School District: we’ll have enough teachers

Officials at the School District of Philadelphia say they’re confident the city’s so-called Promise Academies will be staffed in time for the start of the school year. That statement follows reports on an education blog that those schools have the highest teacher vacancy rates in the city.

Officials at the School District of Philadelphia say they’re confident the city’s so-called Promise Academies will be staffed in time for the start of the school year.  That statement follows reports on an education blog that those schools have the highest teacher vacancy rates in the city.

Promise Academies are district schools that have consistently failed to meet academic improvement standards, and thus have been slated for overhaul.  As a requirement of their rehabilitation, the schools are only allowed to bring back up to 50 percent of staffers.  The rest need to be new hires.

In a written statement, District Spokesman Fernando Gallard said: “For the majority of the remaining vacancies we have a sufficient number of candidates who have already passed their interview.”

According to the district website, Roberto Clemente middle school topped the list of open teacher positions with 47.  But Gallard says that number has been whittled down to 22.  Similarly, Potter-Thomas Elementary School has 22 positions listed on the website, but Gallard says that number is down to eight.

Things appear to have moved slower at the high school level.  University City High school is listed with 19 vacancies, but Gallard says there are now 18.