Highlights of Press Release
Encouraging students to return to the district
Academic performance benchmarks
Education enhancements
New district leadership
Plan is hiring by April 1 a dynamic, permanent superintendent who will raise academic standards, establish a vision for a high-performing district and ultimately win back the students who left the Chester Upland School District for charter schools. Charter and cyberschools now educate 3,997 students in the district.
The district will also hire a chief
financial officer to institute a formal budget process, improve budget tracking
and financial reporting, and increase accountability. To raise revenue,
the CFO will be expected to do a better job of collecting property taxes and
securing increased federal funding through grant-writing.
School consolidation and rightsizing of staff
Columbus
Elementary School will be closed in December and its students shifted to other
district schools over the winter break. Stetser Elementary will also be
closed over the winter break or soon thereafter.
Over the
summer, the school reconfiguration will be completed with the closing of
Smedley High School, the current STEM magnet high school, and the
administration building. The STEM magnet program and the district
administration will be shifted into a separate self-contained space at Chester
High School.
The district
is also forced to reduce its faculty and staff by approximately 17 this school
year and 53 next year.
WHAT'S
NEXT
The Approval Process for the
Financial Recovery Plan
The plan now goes to the Chester
Upland School District board, which must approve or reject the plan by Nov. 23.
If the board approves the plan, Chief Recovery Officer Watkins has 5 days to send the
report to the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education. The Education Secretary then
has 10 days to approve or disapprove the plan. If rejected by the Secretary,
the CRO must present a revised plan within 20 days. If the plan is approved by
the Education Secretary, by state statute Watkins will oversee the
implementation of the plan for the academic and financial recovery of the
Chester Upland School District.
For
more information, visit the Chief Recovery Officer’s website:
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