At Promise Academies, vacancies galore

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

A majority of Philadelphia schools have their entire staff in place for the coming school year, a quick review of the District’s teacher vacancy list shows.

But at the District’s six new Promise Academies – schools slated for a major overhaul this fall under the direction of Superintendent Arlene Ackerman – quite the opposite situation is the rule.

At Clemente Middle School, 47 teaching positions are posted on the District vacancy list. At Potter-Thomas, vacancies number 22. At tiny Vaux High School, the number is 13. At all three of these Promise Academies, judging from staffing data for past years, the vacancies represent the vast majority of positions at the school.

Teaching positions at Promise Academies are being filled through the District’s site-based selection process.

The Notebook is awaiting comment from the District on why there are still so many unfilled positions less than six weeks prior to the start of school and whether there is an adequate applicant pool to fill the positions. Principals were appointed at the Promise Academies two months ago.

The situation is only slightly better at tiny Dunbar Elementary, where there are six vacancies. University City has 19. Ethel Allen, with four vacancies, is the only Promise Academy with a relatively small proportion of vacancies still to be filled.

As part of the turnaround plan for Promise Academies, teachers were forced to reapply for their jobs and no more than half could be rehired.

Filling of teacher vacancies before late summer has been a priority of the District in recent years. A 2003 study by the New Teacher Project found that the longer urban districts take to fill their teacher vacancies, the more likely they are to end up settling for lower-qualified applicants.

Check back for updates: Vacancy list has been updated.