City School Stories

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on December 20, 2011

The state of Pennsylvania spends a large amount of taxpayers’ money financing the operations of cyber charter schools.  In the 2009- 2010 school year, just four of these virtual schools received more than $231 million from the state’s education budget.  This sum is about eighty percent of the amount of money that the School District of Philadelphia lost in state aid this last budget year.

During the 2009-2010 school year, Agora Cyber School received approximately $55 million of the funding Pennsylvania dispersed to the nine-cyber schools operating within its borders.  Agora is part of the for-profit cyber school management company, K-12 Inc.  The funds collected in Pennsylvania by Agora School account for 10% of its corporate parent’s annual revenue.  K-12 estimates that the market potential for its brand of virtual schooling will potentially net it more than $15 billion as it expands its operations across the nation. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy on December 6, 2011

In the last two years, several Philadelphia District schools have either been converted to charter schools operated by outside providers, or have been converted to Promise Academies, the District’s internally-managed school turnaround strategy.  As a result of this reorganization, the overall operation of the school district has been significantly impacted. Yet little public scrutiny has been given to the consequences of these changes.

Media attention during the last year has targeted the financial woes, leadership turmoil and businesses dealings of the School District of Philadelphia. The resulting news coverage narrowly focused on the shortcomings of the people involved in administering the District’s affairs. This has left little room for an in-depth consideration of the value or effectiveness of the District’s strategic plan to turn around many of its schools. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes From the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on November 16, 2011

As a parent of three children who attended the Philadelphia Public School District, I knew what type of educational experience I expected them to receive in school.  The fact that I was a teacher and a school administrator definitely shaped my thoughts on this matter. For nineteen years, from the time my oldest child entered kindergarten at Powel Elementary School till the graduation of my youngest from Central High School, my wife and I were actively involved in our children’s education.

In retrospect we are pleased with the quality of the education our children received in the Philadelphia Public Schools.  This is not to say there were moments when we were not satisfied with the actions of individual teachers and school administrators.  But these negative experiences were definitely the exception rather than the rule. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on October 27, 2011

Some time ago I wrote a post for the Notebook titled, “If I Were a Rich Man”.  My intention in writing this article was simple.  I wanted to point out how a few wealthy individuals were using their personal fortunes in an attempt to influence the future of public education in our state.

These Bala Cynwyd businessmen had contributed millions of dollars to the failed gubernatorial campaign of State Senator Anthony Williams. They are ardent advocates for the use of school vouchers.

Anthony Williams is a prominent elected Pennsylvania official who supports using public tax dollars in order to fund a voucher system. This politician and these campaign contributors were and still are a good fit for each other. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on October 11, 2011

In the aftermath of the messy departure of Arlene Ackerman, the public’s attention has turned to considering the effectiveness of the School Reform Commission as a governance body.  Interest in examining alternative models to the current SRC has been expressed by elected officials, the local media, educational activists and the general public.   This subject will be the topic of a forum organized by Ed Voters Pa, Public Citizen for Children and Youth, and the Philadelphia Student Union that is scheduled to take place tonight at the United Way Building.

How the Philadelphia School District is governed is certainly a timely and important matter to be considered especially in light of how important district business has been mismanaged in recent months.   Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Vouchers Are Not an Economic Bill of Rights for the Disadvantaged

Originally  posted by Frank Murphy on February 10, 2011

Martin Luther King was deep in the midst of organizing the Poor Peoples’ Campaign when he was assassinated in 1968.   The objective of this ambitious endeavor was to press for the passage of an Economic Bill of Rights for the disadvantaged.  King was determined to seek economic freedom for all Americans regardless of race.  He envisioned a great society.  It would be one where all citizens would be fully employed.  In the country he dreamed of, there would be affordable housing and equal educational opportunities for all poor people.   His dream was large and it contained multitudes. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on September 22, 201

Now that Arlene Ackerman has been forced out as the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia and Robert Archie, chairman of the School Reform Commission has resigned his post, can we at last concentrate on the issues that will most affect our school students?

For most of the last few months, we have been preoccupied with the drama that has swirled around Ackerman’s tumultuous tenure and her acrimonious departure.  Archie’s alleged involvement in backroom dealings concerning the awarding of school management contracts has likewise dominated our attention.

The public outrage directed at these two failed leaders has been a distraction.  The amount of media attention they received regarding their missteps has unfortunately overshadowed many more important matters, e.g. the continuing challenge of dealing with a monumental budget short fall, developing a reasonable facilities master plan and hiring a new school superintendent.

Archie’s resignation, along with that of commissioner Johnny Irizarry has further complicated the ability of the School Reform Commission to function.  Since there are now three vacancies on this board, the School Reform Commission is unable to meet for lack of a quorum. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on September 20, 2011

In late March of this year, a seven part investigative series on school violence, titled Assault on Learning, was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  This report provided a comprehensive and balanced looked at the problems created in classrooms across the city as the result of the disruptive and sometimes criminal behavior of a small group of juvenile offenders.

Throughout this series, the reporters did a good job of describing what school violence looks like to the people who inhabit our public schools. They provided a variety of examples of its ill effects on students, teachers and parents.  They also identified the schools having a large number of incidents of school violence.

In addition to detailing the extent and types of serious incidents that have occurred in the district during the last five years, the journalists also attempted to delve into the root causes that contribute to violent student misbehavior.  Poverty, hunger, drug abuse, parental neglect and crime were some of the major factors that they identified.  These societal problems have overwhelmed the communities in which some of our most troubled schools are located.  Interestingly, nearly half of the district’s violent incidents occurred in a total of 46 schools that enroll less than 25% of the city’s public school students.  The schools that serve these children struggle to provide a safe and secure environment for their students. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes From the Field

September 14 2011

From The Philadelphia Writing Project

Teri Hines        Diane Waff          Tyrone V Edwards

Director             Director               Advisory Board Chair

For 25 years, the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) has been Philadelphia’s most prominent teacher network serving over 1,000 teachers each year and impacting over 93,000 students. Further, we provide teachers and schools all over the city with proven knowledge about how to integrate writing into all subjects.  In the current educational climate, our work is more important than ever.  We need your help in continuing our mission over the next 25 years.

Many non-profit organizations, like the Philadelphia Writing Project have been hard hit by the current fiscal crisis.  Local schools have fewer resources available to purchase professional development and thereby support our organization.  If we are to continue our mission we need additional funds.  So we are turning to our PhilWP family, Advisory Board members, corporate partners and friends to support our 25^th Anniversary Fundraising Drive.

Your gift will help us acquire much needed funds for program development, writing camp scholarships, family literacy resources to engage parents in their children’s writing, and technology that will allow us to expand professional development offerings and local outreach efforts.  Teachers and students will receive the greatest benefit from your gift.

We will host a celebratory dinner on Saturday, October 22, 2011 at the Inn at Penn honoring the founding directors, Judy Buchanan and Susan Lytle. Your tax-deductible gift will help us put the Philadelphia Writing Project on a solid fiscal foundation so that we can continue our essential work for many years to come and also commemorate the accomplishments of our past.

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on September 6, 2011

The start of a new school year has been an important event for me for most of my life.  I have experienced the first day of school as a student, a teacher, a principal and a parent.  Amazingly, on each of these occasions I have been filled with the same excitement, anticipation and hope that a new beginning can engender.

A new beginning …… that has always been what the start of another school year has meant to me.  It is a time for renewal and hope that stems from the belief that you can simply start over one day and make your life better than what it was in the previous year.  This is a notion that I know I share with many others.

We start this new school year as a district in turmoil.  Read the rest of this entry »