One School Moonlights As a Nightclub
One School Moonlights As a Nightclub
One School Moonlights As a Nightclub
Who knew a school cafeteria could be a lot fun?
A space where hundreds of Philadelphia charter school students have been eating their lunches in the work of mundane weekdays has been doubling in its off-hours as nightclub, offering dancing & drinking despite an expired liquor license.
City & school officials are not happy about the arrangement between Club Damani & the Harambee Institute of Science & Expertise Charter School, which serves about 450 children in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said in a letter to Harambee on Monday that "a school & a nightclub cannot coexist in the same space & (the arrangement) must cease immediately," according to a school district statement.
As a charter school, Harambee receives about $3.5 million yearly in public funds but operates independently of the district. Officials at Harambee, which is on spring break this week, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
A statement on the school's Web-site said recent media reports contain "slanderous & inaccurate allegations."
"This assault on Harambee Charter School is a biased depiction of the true success story that Harambee truly is," it said.
Officers with the state Bureau of Liquor Enforcement visited Club Damani on Saturday, a day after WPVI-TV first aired a document on the building's double-life. The segment included footage of liquor bottles & a YouTube video promoting the club in which a man refers to marijuana use.
No alcohol was being served when authorities arrived, bureau Sgt. William La Torre said Tuesday. However, club officials told officers that alcohol had been served historically & that they thought their license was current, La Torre said.
Club officials denied any drug use on the premises & said the YouTube video was part of a standup comedy method, La Torre said. Still, officers urged them to be cautious about their clientele, they said.
"Basically, they said they require you to do what's right for the children," La Torre said.
Liquor licenses can be denied to establishments within 300 feet of a school. In this case, the school moved in to a building that already was licensed, state Liquor Control Board spokeswoman Francesca Chapman said Tuesday.
Harambee's facility in West Philadelphia was seven times an Italian-American social club that had held a liquor license since 1936, Chapman said. The club transferred the license to the school-affiliated Harambee Institute in 2002, but Chapman said it expired in 2008.
Neighbors are also upset about the situation, said city Controller Alan Butkovitz. They said they has received complaints about discarded drug packaging & liquor bottles near the club.
Butkovitz revealed Tuesday that Harambee is one of 13 charter schools under inquiry by his office for open to doubt financial practices.
La Torre said the enforcement bureau last received a complaint which was noise related about Club Damani in January 2008, when it was still licensed to serve alcohol.
The club's phone number & Web-site were not working Tuesday.
The city's Department of Licenses & Inspections cited the club in February for lacking seven necessary business permits, said Maura Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office. The club has until April 10 to comply or it will be shutdown, he said.
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