Books by day, beers by night at least that is what school district officials in Philadelphia say was offered at a charter school there, where they say the schools cafeteria was used weekends as a nightclub.
Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the school district, said his office was investigating whether the school, the Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School itself rented the cafeteria to the bar, known as Club Damani, or if the landlord did so. In the meantime, Mr. Gallard said, the city has asked the bar to cease operating or the school to move.
The school is home to roughly 500 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. When it opened in 1997, it was one of the first charter schools in the city. Now, there are 67 charter schools educating about 34,000 students, Mr. Gallard said.
Harambee officials did not respond to requests for comment. But they posted an open letter on the schools Web site, saying reports about the schools operating a bar, which first appeared over the weekend on a local television station, WPVI-TV, were a biased depiction of the true success story that Harambee truly is.
In the letter, school officials said Harambee excelled in building students self-worth, engaging parents and consistently producing students who exceed state standards in math and reading.
But the presence of the nightclub in the school building drew strong criticism.
It is an outrage, said State Senator Jeffrey E. Piccola, a Republican who heads the Education Committee and who has called for the school to close immediately and relocate its students.
Mr. Piccola said he planned to amend a charter school bill that he had already introduced to ban the consumption, purchase and sale of alcoholic beverages in a charter school.
A bar should not be located anywhere near a school, he said. To think that a full bar is actually operating in a school is an outrageous affront to charter schools, young children, educators and taxpayers everywhere.
City officials said Club Damani appeared to have a liquor license that expired in April 2008. The city controller, Alan Butkovitz, said the school was also being investigated for questionable spending.
