As recently reported in The Notebook, charter school applications must have a review that is open to the public. The first round of reviews are now scheduled.

We strongly encourage educators and community members to look up whether charter schools are targeting their zip code with their application -- and then attend that application's meeting to let the School District of Philadelphia know that we are committed to our public schools in these neighborhoods.

We know that educators are working during most of these meetings, but we urge you to contact your parents and community members so that they can turn out and represent your school.

Let the review board know -- charter schools are not a sustainable option for our district!

The only reason that charter applications are even being considered again is due to an add-on clause to the Cigarette Bill Tax. Parents at Steel and Marin showed the District last spring that they did not want charters in their neighborhoods. Now there are 40 applications that need the same kind of community input.

The meetings will be held at the School District Central Office, 440 North Broad Street.