City School Stories

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 »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on September 1, 2011

Today is the first day of a new contract year for Philadelphia’s schoolteachers.  They are back on the payroll after a long summer of district leadership drama and budget uncertainty.

Many of them have returned to school many days, even weeks, before their official starting date.  For much of August, teachers across the city have been preparing their classrooms for the start of a new school year.  This is work they do without administrative compulsion or monetary compensation.  It is a labor of love.

I have known many teachers during my career as an educator.  And nearly every one of them has spent much time each year preparing their classrooms for the arrival of a new group of students on the first day.  Decorating bulletin boards, arranging furniture, setting up classroom libraries and creating the most welcoming environment for their students are the things that teachers routinely do.  This is how schools prepare for a new year. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on August 30, 2011

In the waning days of Arlene Ackerman’s employment with the Philadelphia School District, State Senator Anthony Williams spoke out on her behalf at a School Reform Commission meeting. His praise was lavish for Ackerman’s work as Superintendent of Schools and his scorn for her critics was scathing. It is curious that Williams, one of the champions of the school choice movement, would be such a good friend of the appointed guardian of our local school system. Williams is also one of the chief proponents of legislation that would authorize the use of vouchers in Pennsylvania.

Not long after Williams’ appearance at the SRC meeting, Ackerman was given a $905,000 buyout offer.   A significant portion of this settlement was funded using money that was contributed by anonymous local business leaders.  The decision by the SRC to use $405,000 in private donations as part of the Ackerman’s severance package, has since raised serious ethical concerns.  Who are these secret donors and why were they willing to spin their own personal wealth into Arlene Ackerman’s golden parachute?  Do they expect to see something in return for their financial largeness? Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on August 25, 2011

There are times when the statements of public officials are contradicted by their actions. In the case of former Philadelphia Superintendent of Schools Arlene Ackerman this frequently was the situation.  During the three years she worked in Philadelphia, Ackerman often proclaimed that her first priority was to address the needs of our city’s students.  At the same time she was frequently dismissive of the concerns of teachers.

Yet the needs of Dr. Ackerman were more than well attended to during her brief tenure as the superintendent of our schools.  She enjoyed a generous compensation package that included an extravagant yearly salary, large bonuses and many special perks and benefits.  To top off her Philadelphia financial windfall, she received a severance package with apparently the highest payout ever offered to a school superintendent in America.  How much she benefited economically is astounding especially when you consider that she was employed in a city where more than 25% of the population is living in poverty and the poverty rate of all children under the age of 18 in the city is 33%.  In the face of these facts, it seems hypocritical for her to claim that she selflessly gave her all to the children while taking so much from our district’s budget.  This is a fascinating example of when a person’s deeds do not match their rhetoric. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on August 23, 2011

The nearly constant controversy Arlene Ackerman generated during her tenure here has been an unwelcomed distraction to important issues facing the District. During Ackerman’s time in Philadelphia, the local media has published numerous stories regarding the missteps of this beleaguered school leader.  Ackerman’s story, which started out with great expectations for meaningful and much needed reform in the Philadelphia School District, has since degenerated into a melodrama nearly impossible to ignore.   And while the spotlight of public scrutiny had been intensely focused on her shortcomings, other matters of importance have slipped into shadowy obscurity.

As we approach the start of new school year, it is time to clear our heads of the media daze surrounding the final days of Arlene Ackerman in Philadelphia.  There are important issues that require our attention.  One in particular, how to deal with excess school facility space, will no doubt generate a great deal of controversy.  The  Notebook published the district’s confidential master facilities report, which suggested 84 possible action steps that could be taken in order to right size district facilities.  Preliminary information suggests that up to 50 neighborhood schools will be closed in the near future.  Should these closings become an eventuality, they will have a far greater impact on the future of the School District of Philadelphia than the departure of our current superintendent of schools.

It is time to get back on track with the management of our local school district. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field
Submitted by Ray Murphy on August 18, 2010

Making change in Philadelphia’s public schools requires a partnership between students, educators and parents. It also requires the support of the larger community of social justice supporters in our region. That’s where Bread & Roses Community Fund comes in. Bread & Roses is the region’s social justice foundation supporting grassroots community organization making change.

I wanted to share a preview from Bread & Roses’ next newsletter which is about the school-to-prison pipeline and the efforts of two grantees to stop it. Enjoy!

Did you know that only 55.5% of Philadelphia students graduate from high school? And only 49% of those graduates enroll in a 2- or 4-year degree-earning institution. What happens to the rest of Philadelphia’s public school students?

The reality is that many students end up unemployed, in dead-end jobs or incarcerated. In fact, the trend of public school students leaving school and becoming incarcerated has a name: the school-to-prison pipeline.

Accelerated schools are one of the few options available to students who have left or been pushed out of neighborhood and magnet schools but still want a degree. For many students it is the one place they are given a second chance — not only for a high school diploma but for a different kind of life.

However, when budget cuts had to be made at the School District of Philadelphia earlier this year, accelerated schooling funds were among the first on the chopping block.

Luckily, members of grantee organization Youth United for Change (YUC) stepped up to the plate to prevent these serious cuts. Holding rallies, educational forums, and attending City Council meetings, YUC managed to have City Council promise $8.2 million toward the accelerated schooling budget. This commitment means that the 13 accelerated schools in Philadelphia will be able to keep their doors open.

Alternative schools are not enough to stop the school-to-prison pipeline. That’s why Bread & Roses grantees such as Youth, Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) are doing their part to disrupt this cycle by organizing to end the practice of charging and convicting young people as adults. YASP is focused on repealing Act 33, which allows youth to be charged as adults for crimes including aggravated assault and robbery, and eliminating the dangerous and unnecessary pipeline to prison that it facilitates.

But YUC and YASP can’t stop the school-to-prison pipeline on their own. The reality is that we all need to commit to the fight to end the practice of unfair and unjust incarceration, and to pressure the city to live up to its promise of fully funded, effective educational practices. This is the kind of real change that Bread & Roses’ grantees and community of supporters fight for.

To learn more about Bread & Roses Community Fund, visit www.breadrosesfund.org

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on August 16, 2011

A new school year is fast approaching and our city’s schools are far from ready to greet returning students.  More than one thousand teacher positions must be filled, a budget deficit has yet to be resolved, confusion is rampant and uncertainty prevails.  This state of affairs does not bode well for the future well being of our children.

Currently, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is engaged in a bitter and divisive struggle to maintain her leadership position in Philadelphia.  A handful of Ackerman loyalists have disrupted recent SRC board meetings in an effort to demonstrate their support for her.  They do so even though Ackerman has lost the confidence and support of much of the Philadelphia community.  The actions of these few individuals are hardly a surprise.  Their protest is quite consistent with the new normal of disruptive innovation we have come to know under Ackerman’s leadership. Read the rest of this entry »