Parents scramble in wake of Walter Palmer Charter School shutdown

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Parents are scrambling to find classroom spots for their children this week after a charter school in North Philadelphia announced it is closing its doors for good.

The complete collapse of the Walter Palmer Charter School brought Monique Hayes, the mother of 2nd grader Nadirah Williams, to Philadelphia School District Headquarters Tuesday.

She was anxious to get her child placed in another school in time for next Monday. That's when public school students will return from the Christmas break.

Hayes is one of more than 600 parents working to get their children relocated.

The Philadelphia School District is trying to expedite the transition, setting up an office to handle an expected flood of parents desperate to get their children re-enrolled as soon as possible.

The district says the re-enrollment can be done online and at district headquarters in the early part of the day Wednesday, during business hours on Friday and Monday.

Action News was at the school on Monday as teachers were packing up and moving out.

The cash-strapped school finally drowned in a sea of financial red ink, including debt amounting to more than $13 million.

Formal word of the shutdown came last week weekend via a letter from founder and chairman Walter Palmer who has not been available to reporters.

What was left of the Palmer Charter empire, kindergarten through 8 grade, has struggled for months to balance the books in the midst of court rulings and enrollment disputes with the school district.

The Palmer High School was shut down in October in a sea of red ink and controversy; now the school's assets will be liquidated to pay down the debt.

"The board of directors for the Walter Palmer School has asked me to facilitate liquidation and dissolution of the school," finance counsel Jack Pund said.

Palmer school officials claim they've been undermined by the school district.

"I would not necessarily say sabotage, what I'm saying is that they want those kids back, that will fill those holes, those gaps, those deficits, that they have," David Weathington said.

More than 600 students are going to have to be placed in other schools.

The school district says parents can do that through a number of ways:

"We'll get students enrolled immediately, even without the records, cause we believe it's important that they are back in school," district spokesman Fernando Gaillard said.

On Monday evening, parents upset about the closing gathered outside the school for a rally.

"The charter school office and the school district have been very unhelpful with my process. They don't give me any information. They have no information. They are very nasty to us," parent Jihan Pauling said.