A surprise victory for Joe Watkins

Joe Watkins might not be going to China, but he's not leaving Chester Upland either.

At least not right away.

The odd case of the state vs. the receiv

er took another twist yesterday when Delaware County Judge Chad Kenney rejected a petition filed by the state to oust Watkins. Kenney said that while Watkins has some communications issues, he was not given enough time to turn around the struggling district. You can get all the details here.

Watkins was Gov. Tom Corbett's hand-picked guy to lead the latest effort to turn things around in Chester Upland.

At the time, the choice seemed odd, since Watkins was an outspoken booster of charter schools and school choice. The exodus of students to charter schools is near the top of Chester Upland's long list of problems.

Corbett also is a charter schools backer, and counts some of the state's biggest charter school operators as campaign contributors. Watkins immediately went about the job of trying to lure students back into the district's schools, and seemed to be having some success.

Along with his new superintendent, Gregory Shannon, they went door-to-door in a face-to-face full-court press to convince parents to put their kids back in Chester Upland schools.

But his latest announcement that he was planning a trip to China to meet with a charter school operator there about possible investment in Chester Upland, including as much as a billion dollars flowing back to the district, seemed to push the envelope a bit too far.

For her part, acting education Secretary Caroly Dumaresq was not calling yesterday's ruling by Kenney a setback. She says she simply wanted to get the attention of both the court and the receiver.

She certainly accomplished that.

Just what is being accomplished in Chester Upland remains to be seen.