Retiring CEO Of Boys Latin School: District Should Work More With Charter Schools

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - David Hardy, who is retiring as the CEO of Boys Latin School in Philadelphia, spoke with Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about how his relationship soured with the School District of Philadelphia over the years, saying they had a great partnership when he decided to launch the charter school.

"When we started this school, the School District came to us, we worked together with the School District to try and solve a really stubborn problem that they couldn't seem to solve. They chartered us and we didn't just get the authority from the SRC, but the School District administration agreed with us that this was something that needed to be done. But the politics and the climate changed down at the District and now it's a much more hostile environment. That can be troubling sometimes."

He stated he thinks charter schools and public schools would benefit from a closer relationship, but the will to communicate more openly is not there.

"I visited a lot of Philadelphia public high schools because I want to see what they do because I want to see if anybody's doing anything that would help us. But, I was really amazed that we've never gotten any High Schools to visit us. We have a really good relationship with West Philadelphia High and their Principal, Mary Dean, but the rest of them, they never come visit us and I just don't understand why. I think they could learn some things from us, but they don't want to."