Planning for Wissahickon Charter School (WCS) began in earnest in 1999 with a meeting in the living room of Founder Fran Sugarman. Along with a few other community members, she applied for a planning grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With $22,000 in hand from the Commonwealth, individuals from the community who were interested in charter schools and education were sought out. The first meeting included about 20 people, primarily educators and interested parents.

Over the next several months, the group's numbers grew as word spread about this exciting initiative. Information sessions were held at various churches and meeting spaces throughout the area. The decision to focus on the natural environment as an integrating context for the school drew the interest of environmentalists. Parents were interested in viable public school options for their children in the city and educators were drawn to the excitement of creating a school from the ground up.

The group contracted with Foundations, Inc. to support the group in writing the application and navigating the charter school application process. Spencer Davis was assigned as the lead consultant and was instrumental in the school's implementation.

Mission

The first tasks of the fledgling group were to develop a mission for the school, a working name, and a formal means of spending money (ie. incorporation). The working name for the school began as the Philadelphia Earth School after a similar school in New York City. The name was later changed to Wissahickon Charter School because of the proximity of the Wissahickon Valley.

Developing the mission was an arduous and, at times, a contentious process as members got to know each other and their individual perspectives on education. While the mission changed somewhat over time, it remained remarkably intact throughout the planning process and served to guide the planning group in all oof their decision-making.

Structure

The group was fairly amorphous and struggled with organization until Dr. Peter Kuriloff, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Mt. Airy resident, volunteered to work with the group on process and structure. This single workshop of 1 1/2 hours was a significant event in the school's history as the increased structure allowed efficient decision-making and committee work to be done.

The group divided into committees guided by an overall Steering Committee. Chairpeople of the various committees served on the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee was headed by a Chair - Julie Stapleton Carroll - who was responsible for agenda setting, communication, and meeting oversight. Committee were formed for Curriculum (Fran Sugarman, Marsha Low, Ben Burenstein, Dianne Loufman, Elizabeth Jaeger, Pam Shula, Emily Adeshigbin, Jane Piecuch), Facility (Amy Galer, Kurt Raymond, Matt Berg and Julie Stapleton Carroll), Governance (Michael Bowman, Lisa Holgash, Amy Galer, Julie Stapleton Carroll, and Community (Peter Yeomans, Annette Epps, Julie Stapleton Carroll and Rodi Steinig).

Application Process

The committees met regularly to plan and write the various aspects of the charter application to the School District of Philadelphia. It was a truly collaborative process. Final review and approval of sections of the application were conducted by the Steering Committee in October and November of 2000. Finally, in November of 2000, the application was submitted to the School District of Philadelphia, who was legally required to review the application within 75 days, after which a public hearing would be conducted.

In January of 2001, the Steering Committee went before the Philadelphia School Board to respond to questions about the application. Questions posed to the Committee included concerns regarding facility and student recruitment.

In February of 2001, the School District announced that it had approved 3 charter schools out of the 25 that had applied. WCS was one of the schools denied.

WCS was given the option of applying to the School District for reconsideration. The Steering Committee did so, responding in writing to the specific concerns brought up by the School District. However, the 10-page document did not include any revisions on the initial charter application, only further explanation of elements cited in the School District's denial.

During this time, the founding members of WCS also sought to collect the 1,000 signatures necessary to file an appeal of the Philadelphia School Board decision to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Many hours were spent canvassing the community, grocery stores, Little League fields, and the Weaver's Way Co-op collecting signatures. In under 2 weeks, the group amassed well over the required amount of signatures and began preparing their appeal (due in late May of 2001).

Throughout this time, many questions were being asked by the Philadelphia City Council in response to complaints about the charter application process. In March of 2001, WCS was asked to testify before City Council regarding their own experience with the process. WCS complied and while giving their testimony, founders were able to make a strong case for the merits of the WCS charter application.

Charter Approval

On May 5, 2001, WCS was called by the School District of Philadelphia and encouraged to attend a meeting on May 7, 2001 where results of requests for reconsideration would be announced. All indications were that the School District would reverse their charter decision.

WCS was, in fact, awarded a conditional charter on May 7, 2001 to open in September of 2001 with 250 students, from Kindergarten through 5th grade. The conditional charter required confirmation of a viable and code-compliant facility by July of 2001 as well as a commitment to recruit students from across the city.

Given the limited time remaining to plan the school and ready a facility, the planning committee requested and received a one year deferral from the School District, and was approved to open in September of 2002.

Board of Trustees

Beginning in the fall of 2001 and continuing through December, the Steering Committee engaged in the process of moving from an informal planning group of the Friends of Wissahickon Charter School to a fully functioning Board of Trustees of Wissahickon Charter School. The committee filed an application for 501c3 status as well as engaged in Board nominations for officer positions. As per the Sunshine Law, the meetings were advertised, minutes were taken, and the Board followed official protocol for meetings of a public entity. The first Board of the Wissahickon Charter School was made up of the following individuals:

  • Julie Stapleton Carroll(Chair)
  • Amy Galer(Vice-Chair)
  • Kurt Raymond
  • Fran Sugarman
  • Marsha Low
  • Ben Burenstein
  • Pam Shula
  • Michael Bowman

CAO Hiring

The most important first order of business was to hire the Chief Administrative Officer for the school. Given the enormous tasks that lay ahead (e.g. building, staffing, and enrollment), it was clear that a full-time staff member was needed to coordinate the start-up of the school. The Board made the decision that a thorough search was to be conducted to ensure a strong pool of candidates. Ads were placed in the Philadelphia Inquirer and other locations to advertise the position. Over 60 applications were received. A Personnel Committee was formed to manage the process and schedule interviews. The entire Board participated in the interviews and subsequent decision-making process. Julie Stapleton-Carroll recused herself from the process and resigned from the Board in order to become a candidate for the CAO position.

Of the 60 applications received, formal interviews were scheduled with 3 candidates. The interviews included a discussion with the Board as well as the completion of 3 written assignments. References were checked for all 3 candidates. In January of 2002, the Board elected to offer the CAO position to Julie Stapleton-Carroll, who accepted the offer.

Facility

The Board and CAO turned their focus to the next goal of securing a facility for the school. As part of the application to the School District for a charter, the Steering Committee had worked with the Fairmount Park Commission and Fairmount Park Trust to secure approval of Thomas Mansion (located at Wissahickon Avenue and Walnut Lane). The initial site outlined in the application to the School District, Thomas Mansion, was deemed too small to accommodate the growth of the school. In addition, the neighbors in Blue Bell Hill were not enthusiastic about placing a school in that location. Concerns were brought up regarding traffic, safety, and noise.

Additional sites explored included Grey Lock, a property on Chestnut Hill Avenue adjacent to the Wissahickon Valley, and High Oaks, a former nursing home off of Wissahickon Avenue near Hortter St. Both sites, while sufficient in size, required zoning variances. Having met with neighboring groups of both locations, the Steering Committee determined that variance easements would not be granted easily.

The property at 4700 Wissahickon Avenue was determined to be a suitable alternative for the school location. While not ideal in terms of its proximity to Wissahickon Avenue and distance from the Wissahickon Valley, the site offered direct access to Fern Hill Park across the street and allowed complete demolition and rebuild of the interior building to accommodate the school's specifications.

In order to be able to build out the facility, the Board negotiated a lease with the landlord that called for the two parties to split the build-out costs of $630,000. It was required, therefore, that the Board come up with $315,000 to finance the renovations. Start-up funds from the state for the school would not be forthcoming until later that summer and were already allocated to pay for furniture, books, and other supplies. Without a credit history (as the Charter School was only officially incorporated as an entity in December), with only a 5-year charter guarantee, and without property that could be used as collateral for the loan, few banks and lenders were willing to consider loaning the school large sums of money. The Reinvestment Fund, a community development bank, met with the Board Chair, Amy Galer, and the CAO, Julie Stapleton-Carroll, to discuss funding options. The Fund was willing to loan the school the needed $315,000, but needed collateral of $120,000 to secure it. The Board was faced with a significant dilemma. While the operating budget could support $30,000 for collateralization, an additional $90,000 was required to fulfill the balance of the collateral. During a tense Board meeting, each member was asked to write on a slip of paper the amount of money (in securities, bonds, stocks, or real estate) that they could commit to securing the loan. It was an anonymous process and the details of the amounts committed and by whom have been kept strictly confidential. Thankfully, the Board and the CAO were able to commit the requisite $90,000 and the loan was approved.

Renovations began in earnest following the signing of an 11-year lease in May of 2002. Kurt Raymond, Board Member and principal of Cicada Architecture, took the lead role in the design discussions and, along with the CAO, also handled the project management. Build-out and the securing of necessary Certificates of Occupancy and inspections were completed on schedule.

Staffing

As facilities initiatives were moving forward, the CAO, the Curriculum Consultant, Marsha Low, the Personnel Committee, and the Educational Consultant from Foundations, Spencer Davis, were dedicating many long hours recruiting and interviewing potential teachers for the school. A total of 10 classroom teachers were required for the first year as well as teachers in Art and Music. Ads were placed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Education Week, and at the local colleges for certified teachers. As there was no viable building at the time to conduct interviews, a space was rented at the Sedgwick theater that was vacant for a short time. This space was used for teacher interviews as well as for enrollment purposes.

The Personnel Committee conducted over 120 interviews of pre-screened candidates to put together the initial teaching staff of highly qualified individuals. The first faculty at WCS included:

  • Teyona James(Kindergarten)
  • Mary Long(Kindergarten)
  • Janee Ott(1st grade)
  • Monica Poland(1st grade)
  • Beth Smith(2nd grade)
  • Karla Scanlon(2nd grade)
  • Becky Kay(3rd grade)
  • Carrie Green(3rd grade)
  • Josh Stitzinger(4th grade)
  • Kate O'Shea(5th grade)
  • Kristi Littell(Discovery)
  • Rachel Schwartzman(Art)
  • Corey Carter(School Support Specialist)
  • Dawn Hamilton(Administrative Assistant)
  • Caroline Eldridge(Secretary)
  • Marsha Low(Curriculum Consultant)
  • Julie Stapleton Carroll(Chief Administrative Officer)

Enrollment

Enrollment began in earnest in the spring of 2002. Advertisements for space were placed in the Metropolitan Children's paper and other local newspapers (Germantown Courier, Mt. Airy Times Express, Chestnut Hill Local). The school's initial lottery was held on March 31st , 2002. Applications for space were significantly higher than available slots.

Once accepted, parents were required to enroll their children in person by visiting the rental site on the 7200 block of Germantown Avenue. Parents filled out forms and turned in requisite documentation for copying. Marsha Low generously donated use of her personal copier to copy the many forms, and the copier and toner lasted just long enough to finish the task. Teachers who had been hired also graciously gave their time to come in and help with the student enrollment process.

Curriculum Decisions, Services, and Purchasing

During this time, decisions were also being made as to the types of curriculum that would be purchased in each content area. Organized by Marsha Low, the Curriculum Committee, along with the CAO and classroom teachers, reviewed materials and made recommendations to the Board for approval. The choices reflected the school's mission of hands-on active learning, research-based products, and challenging curriculum for all learners.

In addition, purchases were made of furniture, cafeteria tables, desks, chairs, file cabinets, office supplies, white boards, and all other school related items.

The CAO worked with the School District Food Service to set up lunch options in the school as well as the Department of Transportation to secure bus services for WCS students.

Professional Development

The last two weeks of August were spent bringing the staff together and beginning the process of building a strong team of educators. Workshops were held in each area of the curriculum to familiarize faculty with the materials. The staff was allowed significant time to set up their classrooms and review schedules and procedures. The office staff finalized bus lists, lunch procedures, class lists, student handbooks, and other necessary forms and administrative procedures.

The Launch of Wissahickon Charter School

On Thursday, September 5th , the school officially opened its doors to 200 students from grades 1 - 5. The students were welcomed into the clean and modern facility that featured spacious classrooms with large hallway windows that allowed natural light and visual access, brightly painted walls that would soon be covered with students' many works of art, and a blue tile "river" that wound its way through the main corridor. A week later, the new students were joined by 50 Kindergarten students.

Wissahickon Charter School was well on its way!