Schools

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania's 180 charter schools routinely ignore the state's Right-To-Know Law even though as publicly funded institutions they are bound to comply with it, the chief of the state's Office of Open Records told a Senate committee on Monday. Executive director Terry Mutchler said her office had received 239 appeals in cases in which charter schools either rejected or failed to answer requests from the public for information such as budgets, payrolls, or student rosters.

  A federal investigation of a Kensington charter school has not made headlines since a TV station showed video of agents carting off boxes of documents in 2009, but the probe is very much alive. Attorneys for Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School in a whistle-blower's lawsuit stemming from the raid have urged a Common Pleas Court judge to keep the suit on hold because "it is beyond refute that the federal criminal investigation" of the charter is active. As evidence, Community submitted an affidavit from an administrator's defense attorney that said the assistant U.S. attorney overseeing the probe told him in mid-March "the investigation is ongoing.

The Philadelphia School Partnership will announce Monday that it's giving the Faith in the Future Foundation a $600,000 planning grant to aid the eight Catholic high schools in the city. The money will help the foundation develop strategies to increase enrollment at each of the those Catholic high schools and to design accountability systems that will help them collect and report data about their students' academic performance. Catholic high schools in the city enroll about 6,200 students, but have room for nearly twice that number.

By Jun-Youb "JY" Lee A recent gala headlined by John Legend celebrated the University of Pennsylvania's exceeding its $3.5 billion fund-raising goal by $800 million. But only blocks away, University City High School students quietly emptied their lockers following the Philadelphia School Reform Commission decision to close their school and 22 others to cover a $300 million budget deficit. It's ironic that a university can raise $4.3 billion during its five-year campaign, yet an entire city can't raise $300 million for its schoolchildren.

A former English teacher from Truebright Science Academy Charter School who alleged the North Philadelphia school discriminated against her on the basis of national origin and gender has reached a settlement in her civil rights suit. U.S. District Court records show that Regenna A. Jalon, a former head of Truebright's English department, and the charter school ended the suit last Friday because of the settlement. Jalon, who worked at Truebright for four years, alleged in a suit filed in February that the school had engaged in a pattern of hiring, promoting, and paying less-qualified Turkish nationals more than American-born educators who were certified and had more experience.

Marie C. McMaster, 79, a kindergarten teacher at the Clymer School for 15 years and the mother of Army Gen. Herbert R. McMaster Jr., died Friday, May 10, at the LifeCare center in West Chester of complications from a blood infection. As an educator, Mrs. McMaster had a positive influence on many Philadelphians, said her son, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Often, when people at the airport or elsewhere saw my name, they would ask me if my mom taught kindergarten at Clymer School.

THE GOAL FOR rookies after the NFL draft is simple. Make the team. Make it through the rookie minicamp, participate in the organized team activities and impress enough at training camp and in preseason action to make that final, 53-man roster. Eagles second-round tight end Zach Ertz and seventh-round defensive back Jordan Poyer have to wait a little longer to start impressing the coaches due to an NFL rule that dates to 1990. The rule states that players cannot attend more than one minicamp until after final exams.

Friday morning went terribly awry for two Camden schoolmates and friends, boys 11 and 12 years old. The 12-year-old was at his home in the Crestbury Apartments when, around 8 a.m., the 11-year-old, who does not live there, shot him in the face, said Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. The two boys, whose names were not released by authorities, both attend the H.B. Wilson Family School, according to school board President Kathryn Blackshear. Only one shot was fired, authorities said.

City officials and leaders of the Philadelphia delegation in Harrisburg pledged their strongest efforts Thursday to find an additional $180 million for the School District, as about 300 students marched peacefully to City Hall, asking the government to "save our schools. " Mayor Nutter joined Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., School Reform Commission Chairman Pedro Ramos, and six members of the city's House and Senate delegations for an assembly at Andrew Jackson School in South Philadelphia featuring HOME, the school's acclaimed rock band.

Five students at Chester High School will be tried as adults after a fight was captured on cell phone video and posted to Facebook. The incident occurred on Tuesday inside the school and was posted the same night, according to a prepared statement from the school district. One of the students involved in the fight took the video. The students were not identified in the statment. Chester Police were not immediately notified by the school. They have since taken the students into custody, according to the statement.