA has shown a commitment to its students, faculty, and staff, with an impressive 95% retention rate of teachers in the 2022-23 school year.

MSA serves a diverse community of students, with 96% identifying as Hispanic, Black, or Multi-racial. The school has filed both a Civil Rights complaint in federal court and a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, alleging that the School District has acted with a racial and discriminatory bias in the closure of charter schools serving minority students.

Members of the Philadelphia education community recently joined City Council’s education committee for a hearing to discuss hot button issues and concerns including alleged systemic bias and racism throughout the Philadelphia educational system at the hands of the school board, as well as the ongoing investigation into Black-led charter schools being closed unfairly. In fact, Black-led schools represent 20% of Philadelphia charters but more than 80% of the charter closures.

Philadelphia’s charter schools educate more than 70,000 students, or about a third of those who attend publicly funded schools in the city. Since 2019 the district has exclusively closed predominantly black and brown schools. Our schools are in high demand, a story the Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported on, highlighting several other schools managed by American Paradigm schools that also receive an outstanding number of applicants--far more than there are seats to accommodate.

Your help is greatly appreciated and your voice is being heard! As of March 2, 2023, we have garnered over 2,600 signatures to our petition. But the fight isn’t over! Please join us in signing and reaching our goal of 5,000 signatures by April 15, 2023 and help us #SaveMSA!