Private academy in Newark is first in state to switch to become public charter.
By John Mooney.
Fiorella Serrano concedes it will be hard to break the habit of what she says when she answers the phone at school.
“I am so used to saying St. Philip’s Academy, and now its Philip’s Academy Charter School,” said the longtime teacher and parent at the Newark school. “Just seeing that name come off the gym wall was something.” The name change may be the least of it, as St. Philip’s Academy – a Newark private school for 25 years – officially becomes the public Philip’s Academy Charter School this fall with the state’s approval of its final charter last week.
The change represents New Jersey’s first — and so far only — charter conversion from either a private or traditional public school.
A host of challenges will come with the transition, ranging from the change of stationery and new signs to revamped requirements for teachers and administrators and mandates for accountability for student testing and school budgets.
And then there’s just the fact that it will no longer be its own private school, a culture that the school community held dearly and has vowed will remain intact.
“Luckily the laws allow us to change gradually, the best of all worlds,” said Dale Anglin, a parent and the inaugural chairwoman of the charter’s board of directors. “But let’s be clear, we are moving to the charter world, and that’s very different than the private world.”
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