City School Stories

Notes from the Field

Rally for Public Education: Friday, February 25

4:00pm

440 N. Broad St.

For more information: www.tagphilly.org rally4phillypublicschools@gmail.com

The second round of the Ackerman Renaissance School Reform Plan is stirring up concern and controversy in the Philadelphia education community.

Student protesters have conducted peaceful demonstrations in order to express their concerns regarding plans to turn their schools into either charter schools or Promise Academies.

Parents and teachers are expressing their anger over not being given an authentic seat at the school reform table.

The district administration is attempting to intimidate and silence teachers who disagree with their reform plans.

Come to the Rally this Friday.  Join with like-minded citizens in expressing your displeasure with the manner in which the School Reform Commission and District Leadership are managing school reform efforts in our district.

This has all happen before as can be seen in this collection of videos concerning the Renaissance 2010 plan in Chicago.  It will all happen again, if we fail to assert our right to be heard and to be included in the decision making process of our School District.

Wisconsin Attack On Educators And Other Public Workers Inspires

Notes From The Field

Submitted by Bobbie Cratchit*, February 22, 2011

I remember when I first decided that I would become a teacher.  For me it was not a lifelong dream, more a position of circumstance that brought me to the profession.  I needed a job in walking distance of my small junior college where I had begun freshman year as a social service major.  The Pre-Kindergarten School down the street was hiring a part-time before/after school caretaker.  It fit my needs and I took the job.  It was there that while working with the children I discovered a love for reading to children and helping them develop skills in math and life.

When I informed my parents of my decision to transfer to a four-year education program, my mother stated “Teaching is a noble profession.  You will not make much money and it is very hard work. “My parents supported me, as they always have, and I began my career as a teacher four years later.

It was not an easy road.  I worked full-time and attended classes at night for four years.  I received my degree one year past my expected graduation due to transferring my major.  Five years as an undergrad and one more year as a minimum wage Kindergarten teacher in a day care later, I landed my first salaried teaching job in a parochial school. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy, February 17, 2011

In less than a week’s time, students from two Philadelphia neighborhood high schools have staged walkouts to protest the district’s plans to restructure their schools. These students have been the closest observers of the changes that have occurred at West Philadelphia and Audenried High Schools in the last three years.

Student protesters from West were witnesses to the noteworthy turnaround efforts of a dedicated staff under the leadership of former principal, Saliyah Cruz.  Then in less than a year’s time, they watched as those promising initiatives were squandered in the face of a poorly conceived and badly managed reform plan.

The students at Audenried are housed in a newly constructed multi-million dollar public facility that opened three years ago.  The junior class of this school will be the first group to graduate from this completely new school community. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes From the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy, February 15, 2011

Dr. Ackerman and her administrative team have finally acknowledged that the school district is facing a financial crisis.  They are anticipating a budget shortfall in excess of $400 million.  This is not unexpected news.  There has been considerable speculation in recent months of this possibility.

The size of this shortfall can grow even larger in the coming months depending on the outcome of three other factors.  First, the state might pass a voucher law that will be funded by revenue that would normally go to school districts.  Second, the Philadelphia School District may be forced to remove the cap on the number of students that current charter schools can enroll, if it loses a pending lawsuit.  Third, the state might cut the basic subsidy to public school districts as a means to deal with its own budget issues.

In the face of likely painful cuts to school district programs, Dr. Ackerman has stated, “What will be our first priority is the welfare of our students.” Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy, 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.

When King and the other leaders of the Southern Leadership Conference committed to organizing the Poor People’s March on Washington, a second phase of the Civil Rights movement was initiated. These famous activists of the fifties and sixties had already succeeded in exposing the injustice and inequality of segregation. By launching this new campaign for economic justice, Dr King and his colleagues intended to broaden the scope of their work and advocacy.  King sought to shine a spotlight on the needs of the poor.  He planned on uniting people of all races in a movement to break the shackles of poverty in order to obtain economic freedom for all Americans. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Alex-a Philadelphia Public School Teacher, on February 3, 2011

It was about 7:30 in the morning. I was hanging up samples of student work on the bulletin boards that lined the walls of my classroom.  I was talking to one of my students while I worked.  He had come to school early and wanted to hang out in my room.  He didn’t want to wait in the cafeteria or auditorium by himself.

When I started to hang up the graphic organizers my students had made during a recently completed literature unit, he said.  “Hey! Why are you putting those on the wall? Don’t we need them?”

“Nope” I responded.  “We are finished with this unit and we are starting another one.” Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy, Jan. 27, 2011

Pennsylvania school choice advocates staged a rally this past Tuesday in Harrisburg.  They gathered in order to demonstrate their support for the passage Pennsylvania State Senate Bill 1.  If enacted,this proposed legislation would establish a school voucher program for low-income children in the state of Pennsylvania.

The small crowd in attendance at this event was composed mainly of students and parents from Philadelphia charter schools.  The children were outfitted in T-shirts that said, “Put Children First—Support School Choice.” Representatives of the Students First Political Action Committee distributed these shirts to the youthful demonstrators.  Three wealthy Bala Cynwyd businessmen primarily fund this PAC. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy, Jan. 25, 2011

In recent weeks, State Senator Anthony Williams and State Senator Jeffry Piccola have introduced legislation that will authorize the distribution of school vouchers in the state of Pennsylvania.  Under the provisions outlined in their bill, “scholarships” will be made available over the course of three years to all children who reside in low-income households within the state.

These state-subsidized vouchers can be used to pay for both public-to-public and public-to-private school choice options. In the first year of this program any student who attends a school identified as being one of the 144 persistently lowest-achieving schools in the state will be eligible to receive a school choice voucher. In the second year of implementation, all low-income students living within the attendance boundary of a persistently lowest achieving school will be included in this program.  In the third year, all low-income children in the state, regardless of school attendance will qualify to receive a voucher.

The amount of these “scholarships” will be equal to 100% of the state’s per-pupil subsidy to the child’s resident school district. More than half of these schools are located in the Philadelphia School District and include all but one of the district’s neighborhood high schools. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by “Alex-a Philadelphia Public School teacher”, on January 20, 2011

Teaching children is hard. Period. Consistency and routine are crucial for any teacher to create a positive learning environment and foster real learning. Without consistency and routine teachers are less effective, students are confused, and everyone is stressed out.

Since the start of the school year I have taught five different variations of Corrective Reading, one of the “supports” the district believes will fix “low performing” schools.

It was only about three weeks into the school year when the Empowerment Schools Office eliminated the level “C” group that I taught. I was reassigned to an “enrichment class” of twenty-eight 7^th and 8^th grade students who tested out of the lower levels of the Corrective Reading program. Read the rest of this entry »

Notes from the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy, January 13, 2011

Yesterday, in an article published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago mayoral candidate Miguel del Valle was attributed as saying, “Let’s stop attacking teachers”.  Mr. del Valle is one of several candidates, including Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff of President Obama, who are seeking to be the next mayor of Chicago.

Miguel del Valle’s comment was made within the context of a broader statement in support of Chicago teachers he made in reference to the proposed “Performance Counts” legislation that is currently being considered in the Illinois state legislature.  I discussed this proposed bill in this post at cityschoolstories.com.

It is refreshing to hear a candidate for an elective office taking a stand in support of teachers instead of pursuing the increasingly popular political tactic of bashing and scapegoating them. Even more interesting is his willingness to state his opposition to the idea that teacher unions should be denied the power to strike. Political figures that take such a stance are becoming an increasing rarity. In doing so, del Valle risks inflaming the ire of the free market corporate education reformers who are increasingly gaining control of our national educational policies. They have money and they know how to use it to support the campaigns of candidates who will support their educational agenda. Read the rest of this entry »