City of Basketball Love

Jeff Neiburg (@Jeff_Neiburg)
--

The landscape of the Philadelphia Public League has changed quite a bit over the years. The opening and closing of the city's charter schools have caused quite a reform in the league's divisions.

And on Monday night, during a meeting about the city's charter schools, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted to "begin the process of closing" two charter schools for "academic and management shortcomings," according to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

One of the closing schools is from the Public League's 'A' Division in basketball, Del-Val Charter.

The Inquirer report says the SRC's vote was unanimous. They said Del-Val, which is in West Philadelphia, "did not merit a new operating agreement because of poor academics, shaky finances, and questionable practices in keeping attendance records and overbilling for students," according to the Inquirer story.

"They appeared to have their minds made up before we came in here," Del-Val chief executive and principal Ernest Holiday told reporters.

Del-Val, which has been open since 2000, went 3-7 in Public League 'A' play this year. 

While Del-Val wasn't as lucky, the SRC also voted to renew operating agreements of 12 other charter schools for "another five years, provided they meet a series of conditions."

One of those 12 is Imhotep, a basketball powerhouse in the Public League and in the state of Pennsylvania. Imhotep won state titles in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. It won the Public League championship this year before advancing all the way to the PIAA state semifinals, where it got knocked off by eventual champion Neumann-Goretti.

In order to receive its renewal, Imhotep agreed to turn over its management to Sankofa Freedom Academy, according to the report.

Imhotep had been looking for a renewal agreement a few years ago, but that was put on hold "pending the results of an investigation by the state Department of Education on irregularities on PSSA tests," the Inquirer story said.

Del-Val and Universal-Bluford, an elementary school, are among six out of 84 charter schools in the city in the process of being closed, the Inquirer said.