RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Board of School Directors (“School Board”) of the School District of the
City of Harrisburg (“School District”) granted a Charter to the Premier Arts and Sciences Charter
School (“Premier”) based upon a revised charter school application (“application”) submitted in
or around July, 2012; and

WHEREAS, Premier commenced operations pursuant to a Charter with a term of July 1,

2013, through June 30, 2018; and

WHEREAS, Premier has operated with the following grade structure during the Charter
term: Kindergarten (“K”)-3 in 2013-2014, K-4 in 2014-2015, and K-5 beginning in the 2015-2016
school year; and

WHEREAS, following a comprehensive review of Premier’s operations during the initial

Charter term, the School District administration determined that a renewal of Premier’s charter
was not warranted due to Premier’s egregious and material violations of applicable law, its Charter
and its responsibilities as a public entity, and recommended that the School Board take steps to not
renew Premier’s charter; and

WHEREAS, the School Board issued a resolution containing a notice of nonrenewal in

August 2018 (“Nonrenewal Resolution”);

WHEREAS, for various reasons, the nonrenewal hearings have not yet commenced;

WHEREAS, on June 17, 2019, Dr. Janet C. Samuels (“Receiver”) was appointed by the
Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas as the Receiver for the School District effective
immediately, thereby assuming the authority of the School Board, including the powers and
authority of the School Board set forth in the Charter School Law;

WHEREAS, since the Nonrenewal Resolution was approved in August 2018, additional
information has come to the attention of the School District that warrants an amendment of the
charges contained in the Nonrenewal Resolution; and

BE IT RESOLVED, the Receiver hereby confirms the commencement of nonrenewal

proceedings against Premier pursuant to 24 P.S. § 17-1729-A(a), and adopts the following grounds
in support of the nonrenewal of Premier’s charter:

1. During the Charter term, Premier failed to have in place proper procedures and properly
trained and qualified individuals to perform child accounting functions with respect to
Premier’s own student information system or the Pennsylvania Information Management
System (“PIMS”) operated by Pennsylvania Department of Education (“PDE”). As a result
of these deficiencies, Premier did not timely, competently or accurately report certain child
accounting data and PSSA information to PDE during the Charter Term, which has resulted
in serious and significant ramifications, including but not limited to, the following:

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 A. The State could not provide or issue a School Performance Profile (“SPP”) for
Premier for the 2016-2017 school year. Upon information and belief, Premier
is the only public school in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for whom an
SPP profile was not given for the 2016-2017 school year due to inaccurate
PIMS reporting and/or PSSA procedural violations.

B. In PDE’s Excel files containing 2016-2017 PSSA data, only 3 students are
identified as having PSSA data during the 2016-2017 school year even though
Premier had approximately 114 students in grades 3-5, all of which are PSSA-
tested grades. No actual data is reported by PDE for these three students in any
tested subject area.

C. Premier does not have any Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System

(“PVAAS”)/Average Growth Index (“AGI”) growth data reported for any
student in any grade level for the 2016-2017 or 2017-2018 school years.

2. Premier has reported conflicting and inconsistent child accounting data to multiple State-
level entities in each year of the Charter term. Premier reported differing average daily
membership (“ADM”) information to PDE through PIMS compared to that reported to the
Pennsylvania Department of Health (“DH”) through SHARRS and compared to what was
billed to the School District in the end of the year reconciliation reports in each of the 2013-
2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years. In addition, in
certain years, the ADM totals reported by Premier to PDE do not accurately reflect the
number of students enrolled in each grade level. By way of example and not limitation,
for the 2014-2015 school year, Premier reported to PDE through PIMS an ADM of 124.98
for Harrisburg students enrolled in Kindergarten through grade 3. However, Premier
enrolled and billed the School District for an ADM of 175.533 students in Kindergarten
through grade 4 in the 2014-2015 school year, and reported an overall ADM of 168.748
through SHARRS, inclusive of 4th grade students. For the 2016-2017 school year, Premier
informed the School District during the renewal review process that it had reported to PDE
through PIMS an ADM of 171.83 for Harrisburg students. However, Premier enrolled and
billed the School District for an ADM of 212.183 in the 2016-2017 school year, and
reported an overall ADM of 203.308 through SHARRS. For the 2017-2018 school year,
Premier reported to PDE through PIMS a different number of days in session, total
aggregate days membership and resulting ADM than the number of days in session, total
aggregate days membership and resulting ADM billed to the School District in the
reconciliation report for the 2017-2018 school year.

3. The School District’s State funding is based, in part, on ADMs of resident students reported
by charter schools through PIMS. Premier’s under-reporting or misreporting of ADM to
PDE in various years has caused, and will likely continue to cause, the School District to
receive less State funding than it would otherwise be entitled to receive had the ADM
figures been accurately reported consistent with the ADM billed to the School District.

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4. The underreporting of ADM by Premier has also resulted in the School District’s final
ADM for the school years to be underreported, which in turn has resulted in higher charter
school rates payable to all charter schools that enroll School District resident students,
including Premier. Charter school tuition rates are calculated based, in part, on the School
District’s final ADM for the previous school year.

5. Premier has no archived database of child accounting data (attendance, enrollment,

membership data, etc.) from any school years prior to 2017-2018 because Premier
employees or contractors overwrote the data from prior years instead of archiving it.

6. To the extent that data has been reported for or by Premier during the Charter term, the
academic performance and growth of Premier’s students in Math, English Language Arts
(“ELA”) and Science has not consistently or substantially improved since the 2013-2014
school year. The Pennsylvania standard for academic growth, as measured by PVAAS and
AGI, was not met in all subject areas for students in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school
years. By way of example and not limitation:

A. The PSSA scores of Premier students in ELA, Math or Science have not shown
consistent and substantial improvement each year. Starting with the 2014-2015
school year, the PSSA was realigned to the new PA Core standards. From
2014-2015 to 2015-2016, the percentage of aggregate students scoring
proficient or advanced in Math fell from 12.7% in 2014-2015 to 4.3% in 2015-
2016; the percentage of aggregate students scoring proficient or advanced in
ELA fell from 27.8% in 2014-2015 to 19.1% in 2015-2016; and the percentage
of aggregate students scoring proficient or advanced in Grade 4 Science fell
from 43.6% to 26.3%. No PSSA data is officially reported by PDE for Premier
for the 2016-2017 school year, as a result of the deficiencies noted above.

i. Despite not having PSSA data reported by the State for 2016-2017, Premier
provided its own calculations of 2016-2017 PSSA scores during the renewal
process based upon individual student results. Premier’s calculations
indicate that 2016-2017 PSSA performance in Math and ELA did not
improve as compared to the 2015-2016 scores in those subject areas.

ii. The percentage of Premier students who scored proficient or advanced in

ELA, math and science did not consistently or substantially improve in
2017-2018 or 2018-2019. Fewer students in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019
scored proficient or advanced in these subject areas than in 2014-2015.

B. Premier’s SPP building level score has not consistently improved from year to
year. Since the receipt of its Charter, Premier’s SPP score fell from 63.1 in the
2013-2014 school year to 39.7 in the 2015-2016 school year. Premier did not
receive a SPP score in the 2014-2015 school year because PDE did not issue
SPP scores for students serving students in Kindergarten through 8th grade due
to the changes to the PSSA associated with the PA Core standards. PDE could
not report a SPP building level score for Premier for the 2016-2017 school year

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 because of the child accounting deficiencies noted above. For the 2017-2018
school year, Premier’s SPP score was 30.9.

C. During the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 school years, Premier did not achieve
any success in closing the achievement gap for any student.

D. Premier did not meet the PVAAS Indicators of Academic Growth and did not
meet the Pennsylvania standard for growth as measured by the AGI during the
2014-2015 school year in Math and Science or during the 2015-2016 school
year in ELA, Math and Science. No PVAAS or AGI data is reported for
Premier for the 2016-2017 or 2017-2018 school years, as a result of the child
accounting deficiencies noted above.

E. In Grade 3 ELA, the percentage of Premier’s students who scored proficient or

advanced was 32.5% in 2014-2015, 23.08% in 2015-2016, and 21.6% in 2017-
2018. Although no Grade 3 ELA data was reported by the State for 2016-2017,
Premier self-reported in the Renewal Application that only 3.0% of Grade 3
students scored proficient or advanced in ELA in 2016-2017.

F. In comparison to the School District’s schools educating students in the same

grade levels (K-5), Premier had the lowest SPP building level score in the 2015-
2016 and 2017-2018 school years. Premier did not receive an SPP score for
2016-2017. Premier has not outperformed the aggregate performance of School
District students in grades 3-5 in all subject areas throughout the charter term.

G. Preliminary PSSA data for the 2018-2019 school year indicates that Premier
did not outperform the aggregate performance of School District students in
grades 3-5 in all subject areas during the 2018-2019 school year.

7. Premier did not implement the curriculum, instruction and assessments that are set forth in
the charter application. The charter application represents that Premier would be
implementing the Core Knowledge curriculum and Marva Collins Reading Program as the
core curricular programs, and would also be utilizing the Stanford Achievement tests to
measure goal attainment by its student body. In the Title I Schoolwide Planning document
that Premier submitted to PDE on January 29, 2016, Premier represented that the charter
school was implementing the Stanford Achievement tests and using the Core Knowledge
curriculum series. However, during the renewal review, Premier representatives admitted
that they had not administered the Stanford Achievement tests at any time during the
charter term, had not been using the Marva Collins Reading program because it was no
longer in print when the charter school opened, and had only been using the Core
Knowledge as a curriculum supplement or reference. Premier never sought an amendment
to its charter during the charter term.

8. Premier did not meet the goals that it set for itself in its charter application. By way of
example and not limitation:

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 A. Premier did not meet the goal of having 98% student participation rate on the
PSSA during the 2015-2016 school year when only 94.4% of students were
assessed in ELA and 95.2% of students were assessed in Math and Science.

B. Premier did not meet the goal of having 98% student attendance. Average daily
attendance at Premier, as reported by PDE, was 94.49% in 2014-2015, 94.78%
in 2015-2016 and 93.25% in 2016-2017.

C. As admitted in the renewal materials, Premier did not meet the goal of 98%
parent volunteer participation rate. Premier did not have a parent coordinator
on staff until the 2017-2018 school year, which Premier claims in the renewal
materials would have been necessary to reach the goal that Premier set for itself.

D. As admitted in the renewal materials, Premier did not meet the goal of having
98% student participation in volunteer community service activities at least one
hour per week.

E. As admitted in the renewal materials, Premier did not meet its goal of having
98% parent participation for training in teaching techniques for use at home.
Parent training was to occur at PTA meetings and during Title I parent
meetings, none of which were attended by a high percentage of parents.

F. Because Premier did not use the Stanford Achievement tests to measure student
knowledge at any time during the Charter term, the goal associated with the
Stanford Achievement test could not be measured.

9. Premier’s special education programming information and the renewal application

improperly references Chapter 14 when discussing special education programming, which
does not apply to charter schools.

10. Premier has had significant staff turnover during the Charter term, as set forth in the
renewal application. In addition, Premier has had a different principal (Steven Rayzer,
Umar Johnson, Charles Bradley Sr., Darlene Smith, and Andrea Coleman-Hill) in every
year of the Charter term, which Premier identifies as a “major weakness” in the renewal
application. The principal for the 2017-2018 school year, Andrea Coleman-Hill, resigned
at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. Premier did not hire a new principal until the
Board meeting of April 3, 2019, when Querida Smith, a Premier teacher, was hired with
no prior experience as a principal.

11. Two different versions of the student Code of Conduct were provided by Premier during
the renewal review. One version, which is also published on Premier’s website, does not
inform parents or students of any due process procedures for expulsions in violation of
Chapter 12. The second version, which does not appear on Premier’s website, contains
expulsion procedures but those procedures are not consistent with Chapter 12. In addition,
Premier’s form letters to parents regarding expulsions reference Louisiana and violate the
requirements found in Chapter 12.

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12. The Safe Schools data reported by Premier to the State and to the public for the 2015-2016
and/or 2016-2017 school years were not accurate or reliable, which Premier’s CAO
admitted during the renewal review process. Premier submitted a corrected 2016-2017 Safe
Schools report to PDE on June 13, 2018, which is approximately eleven months after the
required PIMS deadline closed. As of August 15, 2018, the corrected report for the 2016-
2017 school year does not appear on PDE’s website, which means the public does not have
access to accurate data. Further, the corrected 2016-2017 Safe Schools Report does not
contain any data about suspensions, expulsions or truancy, and also indicates written
notification to parents for only 2 matters even though the corrected Report identifies 53
incidents by 32 offenders, including 20 aggravated assaults on students, a bomb threat, a
disorderly conduct and 2 aggravated assaults on staff. Further, the Safe Schools data
reported by Premier to the State and to the public for the 2017-2018 school year does not
accurately reflect the number of suspensions or incidents reported to the School District
during the renewal review process.

13. Premier did not comply with applicable State law with respect to conducting the required
fire drills and/or bus evacuations in the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017
school years. In addition, Premier’s administrators did not timely file a PDE-4101 form in
the 2015-2016 school year; could not locate any PDE-4101 form filed with the State for
the 2014-2015 school year; and did not file the appropriate fire drill and bus evaluation
drill paperwork with the State for the 2016-2017 school year.

14. For the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years, the State deducted
money from Premier’s SHARRS reimbursements for student health exams, screenings and
nursing services as a result of Premier’s failure to complete physical exams, dental exams
and/or vision screenings.

15. Premier’s governing Board (“Charter Board”) violated its own Bylaws by not having any
of the permanent committees outlined in the Bylaws during the Charter term and not having
the designated number of directors at varying points during the Charter term.

16. Actions of Premier’s Charter Board have violated the Sunshine Act, the Charter School
Law and its own Bylaws. By way of example and not limitation, minutes of the Charter
Board reflect the Charter Board taking action at multiple public meetings during the 2017-
2018 school year without having a quorum present. The Minutes during the Charter Term
do not consistently or clearly identify that the Charter Board is hiring employees or acting
on other employment decisions; the identity of those being hired; or the salary or
compensation information of those being hired. The Charter Board did not regularly take
action on employee terminations, contract non-renewals or employee resignations, as
reflected in the minutes. The meeting minutes for the 2014-2015 school year do not reflect
the Charter Board taking action on a school calendar for the 2015-2016 school year. The
meeting minutes for the 2015-2016 school year do not reflect the Charter Board taking
action on a school calendar for the 2016-2017 school year. The meeting minutes for the
2016-2017 school year do not reflect the Charter Board taking action to adopt a budget or
a school calendar for the 2017-2018 school year. The 2017-2018 school year budget was

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 not approved by the Charter Board until June 21, 2018, at the same meeting when the 2018-
2019 budget was approved. The meeting minutes for the 2017-2018 school year do not
reflect the Charter Board taking action to adopt a school calendar for the 2018-2019 school
year. The Charter Board did not discuss or take action to approve the independent financial
audits completed for the 2014-2015, 2015-2016 or 2016-2017 school years at public
meetings, and did not take actions to approve the retention of an auditor for the 2015-2016
or 2016-2017 school years. The minutes indicate that the Charter Board held executive
sessions, but the minutes often did not identify the purpose of the executive session, or the
minutes identified a purpose for the executive session that is not permitted under applicable
law. The Charter Board minutes available on Premier’s website through June 2019 do not
reflect the Charter Board taking action to adopt a budget for the 2019-2020 school year.

17. Premier’s independent financial audit for the 2015-2016 school year was filed on July 11,
2017, when it was required to be filed by December 31, 2016, under applicable State law.

18. Premier did not ensure that it collected and maintained required documentation on its
personnel, based upon a review conducted of employee files from the 2016-2017 and 2017-
2018 school years.

A. For the 2016-2017 school year, 6 employee files were completely missing. Of
those files that were present, 4 files had missing or incomplete FBI clearances;
2 files had missing child abuse clearances; and 2 files had missing State Police
criminal background checks. Four files had missing or incomplete information
about health assessments or evidence of tuberculosis screening. Most files
reviewed contained either incomplete or missing evidence of Act 168 sexual
misconduct checks and Act 126 mandated reporter training.

B. For the 2017-2018 school year, 1 employee file was completely missing. Of
those files that were present, 6 files had missing or incomplete FBI clearances.
Five files had missing or incomplete information about health assessments or
evidence of tuberculosis screening. Most files reviewed contained either
incomplete or missing evidence of Act 168 sexual misconduct checks and Act
126 mandated reporter training.

19. Per Premier’s admissions, during the 2017-2018 school year, Premier hired at least two
teachers (A.D. and A.H.) on a contractual basis through Humanus for the period of August
7, 2017 through March 2, 2018, in violation of the requirement that all teachers be
employed directly by the charter school. However, the Charter Board meeting minutes do
not reflect either of these individuals being hired as employees of Premier at any point in
time thereafter, despite Premier’s representations to the contrary. The Charter Board
minutes indicate that other Premier teachers were contracted through Humanus and A+
Personnel in the 2018-2019 school year, rather than being directly employed by the Charter
School with all attendant benefits.

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 20. Premier did not obtain complete clearance information for Charter Board members.
Charter Board members interact with parents and students. During the charter term, one
board member had a felony conviction in violation of 24 P.S. § 17-1729-A(b).

21. Upon information and belief, Premier did not provide the same health care benefits to its
employees as the employees would have received if they were employees of the School
District.

22. Upon information and belief, Premier did not timely file an Annual Report for the 2018-
2019 school year. Because the Annual Report has not been filed, Premier has not, inter
alia, disclosed whether it timely completed the independent financial audit for the 2017-
2018 school year, produced said audit for review by the School District or the public, or
provided information about the certification status of personnel during the 2018-2019
school year.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that commencing as soon as possible, the Receiver shall conduct
public hearings on the nonrenewal of Premier’s Charter, at which time the School District will
present evidence in support of the grounds for nonrenewal set forth herein, and Premier will be
given a reasonable opportunity to present witnesses and evidence in support of its defense,
pursuant to 24 P.S. § 17-1729-A(c); and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that, for purposes of the nonrenewal hearings, the Receiver authorizes
the appointment of a hearing officer to: (1) preside at and regulate the conduct and course of the
public hearing(s) pursuant to the Charter School Law, 24 P.S. § 17-1729-A, and the Local Agency
Law, 2 Pa.C.S.A §§ 551 et seq.; (2) administer oaths and affirmations; (3) issue subpoenas; (4)
make all necessary evidentiary rulings, receive evidence and establish a briefing schedule; (5) hold
appropriate conferences before or during the hearings; (6) dispose of procedural matters and
motions made during the hearings; (7) take other action necessary or appropriate to the discharge
of duties consistent with statutory or other authority, including arranging for a public comment
process required under the Charter School Law; and (8) certify the record and prepare proposed
findings of fact and conclusions of law and a proposed Adjudication to the Receiver within thirty
(30) days of the completion of the hearing process, including the submission of briefs from the
parties; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Receiver shall take formal action regarding the nonrenewal of
the Charter following the hearing, receipt of the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law
and recommendation from the hearing officer, and passage of at least thirty (30) days for the public
to provide comments, the timing of such comments occurring at any time after the last hearing
day; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Receiver affirms the assignment of the Levin Legal Group, P.C.,
to represent the School District in the presentation of evidence in support of the grounds for
nonrenewal; and be it

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FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Receiver, in consultation with the Solicitor, shall promptly
identify and appoint a hearing officer to preside over the nonrenewal hearing process.