|
|
|
Notebook Defends Publishing Leaked School Closings Document
Philadelphia Public School Notebook defends decision to publish school closure list amidst criticism from Mayor and District.
Notebook Defends Publishing Leaked School Closings Document
The Philadelphia Public School Notebook (where I have freelanced in the past) is defending their decision to publish a leaked list of schools the District was considering closing, part of a plan to close or consolidate dozens of schools to save money as enrollment declines. Mayor Nutter and the School District have criticized the Notebook for publishing what they call a “far from being...final proposal.” The Notebook says that making the list public is in the public interest--especially in the face of School District intransigence.
Interest in the District’s plans is high, as evidenced by the turnout at dozens of community meetings held since last fall.
But when asked – by parents, by teachers, by reporters, and even by the mayor – to share information on which schools are being considered for action, the District’s answer has been, “We’re not ready yet.” Officials have not floated a single proposal as to what might happen to individual schools.
Many of us have concluded that the District is consciously keeping its plan under wraps for as long as possible.
That’s why the Notebook recently made a sensitive judgment call to publish a confidential, draft District document that details more than two dozen school closing proposals.
The District certainly has a right to internal deliberations. And the proposed (and perhaps necessary) school closings, when made official, will no doubt prompt a firestorm of neighborhood and City Council protest no matter what decisions get made.
But democracy is messy, and all the more so when so many people distrust the District, which has a rough track record when it comes to community relations (as my recent article about cuts to services for immigrant students and families, or any number of other instances of shady decision-making around the budget shortfall and otherwise, demonstrate). Indeed, the District was supposed to provide school closing documents to the City as part of the widely reported “education accountability agreement” signed in exchange for more City funds.
City Council members also requested more detailed information about the facilities planning process during the city’s contentious school budget negotiations. District officials sidestepped their questions, again acting as if the preliminary plan did not exist.
The Notebook, Philadelphia’s brightest spotlight when it comes to education journalism, was right to error on the side of more sunshine.
You don't need a degree in organizational management to know that will hurt the company. I hope they sue for big money as this is clearly a violation. (HTML deleted)— egorhythmia
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
