Packed into the lunchroom of Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School in early November, students, parents and staff stepped up to a microphone to plead their case.
One by one, they tried to convince the school’s board of trustees and its founder Veronica Joyner to keep the school open.
It didn’t work.
The board voted to approve the closure of the North Broad Street charter, which has been in operation since 1999. It did so in a way that may have violated the Sunshine Act, according to the Inquirer — because the vote happened in a private session after attendees had already been escorted out.
“It was sad to see. So many people were hurt and left with no answers,” said Nia Primus, a longtime teacher who joined MCS this year. “It was not surprising, though,” she added.
Frustration, confusion, and anger have surged through the MCS community ever since Joyner sent an Oct. 9 letter announcing her plan to retire as chief administrative officer and shutter the institution at the end of the current academic year. The news sent the K-12 charter’s thousand-plus students scrambling to find new schools for the following year, and dozens of staff members on unexpected hunts to find replacement jobs.
The timing of Joyner’s letter was a big concern, said Rayanna Tomlin, whose daughter is in fifth grade at MCS. It left parents just weeks until the Oct. 27 deadline to apply to other Philly charters or selective public schools — a process that can be extremely complex, even for elementary grades.
“I know somewhere in that building, somebody’s parents didn’t get that letter until Oct. 19, like myself,” Tomlin said, “and now they’re completely stuck.”
Parents who missed the chance to apply or didn’t correctly fill out paperwork will have to send their children to their local neighborhood school, with no choice in the matter.
Joyner’s shutdown announcement followed a March ruling by the Philadelphia Board of Education to only renew the MCS charter for one year, instead of the usual five — a move the 59-year-old educator cited in a December interview with Billy Penn and the Logan Center.
“I felt that, given what I’ve done for the city,” Joyner said, “the one-year renewal was a slap in the face.”
MCS has long been known for its small class sizes, reported positive behavior of students, and high four-year graduation rate, which reached 100% in the 2021-22 school year, according to School District of Philadelphia statistics. The nearly all-Black student body had a mock trial team competing internationally, and in 2020 its basketball team won the first Public League title in program history.
Some have also raised concerns over the school’s culture and academic performance.
Billy Penn partners with Temple University’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting to report on educational disparities within the Philadelphia School District.
Lawsuits brought against Joyner and MCS by former students alleged mistreatment (2019) and enrollment discrimination (2023), though both claims have yet to be ruled on and are still pending.
In its most recent annual review, the district’s charter office found MCS wanting. The office evaluates schools on three key areas: financial health, organizational compliance and viability, and academic performance. If a school receives “approaches standards” or “meets standards” ratings in the three areas, its charter is usually renewed for the full five years.
While MCS earned an “approaches standard” rating in financial health, it received “does not meet standards” ratings in both academic performance and organizational compliance and viability.
Students at MCS have consistently underperformed against statewide averages in exams and college admissions tests like the SAT. Since its last five-year renewal, MCS students’ academic performance on these tests has markedly declined, according to district records.
Joyner questions the objectivity of these metrics.
“Those tests are culturally biased,” the MCS founder said. “Don’t look at the standardized test, look at the page that says we have the highest graduation and matriculation rate. That is the real test.”
‘Failure is not an option’ — literally
The Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School motto is painted above its hallways in big, bold letters: “Failure is not an option.”
More than just an inspirational phrase, the slogan describes the MCS methodology: Students are allowed infinite retakes of classwork and tests until they pass. The school makes this policy clear to new parents, and makes sure all teachers follow the system.
“The goal is for [students] to learn, not to fail,” Joyner said. “I don’t pay for failure, I pay for success — and we get success.”
Primus, the MCS teacher, said she worked in several other charter schools before transferring this year to teach 11th grade English. The no-fail practice was “unlike anywhere I’ve ever worked,” she said, adding that she believes it is harmful.
“I think it’s extremely damaging to the students and will have prolonged effects,” Primus said. “Accountability is not a priority, and it increases entitlement.”
High school senior Cayla Waddington has been a student at MCS since first grade, and is a member of the international championship–winning mock trial team. She speaks positively about her school, praising MCS’ scholarship opportunities and Joyner’s passion for education, but agrees the no-fail culture has negative impacts.
“Kids are literally not allowed to fail a class,” Waddington said. “Everyone knows that’s how it goes.”
Both she and Primus say the permissive culture can set back more motivated students, like her, as they are forced to wait for others in the classroom to catch up.
A lot of students “can barely handle the classwork” despite it being at grade level, Primus said. She feels especially bad for her 11th graders, who after the shutdown will have to try to complete their final year at a school that won’t just pass them no matter what.
Tomlin, the MCS fifth-grader parent, said she never previously had a problem with the “no-fail” philosophy.
But to apply to other schools, Tomlin was forced to ask for her child’s scores on the Pennsylvania State Standardized Assessment tests, which measure performance in reading and math and compare performance to the rest of the commonwealth.
“I’ve never been privy to what her PSSA scores have been,” she said about her daughter. “There’s never been anything sent home. So I assumed there were no issues.”
What Tomlin discovered shocked her. “I get the email and it said that for third grade she was below basic in all areas, and I was like, ‘Well, what the hell is this?’ In the classroom she was getting all As and Bs.”
Only 2% of all MCS elementary and middle school students scored “proficient” or above on the 2022-23 math PSSA, per the Pa. Department of Education, down significantly from 2018-2019. And last year, only 16% of MCS third-graders were reading at grade level.
A potential $9 million real estate deal
In Joyner’s original letter outlining plans to retire and close the school, she refused to entertain the idea that someone else could step up and succeed her as chief administrative officer. Asked why, she cited concern that no one else could do the job well enough.
“My fear is my school will go down in flames,” Joyner said. “Nobody has put in the hours I’ve put in … what you built, somebody could just come and tear it down.”
Once the school is closed, she intends to sell the building to developers — something the MCS board of trustees has already voted to approve.
The building at 447 N. Broad St. is owned by Parents United for Better Schools (PUBS), a nonprofit Joyner founded and runs. According to public tax records, PUBS’ main source of income is rent paid by MCS.
According to a required annual audit from June 2022, PUBS recently refinanced its term loan with a bank to the tune of $6.8 million, with the mortgage on the school building as collateral. As of June 2021, PUBS had paid back less than $300,000. With the loan’s interest rate fixed at 3.9%, PUBS will owe the bank $9.3 million dollars by 2035, when the loan period ends.
The building’s estimated resale value is $8.8 million, according to real estate company Re/Max, a sum Joyner said would probably be used to cover the existing debt.
“It will have no other alternative,” Joyner said. “People do it with their homes and businesses all the time … Isn’t that the normal way it goes? What’s so unusual about this situation?”
That same audit showed Joyner paid $36,000 for consultation services last year to her husband’s firm, School Attendance and Truancy, LLC.
Waddington, the MCS 11th grader, organized a series of walkouts in response to Joyner’s announcements.
The protests served as a desperate plea for the MCS board to take the offer of the one-year charter renewal, Waddington said, to at least allow students, parents, and teachers more time to formulate alternate plans. With hundreds of students participating, the walkouts garnered a lot of local media attention, but did not appear to affect Joyner’s plans.
Waddington was one of the speakers at the contentious November meeting, calling in on speakerphone from a hotel room in Chicago.
“I’m a senior, so I don’t have to worry about it, but I feel so bad for everyone; They have to find a completely new place for a year,” said Waddington. “It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions.”
