This Philly charter has just 100 students. It’s planning to cease operations.

Universal Vare Charter School projects enrolling just 100 students for the next academic year — simply not enough to operate an educational program going forward.

Officials have opted not to seek a new charter when the current one expires, Universal Schools Superintendent Penny Nixon said Thursday — a step that means closure for the South Philadelphia school at the end of the next academic year.

Universal Vare, on South 24th Street in South Philadelphia, can accept up to 400 fifth through eighth graders; it enrolled 150 in 2023-24 and 130 in the school year that just ended. Christopher Hill, board of directors chair for Universal Vare, said he watched as the school’s numbers dwindled.

“This decision was under review for as long as I’ve been on the board,” Hill said at a news conference Thursday.

Hill, Nixon, and local lawmakers said the move was prudent, if difficult to make.

“While this announcement may stir feelings of sadness and uncertainty, it unveils a valuable opportunity for us to lead with transparency, exhibit unwavering courage, and ensure that every scholar receives the thoughtful care and meticulous planning they rightfully deserve,” Nixon said.

Beyond the school’s incoming eighth-grade class, which would graduate and leave Universal Vare even if the school was not closing, 59 students will be affected, said Nixon.

The school employs nine staff members, all of whom will receive job coaching and professional development, officials said.

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D., Philadelphia) said he was proud of Universal officials for making a decision that is best “not for the system, not for the building, and, frankly, not even for the employees, but for the students and parents,”

Universal Vare is a “Renaissance” charter — a former Philadelphia School District school serving students from a neighborhood attendance zone that was given to Universal, the nonprofit started by local music icon and entrepreneur Kenny Gamble. When the district handed over Vare in 2011, the aim was for the charter company to dramatically improve academic outcomes — results it did not produce.

Still, Reginald Streater, president of the Philadelphia school board, praised Universal’s decision to let the charter lapse.

“We commend the school leadership for taking a proactive and student-first approach, even when the path forward is hard,” Streater said in a statement.

What happens after June is not clear. Renaissance charters technically revert back to district control, but the Philadelphia School District is in the midst of a citywide facilities planning process, and the school board is expected to vote on school closings and other changes by the end of the calendar year.

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has said a minimum school size will be established; a school of 100 is unlikely to continue.

Because it is a Renaissance, or neighborhood, charter, Universal Vare can accept students only from a single school: Stephen Girard, a district school that enrolls 297 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Nixon and Karen Howell-Toomer, Universal Vare’s principal, said declining birth rates and other neighborhood changes were largely the reasons for the enrollment drops.

“We have a lot of gentrification in our area, and the people moving in are not moving in with children, and if they are, they’re not sending them to the local schools,” Howell-Toomer said.

After Universal Vare’s board formalized the decision not to seek a new charter, Howell-Toomer called every family to let them know about the impending closure and pledged personalized transition plans for each affected student. All the families said they wanted their children to remain at Universal Vare for the 2025-26 school year, Howell-Toomer said.

Danielle Reavis, parent of a Universal Vare student, got one of those calls.

“While the news of the closure is heartbreaking, I want to thank the leadership for being honest with us and committing to help our children and our families through this transition,” Reavis said.

Reavis also had a message for other parents: “We are going to get through this together. Our community is strong and this final year will be a time to uplift our kids, celebrate their growth, and carry forward the legacy of what Universal has meant to all of us.”

Williams, whose district encompasses Universal Vare, noted that officials chose to make their announcement on Juneteenth — a day that seemed fitting, he said.

“While this is not necessarily a celebratory day, it is a day that acknowledges that public education in America, in Pennsylvania, and in Philadelphia is evolving,” said Williams, a charter school proponent. “And I cannot tell you how extraordinary it is to be standing here with this group of administrators, parents, teachers, and a community that acknowledges we are part of that time period to evolve.”

Relations between Philadelphia charters and the school district and school board are not always harmonious, but officials on both sides made it clear that Universal was not pressured into this decision, a move the charter office appreciated.

In recent years, a number of Philadelphia charters have closed or changed hands abruptly — in 2023, Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter shut after its founder, Veronica Joyner, was offered a one-year charter renewal. Joyner decided to retire and persuade her board to close school rather than find someone else to run it.

In 2022, Universal walked away from Bluford and Daroff, two West Philadelphia schools, over differences with the boards of those schools.

Students and families at Bluford and Daroff, which were also Renaissance charters, were ultimately stranded just before a new school year began in what one school official at the time described as “an active crisis for children.” Daroff eventually closed, and Bluford was reclaimed by the district, which still operates it.

Universal operates a stand-alone charter school and three other Renaissance charters; those schools are not affected by the Universal Vare decision.