Moffett has been removed from the school and might be fired for - depending on who you believe - publicly criticizing administrators, sharing her story with the media, or giving a student subway tokens to attend an anti-district rally.
The controversy erupted after officials announced that struggling Audenried would be taken over by a charter school operator. It has made Moffett a powerful symbol of the difficulties of remaking the nation's worst-performing schools, showing the emotional toll such efforts can take on students, teachers and parents in the name of academic progress.
Until her case is resolved, Moffett sits in the equivalent of teacher detention - an empty class in an administrative building - while her students prepare to take state exams this week that she hopes will prove that Audenried can turn itself around without any outside help.
"The district focuses on me," said Moffett, 25. "But my only concern is what's going on at my school."
The Obama administration is trying to improve the nation's 5,000 lowest-performing public schools with a nearly $4 billion infusion to an education grant program. Chronically failing schools can get funds by implementing drastic changes such as reopening as charters or replacing the principal and a majority of the staff.
In Philadelphia, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is using similar approaches to spur turnarounds more than 30 of the district's 257 schools, including Audenried.
Officials announced in January that Audenried would be turned over to a charter operator and teachers would have to reapply for their jobs. Metrics including student test scores, teacher attendance and violent incidents were too poor to ignore, said David Weiner, associate superintendent for academics.
"We're not willing to wait," Weiner said. "We've failed the students at Audenried. And we failed that school for generations."
In 2004, fewer than one in 10 Audenried students were reading or doing math at grade level. The district closed the school the next year and reopened it in 2008 in a new building in the city's Grays Ferry section.
Moffett, an 11th grade English instructor and member of Teach for America, was among the first staff hired. So it galled her that Audenried was being labeled a failing school so soon, jeopardizing improvements built in part on carefully cultivated teacher-student relationships.
Other staff, students and parents were frustrated, too. At a raucous community meeting Feb. 8, Moffett publicly challenged district officials, saying they had ignored improvements - preliminary tests show nearly 40 percent of students are at grade level - and had not consulted stakeholders in choosing the operator.
On Feb. 15, angry Audenried students staged a walkout. It was the second of three protests that week by district teens upset that their schools were slated for overhauls.
"We wanted to send the school district a message that we did have a voice, and it wasn't right that they were making a decision that would affect us without our input," said Audenried junior Ava Reeves, 18.
Audenried students, many of whom speak glowingly of Moffett, told her of their plans to rally at district headquarters. Moffett said she suggested that they attend a school board meeting instead, but ended up giving subway tokens to one student who asked if she had any.
The same day, a local education website published an opinion piece co-written by Moffett and four other staffers that questioned the administration's decision based on recent figures and student accomplishments.
"In light of the data, will the District reconsider trying to fix a school that is not broken?" they wrote.
On Feb. 17, Moffett was removed from her class without explanation. She was "directed not to discuss this matter" in a disciplinary letter from the district, but eventually gave interviews in which she mentioned the tokens. Her op-ed was reprinted a week later in the Philadelphia Daily News.
On March 7, Moffett was notified of the intent to dismiss her.
"Their whole case against me is based on what I did after I was removed," Moffett told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday.
District spokeswoman Jamilah Fraser said the directive not to discuss the case is standard language designed to ensure fairness during the disciplinary process. And Moffett endangered students by giving out tokens, she said.
"She is not being reprimanded for free speech," Fraser said Friday. "What if those children had gotten hit by a car, if that subway had derailed?"
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers sought an injunction in federal court on Thursday to prevent Moffett's dismissal, saying the district is "aggressively retaliating against Moffett - to send a message that the consequence of speaking out is to be singled out, victimized, and terminated."
"The charges are ridiculous, and the PFT will fight to restore Hope to her teaching position and defend her for exercising her First Amendment rights," union president Jerry Jordan said in a statement.
The district held another emotional meeting with the Audenried community on Saturday. Fraser, who attended, said she understands that change is hard and has seen similar reactions at other schools slated for turnarounds, which are designed to remake the "entire dynamics" of how the buildings operate.
"It shakes it up. There are concerns. People are upset," Fraser said. "(But) what happens is that once people get into the new culture, the new academics, they realize this is going to be beneficial."
Moffett plans to continue reporting to teacher detention. She has accepted the fact that she could lose her job but plans to stay in Philadelphia - waitressing if she must - long enough attend Audenried's first graduation in June 2012.
