·~ Edison: Down
Pullout section: Young Journalists
T~ but not out
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PHILADELPHIA
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SUMMER 2002 Vol. 9, No.4
PUBLIC
Gay-straight student groups
17 '
11-13
3
"Turning the page for change."
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SCHOOL "
NOTEBOOK
Takeover brings tunnoil, uncertainty to School District by Paul Socolar Just months i ~to the state takeover of the Philadelphia public schools, major chunks of the state's vision of school reform have been approved, with a profound and turbulent effect on the Philadelphia School District. To date, the measures taken have caused more turmoil and resistance - school wa lkouts, hundreds of teacher resignations and transfer requests, lawsuits, and other protests - than concrete educational change. But with Governor Mark Schweiker 's appointees making up a three-person majority on the School Reform Commission, the SRC has moved quickly to change the shape of the District. They have implemented a reform model involvi ng a smaller central office with corporate consultants playing a major role; an array of private providers running schools; partnerships with selected community organizations; and a substantial management role for the for-profit company Edison Schools Inc. "We should push the envelope and be as aggressive as possible," said Commissioner James Gallagher as the SRC voted 3-2 to approve privatization and three other new
Photo: Harvey Fink fe
Members of the Philadelphia Student Union, blockading School District headquarters to protest the privatization of schools, face off on the sidewalk with School Reform Commission Chair James Nevels (left), April 17. .
Students step up in takeover fight con~erse with three of the many remarkable srudent leaders of this year's struggle around Over the past nine months, Philadelphia the School District's future. public school students have been leaders of Their comments reveal that while srudents the opposition to the state school takeover and have been teaching School District leaders a the unfolding privatization and breaking up of thing or two, they have had intense, real-life the School District. ,. ,.Iearning exp.erjenc~, oJ their own. Srudents in groups like the Philadelphia Eugene Tinsley, born and raised in Srudent Union, Youth United for Change, and Philadelphia, is a junior at West Philadelphia Asian Americans United have demonstrated, High School and a member of the Philadelphia marched, independently organized srudents, Srudent Union. held educational forums and spoken out about Joanna Filomeno, born and raised in North the type of education they desire. Philadelphia, is a senior at Edison High School The No tebook had the opportunity to and a member of Youth United for Change.
by Aldustus Jordan
The $75 million in aid from the state that Schweiker pledged to secure is still tied up in the legislative process. management models this fall at 70 elementary and middle schools. More than a quarter of the District's schools are part of this "partnership school" initiative. The governor's reform agenda dominated the SRC's decision-making despite the fact that the state has not yet come up with even a dime of additional funding to address the School District's profound financial difficulties. The city has taken two steps to alleviate the immediate budget crunch: approval of a new $45 million appropriation for the schools and a $300 million city bond issue to cover District operating costs for the next four years while efforts to find new sources of funds continue. But the $75 million in additional aid from the state that Schweiker pledged to secure is still tied up in the state legislative process. To be sure, the commission, under the leadership of Swarthmore businessman James Nevels, has not given the governor everything he wanted. Edison Schools Inc. is just one among 12 companies and groups hired to consult on central management functions, including curriculum review, staff recruitment, procurement, and school safety (325 central office staff are to be laid off). See '7akeover" on p. 10
..
1t~~!l1Ip ~:;Cl~n~~i: 3.
A decir la verdad:
Por que necesitamos educacion multicultural por Em11llJnuel Filpo Yo siento que he sido vfctirna de engafio durante los ultimos 11 anos por parte de maestros y otras personas que no querfan que supiera la verdad. Mi nombre es Emmanuel Filpo. Nacf en Lawrence, Massachussetts. Mis papas son ambos naturales de la Republica Dominicana. Pertenezco aI grupo Youth United for Change (Juvenrud Unida por un Cambio). Acrualmente soy estudiante de cuarto ano en la Escuela Superior Edison. Antes de entrar a la escuela superior, Crist6bal Col6n era uno de mis fdolos. Siempre se me ensen6 en la escuela que el habfa descubierto a las Americas y a la
Republica Dominicana. Yo 10 consideraba un gran hombre. Cuando me afilie aI grupo Youth United for Change (YUC) y tome el curso de historia en el undecirno grado, mi maestro y el lfder del grupo de j6venes abrieron mis oj os a la realidad. ElIos me enseiiaron que Crist6bal Col6n fue un violador, un asesino, y que tenia esc1avos - cosas que nadie me habfa senalado antes. Despues aprendf que vengo de una tradici6n de resistencia e increfble inteligencia, y que no soy descendiente de personas pasivas y sin voluntad propia. Cuanto mas aprendf sabre mi herencia, mas orgulloso mesentf.
Eric Zou was born in China and moved to Philadelphia five years ago. He is a sophomore at Fumess High School and a member of Asian Americans United.
Roots of student activism How did these srudents come to be leaders in their schools and community? Interestingly, none of them have family backgrounds that were rooted in activism. Filomeno, for example, wouldn' t characterize her mother as an activist, but said she instilled in her the imponance of standing up for herself. "I would say my mother is a humanitarian who hates injustice and believes in fighting for people's rights," she said. But all three srudents reported that education was the key priority that was stressed throughout childhood. Prior to high school, these srudents were not involved in activist work. They did, however, develop the foundation for their activism through leadership .positions in srudent council, sports, and other organizations. See "Students" on p. 16
'i.liitj·!,Ji@i,INt"" 14
Older activists continue struggle
15
Student testimony on privatization
19
Service learning: working for change
22
Students speak out for fair funding
"Por que" continua en la p. 8
. " Neighborhood Notebook, p. 6
•
Espanol, p. 8, 9
•
Opinion, p. 22, 23
'e--PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
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NOTEBUOCOK
City of Philadelphia Mayor John Street (D): 2/5-686-2 181
Turning the page for change Volume 9, Number 4 All independent quarterly newspaper - a voice for parents, studellts, classroom teachers, and others who are working for quality aud equality ill PlzilLulelplzin public schools.
City Council Members-At-Large (elected cilywide) David Cohen (D): 215-686-3446 W. Wilson Goode, Jr. (D): 215-686-3414 James F. Kenney (D): 215-686-3450 W. Thacher Longstreth (R): 215-686-3452 Angel L. Ortiz (D): 215-686-3420 Blondell Reynolds-Brown CD): 215-686-3438 Frank Rizzo (R): 215-686-3440
Editorial Board for this issue: Melissa Byrne, Raymond Gunn, Ben Herold. Mynle L. Naylor. Melania Page-Gaither, Aldustus Jordan. Ros Purnell, Amy Rhodes, Amy Stuan, Sharon Tucker, Paul Socolar, Ron Whitehorne Advisory Board: Eileen Abrams, Community College of Phila. Kira Baker Diane Bridges, parent Jane Century. Century Communications Cindy Engst, teacher Helen Gym, Asian Americans United
Jane Hileman, 100 Book Challenge Eric Joselyn, teacher Kevin Muszynski, Local Task Force for a Right to Education
Rochelle Nichols Solomon, Philadelphia Education Fund Johannes Ponsen, educational consultant Len Rieser, Education Law Center Linda TalbeI1, Young Voices in Print Debbie Wei. Asian Americans United
Debra Weiner, Philadelphia Futures Organimtions for idemificatioll purposes ani)!
Executive Committee: Kelley Collings. Mynle L. Naylor, Ros Purnell. Sharon Tucker. Ron Whitehorne Editor: Paul Socolar Community Outreach Coordinator: Amy Rhodes Editorial Interns: Metissa Byrne, Ben Herold Design: Patriclh Ludwig
Art: Eric]osel,n Editorial assistance: Eileen Abrams, Evonne Nwunkwo. Len Rieser. Sandy Socolar Distribution: lrvin B. Shannon. Tom
Brouillette. Donald Davis Phikulelphi(/ Public School Notebook is a project of {he New Beginnings program of Resources For Human Development. \Ve publish four times a year. Send inquiries to:
Philadelphia Public School Notebook 3721 Midvale Ave., Phila., PA 19129 Phone: (21 5) 951-0330, ext. 107 Fax: (215) 951-0342 E-mail: psnotcbook@aol.com Special thanks to ... Barbara Dundon, Andi Perez, Farrah Samuels and our subscribers, advertisers, and volunteers who distribute the Notebook. Funding in part fro m Bread and Roses
Community Fund. the Campbell-Oxholm Foundation, the Douty Foundation, the Edward
E. Hazen Foundation, the Allen Hilles Fund, the Samuel S. Fels Fund, the Knight Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, PNC Bank and the William Penn Foundation.
SUBSCRIBE NOW! Be part of the educational dialogue. Your support helps put this paper in the hands of people working for positive change.
Whoya gonna call?
OTEBOOK EDITORIALS
Adults, listen up! A group of high school seniors presellls a
research paper to faculty during a meeting at their school, explaining what they think their school should be doing to infuse multicultural themes into the curriculum. High school students who are opposed 10 school privatization stage a series of street protests. including a student walkout, a sit-ill, and a f/of/violelll blockade of the elllronces to the Schaal District Administration building, denumding a voice in decisions about Iheir schoolI. After srudyillg haw a neighborhood creek has become cOlllalltinated by pol/Itlants, a class of middle school students distributes a brochure to community residents telling them what can be done to restore the creek, and they begin a project to bring the creek back to its original condition. Across the School District of Philadelphia, students are making their voices beard. Students are experts about what goes on in schools and ck1SSroorns every day. They are impacted every day by the education policies that adults set (?~e~ without seeking students' ~~~ion~); ~,t, seeriili Sl5rAWion seHS'etilltro\l\-I!iiIi'C'a'llon3J'sys!em can only benefit from 'Usrening to students and encOlrraging student activism on educational issues. Student activism has played a critical role in the history of our nation. Students have provided a spark to important intergenerational mass movements for civil rights, for peace, and for global economic justice. Here in Philadelphia in the last few months, we have seen how protests by students against privatization can inspire adults to take action as well. Students from the Philadelphia Student Union and Youth United for Change have often been ahead of adults in getting the facts, speaking out, demanding answers from those who are making ~~::~=~~;: even engaging in nonviolent
NAME
Students should be applauded for the risks they
have taken in doi ng this work: speaking out publicly against powerful interests, formulating their own opinions and preparing for them to be challenged, and being willing to risk seeming different from other students. Because of the risks and challenges in these efforts. it is important for adults to support students and help to create safe places for students to talk about issues and figure out how to take action. Youth may need supporr in thinking through and articulating their ideas. They may need training or assistance with skills like writing, speaking. seeking out infonnation , and evaluating sources. They may need to know more about history and about the important ways that students have contributed to social change. This is just the sort of support that many adults have offered student activists in Philadelphia. (But let's be clear. The involvement of adults in supporring local student activism in this manner is not making students "puppets" of adults, as critics have recently alleged. The hundreds of ,~ .,students protesting privatization are independentminded, strong-wiUed individuals.) Adults can begin to support students in speaking up and getting'involved in their communities even at a young age. In elementary schools, for example, service learning projects show children that they are valued and functioning members of a community, that they have real gifts and talents to share, and that they can tearn up with others to tackle problems that affect them. Students who speak up for their beliefs should be supported, even by those adults who disaoree with them. Their willingness [0 act accordin~ to their consciences and to stmggle for pOSitive change eams them a place of honor in a lono and powerful tradition of grassroots activism. '" Students are telling us they care deeply about issues in their schools and commUnities, and they deserve to have a say. We need to listen.
District City Council Members Frank DiCicco (D): 215-686-3458 Anna Vema (D): 215-686-3412 Jannie L. Blackwell (D): 215-686-3418 Michael A. Nutter (D): 215-686-3416 Darrell L. Clarke (D): 215-686-3442 Joan L. Krajewski (D): 215-686-3444 Richard Mariano (D): 215-686-3448 Donna Reed Miller (D): 215-686-3424 Marian B. Tasco (D): 215-686-3454 Brian J. O'Neill (R): 215-686-3422
Commoltwealth of Peltnsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker (R): 717-787-2500 State Senators Vincent J. Fumo (D): 215-468-3866 Christine Tartaglione (D): 215-533-0440 Shirley M. Kitchen (D): 215-457-9033 Allyson Y. Sch\\artz (D): 215-242-971 0 Michael J. Stack (D): 215-612-0063 Vincent Hughes (D): 215-471-0490 ' Anthony Hardy WIlliams (D): 215-748-7811 State Representath es Louise Wtlliams Bishop (D): 215-879-6625 Alan L. Butkovitz (D): 215-335-2521 MarkB. Cohen (D): 215-924-0895 Angel Cruz (D): 215-291-5643 RobeLt C. Donatucci (D): 215-468-1515 Dwight Evans (D): 215-549-0220 Michael Horsey (D): 215-747-0757 Harold Janles (D): 215-462-3308 Babette Josephs (D): 215-893-1515 William F. Keller (D): 215-271 -9190 George T. Kenney, Jr. (R): 215-934-5144 Marie A, Lederer (D): 215-426-6604 Kathy Manderino (D): 215-482-8726 Michael P. McGeehan (D): 215-333-9760 John Myers (D): 215-849-6896 Dennis M. O'Brien (R): 215-632-5150 Frank L. Oliver (D): 215-684-3738 John M. Perzel (R): 2/5-331-2600 William W. Rieger (D): 215-223-1501 James R. Roebuck (D): 215-724-2227 John J. Taylor (R): 215-425-0901 W. Curtis Thomas (D): 215-232-1210 LeAnna Washington (D): 215-242-0472 Ronald G. Waters (D): 215-748-6712 Jewell Williams (D): 215-763-2559 Chris R. Wogan (R): 215-342-1700 Rosita C. Youngblood (D): 215-849-6426
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Will there be accountability? On April 17, the community was given a lever for securing educational quality at the 70 "partnership schools" slated for privatization or other cbanges in management. On that day, the School Reform Commission unanimously passed a series of accountability measures for partnership schools. If a school, or its education management organization, -does not meet these measures, the SRC can end their contract. Among the many measures are requirements that all partnerShip schools: • Have a qualified teacher in every classroom by September or submit a plan to place a qualified teacher in every classroom by the end of the school year. • Receive no fmancial benefit from hiring less
experienced teachers and no penalty for hiring more expenenced teachers. • Maintain PSSA Scores that are at or above pre-reform Scores. • Serve all students regardless of ability or prevIOUS achievement. .• Show that they have the fmancial and admintstratlve ability to Successfully Open the schools by September. • Allow students to transfer if they do not like the way the school has changed.
~e these provisions give SOme protection to t e children in partnership schools their pOwer depends on the SRC 's co . ' enforCing them. mmLtment to The SRC owes it to our childr . Own rules. All of us will b e? to stick to its e watching.
D = Democrat, R = Republican School Refonn Commission: 215-299-7916
2002-2003 key dates Sep, 3-4, 2002 Staff planning Sep_ 5 First day, grades 1-12 Sep, 12 First day of kindergarten Sep. 20, Oct. 18, Nov. 15 Staff only - Professional Development Days Dec. 23-Jan. 1 Winter Break Jan. 24, 2003 Staff only Professional Development Day Apr_ 14-18 Spring Recess June 19 Last day for pupils June 20 Last day for staffLong-range Planning Day
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PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
Report says more students could be in regular classes if resources were provided Many of Pennsylvania's school-aged children with disabilities are not receiving important and legally mandated services and are not being given opportunities to be educated together with their non-disabled peers, according to a recent report by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The state is in the midst of preparing a cOITective action plan in response to the OSEP report, which assessed how well Pennsylvania is complying with federal law that guarantees special education supports to children with disabilities. The federal report identified areas where the state is out of compliance with federal law, areas that "need improvement," and areas of strength as well. Education Law Center co-director Janet Stotland, a Philadelphia-based advocate on public education and special education issues, described the problems identified in the state's special education system as "very serious." The Pennsylvania Department of Education is the state agency in charge of the sp~cia l education program for children with disabilities ages 3 to 2i. Continued federal funding for the program depends on compliance with federal legal requirements. Areas of noncompliance identified by the report included the following: • Children with disabilities are excluded from the regular education environment for reasons other than the nature or severity of the disability. • A fai lure to insure an adequate supply of qualified special education personnel has resulted in a failure to provide appropriate evaluations and services in a timely manner. • The Department of Education did not insure that all children with disabilities who require psychological counseling are provided with that service. 'The Department of Education's position has been that this report is out of date and inaccurate," Stotland said. "But it's our sense that the report is not wrong. None of what's in the report is a surprise for the community of people with disabilities." 'The report describes problems that are ~ ~ pervasive and longstanding and the ~ Pennsylvania Department of Education ' 1 must take immediate steps to inform local educators about their responsibilities and ~ to ensure compliance with the law," ~ ~ Stotland said. "If you look carefully at the problems that were identified, many reflect a resource shortage that involves both special and regular education," Stotland added. "Yet the Governor's proposals for the new budget include only small increases for public education. So long as Pennsylvania does not provide adequate financing for its public education system, these problems will con-
,r -'. . . . .
tinue or get worse."
The OSEP report noted that if class sizes were reasonable and if teachers had additional supports, many children who are now being educated in separate programs could be part of regular classrooms. The Education Law Center is urging the state to devote more resources to supporting inclusive education, including working with the higher education community to improve teacher preparation. Elizabeth Healey, chair of PA Protection and Advocacy, Inc., the organization designated by the state to advocate on behalf of people with disabilities, noted that children with disabilities "need an education that takes account of their individual needs and helps them to learn." 'This report shows that, 25 years after the passage of the federal special education law, this is still not happening for many children in Pennsylvania," Healey said. Parents who believe that their chi ld is not getting the services already listed on the IEP (Individualized Educational Program) or that the District is not complying with timelines or procedures or is otherwise violating the child's legal rights can file a complaint with the State's Division of Compliance, Monitoting, and Planning (DOC), PA Department of Education, Bureau of Special Education, 333 Mancet St., Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333. Parents may also call the state's Special Education Consultline at 1-800-879-2301 for help on submitting a complaint. The state is required to investigate complaints within 60 days and issue a report saying whether the law has been violated and what coITective action is needed. Stot.land noted that unless fOlmal complaints are filed with the state when problems arise, the state is likely to argue that problems with the system are being overstated. For more in/onnation on the OSEP report or 011 !tOllltO file a complaim, see the Education Law Cellter's website (1/ IIIIVIV.elc-pa.org or caI/215-238-6970.
Struggling company still lobbying to manage more schools in Philly
Edison: way down - but not yet out by Paul Socoklr Uncertainty continues to surround the role of Edison Schools Inc. in Philadelphia's school privatization experiment. With the company facing a fmancial debacle, many are questioning its capacity to run schools here this fall. But Edison is still lobbying to take on more schools. Controversy has been building since Edison, a for-profit company managing over 100 public schools, came to Philadelphia last August at the request of former Governor Tom Ridge. At that time, some critics said Edison's no-bid contract from Ridge looked more like a rescue of a troubled, moneylosing company than a rescue of a troubled, deficit-ridden school district. Looking for a turnaround Ridge gave Edison $2.7 million for a three-month study of school reform in Philadelphia, and critics said he was throwing the unprofitable company a lifeline. Not only was there money to be made on the contract, but Edison clearly had the governor's blessing to take on a major role in managing Philadelphia schools. Edison had been battered by controversy in San Francisco, and it had just been voted down by parents at five schools in New York City, thereby losing a potential $50 million contract to manage those schools. The company's stock price was hovering around $18 a share, having lost almost half its value in the previous six months. Profitability remained elusi ve. The prospect of a major central office role and dozens of school management contracts in Philadelphia seemed like a reversal of fortune and a chance to move toward the "economies of scale" that Edison had consistently claimed would allow it to become profitable. But the reversal of fortune has not come to pass.
Photo: Harvey Finkle
A protester outside a School Reform Commission meeting; this was one of many protests against an expanded role for Edison and for-profit companies in schools.
its rescue, thanks to continued pressure from Harrisburg. Governor Mark Schweiker is doing his best to boost Edison Philadelphia to the rescue? After months of public protest and debate, the School Reform by advocating that they get more management contracts. Commission offered Edison a prominent central office Schweiker still wants at least 18 more Philadelphia school s partnered with private providers, according to spokesperson consulting role in March. In April, Edison was offered Steve Aaron. management control of 20 "low-performing" elementary and middle schools, serving 14,000 students. The School Reform Commission is also considering turning Good news for Edison? Nope. over more schools to Edison. 'We expect Edison to be working Expectations were so high that even the large contracts Edison in more than 20 schools, as they have unfulfJ.!led capacity as won were a great disappointment to investors and analysts. And determinea by a staff review, and charter schools and indepenthe battle against strong community opposition to their role in dent schools may select them as a provider," said SRC spokesperPhiladelphia had been costly to Edison in money, time, and son Carey Dearnley. Edison, with the governor's backing, continues to push for energy. Investors saw it as a defeat, and the company's stock began to plummet. a role in managing 19 "reconstituted schools," which are being Edison, whose scope is national, had few new contract reformed under the leadership of School District staff. And Edison still has a supporter in School Reform prospects elsewhere to offset the blow. "Because we have focused a significant amount of our Commission Chair James Nevels. "1 still remain optimistic in management and sales efforts in the past $e~ylial l(/8l1!M ~9R92 ~()\l.ur deals going forward with all our vendors, including Edison," Philadelphia, we have not pursued other business as a&,<>ressivly Nevels said. Nevels has indicated that giving Edison a role in as we otherwise might have," Edison told its investors this spring. the reconstituted schools is a possibility. Nevels downplays the company's financial predicament, Array of troubles maintaining that Edison has "approximately a 3D-month Edison was also hit by a barrage of bad news this year from cushion" in its cash; he says the company is going through its across the country that drove down the stock price almost to $1, cash at a rate of $2 million a month. including the following: But the company has made clear that it needs to close a deal • an informal investigation of Edison's accounting practices it is working on to raise $30 to $50 million in capital. "Our by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which found that growth and operations plans for the 2002-2003 school year wiU Edison's financial statements included substantial revenues (and require us to obtain additional funding by the summer of 2002," expenses) that never passed through the company. The SEC the company says in its latest SEC filing. found that the company's filings "have not provided accurate School startup at 20 schools in Philadelphia alone would disclosure regarding significant aspects of Edison's business." require more than $35 million from Edison, according to • the filing of at least eight class action lawsuits against the analysts' estimates. Edison by angry investors following up on the SEC investigation. Financial analysts interviewed by the Notebook' said • downgrades by many financial advisers, who cited the combankruptcy was not likely but that to be ready for September, pany's cash needs, heavy debt load, failure to meet earnings Edison may have to scale back growth plans - either the expectations, and negative media coverage. number of new schools they take on in Philadelphia or what • two critical evaluations of Edison's largest cluster of schools they provide in those schools. in nearby Chester, where student suspensions have doubled and One financial adviser who follows the company added that attendance is down. Edison's problems represent "a well publicized blow-up" that • a cheating scandal at two Ediscn-run schools in Wichita, which will have "a very large, sweeping effect on their ability to recruit, caused the seveting of the two schools' management contracts. market, and raise money." • a growing number of other contract canceUations (schools Commissioners Nevels and Daniel Whelan both said they in Boston, Trenton, Minneapolis, and San Antonio), leading were not concerned about Edison's declining stock price. But Edison to admit to a student "attrition rate" of 7 percent. Whelan admitted that it does make it more difficult for the As the school year winds down, Edison needs to dmm up company to raise the money it needs for operations - something cash for the coming year's operations while experiencing a colit has done in the past by selling stock. lapsing share price; the stock is down over 90 percent this year. Edison CEO Chris Whittle assured in vestors in May, 'We Critics, from grassroots protesters to the Philadelphia have never failed to open a school that we said we were going Daily News, say contracting with Edison is too risky and Edison to open, and we've always found the capital we needed to do it." should be dumped. Mayor Street is voic ing concern about But Sandra Dungee Glenn, a mayoral appointee to the School Edison's capacity. Reform Commission, said she was concerned that tuming over "Their financial difficulties and revelations from the SEC 20 schools to Edison was "too ambitious." have created a huge distraction and created even more uncer"We have laid out some benchmarks that all of these tainty in a situation that demands clarity," said Debra Kahn, the [management organizations] must comply with to assure us that mayor's education secretary. they are able to open schools in September," Glenn said. "With Yet Ed ison has reas~n to hope Philadelphia will come to the Edison situation , we need to keep a watchful eye."
SUMMER 2002
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ti
and plans to organize
h' Parents: 'Speak up and let the SRC know ow you feel'
At schools facing new management, there are tears, fru stra on,
The Notebook ifllerviewed parenrs ar r"ree of rhe 70 schools thar have been targered by the School Reform Commission (SRC) for a change in numagemenr rhis fall. The parel/rs lVere Gladys Orriz. Home and School Presidenr at McKinley ElemenrOl)'. slatedfor recol/sriturion; Delores Shaw. Home and School Presidellt ar Robel1o Clemenre Middle School, handed over 10 Chancellor Beacon Academies for privarizaliol1; and Claire Roberson from Pickell Middle School, assigned ro become an independenr school. Here are excerprs of rhe inrerviews, which were conducted by Amy Rhodes in May. Notebook: What has been parents' response to the SRC's plan for your school?
Shaw: I don 't think parents have any idea how massive a change this might be or how linle change it might be.
'Parents need to become well informed. ... We're going to ask parents to try to meet over the summer.' What bothers me is that I think there's an assumption on parents' part that the "powers that be" that are driving this thing know what they're doing. And that they don't need us to tell them what they 're doing because they know what they're doing. But if they had known what they were doing, the school wouldn't be in the state that it's in now.
Ortiz: Well, at flrst, there were tears, flUStration. We were confused, not knowing what reconstitution means. And still they haven't given us an output about what reconstitution means and what actions are going to be taken. Me, personally, I cried. Notebook: How are children handling the news? Are they aware of what's going on at the school?
Ortiz: Children are crying, too. My daughter wrote an essay, and she says, "Please don't reconstitute our schools. Don ' t take away the good teachers and the good principal that we have." Shaw: I don ' t think students at midd le
.....
'lik~ '
school level understand tile impact that this might have on them, particularly as the upper grades prepare for high school. I don't think they understand it. I don't think anyone explained it to them. Notebook: What are your greatest hopes and fears about what your school will be like in September?
Call today 215-764-2086
Notebook: What advice would you give to parents at other schools targeted for a change in management?
Ortiz: Always be united because the more united you stand, the more power you have. As long as they keep on seeing us parents up
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Notebook: Is there anything parents can do to make sure their voices are heard?
Shaw: Number one, I think parents need to make sure that they become well informed. I know that there's a tendency over the sUrIuner for people to kind of move school to the floor. I think our executive board is in agreement that we're going to ask parents to step up to the plate and try to meet over the summer so that we as parents will have some direction. Roberson: If you want to change the management, you [parents] have to put your two cents in. You have to speak up and let the SRC know how you feel. You have to know whal.lJl.'iUll"laut..done tq.tlufrsEhoofibec~dfj "" you continuMo sit baolcland do nothing, then whatever they want to do-that's what's going to be done.
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the good staff and administrators as we can. I don't want to see a cutback of staff members that seem to be doing well. I want to see the retention of programs and curriculum that seem to be working. What I'm afraid of is, if there's any massive change that comes through over the summer, that there will be such chaos when the doors open in September that we won't be able to meet the academic challenge because we'll be so busy trying to figure out the paperwork and the logistics of all of this. We really don't have time to be spinning our wheels with a constant change of system. Roberson: I hope that Pickett will do a "360" and really buckle down. And I hope more parents will become involved and want to know what's happening. And then I i)ope that they realize, "We're a part of [this school's] board."
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Shaw: My greatest hope is that Clemente continues to have a very dedicated pri ncipal.
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McKinley Home and School President Gladys Ortiz (foreground) joins other parents and students at an April 17 protest of plans to privatize management of schools.
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there flghting the flght, tiley're going to come to the conclusion, "You know what? We need to get our acts together because these parents are not going to go away." . Be an advocate parent. Be out there standing for not only your child but all those kids who represent your school. Make those phone calls. Send those leners. Try to fmd a way to let parents know that their child's education is important and that any presence they can give us is more than appreciated because we need the bodies. If [the powers that be] see us standin o there rallying, and fightin g the fight, the~ k no~
that we're not here to play; we' re serious. And our kids are serious. And our kids are not for sale.
School Reform Commission Meetings May 29, 2002 • 9 a.m. (Budget meeting) June 12, 2002 • 1 p.m. June 19, 2002 • 1 p.m. Meetings are in School District Board Room at 21st & the Parkway. To register to speak call 215-299-7850, at least 24 hours before the meeting.
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SUMMER 2002
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by Paul Socolar
Criticisms fly about selection of 70 schools for overhaul Schools comprised almost exclusively of students of color make up virtually the entire list of 70 schools targeted by Philadelphia's School Reform Commission (SRC) for a change in management. The combined student population of the 70 schools being overhauled is less than 2% white. In conlrast, the District student body overall is 17% white. "The SRC should have used a more careful procedure for deciding which low-performing schools should be taken over," said Lucy Ruiz, a parent and an organizer for the Alliance Organizing Project. An SRC spokesperson defended the process for identifying low-perfonning schools as "fair" and "straight by the numbers." But principals complained that they had no chance to give input to the SRC about their schools' performance. The SRC is impleqIenting several different intervention strategies to change the management at these schools. For example, Edison Schools Inc. is negotiating to manage 20 of these 70 schools, and 19 others are being reconstituted (see article on this page).
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PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
Some low-performing schools excluded The SRC focused on elementary and middle schools; regardless of performance, they excluded all K-4 schools (which do not have state test results), high schools, vo-tech schools, and special service schools from the list of schools assigned to be reorganized. All but three of the 70 targeted schools have enrollments that include more than 90 percent students of color. Two schools (Yare Middle and Sheridan) have just over 10 percent white students, and one (penn Treaty Middle) has 27 percent white students, according to School District data At more than 50 of the schools, the student population is less than 1 per.cent white. Unaffected by school takeovers will be schools in most areas of the city where white students are concenrrated - such as the former Northeast, Lincoln, Washington, Frankford, Fels, or Roxborough clusters (see p. 24). "Straight by the numbers" In deciding which schools to target, the SRC focused its attention on the long list of 175 Philadelphia schools considered to be failing schools under the state's Empowerment Act. Schools on that list were ranked based on the average of their scores on the 1998 and 1999 PSSA exams (the standardized test given annually by the state). At these so-called "Empowerment Schools," more than 50% of students scored in the bottom quartile statewide. No Empowerment Schools whose scores in
Schools' actual test score levels weighed more heavily than rates of improvement.
1998-99 were above an SRC-determined threshold have been targeted for takeover. The 70 schools now targeted for overhaul were culled from the 87 lowest scoring elementary and middle schools on the list of Empowerment Schools. The other 17 lowest scoring schools were protected fro m takeover because they made statistically significant improvements between 1998 and 2001 on both their SAT-9 and PSSA results. Many of the 70 targeted schools have also made test score gains, but these were not considered by the SRC to be statistically significant gains. The relatively small proportion of schools excused from the路list for making progress means that schools' actual test score levels were weighed more heavily than rates of improve-
ment. The list of targeted schools is thereby skewed toward the District's highest poverty schools with high percentages of students of color, where actual test scores are lowest. But the result could have been different if the targeted schools had been drawn from a larger pool than the 87 lowest scoring schools. For example, the 10 schools that missed being targeted because their test scores ranked just above the threshold have a combined student population that is 19% white. Sixteen elementary and middle schools in Frankford, Roxborough, and the Northeast are among the 175 schools considered to be failing schools under the state's Empowerment Act. But none of these 16 is targeted for takeover. All had scores that were above the SRC's test score cutoff. Different statistical approaches were considered. But according to SRC spokesperson Carey Dearnley, the racial composition of the schools was not looked at in selecting the schools. "They went srraight by the numbers," Dearnley said. 'This was viewed by the SRC as a路prerry scientific approach ."
Principals and teachers contacted by the Notebook were sharply critical of the process. Some questioned whether they had been targeted because management companies want to take over schools with large sums of Title 1 money. Several charged the SRC with "racial profiling." Others expressed anger that they were being evaluated primarily on performance data that was more than three years old.and on a test the PSSA - that was getting little attention in the District at the time. Until 2001, Philadelphia schools put more emphasis on the SAT-9 test than the PSSA because the District's accountability system was built around the SAT-9. Award-winners targeted But M. Hall Stanton School, a K-5 school in North Philadelphia, is on the list even though it just won a "Governor's Achievement Award." Stanton was one of only 17 schools in Pennsylvania that managed to make big enough PSSA score increases to win state performance awards in each of the past three years. Some of the Dislrict's biggest winners of
cash awards given by the state in 2001 for test score improvement also did not make enough progress to escape the list of targeted schools. For example, Central East, Gillespie, and Wanamaker Middle Schools, and Kenderton (a K-8 school) are facing a management change even though each just received more than $50,000 in awards from the state for improvement on the PSSA exam. By a 3-2 vote, the School Reform Commission on ApIiJ 17 voted down a proposal from commissioner Sandra Dungee Glenn to delete from the targeted list those schools that won state performance awards in 2001. Principals at some of the targeted schools say their schools show they are not low-perfonning in other ways as well, such as stable, qualified teaching staffs or high student and staff attendance. Central East Middle School was a finalist in "Schools to Watch," a national search by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grade Reform, according to Principal John Frangipani. He added that the school has been recognized in other literature on urban middle schools.
(harter, independent, reconstituted schools, and 'thin privatization'
Making sense 01 the SRC's lour new management models Seventy 1'IIlIadeiphio schook are facing amanagement overhaul by next September and have been assigned to one of four new management models - including privatization. Details of the models are still being spelled out by the School Reform Commission. Under each af the four models, it is possible that the schoo/~ principal will be replaced next fal! with this decision to be made on aschool by school basis. How and by whom aprincipal is hired would vary from model to model. Under each of the models, the School Reform Commission wonts to put in place "site selection n of teachers, meaning that the principal will have the right to seled any teacher to fill vacancies regardless of seniority. In some of the models the SRC soys the principal would also have the authority to remove some or all teachers.
The teachers' union says that such changes would require achange in their contrad and that they are not negotiating contrad changes. SRC Chair JamesNevels soys there are ongoing conversotions between the SRC and the teachers' union. The School Reform Commission refers to all 70 of these schools as "partnership schools, n because each school will have at least one official "community partner" (to be designated by the SR[J that will playa role in the governance and decision-making of the school. Decisions about compensation for community partners have not been made. Below are descriptions of the four models. Afifth proposed reform mode! referred to os "full privatization,"where all school employees would become employees of an outside management organization, is not being implemented at any schools next fall
掳rhinU privatization
Charter slhools
Independent slhools
Relonstituted slhools
(42 schools)
(4 schools)
(5 schools)
(19 schools)
In this approach (also called "thin layer management privatization"), the District will hire an outside for-profit or nonprofit education management organization (EMO) to take over the management of schools. This management company or organization provides curriculum and staff training. The schools are funded by the District and the EMO. The principa l may be an employee of the EMO or of the District, but reports to the EMO. Teachers remain employees of the District covered by the co~ lective bargaining agreement. The Schoo l Reform Commission says that "most staff wil l rema in, " at these schools but does not rul~ out the possibility that the principal or EMO wou ld be given the authority to remove some stoff, which would require a change to un ion contracts. Other contract changes regarding the length of the school day or year may also be sought by the commission or the EMO. "Community partners" at these schools may be school council members or advisers to the EMOs.
These schools will be run independenrly of the District by a governing board as spelled out under the state charter school law, Act 22. Teachers at charter schools are no bn@ef Dish<ichemjUloy, ees and no longer covered b'y the collective bargaining agreement. The law allows these schools to hire up to 25 percent uncertified teachers. The SRC is stil l considering some features for these schools that would be a variation from the charter school law. The "comm unity partner" for each of these schools will constitute the governing board of the school, which will have control over budget, curriculum and staffing. Some charter school boards may be ordered by the School Reform Commission to hire an outside manager; at others, the leadership mayor may not choose to hire an outside management company.
Independent schools are provided for under a stote law passed in 2000, which describes them as schools establ ished within a school di strict and offering an alternative eckootiona l program. Independent schools, while still public schools, are freed from some of the District's regulations. These schools will be under the leadership of a board including parents and teachers. Independent school status enables the individual school to control its own finances. The leadership may or may not hire an outside management company. The "community partner" for these schools will be represented on the governing body of the school. Employees remain under the collective bargaining agreement. Governor Schweiker has awarded planning grants to several organizations to explore the creation of additional independent schools at a total of 80 Philade lphia schools, but no additional schools can become independent schools without the approval of the SRC.
These schools will remain an integrol part of the School District. In consultotion with the school's Area Academic Officer, the School District will decide whether to retain the principal or appoint a new one. It is up to the appointed principals to idenMy a staff that they wa nt to have in the I schools and that are supportive of the leaming model there; they may retain all, some, or none of the staff. This provision would require a change to union contracts. District staff, under Chief Academic Officer Deidre Farmbry, are engaged in an audit of these schools to defermine the strongest aspects of each school and develop a plan for repl icating those successes. Teachers remain employees of the School District and covered by the collective bargaining agreement. The "com munity partner" for these schools may become schoo l council members or advisors to the School District about these schools.
The organizations that will be involved as EMOs in September 2002 include: Edison Schools Inc. (www.edisonschools.com) Chancellor Beacon Academies (www.chancellorbeacon.com) Victory Schools (www.victoryschools.com) Foundations Inc. (www.foundations-inc.org)
Temple University (www.temple.edu) University of Pennsylvania (www.upenn .ed u) Universal Companies (www.universalcompanies.org)
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PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
6
SUMMER 2002 SUM
Takeover reveals strengths in Central East Area
Stu hat
that will be occurring in schools and the broad_ er unpact they will have on the community At one of these meetings on April 23, City Councilman Angel Ortiz told a crowd of about 100 parents, teachers, prinCipals, and community members gathered at MUiloz_ Marin that the community is "in a struggle." All of thiS change, he said, "has been happening without our knowledge, without us having a good explanation of what is going on, and without our consent. Today, I hope that we can begin speaking up." His hope seems to be coming true. Parents from Central East schools -who have not spoken publicly before are testifying at SRC meetings. Parents who have never attended demonstrations are now organizing them. And they have been getting the kind of support and encouragement they need from organizations in the neighborhood. There is a sense of motion in the community as parents and others say "no" loudly and clearly to the new management chanues proposed for their schools, as they demandan input on the changes, and as they unite across schools to fight for what they believe is best for the community, not just their own schools. Of course, there are also challenges. Looming largest is the difficulty in bringing out large numbers of parents to community meetings. But the Central East community is heading in the right direction. They have risen to the challenge of understanding what is happening in their schools and trying to have a voice in what is yet to come. A sense of hope and dedication has been a part of the Central East Academic Area for a long time, and it's only growing stronger and deeper now. Beginning in June, I will be continuing the Notebook's comrriunity outreach project in the Southwest Academic Area (the former West Philadelphia and Bartram clusters). If you are working in or with schools in the Southwest Area, please contact me! I look forward to learning about what you are working on and the successes and challenges within your schools.
Mi found lawsu fines I to the at21s
by Amy Rhodes Community members in the Central East Academic Area are trying to have a say as their schools face potentially major changes for the fall. But it is nothing new in this neighborhood for parents, teachers, principals, students, and community members to come together for their schools or to challenge policies that they consider unjust. As the Notebook's Community Outreach . Coordinator, I have been meeting with parents and individuals at community-based organizations in Central East (the former Kensington and Edison clusters) since March. It is a community with a deep commitment to its schools, a commitment that is demonstrated by the rich and multilayered network of school supports that the community has built. Organizations like ASPIRA, Taller Puertorriqueno, and the Norris Square Neighborhood Project run after-school and in-school programs. The Alliance Organizing Project and Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project organize parents in schools. Youth United for Change organizes high school students. Congreso de Latinos Unidos and the Norris Square Civic Association run family centers within schools. Many schools in the area have active Home and School Associations. The strength of these connections has been put to the test recentll:'. with the SRC's
announcement of its plans for privatization and other dramatic changes in management in schools throughout the District. Nearly a third of the elementary and middle schools in the Central East area have been targeted for a change in management, with half of those schools going to Edison Schools Inc. The implications for Central East go beyond those targeted schools, as is the case in neighborhoods across the District. As Evelyn Brigante of ASPIRA told the SRC at the April 17 meeting when the plans were announced, '''The decision to identify schools to hand over to private interests sends a chill through the entire body of Central East." Parents, teachers, principals, and community groups in Central East have come together from across the academic area and responded to the SRC's plans with energy and determination. Parents from Home and School Associations at Ludlow and Munoz-Marin Elementary have organized walk outs in protest of the SRC's plan. McKinley parents involved with the
Alliance Organizing Project held a press conference after their school was Identified as one targeted for new management. A speaker there suggested that the SRC should be learning from the unique relatIOnships that exist at the school. "Instead of punishing McKinley, the SRC should see it as an example of a positive alliance between the principal, teachers, and parents working together to educate all children," stated Margie Garcia, a grandpar- . ent to several McKinley students and an Alliance Organizing Project board member. (On page 4 of this issue, you can find an interview with McKinley's Home and School Association President.) ASPIRA and the Central East Area Resource Board (a coalition of parents, students, District administrators, and representatives from higher education, business, and community groups) have organized meetings of parents, students, teachers, principals and other community members from across schools. The meetings, which have occurred at DeBurgos, Munoz-Marin, Ludlow, and Potter-Thomas, are intended to educate everyone about the changes
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AHention: SWAcademic Area readers! (former West Philadelphia and Bartram clusters)
Do you know someone in your neighborhood who makes a positive difference for your schools or school children? Give them the recognition they deserve! Tell us in a page or less about what that person does for your schools, how it makes a difference, and why the Notebook shoul? name them the Southwest Academic Area s "Changemaker for Schools." The Southwest Academic Area "Changemaker" will be featured in the ~ext issue of the Notebook and will receIVe a gift certificate to the restaurant Rx., located at 4443 Spruce Street, for lunch or breakfast for two. Responses are due by July I, 2002 Remember fo include your name an d phone number. Mail, fax, or email entries to Amy Rhodes at: 3727 Midvale Avenue Philadelphia, PA 79729 (275) 957-0342 (fax) arnotebook@yahoo. com
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SUMMER 2002
7
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
Student protestors hauled into court Members of the Philadelphia Student Union found themselves in court April 19 facing a lawsuit from the School District and possible fines of $50,000 for blockading the entrances to the School District administration building at 21 st and the Parkway. Two days earlier, about 25 students from the Student Union had slept overnight in front of the building and then blocked aU of the building's entrances by early morning. The blockade was in protest of a School Reform Comntission meeting scheduled to take place later in the day, during which. the SRC was expected to announce i.ts plans for the
Activism around the city privatization and other dramatic management changes of 70 Philadelphia schools. Although the SRC moved the meeting across town, the District still sought a preliminary injunction to force the students to move away from the building's entrances. The injunction was not enforced that day, but SRC Chair James Nevels, at the recommendation of the School Djstrict legal and security offices, had the School District ask a Common Pleas judge to make permanent the ruling that required the students to move. On April 24, Judge Albert J. Snite Jr. issued an injunction, valid until August 2, 2002, that orders all protestors to stay seven feet away from the building's entrances and stay out of the building 's courtyard. It also restricts
protestors from hanging signs on the building or intimidating District staff. The School District ultimately decided not to seek damages from the students, but still reserves the right to sue adults involved with the protest for $200,000, the amount it says the District lost when employees could not report to work.
Chinatown youth produce Workers' Rights Handbook Members of Asian American United's Chinatown Community Youth Leadership Project (CCYLP), a group of recent immigrant Philadelphia public school students, are working to educate Chinatown residents about their rights as workers. CCYLP members spent the summers of 2000 and 2001 conducting community needs assessments and social investigations into Chinatown workers' conditions. They found that wages and working conditions were a major concern among residents. These concerns increased even more after September 11 and the ensuing recession. Members of CCYLP responded by researching the rights of documented and undocumented workers and creating a Workers ' Rights Handbook, in collaboration with Community Legal Services. The handbook, written in English and Chinese, provides valuable information about many aspects of workers' rig~ts, including the right to workers' compensation, unemployment compensation benefits, minimum wage, and a workplace free of discrintination. CCYLP members , who have begun to distribute the handbooks to Chinatown workers, have received appreciative responses. Siyuan Liu, a CCYLP participant, recently
described the impact of handing out the handbook in an AAU newsletter article by Tami Nopper. "The more people get it," he said, "the more pleasure we get. . and we're very glad if they know their rights, [because then1they fight for their rights."
Students fight pollution in contaminated creek
closer to its natural environment. The students have also begun to educate fellow students and community members through a pamphlet and website that describe the project, their finding s, and what the community can do to prevent pollution in the creek. The website can be viewed at www.geocities.com/cobbscreekrestoration. The class also worked with NelWorkArts to create a mural in their school that depicts the impact of en vironmental changes on the creek overtime. According to their teacher, Phyllis Green, the mural will be a teaching tool for many future classes at Turner.
When eighth graders at Turner Middle School in Southwest Philadelphia [lISt visited a mile-long stretch of nearby Cobbs Creek as part of a science project, they were surprised to see that the fl owers that they had planted at the creek just two years ago were already gone. Through weekly visits to the creek to perform water quality tests and clean up trash over the course of the school year, the class learned a lot about the local environment's impact on the creek. Students discovered that pollutants and littering not only affected the creek's natural environment; it also impacted the quality of their drinking water. As one student, Sherae Stevens, coaunented, "1 learned that when you pollute and when you put your trash on tbe ground, it goes straight to our ri vers and then straight out of our faucets." Students have recently turned that know ledge into Turner Middle School eighth graders stand in front of the action. This spring they mosaic tile mural they created with NetworkArts depictstarted a restoration project for ing the many sources of pollution affecting Cobbs Creek and their development over time. the creek that will bring it
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SUMMER 2002
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
8
En 70 escuelas hay llanto, Jrustraci6n y planes para organizarse
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Padres: 'Hablen y diganle a la SRC como se slen en
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La revista Notebook entrevist6 a padres en tres de las 70 escuelas que han sido escogidas por la Comisi6n de Reforma Escolar (SRC por sus siglas en ingtes) para tener cambios en su administraci6n este pr6xima atono. Las padres entrevistados fueron Gladys OrtIZ, Presidenta del grupo Home and School en la Escuela Elemental McKinley, cuya reconstintci6n esta programada; Delores Shaw, Presidenta del grupo Home and School en la Escuela Intemledia Roberto Clemente, que fue cedida a la organizaci6n Chancellor Beacon Academies para ser privatizada; y Clair Roberson, de la Escuela Imermedia Pickett, que ha sido asignada para convertirse en una escuela independiente. A continuaci6n se muestran partes de las entrevistas, realizadas por Amy Rhades.
Notebook: lComo han reaccionado los padres a los planes de la SR C en su escuela?
Shaw: Yo pienso que los padtes no tienen idea de cmin masivo 0 cuan pequeno puede ser este cambio. Lo que mas me irrita es que parece que los padres estin dando por sentado que 'los que estin al mando' de todo esto saben 10 que estin haciendo. Y que no necesitan damos cuentas de 10 que estin haciendo porque saben 10 que hacen. Pero si en verdad supiesen 10 que estan haciendo, la escuela no estaria en la situaci6n en que se encuentra. Ortiz: Bueno, al principio hubo lagrimas, frustraci6n. Esrabamos confundidos, porque no sabiamos 10 que significaba una reconstituci6n. Y todavia no nos han dicho 10 que reconstituci6n significa y las acciones que van a tomar. Yo, por mi parte, llof(~. Notebook: lComo estlin manejando la situacion los nifios? lEstlin at tanto de 10 que estli pasando en la escuela?
Ortiz: Los niilos esran Uorando tarnbien. Mi hija escribi6 un ensayo en el que dice: "Por
Padres, estudiantes y otras personas se reunieron el 17 de abril en las oficinas centrales del Distrito Escolar para pro~estar sobre los planes de privatizar la administraci6n de escuelas.
favor, no reconstituyan nuestras escuelas. No nos quiten los buenos maestros y la buena principal que tenemos". Shaw: No creo que los estudiantes de la escuela intermedia entienden el impacto que esto puede tener sobre ellos, particularmente sobre los grados mas altos que ya se estan preparando para entrar a la escuela superior. Yo pienso que no 10 entienden. No creo que nadie se los haya explicado.
Notebook: lSobre cUlil aspecto tiene mayor esperanza y sobre cual siente mas temor en respecto a la sitnacion de la escuela en septiembre proximo?
Shaw: Mi mayor espemnza es que Clemente siga teniendo un principal dedicado. Mi esperanza es que podamos retener tanto del excelente personal y administradores como podamos. No quiero que haya recortes al personal que se ve que ha trabajado tan bien.
Quiero que se mantengan los programas y el curriculo que se ve han funcionado. Lo que mas temo es que si ocurre un cambio masivo durante el verano, habra tal caos cuando las puertas abran en septiembre que no podremos cumplir con el reto academico porque estamos demasiado ocupados tratando de descifrar el papeleo y la logistica de todo este lio. En realidad no tenemos tiempo para estar10 perdiendo con cambios constantes al sistema continua de fa p. 9
Por que necesita~os educacion multicultural continua de fa p. 1
Por eso es que me interesa Ia educaci6n multicultural. La educaci6n multicultural no sola· mente pretende educar desde una perspectiva o ensefiar sobre un s610 grupo emico, mas bien educa desde multiples perspectivas y tomando en cuenta mUltiples culturas. De acuerdo a James Banks, uno de los autores de Multicultural Education (4ta edi-
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ci6n), "La educaci6n multicultural se puede definir como un movimiento de reforma disefiado para cambiar el ambiente educativo de manera que los estudiantes de diversos grupos raciales y etnicos, de ambos sexos, estudiantes excepcionaies, y estudiantes de cada clase social tengan iguales oportunidades educati vas en la escuela. Segun la escritora y activista Deborah Menkart, "E! concepto de educaci6n multicul. tural surgi6 cuando la educaci6n se convirti6 en el enfoque central de los movimientos de Derechos Civiles y de los derechos de la mujer." Estas personas opinan que para que las personas de raza negra y latina tengan igual oportunidad de empleo y de participaci6n en la politica del pais, tienen que haber tenido igual oportunidad de educaci6n. Menkart tambien declara que el curriculo escolar necesita reflejar la historia de los Estados Unidos, incluyendo las contribuciones, experiencias y perspectivas de las personas de color y las mujeres. De esta manera, todos los estudiantes ven'in algo de sf rnismos en la historia, y los estudiantes de todas las razas podtful desarroUar un mayor respeto y apreciaci6n entre ellos. Existen varias maneras diferentes en las que podemos cambiar el curriculo. La manera que consldero ser la mas apropiada se connce como el enfoque de "Toma de decisiones y acci6n socia!"'. Este enfoque exhorta a los estudiantes a tomar decisiones y a to mar acci6n para relaClOnarse con el concepto, asunto 0 problema que hayan estudiado. Una de las metas de esto
es ayudar a los estudiantes a desarrollar Ia visi6n de una mejor sociedad y a adquirir los conncirnientos y destrezas necesarios para poder impulsar un cambio en la estructura. Bill Bigelow, maestro de estudios sociales que desarrolla curriculos de Portland, OR, explic6: "La educaci6n multicultural debe basarse en un enfoque a resolver problemas, utilizando Ia desigualdad en esta sociedad como el problema central." EI curriculo debe presenta.!' todos los i,por que? mas irnportantes:
Cuanto maS aprendi sobre mi herencia, maS orgulloso me senti. i,P~r que existe la discriminaci6n sexual? i,Por que eXlSte el racismo? i,CUaIes Son las causas baslcas del conflicto social?" La meta principal de este enfoque es ::poderar a .los estudiantes y ayudarles a qwnr un senttdo de eficacia politica asi como cOnfianza en su habitidad de lograr cambios en las mstltuclO~es con las que tendran Contacto durante sus vldas.
yu~a~~ de esto 10 apre~di a traves de lucro C s ,una orgaD/zaClon sin fines de " omenzo en 1990. Elliderato d Y esta compuesto de estudi e UC adultos que ayudan en la :tes,. per~ hay varios como estudiantes somos 19amzaclon. Nosotros decisiones. Los ad 1 os qu~ tomamos las u tos nos gulan cuando 10
necesitamos. Los estudiantes se fijan en los asuntos de interes. Nosotros como estudiantes solicitamos entonces que las personas que pueden resolver estos asuntos se reunan con el grupo. Ademas, somos los responsables de diri· gir estas reuniones. Los adultos organizadores nos dan la mano si nos estancamos en una pregunta que nadie puede contestar. En la Escuela Superior Edison, YUC ha estado trabajando en proyectos de curriculo. La educaci6n multicultural es uno de estoS temas de curriculo. Queremos implantar la edu· caci6n multicultural dentro del curriculo que YUC esra ayudando a desarrollar. -0 Algunos de los estudiantes de cuarto an que son miembros de YUC hicieron sus proyec· tos de graduaci6n en el tema de ensenar y aprender a desarrollar nuestro propio cunicul o. Presentamos todos los proyectoS a los maestrOS el 6 de mayo, dia de educaci6n continuada para los maestros en las escuelas. La meta de esta reuni6n era informar a los maestrOS sobre 10 que hemos hecho. Queremos decide "As! :~ como los estudiantes quieren que se les ensene . De mi investigaci6n he aprendido que es;e proyecto que comenzamos seguira crec:: d~ porque hay muchos estudiantes que,plen el eon 19ual manera. Antes de comenzar ue proyecto, hicimos encuesta: para sabe~~ ;us opmaban nuestros companeros Y c6 opiniones se reflejarian en los proyect~: uran Esperamos que este proyecto sea 0 revelaci6n para los maestros. Traducciol1 por Mildred S. Martfnez
SUMMER;
Escuelai
;,Deql Setenta e pagina 24) es programados sido asignad modelos de privatizaci6t Escolar esta ' de cada mode Bajo cad, posible que e do el pr6xim( se tomara par, y quien contt dera del mod En cada u Reforma Esc. de "selecci6r esto es, el seleccionar CI vacante sin iJ que tenga en modelos la tambien tend o a algunos d La uni6n ( cambios reqI de los maestr se esra negoc los contratos. Nevels, dice tablando un d Un quinto conocido cor que todo el p< ser personal, adtninistraci< ninguna de la LaComisi a todas las 7 colaboraci6n' menos un "c(
(a ser desig participara e decisiones d, decidido si lc seran compeu Estas son modelos.
Pa~ Roberson Picken gire ": futuro. Tamh padtes partici esta pasando cuenta de que ci6n [de esta ( Notebook:
para asegunl Shaw:Lo padres tiener informados. ' personas tieD Tengo entend
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dura, acord6 pediJle traten de reun asi tengamos Roberson: ci6n, entollce'
SUMMER 2002
9
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
Escuelas bajo contrato (charter), independientes, reconstituidas y "privatizaci6n esbelta"
_
;,De que se tratan los nuevos modelos de administracion de la Comision de Reforma Escolar? Setenta escuelas de Filadel fia
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pdgina 24) estan enfrentando cambios masivos
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programados para septiembre pr6ximo y han side asignadas a uno de los cuatro nuevos modelos de administraci6n, entre ellos la privatizacion. La Comisi6n de Reforma Escolar esta todavia descifrando los detalles de cada modelo. Bajo cada uno de los cuatro modelos es posible que el principal actual sea reemplazado el proximo otono, pero es una decision que se tomara para cada escuela individual. C6mo y quien contratara al principal nuevo dependen! del modelo en particular. En cada uno de los casos, la Comisi6n de Reforma Escolar quiere implantar un sistema de "selecci6n por planteI" de los maestros esto es, el principal tendra derecho a seleccionar cualquier maestro para ocupar una vacante sin importar los aDos de experiencia que tenga en el Distrito. En algunos de los modelos la Comision indica que el principal tambien tenctra autoridad de despedir a todos o a algunos de los maestros. La union de maestros dice que este tipo de cambios requeriria un cambio en el contrato de los maestros y que en estos momentos no se esta negociando ningun tipo de cambio en los contratos. EIUder de la Comisi6n, James Nevels, dice que la Cornision ha estado entablando un dialogo con la union de maestros. Un quinto modele de reforma propuesto conocido como "pri vatizacion total" y en el que todo el personal de las escuelas pasaria a ser personal de una organizacion externa de adrninistracion, no se estan! implantando en ninguna de las escuelas este proximo otono. La Cornision de Reforma Escolar se refiere a todas las 70 escuelas como "escuelas de colaboracion" porque cada escuela tendra aI menos un "colaborador comunitario" oficial (a ser designado por la Cornision) que participara en la gobernacion y toma de decisiones de la escue la. Todavia no se ha decidido si los colaboradores comunitarios serao compensados 0 no. Estas son las descripciones de los cuatro modelos.
Privatizacion "esbeIta" (42 escuelas afectadas) En este enfoque (tam bien conocido como "privatizac ion de administracion por capas esbeltas") el Distrito contrata una organizacion de administraci6n educativa (EMO, por education management organization) con 0 sin fines de lucro para que se encargue de -administrar las escuelas. Esta compania u organizacion de administracion proporciona el curriculo y el entrenamiento del personal. EI principal podria ser empleado de la EMO 0 del Distrito, pero se reporta aI EMO. Los maestros siguen siendo empleados del Distrito y estan cubiertos por el convenio de negociacion colectivo. Las escuelas estan financiadas por el Distrito y por la EMO. La Cornision de Reforma Escolar dice que '1a mayoria del personal va a permanecer" en estas escuelas pero no descarta la posibilidad de que el principal o la EMO tuviesen autoridad de despedir parte del personal. Esto requeriria un cambio a los contratos de la uni6n. La cornision 0 la EMO tambien puede pedir cambios aI contrato en cuanto a la duraci6n del dia de clases 0 del ano escolar. Los "colaboradores comunitarios" en estas escuelas podrfan ser rniembros del concilio escolar 0 asesores de las EMO.
Escuelas bajo Iicencia o Charter (4 escuelas afectadas) Una junta escolar adrninistra estas escuelas independientemente del Distrito, segun las estipuiaciones de la ley de escuelas bajo licencia, Acta 22. Los maestros de estas escuelas no son empleados del Distrito y no tienen la proteccion de los convenios de negociacion colecti vos. La ley permite que en estas escuelas hasta un 25% de los maestros contratados no tengan certificacion La Comision todavia esta considerando ciertas caracteristicas para estas escuelas que serian una variacion a la ley de escuelas bajo licencia.
Padres continua de la p. 8
Roberson: Mi esperanza es que la Escuela Pickett gire "360 grados" y se prepare para el futuro. Tambien tengo esperanzas de q~e los padres participen mas y quieran saber 10 que esta pasando. Entonces espero que se den cuenta de que "Somos parte de la administracion [de esta escuela]". Notebook: lQue pueden hacer los padres
para asegurar que seles escuche? Shaw: La primero es que considero que los padres tienen que asegurarse de estar bien informados. Yo se que durante el verano las personas tienden a olvidarse de la escuela. Tengo entendido que nuestra junta ejecutiva
'Los padres necesitan informarse bien.... Vamos a pedirles que se reunan durante el verano '. acordo pedirle a los padres que participen y que traten de reunirse durante el verano para que asi tengamos cierta direcci6n. Roberson: Si quieren carllbiar la administraci6n, entonces ustedes [los padres] tienen que
aportar sus ideas. Tienen que hacerse escuchar .y decirle a la SRC como se sienten. Tenemos que ser diligentes sabre 10 que queremos lograr
en la escuela porque si nos quedamos quietos y no hacemos nada, entonces 10 que quieran hacer los otros es 10 que se ham. Notebook: lQue consejo Ie daria a los padres de otras escuelas que tambien han sido identilicadas para tener cambios en administraci6n?
Ortiz: Manrenganse siempre unidos porque rnientras mas unidos esten, mas poder tenctrao. Mientras vean que nosatros los padres vamos a luchar, entonces llegaran a la conclusion: "i,Saben que? Vamos a tener que hacer las cosas bien porque estos padres no nos van a dejar traquilos". Sean padres que abogan por sus hijos. Esten presentes no salamente por sus propios hijos sino por todos los ninos que representan su escuela. Hagarl Uamadas de telMono. Escriban cartas. Traten de encontrar una manera de comunicarle a oo'os padres que la educacion de sus hijos es importante y que su presencia es apreciada porque los necesitamos. Si ellos [los que esnln al mando] nos ven ahi, luchando y peleando la batalla, sabran que no estamos para juegos. que par'll nosotros esto es muy serio. Que nuestros hijos son un asunto serio. Y que nuestroS hijos no se comprarl. TradHccioll pOl' Mildred S. Martfnez
Foto: Harvey Finkle
Estudiantes en setenta escuelas de Filadelfia estan enfrentando cambios masivos programados para septiembre pr6ximo.
EI "colaborador comunitario" de cada una de estas escuelas constituira la junta administrati va de la escuela, que a su vez tendra control sobre el presupuesto, el curriculo, y la contratacion de los empleados. La Comisi6n puede requerirle a a1gunas de estas juntas contratar un gerente externo, en otros casos, los Uderes pueden decidir si contratan o no uDa compafiia externa de administracion.
Escuelas independientes (5 escuelas afectadas) Las escuelas independientes son el resultado de una ley estatal aprobada en 2000, en la que se describen como escuelas establecidas dentro de un distrito escolar que ofrecen un programa educativo alternativo. Estas escuelas estamn bajo elliderato de una junta que incluira a padres y maestros. Una escuela independiente_puede controlar sus propias finanzas. Los lideres [ienen la opcion de contratar 0 no una compai\ia externa de adrninistracion. EI "colaborador comunitario" de estas escuelas [endn! representacion en la â&#x20AC;˘ "orgaruzacigtrlt!.rrll'tl1~~c!!lt!lr. Las escuelas independiemes, aun siendo I escuelas publicas, estan libres de a1gunas de las regulaciones del Distrito. Los empleados continuan disfrutando de los terminos deL convenio colectivo de negociacion. EI Gobernador Schweiker ha otorgado suI>sidios (grants) de planificacion a varias organizaciones para que exploren la creacion de escuelas independiemes adicionales para un total de 80 escuelas de Filadelfia, pero esto no es posible sin la aprobaci6n de la Comision.
Escuelas reconstituidas (19 escuelas afectadas) Estas escuelas seguirao siendo parte integral del Distrito Escolar. EI Distrito Escolar decidira, en consulta con el Oficial Academico de Area de cada escuela, si va a retener el principal 0 si va a contratar a otro. Entonces Ie toca al nuevo principal identificar el personal que desea tener en las escuelas y que apoye el modelo de ensenanza en la rnisma. Por 10 tanto, es posible que retenga todo, parte, o nada del personal. EI personal del Distrito, bajo el liderato del Oficial Academico en Jefe Deidre Farmbry, esta conduciendo una auditoria de estas escue' Ias para determinar los puntos fuertes de cada . una y desarroUar un plan que los duplique. Los maestros siguen siendo empleados de la escuela y estan cubiertos por el convenio de negociacion colectivo. EI "colaborador comunitario" de estas escuelas puede ser un rniembro del concilio escolar 0 uno de los asesores del Distrito Escolar en relaci6n con esa escuela. Las organizaciones que participarao como Organizaciones de Adrninistracion Educativa (EMO) en septiembre de 2002 incluyen: Edison Schools Inc. (www.edisonschools.com) Chancellor Beacon Academies (www.chancellorbeacon.com) Victory Schools (WWW.ViclOryschools.com) Foundations Inc.(www.foundations-inc.org) Universidad de Temple (www.temple.edu) Universidad de Pensilvania (www.upenn.edu) Universal Companies (www.universalcompanies.org)
School District of Philadelphia
Office of Language Equity Issues ESOL & BILINGUAL PROGRAMS 21 sl and the Parkway â&#x20AC;˘ Room 302 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 299-7791 â&#x20AC;˘ Fax: 299-7792
SUI\, SUMMER 2002
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
10
Takeover brings turmoil, uncertainty to District continued from p. 1
Edison has not been involved in the search for the District's new Chief Executive Officer, to be in place by fall, in contrast to what the governor bad anticipated. Edison and six other outside managers are running only 42 schools rather than the 60 that Schweiker proposed. The diminished role for Edison. along with a series of other financial blows in recent weeks, have sent the company's stoc}c price tumbling - raising questions about their capacity to open the 20 schools they were awarded for the fall (see p. 3). Details still unknown In the District, the pace and scope of cbange means that many details about staffing and program at the 70 schools targeted for management change are still unknown. Contract negotiations with the seven providers who will be managing 42 of the schools were getting underway in late May. Some details about the partnership school models (see p. 5) - privatization, reconstitution, independent schools, and charter schools - were released by the SRC as they began a series of school meetings at the 70 schools, to be conducted between May 16 and June 5. But many questions were unresolved, such
of parents and teachers attending an Apr iI as who wi ll be running the nine schools Home and School meeting at Birney assigned as independent and charter schools. Elementary. "On any given day, a decision The School Reform Conunission is deciding that was made tbe day before can be turned among applicants for the role of "community around." partner" in all 70 schools. These groups will Teachers at the schools assigned to be charsit on the governing boards of independent and ter schools subrnitted transfer request in large charter schools. numbers when they learned just days before "I don't think there's anybody who really the May 17 transfer deadline that they would understands how these [partnership1schools no longer be District employees or union memwill work," said Mayor John Street. He said bers in the fall. he was baffled by the complex system and As staffing plans are spelled out for some urged the SRC to slow the pace of change. schools, the teachers' union has become Adding to the confusion is the fact that the increasingly vocal in its opposition to the SRC is already considering reversing at least reform plan. The SRC wants to give princione major decision it made in April. pals greater control over teacher ass ign ment The commission is considering a role for Edison in the 19 schools slated for reconstitu- - and is asking the union for contract changes to allow for that. Other requests for contract tion. The SRC had previously said these waivers have been suggested. The teachers' schools would be an internal District model union says it won't support contract changes and would not have outside managers. and has denounced the SRC's plan. Nevels now says that Edison's involvement ''The SRC's almost single-minded pursuit in the reconstituted schools is "one of a numof this risky experiment with privatization is ber of proposals under discussion." According costing Philadelphia many of its best and most to SRC spokesperson Maureen Garrity, the ex perienced certified teachers," said un ion SRC is "keeping its options open." President Ted Kirsch. "It is alienating parents and the community whose support is crucial 'Climate of uncertainty' to any reform effort." 'We are in a climate of uncertainty at the Are the SRC's reform plans winning any School District," Deidre Farmbry told a crowd convertS? SRC spokesperson Carey Dearn ley said the SRC is getting positi ve feedback at the school meetings, despite organized protests at some. "People are very dissatisfied with conditions at their schools and are eager for change," she said. Whether desire for change wiIl translate into support for the SRC plan remains to be seen. Teacher Keith Newman, who spoke against privatization at a May SRC meeting, po inted out that he could recall "only one
~CI~ cf:! n .
pro-privatization speaker at all of the SRC's meetmgs, while dozens have argued againsl." Members of Philadelphians United to Support Public Schools are mounting a ''Dum Edison" campaign, while other organization~ have focused on the community partnershi process and submitted applications to the SR~ to be approved partners for schools that are reform targets. Sources say Edison has allied with several organizations to submit comm unity pannershlp appl ications for dozens of schools proposing paJtnerships involving Edison. '
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SUMMER 2002
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
ER 2002
let the SRC's j against." United to ga"Dump an izations artnership :0 the SRC s that are vith severnity part{ schools, ldison.
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11
~ NOTEiIooIC The Young Journalists are a unique group of students who were brought together by the Notebook to represent our schools and communities as leaders. Together, we developed a theme for our writings:
"Students are potential catalysts working towards positively changing our schools and communities."
o
Wefocused on issues (lull are very apparent around us. We wanted to speak out and to let our audience know that we care about our surroundings and want to make a difference. Throughout the course of the Young Journalists Project, we have developed writing and interviewing skills. We have also found topics that concern students' education and everyone in the community. We hope to kill the stereotypes that students can't orgamz.e or do anything 1V0rth reading. So read on, and be informed.
- Leslie Flemming, Latoya Edmond, Gerrel! Reviere, Charles Owens, Eric Taylor, and Emmanuel Filpo
:ss!
Telling the truth: why we need multicultural education y.
by Emmanuel Filpo
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project that we have started will only keep on According to writer and activist Deborah to implement multicultural education within the growing, because there are a lot of other stuMenkart, "The concept of multicultural educurriculnm that YUC is trying to develop. dents that feel the same way as we do. Before cation arose as education became the central Some of the seniors who are members of focus of the Civil Rights and Women's Rights YUC did senior projects on the issue of teachwe started to do this project, we did surveys to ing and learning and worked to develop our figure out what our peers thought and how their movements. According to them, if Blacks and Latinos were to have an equal opportunity in own curriculum. We presented our projects to thinking would be reflected in our projects. politics and employment, all our teachers on May 6, a staff development We hope that this project wiiJ serve as an they had to have an equal day for schools. The goal of this meeting was eye-opener for teachers. education." to inform the teachers about what we have done. We want to say to them, 'This is how we Emmanuel Filpo lVill graduale Ihis year Menkart also states that from Edison High School and lVill altend the school curriculum needs as students want to be taught." to reflect America's history, From this work I have learned that this Millersville State University in Ihe fall. including the contributions, experiences, and perspectives of people of color and I women. Thereby, all students can see themselves in history, and students of all races a great man. Emmanuel Filpo can develop a greater respect When I joined Youth and appreciation of each other. United for Change (YUC) and I had history in There are several different ways in which 11 th grade, my teacher and youth organizer . been going on we can change the curriculum. The one that I opened up my eyes. They told me that by Charles Owens for decades. see fitting is referred to by Banks as the Christopher Columbus was a rapist, a murderOftentimes, Youth United for Change (YUC) students "Decision Making and Social Action" er, and he owned slaves - things that were African are working towards educating students about approach. This approach encourages students never brought to my attention. Later I leamed tracking. American stuto make decisions and take action to relate to Tracking is a problem. Students need to dents have the concept, issue, or problem they have studknow what is going on in our schools, and stubeen Qutin the ied. One of the goals of this approach is to help dents are not being told that the decisions about lower tracks the students develop a vision of a better sociwhat classes they are placed in now may deterand white stuety and acquire the knowledge and skills necmine their chances for success in school and dents have essary to bring about structural change. then later in life. been put in Bill Bigelow, a social studies teacher and high tracks. curriculnm developer from Portland, Oregon, YUC stuexplained, "Multicultural education should be Charles Owens dents focused based on a problem solving approach, using on this issue because tracking is a problem, but inequity in this society as the core problem. it is happening ali over our school district. The curriculnm should pose the big 'why' quesTracking is a problem because schools put bettions : Why is there sex ism? Why is there ter resources into the high track. Students in the racism? What are the roots of social conflict?" low track concentrate on the basic subjects and The major goal of this approach is to that I come from a tradition of resistance and move at a slower pace. empower students and to help them acquire a brilliance, not from people that were passive Students in the higher track have a better sense of political efficacy and faith in their abiland powerless. Learning about my heritage filled chance of success because they get more ity to make changes in the institutions they deal me with pride. resources and more qualified teachers. with in their Ii ves. This is why I became interested in multifilmy opinion, a student needs accelerated verA lot of this I leamed through YUe. YUC cultural education. Multicultural education does sions of each subject to give him or her a chance is a nonprofit organization. It started up in 1990. not only teach from one perspective or about to get a college education. YUC is student-run even though there are adult one ethnic group; it teaches from many perStudents need to have a say about this secret According to YUC coordinator Andi Perez, organizers. We as students make tile decisions. spectives and about many ethnic groups. process of tracking. Tracking will affect stuYUC worked with the principal in 1997 at The adults guide us when we need hel p. According to James Banks, one of the dents through their whole school career. Kensington High School to get rid of General Students look for the issues. We as students ask authors of Multicultural Education (4th ediYet tracking is kept in the dark so no one Math and General Science and to add college to meet Witil the people that can solve these tion), "Multicultural education can be defined catches on to those who are doing it. prep sequence courses for every student. That issues. We also co-chair these meetings. The as a reform movement designed to change the According to 9th Grade Success Academy same year, YUC formed the Student-Teacher adult organizers help out if we get stuck on a educat.ion environment so that students fr0111 A-Team leader Linda Hawkins of Edison High Alliance. This group works together on issues, question that no one can answer. diverse racial and ethnic groups, both gender School, 路'Tracking is the classification of stuincluding tracking. At Edison High School, YUC has been workgroups, exceptional students, and students from dents based on their present academic status ina on cUlTiculum projects. Mu lticultural edusee "Tracking" on p. 12 each social dass will experience equal educaand their past achievements." Tracking has ca~ion is one of the curriculum topics. We want tional opportunities in schoo!." I feel I have been lied to for 11 years by teachers and others who did not want me to know the truth. My name is Emmanuel Filpo. I was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. My parents are both from the Dominican Republic. I am a member of Youth United for Change. I am a senior at Edison High School. Before I entered high school, I idolized Christopher Columbus. I was always taught that he discovered America and the Dominican Republic. I believed he was
I learned that I come from a tradition of resistance and brilliance, not from people that were passive and powerless.
Tracking: bad news for those I,who aren't on the high track I
'Tracking is the classification of students based on their present academic status and their past achievements.'
12
What! Sexual harass] A better Frankford
New organization brings hope to a community
with a better future
• Victims are often quiet or keep the experience to themselves
by Leslie Flemming
by Eric Taylor
"Just being in school and seeing his face A man named Gordon H. Emberger, III, nommade me feel uncomfortable and out of place," inated·me for the role of secretary despite my Frankford was once a great community. says a 10th age- 16 - and my lack of experience. I acceptIt had great businesses, numerous activities, grade sex ual ed the nomination, and at the next meeting I was movie theaters, restaurants, a wonderful atmosharassment elected. As secretary, it is my job to keep notes phere and was considered one of the greatest Victim in a of everything that happens at our meetings, keep communities in the city. It remained so until the high school in track of our members, and give them notice before 1980s. West the next meeting. "Frankford was the place to be in the '70s Philadelphia. The EFCA is led by a board of 11 people. and even the '80s," says Doug Rowland, former The vicTheir diversity"in age and Frankford resident, social scitims of sexual race reflects the community. ence teacher at Carver High harassment The EFCA has if lot to School, and Frankford High do since it is a new organiare often quiet Scbool alumni. zation . Some of the basic about their After years of continual leslie Flemming things are the writing of byvictimization. decline, t.he residents of the laws, a mi ssion statement, It is noi abnormal for victims to keep their expearea came together and said and a map of our boundthat they are tired of the drugs rience to themselves untiJ they find someone trustaries. We have also helped and poor quality of li fe that worthy to share their experience with. in the removal of tires, and they are forced to endure. The act of sexual harassment causes the vicMany people in the communi- we have been involved in tim to be hesitant about participating in school ty say that they are tired of drug marches, which will activities. This also refocuses their attention onto fearing to leave their homes at become more frequent until night and seein g titter. drug drug dealers realize that dealers, piles of tires, abanthere is no place for them in doned houses, and people who the new Frankford. Eric Taylor gave up on their community. One of our goals is to I am a junior at George obtain more members to continued from p. 11 Washington Carver High School of Engineering attend our meetings. The more people come, the and Science. I attended one of the first meetings better we know what we need to do to make ow' At Olney High School, students in the low track where dozens of people from Frankford came community better. were failing twibly. YUC started a campaign for There are many hopeful signs in Frankford better technology, and in 2000, Olney High School that show a positive turnaround. One of the students were able to get a $75,000 technology major signs is a plethora of new businesses that grant from the School District to purchase comare appearing on Frankford Avenue. puters. They were able to get the former cluster "It is like a flower appearing in a once barleaderto commit money to professional developren desert," says David Peterson, a resident of ment m the area of technology. In 2001, they Frankford and board member of the EFCA. opened a CoUege and Career Center so that stuIt is important for children to become involved ~::~ would have access to the information they in local organizations. It gi ves them responsibility and something to do because they are a major I.am a YUC member at Edison High School part of our community. They are also futwe homeand m the 9th grade . I stood up in front of the owners and business owners of Our communities, lunchroom last winter and explained trackin cr to and it is important for them to know how to work my peers. Students were shocked to find out iliat with local organizations to help them with any they were bemg put in classes because of )'IOW problems they might encounter. smart they were. "It's important for our young people to take Teachers reacted in a way I thought the an interest in the community, because they are wouldn't. They were telling me to sit down an~ the future," says Liz Snider, a long-time resident said I didn 't know what I was talking about. ' of Frankford. "It also shows the adults that the Though there are teachers who oppose student together. They sa id that they needed a voi ce young are not just interested in always receivmput on Issues like traCking, YUC members will in their community and a so lution to their ing, but are willing to give. COllt111ue to educate students on the topic, and we problems. . "And it also lets them know thai there is will VOice Our opmions. Trackino is detrimental hope." They decided to fo rm an orga nizati on and to students' education , and it mu:r be stopped. name it the East Frankford Civ ic Assoc iati on (EFCAl. Thei r first meeti ng was last August. Eric Tavlor is an 11rh grader or George SCh~~t'les OlVells is afreslunan ar Edison High and they nom inated officials for elect ion in Wasilingtall Ca rver High School of Engineering and Science. November.
the chance of their being sexually harassed again instead of paying attention in class. In a school senting, sexual harassment is any unwanted and unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that interferes with one 's education Or right to participate in school activities, according to www.famil yed ucation.com. a webs ite aimed at parents. Some examples of sexual harassment are co mments about a person's figure or body, whistling, catcalls, spreading sexual gossip, pressure for sexual activities or dates, staring with sexual overtones, and pinching or touching someone's buttocks, genitals, or breasts, according to familyeducation .com. Statistics from that same website show that many cases of sexual harassment have been reported, not just in the workplace but also in school. Surprisingly, sexual harassment doesn't start in high school but also occurs in middle and even elementary school. I am a part of a group of students at Carver High School of Engineering and Science that is working with Stacie Brown, a public relations and marketing coordinator for Women Organized Against Rape. We are working to dimi nish the uncomfortab le environment that sexual
harassment h our educatio WithStacl and rap sessi< about people and did not k
-
SUI]
han stan bu~
mi elelJ Why do 11 Based on m school , peop want people daring. It " pants or grab
Tracking
I attended one of the first meetings where dozens of people from Frankford came together. They said they needed a voice in their community.
Change and the Students from Youth U!'ited f<.>r chools. Gerrell takeover of Philadelphia public ~rents. and. met resistance from teachers. P wever. ReVlere to protest the takeover. Later. ho rt the students and time was right they would suppo were a lot Illore e When we all worked together. " and that really was a great fee mg·
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:- SCHOOL NO"'" , OK â&#x20AC;˘ ~UMM E R 2002
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~ ------~==~----------------------------------------------------------~ School policies are creating unnecessary discipline issues
School uniforms and hot weather: it's time for a change by Laioya Edmond The Young Journalists Project participants (left to right): Eric Taylor, Leslie Flemming, Latoya Edmond, Ben Herold (coordinator), Gerrell Reviere, Charles Owens. Not shown: Emmanuel Filpo.
harassment in school? ually harassed again .n class. Ll harassment is any .ehavior of a sexual one 's education Or I activities, accordon.com, a webs ite Jal harassment are I'S figure or body, sexual gossip, pres. dates, staring with ching or touching ;, or breasts, accord; website show that Issment have been lrkplace but also in harassment doesn't ,0 occurs in middle 1. f students at Carver , and Science that is ; , a public relations I[WomenOrganized dng to dimi nish the ]en! that sexual
harassment has created, which is damaging to our education. With Stacie Brown, we have had discussions and rap sessions, and now we are learning more about people who have been sexually harassed and did not know it.
Surprisingly, sexual harassment doesn't start in high school but also occurs in middle and even elementary school. Why do people sexually harass individuals? Based on my personal experience in middle school , people who harass individuals usuall y want peop le to think that they are "cool," or daring. It was cool to pull down people's pants or grab their buttocks.
Peer pressure is what it is. People commit this crime so they can fit in . Being a victim of sexual harassment interferes with a student 's education and participation in school activities, and it is against the law. Experts say sexual harassment of a student is a violation of Title IX of the 1972 education amendment. They say sex ual harassment cannot be tolerated in any school district. I believe that the school environment should be more prepared to help victims of sexual harassment. Currently the focus of teachers and adininistrators is to punish the perpetrator, which I agree is one step that has to be taken. Based on my experience with this group, I believe iliat ilie school environment of a victim after being sexually haJ'assed should also be made more comfortable. Finally, teachers and administrators should pay close attention to the behavior of the perpetrator and make sure iliat it is changing for the better.
Leslie Fleming is in j I lh grade aT George Washing on COlver High Sc1iool of Engineering and Science.
Thank you! f he Notebook would like to thank the participants in the Young Journalists Project for their commitment, enthusiasm, and hard work. fhe Young Journalists Project was .a five-week workshop designed to give aspiring student writers hands-on experience with creating a newspaper. fhe participants met with facilitator Ben Herold on Saturday mornings to learn how to develop research plans, sharpen interview skills, and write and edit newspaper articles. fhe project is part of the Notebook's
Time is being wasted on unnecessary disciplinary actions due to ilie uncomfortable classroom conditions in Philadelphia public schools. Imagine sitting in a 96-degree classroom with about thirty other students and no a.ir conditioning. It's plain torture. Students can't and won't function well in such hot conditions because iliey're uncomfortable. This can create a hostile enviLatoya Edmond ronment for both students and teachers. The amount of learning in ilie classroom is being set back because of all the complaining about the conditions. This may lead to disruption of the class, which results in some disciplinary actions. But our schools are overreacting. This problem is very much apparent at George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science, which is a magnet high school and is highly regarded. The school's uniform policy goes as follows: students are to be dressed in ilie Ian arid black uniform shirts with embroidered school logo, along with black pants or skirts. The shirts, most of which are $20 or more, are not worth ilie price because of the quality. They are slightly imperfect, poorly made, and extremely heavy. At Engineering and Science, if students are caught out of uniform, or are not wearing them properly, they are assigned to detention , which lasts from 3 to 4 pm. That isn't so bad because if you break the ru les, you suffer ilie consequences. However, lately iliings have been changing. Instead of a detention, you are given an in-house suspension. That means ilie student must spend his or her school day in a separate classroom from 7:47 am to 4 pm. So how can students be learning if iliey're
step towards continuing to highlight
:~\:~:Iphia
Student Union protest the state inistrat~eports that at Edison High, students Reviere says thatr\~hen some walked out of school students and stand e teac~ers agreed that when the a lot Illore orga . by Our Sides to fight the takeover. nlzed. We had a little more support,
students'voices in future issues and that the Notebook will be able to work with students in similar ways in the
problem. On many occasions, students have oied talking to teachers, but iliey will not hear us out. We believe students should be able to wear lighter colors and more suitable attire during the spring and summer. This will avoid many problems because students will be cooler. An adjustment to the policy wou ld be good news to boili students and teachers. Students would be comfortable and able to learn. Teachers would'be able to successfu lly complete ilieir lessons.
Latoya Edmond is all J1th grader Of George Washingtoll Carver High School ofEngilleering and Science.
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about their schools. We hope that this will be only a first
The amount of learning in the classroom is being set back because of all the complaining about the conditions.
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the paper as well as more writing that reflects what students are thinking
not being taught? The school is spending too much time enforcing rules, and not enough time enforcing learning. Conversations with students at George Washington Carver show iliat they just want an adjustment to ilie uniform policy. Senior Matt11ew Jefferson says, "We should be able to have more options. They should adjust ilie policy according to ilie season and weailier." "The shirts we have are uncomfortable dill'ing ilie spring/summer school year. They make us hot and sweaty," Jefferson says. "This is a public high school. We should be a.ble to dress in a comfortable manner. This is our way of expressing ourselves." Students lack the ability to express themselves and ilieir personalities because ofilie uniform policy. So what is it iliat we want to see done? Students just want to be able to have choices. We think iliere is a reasonable solution to iliis
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SUMMER 2002 PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
14
Recollections of Philadelphia's rich history of student protest
â&#x20AC;˘
Four former student activists carryon their commitments by Ben Herold
"We were voices crying out to say, 'We are acutely aware of our situation, and we are intelligent enough to state our case. So hear our voice.'" - Jeffrey Hart Ave, na Imani protested the poor advising African-American students received at Masterman in the mid-1960s, Sandra Smith, who had recently graduated from the Kensington High School for Girls, was active in the Advocate Community Development Corporation and the Church of the Advocate at 18th and DianlOnd Streets, Jeffrey Hart, as a fifth grader at Henry C. Lea Elementary School in West Philadelphia in 1965, JIlterrupted his class, He arglied that students should be learning about what was happening all around them rather than learning the history of the Trojan horse, His teacher, he recalls, "called the principal and said I was trying to start a riot" While a student at Central High School in the early 1990's, Lai Har Cheung fought successfully along with Asian Americans United to get a school bus to serve Chinatown students, These four founer students, who still live in Philadelphia, spoke with the Notebook about their experiences, In 2002, a new generation of Philadelphia high school students carries on the struggle to improve Philadelphia's schools and communities, The streets, hallways, sanctuaries, and neigh orhoods they pass through are alive with the ci,y's rich history of student activism, These four individuals are part of that history.
I
"We were being challenged by what was happening in the larger society. It was everywhere." -Ayesha Imani
lmani, Smith, and Hart all recall how the climate of social change in the late 1960's affected them, Hart remembers, "We were in an era when we saw what a protest was on TV Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy, Fannie Lou Hamer-we were watching them!" As a resu lt, he says, "When there was a cause, we recognized the need to move, There wasn't a question," "We had a lot more people speaking out then," says Smith, "We had more livelihood, I listened to Nikki Giovanni, listened to Sonia Sanchez, heard Ramsey Lewis, It was the time" "People were reaching out in a warm, human way to find change," " Young people need those opportunities, but we're not doing that today, There's less talk about social change, We need more opportunities for you ng people to get up close to what's going on, to work side-by-side with leaders from throughout the city, to actively participate in enhancing their schoo ls and communities," Smith says, In addition to lacking a larger social movement that supports activism, today's students face other obstacles, according to lmani, For one, the familiarity that the authorities have with the protest methods used by today's students makes activism difficult. "Students today have a much, much harder time because they are battling people who know their strategies and know how to hun them most," lmani
Photo: Harvey Finkle
Students and police have faced off several times recently outside the School District administration building, Former student activists expressed concern about the consequences that to day's students may have to absorb for their activism, says, "Students [today] are trying to follow a script and trust a process, but I'm not sure it's working. ".!t [was easier] to organize against a Frank Ri zzo or a George Wallace," Lai Har Cheung sees related dynamics in the changes of the past 10 years, Because they are "riding on the achievements and accomplishments of past acti vists"jt's harder for student activists today to figure out what the issues are, what's the right thing to do, what are the right steps to take," This difficulty is compounded by other factors, Now, young people "have access to more information, so it's harder to callout the specific information you need, You are inundated with information, The wider availability of evel},tizing crowds ou! your mental space and makes it harder to organize," says Cheung, All four former activists believe that much has changed since they were in school: the social climate, technology, communities themselves, Even the issues have changed to some extent Identity, terrorism, intemational concerns, sexuality, designer clothes, technology-the terrain navigated by today's teenagers is, in some ways, theirs alone, Despite the changes, there are some constants, Students today, like their predecessors, are still fighting against tracking, for culturally relevant curticula and improved physical conditions within schools, and against racism, They
are still struggling to engage other students.
I
"There are still the teen issues you go through on a personal level." - Lai Har Cheung
And teenagers are still teenagers, Regardless of the social climate, young people need connection and support through the trials of adolescence, All four former activists recalled the important roles that others played in suppOlting them and encouraging their activism, Sandra Smith says, "I am very grateful having come up in the Church of the Advocate", Father [paul] and Christine Washington were a big influence, They gave me a spu'ituality that lasts, and they gave me their example of looking out for the interests of the oppressed, ".1 coul dn't imagine being a young person and not having that se nse of rightness and direction in my life," "There was a whole group of adults who ' contributed to helping me think through these
issues," Cheung says, listing individuals from Asian Americans United, the Future Leaders Network, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, the Youth Health Emj)owerment Project, and others, "It was a real community of people,"
I,
"Staying With. your issue will stay with you for the rest of your liJe." -Sandra Smith
ingness of current authorities to "clamp down so quickly" on student attempts to organize, From Cheung, there is doubt: "Now, I don't know if I'm doing enough, Before, I always felt it was enough." And from Hart, critical self-reflection: "Somewhere, the message started getting messed up, We stopped teaching, We stopped the village, We stopped giving oral history, We have to look at ourselves, look at what we didn't do, We considered partial acceptance OK. We moved OU! of the neighborhood, rather than claim it as our own"
The lessons leamed from early mentors are
'Still with each former activist. In her work as a Philadelphia kindergarten teacher, Smith still relies on Father Washington's example, "We had people in the community who tooJ<A ~p,0r \h~w~e~~fi,s te;, or?~WI~erl ~~11 ~~~Â lllg that gave me tl\e b~L9t~at J!'t~ere's a prob lem, you can do something about ir...Through them, I could see that in the midst of problems, there is ail answer, there is something that can be done," Smith says, "God is still the center of my life, and 1'm still seeing His work in other people, seeing the good things, I still pray, 1'm still trying to find an answer to the problems I see," Thanks in large part to ''Black adults" like those in the Black Panthers and Guardian Civic League who "were teaching us",like we were their own children," Hart says, "I will always care about my culture and my people and will always speak OU! about injustices I see in the community and the world," Like Smith, he has continued his activism He says that though "I was never a ringleader: I did become one of the vocals," He has remained one of the vocals, hosting issues-oriented talk radio sho>vs on African-American station WHAT in the past and currently on WURD, Likewise, Irnani says "there are ways my life hasn 't changed a whole lot since I was very young, There's this calling, and you just do it, I'mstiU trymg to make things more just, still rllismg my voice in outrage and critique, and sh ll trymg to build community" as an educator and a doctoral student. E~ch has gained tremendously tlU'ough their actIVIsm, Wllh their commitment to soc ial change. however, has also come many a challenge, Some of their remarks reflect this, From Imam, there is concern "about the consequences that snldents may have to absorb" for thetr activism, and dismay about the will-
"My best work, my best thinking, my most extraordinary sacrifices - they all came in concert with other people."
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- Ayesha Imani
When the former activists were asked what advice they might offer to the young people standing on their shoulders, they were given pause, Then they gave a variety of insights, Cheung emphasized the importance of reflection: 'Think about how the work is transforming you as you are transforming it." Hart called on students to "Write! Record your thinking, get the information, make sure you know what you're talking about, and know who you are standing up with," Smith and lmani described the innportance of faith and perseverance, Said Smith, "Begin with a strong prayer life, a belief in some higher authority, and" Jollow your gut " lmani called on students to "be faithful to who yo u are ",and know that it's okay to change your mind , As long as you think clearly and be fai thful , you ' ll end up being a person you're happy to live with," Through the many strands of advice, a unifying theme emerged: the importance of connection, Through the resistance they've met, the odds they've faced, the chmacters they've encountered, and the regrets they've stared down, community has sustained each of them, Working with others for change has become a way of life, " As, Lai ~ar Cheung expressed it , Actlvlsm Isn t something that should burn yo u out It should be about the joy of beino together with people who care about the sllin~ lssues as you,"
IIM ER 2002 SUMMER 2002
ents
15
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
Students give testimony on privatization Over the past several months, lI1any SlUdents have testified before the School Reform Commission and City Coullcil during public hearings. Dozens of s/lldents have spoken abollt school privatization. Virtually all of the public testimony to date has beell critical of privatization. Here are excelpts from some of these s/ltdents' testimony:
Sonia Isard Philodelphiil High School for Girls Philodelphiil Student Union
'hoto:HalVeyFinkle
Ident activists
} "clamp down
; to organize. t: "Now, 1 don' t ~fore,
I always
e lf-reflecti on: ;tarted getting
It is actively undemocratic for private corporations to control publ ic educatio n. Corporations are not accountable to c itizens because citizens don' t have the power to influence decision-making in corporations. I have j ust been informed that I, a student in the Phi ladelphia School District, do not have an influence over my own education. Instead, different aspects of my education will be controlled by people who are in vol ved for the profit moti ve, and not because they care about my education. We, students and members of the Philadelphia Student Union, made our position abundantly clear: we want parents, students, teachers, and those most affected to control our schools. We want our local govemment to control our schools. We do not want private corporations involved. When a public service like education moves out of the public sector and into private hands, the democratic process is threatened. Corporations are not accountable to the vote, and the vote is llle only thing that we have to work with.
19. We stopped )ral history. We at what we didcceptance OK. ood, rather than
my best Jst extra:es - they cert with eshalmani 'ere asked what , young people ley were given i)' of insights. importance of e work is trans)rming it." 'Write! Record j on, make sure bout, and know tile importance Smith, "Begin of in some highgut." "be faithful to It it 's okay to as you think e nd up being a ith." s of advice, a ?Ortance of con:e they ' ve met, 'acters they've they've stared d each of them. r change has
expressed it, at should burn Ie joy of being aboul the same
Jesenia Nieves Edison High School Youth United for Change From what I know so far, Edison Schools Inc. is a private corporation wi th their own curriculum, their own teaching style, their own ideas and 011 r money. Yes, I believe in a new and different curriculum, but their curriculum, developed by people in New York C ity, is the same old Eurocentric curriculum but in a different perspective. I don ' t want that curriculum. For so long people have been waiting for students to work and fi ght for our rights. Now that we are, it seems pointless [and] meaningless because it's going to be taken away from us. We need to have local control over our education. We cann ot hold Edison'S shareholders accountable to our education. Students are priceless and yo u can' t buy us. We are m aking a di fference; we are changing the schools.
Jacob Winterstein Mastennan High School Philodelphiil Student Union Anyone who supports change knows that education management organi~ation s are definitely a change - a change for the worse! When you hand schools over to for-profit Companies, you step back into time, into the realm of politicians who pass the buck and separate chi ldren by class and race into those Who have and those who don' r. You are no better than supporters who vouched for separate and unequal schools in the 1960s. If yo u want to be radical, if you want to make real change, plVve it. You need to be in the Governor 's ear every day demanding that he change the current funding form ula. You need to hand tile schools over to people who actually have a stake in the schools. The SRC needs to empowe r students, teachers, and conununity leaders. Not money hungly CEOs. Every day OUf city, state, and School Reform Conuniss ion have the opportu ni ty to show my fellow students and me that you care. ::ove to me that you care abollt my education. ove to my fellow students and me that you
Photo: Harvey Finkle
Students have expressed opinions to the School Reform Co mmission both inside and outside of commission meetings. These signs were posted at an April rally by the Philadelphia Student Union. want to make our schools the best public schools in the country. Show me you care by doing something radical to make our schools better - not by hir ing for-profit companies . Someone once said, "History repeats itself until learned." Let's learn from our country's mistakes. Together let's make a just society, and let's start with our schools.
Emmanuel Filpo Edison High School Youth Ullited/or Challge At Youth United for Change we say NO to privatization and NO to a state takeover of Philadelphia public schools. Part of my frustration with this issue is the silence of school and pub lic officials, and community groups, School District employees imd politiciaps plaking deill s',vitfI priVate corporations about my education . I have something to say to you. There is a saying that surfaced about World War II, and it goes something like dUs: First they came for the Jews, and I wasn't a Jew so I did not say anything. Then they came for the socialists, and I wasn't a socialist so I did not say anydUng. Then they carne for the unions, and I was not a member of the union so I did not
SIik1'enlrteaching.stuthnlraoout their righk
say anything. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to say anything. [ want to teU you that this is not going to happen agai n. First they privatized the prisons, and they are only prisoners so few said anything. Now they are coming for me. You can no longer be silent.
certainly doesn ' t come from taking over schools without giving the community a voice in that process . Real reform comes from engaging parents, students, teachers, and conununity members in their school s. Something (the SRC has] never tried to do, and will fai l because of it.
Selamawit Tewelde Bartram High School Philadelphiil Studellt Union
Natalio Alvarez Olney High School Olney ASPIRA Club President
Pri vatization isn' t the answer to save schools. It's the answer for people like [the SRC] who have given up on us and don't bel ieve ,ve deserve the best schools. You all (SRC members] were brought here, not to inlprove schools, but so that the governor could keep the schools open without giving our schools the funding that we need and deserve. And I don ' t think these for-profit companies care about me or my education. They care about making profits. This isn't about what we need any more. This is about what you (SRC members] want. This is all dirty politics. r know what real reform is. It doesn't come from for-profi t companies or ridiculous sound bytes like "treating fami li es as paren ts." It
How is it that no one-NO ONE-has taken the time to explain to us what this takeover entails and how it will affect us as students and community members~ Is it really the students who benefit from this change? And if not, we need to know how to prepare for what lies ahead of us. The School Reform Commission has never addressed important issues such as curriculum and educational development. They only talk about contracts to private corporations. They won ' t listen to us, the students or the community, about our own education and what we think. We should have a say because we are the ones going to these schools, we live in the community, we know what goes on; therefore we know what is best for us, and they don't.
PARENTS UNION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
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PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
16
Student activists are leaders in takeover fight continued from p. 1
"In the past I have always been outspoken and seen as a leader by people. so now it's time to speak out about issues like education that are important to me," said Tinsley. The students noted that their initial involvement with student acti vism was part of a process of recognizing and learning to respond to unfair and unjust situations. Filomeno first got in vo lved after recognizing her school's faulty ventilation system. Angered at the school 's poor air quality, she helped to organize student meetings wi th District facility personnel. The students' effol1s culminated in the authorization of new work orders that improved the school's ventilation. Zou first became involved in Asian Americans United because he was looking for summer work, and soon after began a process of becoming politicized after recognizing critical issues in his community that he felt needed to be addressed. For Tinsley, it was recognizing the potential negative impact that privatizing schools could have on hi's education that caused him to start speaking out. Stepping up against the takeover These student activists have played important leadership roles in the school takeover controversy. Filomeno was one of a few students who discussed the students' school reform platform with Mayor Street on the day of a student walkoul. "Demanding a meeting with the mayor himself and getting the meeting showed the students that we do have real power," she said. Zou was involved in translating and distributing literature related to the school
takeover situation to the Asian community. going door-to-door and talking with people. He also helped to ' organi ze a meeting with Chinatown parents, who "experienced a lot of discrimination because none of the information about the schools was translated in our languages." The students spoke of a number of events til at demonstrated the commitment of students throughout the city to fighting for their right to a quality education. In October of last year, for example, dozens of students from the Philadelphia Student Union camped out overnight in front of the State Office Building to protest the state's plan to take over the School District. The following morning, throngs of students from the Student Union, Youth United for Change and Asian Americans United marched down Broad Street and held a rally in front of City Hall. In late November, hundreds of high school students joined in a lobbying trip to Harrisburg, and later that month some sat down with Mayor Street to discuss their strategies for reforming schools. And in December, more than a thousand high school students walked out of school and held a rally against the potential privatization of their schools. More recently, students from the Student Union risked arrest this Apri l by sleeping out at and then blockading the School District administration building on the day that the
School Reform COITUnission unveiled its plan for restructuring 70 schools. Students also continue to speak out at SRC meetings.
Lessons lor a lifetime Despite their accomplishments, the students also made it clear that tllis was not easy work. All of the students interviewed noted that many of their peers were either apathetic or did not think that their in volvement would make much of a difference in the final outcome of the school reform process. Nonetheless, the three are all committed to continuing to reach out to their fellow students and getting them involved in future actions. Their hard work has left the students with many lessons that will last a lifetime. Zou said that being an activist has empowered him to believe that students have the capacity to bring about positive changes in their schools and community. "Teenagers like me can change things, and we don ' t always have to accept others' opinions. We have opinions of our own," he explained. Ftlomeno agreed: "I had always been taught not to ask too many questions and to accept everything that adults had to say. Since joining Youth United for Change and becoming active, I learned to question authority sometimes, which makes me feel powerful." Tinsley reflected on the impact that hi s
Despite their accomplishments, the students made it clear that this was not easy work.
involvement has had on his own school work. "Activism has taught me that if I am going to advocate for a better education, then I need to make the best use of the education that I have right now."' Prior to his lnvolvement with the Philadelphia Student Union, Tinsley said he was a mediocre student. and since jOlnlng the organization, he has been on the honor roll and ranks third in his class. He also learned that being a student activist carries the responsibllity of providing people with accurate lnformatio n. "When you are lnvolved in th,S type of work and want people to believe in what you are saying, you have to make sure that everything that comes out of your mouth is true. I caught a lot of flak once for giving some wrong information during a speech, and I would never let it happen again," he said. Where do we go from here? For these students, the fight is not over. After experiencing many ups and downs this past year, all of the students remain optimistic and committed to struggling for the type of education that they believe they are entitled to. "We will continue to reach out to our community, fi ght for more money and more teachers for schools, and see that Edison is kicked out of Philadelphia," said Zou. Filomeno added, "This experience has given more hope to students." "Even though it seems to many people that what we have done is just a little crack, if students keep coming together and organizing, we know that we can make a big hole."
For more information on these organizations, call the Student Union at 215-546-3290, Asian Americans United at 215-925-1538, or Youth United for Change at 215-423-9588.
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17
Gay-straight alliances change culture of schools by Barbara A. Bloom When another student attempted to taunt Northeast High School sophomore Steven Mooney by call in g him a "fag," Mooney deflected the comment with an honest and brave response. He told the student that he was, indeed, gay. According to Mooney, "he never called me thatagam How was this potentially hostile exchange diverted? Certainly, Mooney's comfort with himself allowed him to speak up. A more hidden factor may have been an environment at Northeast, created by students and staff, that challenges the harassment of gays and lesbians. The creation of ALLY, a gay-straight alliance student group at Northeast, has been one part of establishing this environment. ''The fact that a group exists really changes the culture of the school," observes Danny Horn, of the Philadelphia Community Health Alternatives (PCHA), who has provided training for school staff who sponsor gay-straight alliance groups like ALLY in high school s throughout the Di strict.
Many students have learned to be more accepting, although a small group of students still uses demeaning words. As Mooney says, "If it (ALLY] wasn't there, people wouldn't be as aware we're just regular people." Students have stepped forward at over a dozen schools to build these groups. ''They really are young leaders. Their work has empowered them to stand up for their rights and other people's rights," says Marcy Boroff, a former District adnninistrator who worked with the groups. District mandates equal treatment The development of gay-straight alliances has been boosted by the support of School District staff, from the top down. In fall 1998, a group of educators in the District began systematically addressing students' need to learn to accept each other, regardless of sexual orientation. The School District's Policy 102, issued in 1994, mandated equal treatment for students,
not only by race, gender, and religion, but also by sexual orientation. Supported by Policy 102, the School District took the innovati ve step of creating a district-wide training program to help make schools safer for gay and lesbian students. A one-day training was mandated for all school nurses, NTAs, police, and counselors. Horn was hired as trainer and District staff members received training to help them to raise awareness about gay issues in their schools. The District also provided voluntary training for other staff as part of its Ally Safe Schools Network. This training encouraged the staff members to establi sh themselves as a' safe person in the schools whom students could contact for support. They hoped that one person at each school wou ld also become a sponsor of a gay-straight alliance at the school. By last year, staff at 23 of 44 high schools had participated in the voluntary training, according to Boroff. The Di strict also provided posters, buttons (an inverted pink triangle on a black button with the word "ally" across it), and stickers for the trained people to advertise themselves. Each school was encouraged to implement the program uniquely to meet the needs of their school and the strengths of its adult allies. At the heart of the Ally Safe Schools training, Boroff explains, was ending the oppression of silence. She says that participants were told, "You've got to say the words-got to say 'gay' and 'lesbian. '" Saying these words would provide the opening for staff and students to begin to talk to each other about the issues facing gay and lesbian students and to diffuse insults like "dyke" and "faggot." Even in schools where there is no student gay-straight alliance, the training has served to make school staff more aware. "Five years ago, when I fIrst started, some administrators would say, 'We don't have any gay or lesbian students,'" says Hom. "Within the past two years, I haven't heard anybody say that." Gay-straight alliances changing schools In schools with..gay-straight alliances, the group can have a significant impact on the school's culture. Northeast High School senior Jeanette Vargas is glad to say that ALLY, the gay-straight alliance there, has made a difference for her. She says that before she became involved, she felt "like no one understands me." When she fIrst heard the group was fanning, she hesitated because she did not know anyone in the group. Soon, however, a
Photo: GoodSchoolsPA
On April 25, Marion Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, led a March for Educational Justice organized by Good Schools Pennsylvania. Hundreds of participants marched from the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District to the Chester-Upland School District to highlight the dramatic differences in educational quality and resources that can exist in schools districts that are less than a mile apart.
discussion topic on a flyer "caught my eye" and she went to her first meeting. She has attended the confIdential meetings since then. "I got involved to meet people. I met a whole bunch of cool people that became really good friends," she says. Mooney joined ALLY last year. "I saw them at the health fair. They looked happy and like they knew what they were doing." The club meets bi-weekly, with about three to ten students attending. Students do not have to state their sexual identifIcation at the meetings, and many choose not to. Estimates are that approximately even numbers of members identify as gay and straight. Students in ALLY participate in Northeast High's health fair and have an end-of-the-year pizza party attended by approximately fifty students. They al so participate in events at other schools. One event that ALLY sponsored this year was the Day of Silence, a national day of awareness about the Silencing of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Mooney explained that this day is for "people who can ' t speak for themselves." He reported that a lot of Northeast students participated, carrying around a note explaining what they were doing, and moving through the halls and sitting in classes in silence. Vargas says that even those gay and lesbian students who do not go to ALLY meetings can feel a little less isolated just for having the gay-straight alliance in existence. Both Vargas and Mooney sense the difference that ALLY is making on the school's atmosphere. Many of their fellow students
have learned to be more accepting. Others are beginning to apologize when they let a derogatory word slip, although a small group of students still uses demeaning words. "It [the club] makes the sc;. Jol safer," Mooney concludes. Uncertain future for valued program Cynthia Hassan, a nurse at Northeast and sponsor of the school's gay-straight alliance, notes that the movement to end homophobia required support from the District's administration. "Without support from downtown, I don't think it would have gotten off the ground," she says. She also praised her cluster leader, (now head of the academic area office), Harris Lewin, for offering training to NTAs, school police, counselors and nurses throughout the cluster. Until fall of 2001, the District's Family Resource Network had provided the administrative support for the trainings and for establishing gay-straight alliances in schools. In the Di strict 's reorganization, the Family Resource Network was disbanded and central coordination for the effort was effectively ended. Hom, however, still works for the School District, providing training and advising on harassment issues. For now, the system seems to work because the elements for networking are in place and people know each other. But Hassan, who retires in a few years, is left wonderi.ng, ''What happens when people retire?"
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SUMMER 2002
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
18
Heard in the hall: high school students talk about change
What can students do to make a difference? The Notebook asked high school students from around the city to share their thoughts on the question: What can students do to make a difference in their schools? We talked with students from Philadelphia Futures' student advisory group and students from the Health Information Providers and Promoters (HIPP) program at the Center for Health, Achievement, Neighborhood, Growth, and Ethnic Studies at the University of PA. Here are some of their responses. I think that for students to notice change, students need to become trendsetters in having change. Students need to recruit people to implement student
Students need to get more involved with organizations at their school that are about bringing other students together and making a difference. Too many students are focused on themselves and not about making positi ve changes. - Virgill Ruiz, Edisoll Highjullior
governments in their schools so that they can go about it in a legal and respectful manner. A thousand people screaming are not being heard, but one or two people who have come together and collected their ideas and have organized them will be heard. - Levia Raglalld, Girls' High senior
One of the most important things that students can do for their schools is to work hard and become successful and serve as an inspiration to younger students. - Dotall
Something that youth can do to better their education and their schools is to be mentors to theu· peers and role models. Be more of
JOhIlSOIl,
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an advocate both to your peers and also to your teachers that don't implement being a role model and mentor. - Wilbur Childs, Northeast High sellior
One of the things we can do to change our schools is to do something positive in our schools. We can start something new, and not Just join in something that you' re not even half-interested in. I think you should start somethi ng that you're interested in by going into it at your personal level. -Biallca Grant, William Pellll Highjullior
I like to be in a lot of clubs, like music and sports. And my music teacher, he ' ll help me with music, but he'll also help me with my math. Students should just get more involved in school. A lot of students think school is boring, but if you get more invo lved in programs, that will help you get more involved in school.
Getting it Together: Classroom Management through Effective Literacy Instruction
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Excitement grows about projects that work to address real community needs
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Service learning: students see they can be agents of change by Amy StUilrt
"Kids are learning that they matter and that they have power and that they can partner with other people to have more power.. .. We are strong when we stand alone, but we can,~ so much stronger when we stand together. Seven years ago, Jamce Sternberg was an English teacher at Simon Gratz High School. One of her classes was partlcularl y difficult. She strUggled with a high rate of absenteeism, bad attitudes and lack of interest. In co llaboration with the Institute for Service Leaning, she arranged for her students to be literacy tutors for second- and third<!faders at nearby Steel Elementary School. o With a grant from the Institue, the Gratz students bought age-appropriate books for the younger children. They read articles about literacy acquisition, prepared rnstrUcllOnal materials, and met with their young partners once a week. Absenteeism in her class ceased. A former non-attender never missed another day of school. A defiant nonreader began reading and writing - first because it was necessary for the project, and later for his own purposes. The project was replicated the following year and has continued ever since as the Literacy Corps. Other community-based projects grew out of it, including libraries and literacy programs to help teen parents prepare their own children for reading, and a "tot lot" for neighborhood children. Service learning catches on
The School District of Philadelphia now requires that all students complete·servicelearning projects in grades 4, 8, and 12 in order
to be promoted or to graduate. The mandate has been received with varying levels of enthusiasm throughout the District. Growing numbers of teachers, however, are embracing service learning with excitement and even passion as they see the effect on their students of doing authentic work that meets real needs in the community. A student researching diabetics' nutritional needs in order to create a pamphlet for shoppers in a community hit hard by the disease doesn't ask, "Why do we have to learn this?" or "Is this going to be on the test?" Yet this is not one-sided "community service" in which students give their time and energy and receive only the satisfaction of giving or of a job well done. Projects are explicitly designed to incorporate academic standards so that students are learning reading, writing, math, science, and social studies content by applying those skills and knowledge in real-life situations.
could make a difference in my community," says Mattay Muhammad, a senior at Gratz. ''But now I know that I can make a difference." Tahara DeMaio, another Gratz senior, designed her service-learning project around her longtinle interest in sign language. "Being . deaf is a disability, not a disease," she says. "I wanted to understand how frustrating it is to be deaf." After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in sign language interpretation. Because students are engaged in reallife projects with realworld consequences, the skills they learn provide them with lifelong tools for community activism. The Gratz High School students are trained in ethical fitness , service learning methodology, grant writing and grant reviewing. Fourth graders at Lingelbach Elementary were concerned about violence on their playground. With support from Need in Deed, a Germantown-based service learning organization, they researched and documented incidents of aggressive behavior, invited speakers from the community, developed a plan for reducing playground violence, and presented their plan to the faculty, along with a commitment to their own role in creating a safer school. "We do not write research papers. We write environmental impact reports," says Kathy Lee of Turner Middle School. One Turner student is writing a cost-benefit analysis of recycling; another is contacting
The School District now requires that all students complete service-learning projects in grades 4, 8, and 12.
Encouraging active citizenship In adrlition to academic skills-and pemaps
even more inlportantly-students learn through these projects that they have useful gifts and talents to offer others, that they are valued members of a community, and that they can be agents of change. "Before I did this project, I didn 't think I
eecl to let nd teachers tat is going ·ves. We all ork togethhole comto make ;etter. Penn High
city and state officials with information about water qUality in his Southwest Phi ladelphia neighborhood. Lee's eighth-grade classes are collaborating on a study of the connections between urban blight and suburban sprawl. The final presentations will be graded not by the teacher but by a panel of representatives from city and state agencies. Studies show positive effects
Although the research on service learning is not extensive, studies suggest that the positi ve effects are significant. These effects include: reduced discipline problems; more sophisticated understandings of history, politics and morality; higher grades, test scores, and attendance rates ; and a commitment to service in later life. One study found that, fifteen years after graduation, former students who had participated in service learning were more likely than others to vote and to participate in community organizations. Further evidence comes from the passion that service learning inspires in teachers as they see their students becoming more engaged, more confident and more empowered. Kathy Lee bearns with pride in her eighthgraders: "They couldn't stop [working on the project]," she says. "They came in at night, on weekends, after school-even kids we didn 't teach showed up!" Cultivating future activists
Sandas Murphy, a sixth grader at Turner, says, "Service learning changed me tremendously." Before launching his water-testing project, he says, he was fighting and in trouble all the time. Now, having noticed a funny taste in his school's drinking water, he has analyzed the toxins in the water and written letters to the mayor, to erlitors of local papers and to other government officials. He wants to know whether low test scores at his school are related to high levels of lead poisoning arnong students. The school's tap water has been replaced with purified water as a result of his initiative. After high school, Sandas says he plans to go to college and then become a community activist - "and get paid for it." He credits Lee with turning him around by noticing his potential and encouraging his acti vism. Sandas isn't the only one who has rliscovered that a person can make a living whi le making a difference. Janice Steinberg. now director of the youth-driven service learn ing center at Gratz, asks, "Can you imagine getting paid to help people do good things alJ day? Am I the luckiest person in the worldT
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Student journalists tackle hot issues in school newspapers by Melissa Byrne Publishing a newspaper is both a means and an end. At the higb school level, the process of publishing a newspaper teaches student journalists and student editors the skills of writing. On distribution days, the young journalists enjoy the thrill of watching their peers read their writing and seeing their hard work come to fruition. Nearly half of the high schools in the School District of Philadelphia publish some form of newspaper. The Notebook obtained copies of most of these papers, which are found at both magnet and neighborhood high schools. With most of the student publications being quarterlies, the focus is not on publishing "breaking news." This gives student journalists the opportunity to learn the skills they need to research a story, construct an argument, and get that interview from the favorite athletic coach. These papers are weighing in on many of the hot issues in the School District of Philadelphia and across the nation. Here in Philadelphia, student journalists have published critiques of plans for school privatization and the state takeover. Students used several lenses to explore the critical issues around school reform. Students at William Penn High School and Swenson Arts and Technology addressed the issue of student activism and questioned the knowledge base of the student activists. They argued that students who are willing to take action over an issue must be educated on the issue. Newspapers in schools across the District sought to put the political struggle over the schools into words that their peers would be able to understand. They described Edison Schools Inc. and they mapped out the different avenues that the acting governor wanted to follow to bring "reform" to Philadelphia. On a national level, nothing seemed to impact student journalists' writing this past academic year more than the events of September 11, 200 1. Every student paper mentioned the tragedy. The paper became a place for healing as students were able to articulate their anger towards the perpetrators and their love for the people affected. Backlash towards ethnic groups here in the U.S . led one William Penn student to educate her school on Muslims. While many of the comments on September 11,2001 supported a U.S.-led war against terrorism, retaliation was not a consensus among all the voices. Some students expressed compassion towards the victims of the U.S. bombing in Afghanistan. The editor of ONAS at William Penn, Angelita Watkins, wrote, "Separation is no longer possible. We have lost that chance by creating a global economy.... We have to end the cycle of violence and leam to live together. We need to make the world safe for our children. How? Start at home with no more shooting fust and asking questions later, leam to see kindness as a virtue not a weakness, and just be nice." While the struggle over the Philadelphia schools and the tragedy of September 11 consumed many pages, the students also reviewed plays and musicals, evaluated sporting events, and relayed information about applying to college. While papers like ONAS at William Penn and the Centralizer at Central have been pubLishing for years, others have just begun to publish. Just this academic year, for example, students at Swenson and Carroll started publishing newspapers. In their inaugural issue this winter, students at Swenson addressed the current situation in the Philadelphia schools. Taking their role as journalists seriously, they explained both sides of the privatization debate.
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Agnes Butler (top), leader of a 100 Book Challenge Family Workshop, looks on as a parent at Sheppard Elementary reads with her child. This year, the 100 Book Challenge/Literacy Action Project has led over 100 workshops at schools across the city. The workshops are designed to provide parents with concrete strategies for how to become their child's "home coach" for literacy development. The 100 Book Challenge is also working to establish parent representatives at every school that participates in the program. Contact Alease West at (215) 351-7607 for information about the workshops or becoming a parent representative.
I
NABE conference touts power of being bilingual Over 5,000 bilingual educators, advocates, and community members recently gathered in Philadelph.ia to teach, learn, and celebrate bilingual education. The 31st annual NABE (National Association for Bilingual Education) conference was held in the Pennsy lvania Convention Center March 21-23. The diverse crowd attended workshops and sessions ranging from educating migrant children to implementing successful dual language programs. Several special institutes were held on specific cu ltures, and art, dance, and music were incorporated throughout the conference. Tours were conducted of Philadelphia schools that have bilingual programs. One aspect of bilingualism emphasized throughout was the cliversity of languages represented in bilingual education. While, at times, Spanish seems to dominate the scene, the NABE conference brought together educators involved in teaching and working with students from every possible language background.
Keynote speakerAsma Gull Hasan exemplified the diversity of languages that NABE represents. A first_generation American Muslim, Hasru1 grew up speaking a mixture of Urdu and English at home, read the Koran in Arabic, and at the instruction of her father, a doctor, leamed Spru1ish because of the importance that the language has jn America.
Hasan attended a Catholic grammar school and recalled how her childhood teachers did not seem to know how to teach a child who clid not spe~ American English in the home. Her parents were educated in the British system in Pakistan, so their EDglish consisted of different sounds and spellings. She mentioned how her mother wou ld proofread her papers, chru1gi ng "color" to "colour," and the resu lting loss of points for misspelling. Hasan explai ned, "My first grade teacher told my mom that I had a learning disability becau se I was not learning how to read. My mom refused to believe her. Instead, every day after school she spent the afternoon teaching me how ro read. Within a few months, I was reading non-stop." "We need more teachers, like everyone here, who value bilingual education and respect the native language and culture of their students:' Jorge Garcia, President of NABE, described
the role of bilingual educators as "being an advocate, stancling up for parents ru1d children." He noted the impact that bilingual education can have on inclividual students, as well as communities. "It is important to teach the power of being bilingual ro students, who might otherwise see their language as a mark of being d.i.fferent." He added, "Bilingual education serves as a place to unite community members of different ethnic and racial backgrounds." While Garcia stressed the positive role that bilingualism has in education, cWTently there is a well funded state-by-state crunpaign to dismantle the progress made in bilingual education since the passage of the Bilingual Education , Act of 1968. At the NABE conference, participants were preoccupied with the thought that Ron Unz, a financial backer of English-only education campaigns in the United States, was challenging bilingual education in Colorado. Unz has successfully campaigned in California (Proposition 227) and in Arizona (Proposition 203). The members of NABE - many of whom were wearing "Srop Ron Unz" buttons - have responded by actively speaking out against his initiatives and educating the comm unity about the impol1ance of bilingual education. Their commitment to bilingual education seems to have paid off. Recently, voter;; in Colorado defeated a measure backed by Unz that would have enabled the legislature to pass blanket legislation against bilingual education. In her winning essay. the high school NABE 2002 essay contest winner Cynthia Lorena Luna addressed the critics of bilingual education: "Since the establishment of this nation, our struggle hasn't been easy. Today, the mqjority of tllOse who are opposed to bilingual education are not able to understand its full fundamental purpose. Bilingual ed ucation has been condemned without a proper u路ial." Gregg Aguero, the middle school winner of the NABE 2002 essay COOlest, wrote: ,.! an1 a Mexican-American and I am the American dream .... I will graduate from college. I will be able to choose my job. I will be a success , because I learn in two languages. I have been in a TWO-Way Bilingual Immersion program since kindergarren.! can speak, read, and write in English ru1d Spartish. My friends speak mru1Y languages. I an1 multilingual and multicultural. I am the future ."
SUMMER 2002
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
22
School conditions do not encourage learning
Reality check: what a day in the life of a student is like by Amber La Fontano As a 10th grade student at Furness High School, I wou ld like to tell you what a day in the life of a Philadelphia public school student is like. In the morning, you approach a school in a need of serious renovation. Metal detectors and
bag screeners greet you as yo u walk into the school. In a way, they make you feel a little safer, but at the same time, they make you feel that the school is unsafe because of all this security. Once you get past all of the security, you walk through halls that are cracking. You glance around to make sure there aren't rodents walking beside you. I go to my first period class. We pass a book between five of us. Our schools are underfunded and don't have enough money to replace old outdated and damaged books. Naturally, after years of sbaring books, I have leamed the skill of reading upside down. In the next class, we have books that our high school recei ved from other high schools. I wouldn' t be complaining if these books were in good condition, but that's not the case. Third period rolls along. I am supposed to have Health class, but our school is so overpopu lated that we have gym instead because there aren't any available classrooms. As if that isn't bad enough, there are three classes of gym all crammed in one gymnasium. Lunchtime! Disappointingly, the sanitary conditions of the cafeteria are below minimum standards. This is where we are supposed to
eat, and yet I see rodents in the lunchroom. Now I'm off to my next class where there are 36 students in the class and only one teacher The teacher barely ever has enough time to answer all of the students' questions. There are barel y enough desks in the class. Doesn't that tell you something? Maybe instead of building new stadiums, people need to realize that we are in desperate need of more schools.
It's really hard to learn in the situation I have described. Why does n't anyone care about us? Is it because we are inner city kids? Poor students? Minority students? Well , we have dreams too. And we will be the teachers, doctors, and lawyers of the future. If the School District of Philadelphia doesn't get the proper funding, then we aren't going to get the proper education to succeed in life and try to make a difference. We seIiously need
a new funding method so the students of the Philadelphia School District can learn and be active citizens in this society.
Amber La Fontano is part oJTemple LEAP and the Philadelphia Full/res Sponsor-AScholar Program. Temple LEAP is a program 01 Temple Law School to help college-bound high school students improve on basic skills throu.gh various .law-related projects.
Students feel the effects of underfunding by students in Temple LEAP program Iu the Philadelphia public school system there are many problems: outdated textbooks, not enough textbooks for the students, unsanitary lunchrooms, smoke-filled restrooms, underdeveloped curriculum, overpopulated classrooms, and not enough security. The books that we are learning from date back to 1989. Some things have changed from then to now. In some schools, there are not enough books for every student. When homework is given, it must be finished in the class or an incomplete is given, which brings marks down. Most of the lunchrooms and restrooms have writing on the walls and trash on the floor. A student from Furness High School says that the lunchroom is often filled with roaches and mice. A student at Northeast says that the restrooms are very unsanitary. In between periods the restrooms are fllied with cigarette smoke.
Another problem is security. Our high schools do not have enough secUrity guards. A Frankford student went on the record about security personnel and how most students in his school feel about it. "It just seems like the guards come down on first-time offenders, yet let well-known problematic students get off easy." Overpopulated classrooms are another big problem. Classes in the schools have about 30-35 students. It can get so over-crowded that desks from other teachers' classrooms may have to be used so everyone has a seat. Edison Schools Inc. 's next project is to take over Philadelphia public schools. As smdents in the Philadelphia public school system, we have doubts about Edison 's ability 'to successfully ru n the District. Edison may be able to solve some of the problems in the Philadelphia public schools. However, what they cannot hand le is the funding problem.
The problem is not with who is spending the money to run the District. The problem is with the amount of money being spent. W hether Edison or some other private company ru ns the schools in the District, the District is still underfunded. A newly proposed bill by State Repre$entative Nicholas Micozzie would help equalize Phi ladelphia School District funding with the funding of some of the suburban school districts. The bill would enable Philadelphia schools to improve the learning environment for all students. It wo uld help to correct the existing problems through increased funding.
- Gregory Cooper, Keane Cobb, William Pendleton, Marquetta Macon, luana Romelus The authors are Philadelphia high school students participating in the Temp le LEA P program.
mentor It's Never too Early to Plan for College. Need Help'? COLLEGE ACCESS CAN HELP YOU! Call and Come into one of our Centers: Center City The Gallery I, Street Level 9'" & Market Streets Philadelphia, PA 19107 215-574-1341 FAX: 215-574-1 535
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·010 A MENTOR MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE? ARE YOU A MENTOR?
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The Greater Philadei.phia Mentoring Partnership at SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA FAMILY RESOURCE NETWORK
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The Reform Commission's list - and some other lists to consider • Vaux Middle School has been on many lists over the years by Barbara McDowell Dowdall This is a story about Vaux Junior High, now Middle School, where I gave service for the first seve n yew's of my teachmg career, beginning in 1974.
[ OPINIOm l That Vaux is on the School Reform Commission's li st of 70 lowest performing schools to be taken over by outside managers is no surpri se. Vaux has been on many lists through the years: • the list of the six schools with the lowest reading scores in the system • the list of schools eligible for Title I funds • the list of schools losing veteran faculty members because of delayed compliance with federally-mwldated staff desegregation
What's your opinion? The Public School Notebook welcomes your letters, critiques and point of view. Write us at:
'obb, William ana Romelus
Philadelphia Public School Notebook
elphia high the Temple
3721 Midvale Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19129
'I
Fax: (215) 951-0342 email: psnotebook@aol.com
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• the list of schools losing programs and support staff because our student body could never be considered desegregated • the list of schools that mean no more than a collection of test Scores to politicians and putative reformers • the parents' list of schools to be avoided. To put the last list into perspective, let me recount a brief elevator story. Riding in an elevator at Gennantown Hospital in 1981 wearing my Vaux Jr. High jacket, I heard a woman behind me exclaim: ''Vaux l My mother wouldn'tlet me go to Vaux!" "When was that?" I inquired. "1948," she replied. No, we didn't need a state takeover and a School Reform Commission to tell us that Vaux - like other schools serving the economically distressed - needs attention. The question, however, is what kind of attention will really make a difference. Vaux, like many city school s, has never been on the list of schools that have small classes; adequate counseling services; brand new textbooks and trade books; up-to-date technology in every classroom; a fully funded up-to-date, fully staffed library; myriad opportunities for enrichment, such as music, art, guest speakers, and trips to culrural institutions; a comfortable, safe, and well cared-for physical plant; a steady, adequate, and dependable funding source. Even so, with aU the struggle over the years, I Vaux has been on lists to be envied: • the list of schools with a seasoned, dedicated, and cohesive staff • the list of schools with distinguished , graduates like the late John Bowser • the list of schools possessing a multi-year national chanlpionship chess leam. And Vaux belongs on the list of schools
Who ean M'ake Sure That ttend Sc 7
where, if anyone really cared, stopped by, spent the time, interviewed the staff, listened to the parents, ralked to the children and provided all those things that a middle school in Cheltenham or Radnor takes for granted, we would at least have a chance to make everyone, ourselves included, proud - and students would have the chance to be fully
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To--;he Editors
Letters to the editors
Fleeing educators To the editors: It was with great interest that I read the column by Melarua Page-Gaither in the Spring 2002 issue. This commentary, about educators planning to flee the School District takeover, hit home. I am one of those fleeing educators. I am a guidance counselor at William Penn High, where Thave worked for the past 4 years. In total, r have worked for the Philadelphia School District for 30 years. J also am a product of the public schools, having attended Edmonds Elementary, Leeds Junior High and Germantown High. Obviously, I am a proponent of the public schools. That being said , I am putti..ng in for early retirement at the end of this school year. I have worked hard to help my students achieve, both in the classroom and in the guidance office. I am leaving because I simply cannot take what is happening in the school system. I feel that I am not valued as a hard working professional, by the District, the city or the state. No one has bothered to ask the opinion of the front-line educators, those working in the schools every day, trying to give the students the best education possible. It is obvious that our opinion is nor wanted. So for reasons too numerous to list, I will not be here when (or if) schools open in September. I wish the best for the students, parents and teachers remaining, but frankly, all I see happening is the worst. And I refuse to be a parr of shortchanging the students.
There is another road to reform
Talk to your kids about attending s~ho.ol every day; If you suspect that your child is ~Issmg school, :ia
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The author is English Department Head at Dobbins/Randolph Area Vocational Technical High School. This article is adaptedJrom her remarks to the School ReJonn Commission 011 Aprill7.
The Notebook
Paul L. Rose
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accompli shed future citizens, not just a couple of test scores
To the editors: I do not support the recent decision by the School Reform Commission. to awru'd contracts to private, for-profit educational management organizations, such as Edison Schools Inc. Supporters of this measure wrongly put forth contracting to private firms and maintaining the status quo as the only options. The favorite line is, "If you don 't suppOIt tl,e recent decision, you are against school reform." As a parent of two children in the District, I know that some parts of the Philadelphia School District's admini stration are parentunfriendly and irrational. But hiring for-profit consultants to playa key role in running the District sends the wrong message about the more basic problem. Philadelphia children have been poorly served principally because their schools have been under-resourced. Private, for-profit films should not be making money off of Philadelphia's children. Bringing them in represents a real shift of focus from what is needed to achieve fair fundina for our schools. The community organizations that have come together to oppose the state takeover have done so because they want to ensure that Philadelphia schools-indeed, Philadelphia children-get the resources they deserve in order to receive a quality education for all.
Instead of trying to drown out these authentic voices of reform, as has happened in rhe SRC-Ied process, the District needs to join with them to fight for more resources. Harold Jordan Philadelphia
I'm not lor sale! by Sara Davidson 2.7milliondollorsdownlhedroin, Bul we could've lold you we were all in poin, BUlyou mlled up this for-profil corporolion, Thalbellersthesrno05lhroughprocessofi!luminolion, These Ed~on people ore alreody in debl, Sowe hove price logs lill Iheir demonds ore mel, This is nowoy 10 Ireol Ihe odults of lomorrow, Phil~'sschoolfundingisopilifulsorrow,
The plighl of our schools would make even Snow White I lurnpole, ' so say il now; I'm nOI...forsole! I'mnol...forsale! Iwanlolexlbookfromlhenineleenninelie' ltshouidbeorighl,butwe'restiliaskin'pl' please, Don'l Ideserve a properedumlion, Nolo dirty school and ciVil righls violalions? Wholdidldolobeputinlhismess? I have a swipe cordorouodmy neck,andyoulellme how 10 dress, These are no wcryslo run our schools, We are people wilh needs, 001 money earning lools, AI Ihis role I'm never going 10 Yale, sosayilnow; I'm nOI...forsole! I'mnol...forsole! Some soy Ihol Edison hos helped some schools, BUllhose people mn bemislaken forlhefools, BemuseinaschoollhalEdisonhasbocked, 140ulof 15 studenls kicked oul were block, Edison's school in Son Fran Iworned yo', Is one oflhe worsl scoring schools in (olifornia, Does Ihissound like Ihe onswer we need, TheseWhillleexecutiveswrappedupinlheirgreed? Idon'l need Ihese rich while moles ... soy il now; I'mnOI...forsale! I'mnol...forsole! Thestoleslopsonw~oltheythink
is on onswer, Bulyou're giving us problems like tumorous concer, You'll sit coiled up in yourbittersweel sol~foction, BUI remember slole: TO EVERYArnON THERE IS AREArnON! We are the students we are young and proud, Wearesmorl,energetic, bossy and loud, Who beller Ihan us knows what we need, And Schweiker up yours bemuse Imnobviou~y read, So we are young willing and able, We will fight bock with all cards on Ihetable, It's the aduhs that walk over us Ihat we'll nail, So scream il loud; I'M NOT...FOR SALE!!!!!! © Saro Dovidson2002
The author is a senior at Central High Srhool and a member of the Philadelphia Student Union.
SUMMER 2002
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTEBOOK
24
Who's on what list? SRC plan targets 70 schools
Map created by: Hopeworks GIS www . hopeworks.org
KEY TO SYMBOLS
o Privatized school
Edison, Choncellor-Beocon, Victory, foundotions /nr., Uof Penn, Temp/e, Universal Campanies
o Reconstituted school o Charter school o Independent school Seep. 5 for definilions of above terms Geographic labels on map refer to Area Academic Offices
CENTRAL
â&#x20AC;˘
South
SOUTH Barratt Middle - Edison Durham Elementary - Reconstituted Edwin M_Stanton Elementary - Universal Vare Middle - Charter William S_Peirce Middle - Universal Alcorn Elementary - Edison
Dunbar Elementary - Temple Elverson Middle -Temple Ferguson Elementary - Temple Hartranft Elementary - Reconstituted Morris Elementary - Charter Stoddart - Fleisher Middle - Edison Vaux Middle - Reconstituted Wanamaker Middle -Temple Waring Elementary - Edison William D. Kelley Elementary - Edison
CENTRAL EAST CENTRAL NORTH
SOUTHWEST WEST Belmont Elementary - Charter Blankenburg Elementary - Reconstituted Bluford Elementary - Chancellor Beacon Cassidy Academics Plus - Reconstituted Daroff Elementary - Chancellor Beacon leidy Elementary - Reconstituted locke Elementary - Edison M.washington Elementary - Independent McMichael Elementary - Edison Shoemaker Middle - Chancellor Beacon Sulzberger Middle - Edison
Wilson Elementary - Uof Penn Anderson Elementary - Edison Barry Elementary - Reconstituted Bryant Elementary - Uof Penn Comegys Elementary - Edison Harrity Elementary - Edison Huey Elementary - Reconstituted leo Elementary - Uof Penn Pepper Middle - Independent Sayre Middle - Reconstituted Show Middle - Edison Tilden Middle - Edison
Bethune Elementary - Independent Cleveland Elementary - Reconstituted Duckrer Ele'mentary -Temple Fitzsimons Middle - Victory Gideon Elementary - Reconstituted Gillespie Middle School - Edison Kenderton Elementary - Edison leslie P. Hill Elementary - Reconstituted M_Hall Stanton Elementary - Reconstituted Pratt Elementary - Victory Rhodes Middle - Reconstituted Richard Wright Elementary - Victory Steel Elementary - Reconstituted
NORTH Central East Middle - Charter Clemente Middle - Chancellor Beacon
J. DeBurgos Bilingual Middle - Reconstituted ludlow Elementary - Edison McKinley Elementary - Reconstituted Munoz - Marin Elemeniary - Edison Penn Treaty Middle - Edison Potter -Thomas Elementary - Edison Sheridan Elementary - Chancellor Beacon Stetson Middle - Edison
NORTHWEST Ada lewis Middle - Foundations, Inc. Emlen Elementary - Reconstituted Fulton Elementary - Foundations, Inc. Kinsey Elementary - Foundations, Inc. logan Elementary - Independent Pastorius Middle - Foundations, Inc. Pickett Middl'e - Independent Roosevelt Elementary - Reconstituted
Seven groups get state planning grants covering 80 schools In a separate iniati ve, Governor Schweiker has awarded seven organizations a total of $2 million to plan the conversion of traditional public schools into "Independent Schools." Each organization expressed interest in a group of schools and will receive $25,000 per school for which they develop a plan. Independent schools, while still public schools, are freed from some regulations of the School District. The existence of a second list of schools and another process where a new management model is proposed has caused confusion. While these groups' planning work is underway, the School Reform Commission reported in May that it has no scheduled plans to review addi-
tional proposals for independent schools coming out of this planning process. The grant recipients and the schools for which they received planning grants:
Community Connections Services and Developments Inc. $ 100,000 for Allen, Strawberry Mansion, Douglass, LP. Hill
Foundations Inc. $400,000 for Lewis, Day, Central, Ellwood, Pastorius, F S. Edmonds, Wagner, Hill-Freedman, McCloskey, Kinsey, Howe, King, Leeds, Prince Hall, Pennypacker, Rowen
LaboraJory School of Communication ami Languages $25,000 for school to be determined
West Philadelphia Coalition $300,000 for Harrity, Bartram, Mitchell, Anderson, Patterson, Tilden, Longstreth, Pepper, Penrose, Turner, Morton, Catharine
Nueva EsperanZQ $425,000 for Barton, Cayuga, Clemente, Central East, Cramp, DeBurgos, EdisonlFareira, Elkin, Fairhill, Feltonville-Horn, MunozMarin, McClure, Potter-Thomas, Sheridan, Stetson, Taylor, Willard
Universal Companies $325,000 for Audenried, ArthUr, McDaniel, E.M. Stanton, Edwin Yare, Childs, Alcorn, Barratt, South Philadelphia, Girard, Durham, Smith, W. S.l'eirce GermantoW1l Settlemellt $425,000 for AMY Northwest, Lingelbach, Henry, Fitler, Emlen, Germantown, Logan, Kelly, Wister, Gratz, Pennell, Pickett, Steel, Fulton, Roxborough, Roosevelt, Widener