|
|
|
Schools
The fiscal crisis facing our public schools is being exploited by a movement to privatize public education, break unions and subject students to high-stakes test-prep regimes. But it is a crisis nonetheless — one that requires long-term solutions, immediate band-aids and, critically, a substantial commitment from Philly’s largest stakeholders.
As I’ve reported, the state, whose School Reform Commission (SRC) has controlled Philly schools since 2001, has underfunded poor districts for decades. This fiscal year, Gov. Tom Corbett and the Republican legislature slashed nearly $300 million of Philly’s funding. The district now faces a $218 million deficit for the coming year and a $1.1 billion cumulative five-year shortfall.
“We have a dysfunctional conversation here,” Republican City Councilman Dennis O’Brien told the SRC last week. “We have a five-year plan [from the district] with no anticipated revenue from the state until 2016 or ’17? What the hell is up with that?”
Philadelphia public schools are on the operating table, reeling from a knockout blow of heavy state budget cuts. It was too much to bear after decades of underfunding and mismanagement at the hands of shortsighted Philadelphians and mean-spirited politicians in Harrisburg.
So the District is today announcing that it's going to call it quits. Its organs will be harvested, in search of a relatively vital host.
“Philadelphia public schools is not the School District,” Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen told a handful of reporters at yesterday's press conference laying out the five-year plan proposed to the School Reform Commission. “There's a redefinition, and we'll get to that later.”
He got to it: talk about “modernization,” “right-sizing,” “entrepreneurialism” and “competition.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer “Assault on Learning” series won a Pulitzer Prize today, and the reporting team, by and large, deserves heartfelt congratulations. But the series' last installment, “Armed with Guns and Understanding,” evidenced major journalistic shortcomings and dangerously propagandized in favor of arming Philadelphia's school police. At the risk of this seeming in poor taste while champagne bottles pop on North Broad, this critique was published in November:
What is up with the Inquirer's campaign to arm school cops?
The Philadelphia Inquirer has dedicated article after article to its "Assault on Learning" series, describing a school district where students suffer from widespread violence that administrators underreport so as to not look "persistently dangerous" on paper. They exposed a dysfunctional early intervention program that enrolls nearly everyone — again, like standardized test scores, looks great on paper — and helps almost no one. And they disclosed that school police receive little training and even less vetting. This year, one uniformed officer appeared in court the first day of school — to face charges for crack possession.
A mysterious third-party group that supports school vouchers, which use taxpayer dollars to fund private and religious school tuition, has sent out a second round of mailers attacking West Philadelphia State Rep. James Roebuck.
The first mailer didn't mention vouchers by name, saying only that Roebuck, who opposes vouchers, "blocked parents from choosing which school is best for their children.”
The most recent attack is even more oblique—and unquestionably misleading. The mailer blames Roebuck for the controversies surrounding former Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's ruinous tenure, high dropout rates, overcrowded classrooms, school violence and, once again, for the enrollment cap at the prestigious and University of Pennsylvania-funded Penn Alexander public school.
If you think that's bizarre, try this last accusation: Roebuck is blamed for what appears to be widespread cheating on standardized tests at Philadelphia schools. Many observers, however, blame the cheating on the very same school “reform” movement that is financing the pro-voucher campaign, which has pushed for high-stakes standardized tests to play an increasingly important role in teacher evaluation and even a school's very survival.
A flyer attacking State Rep. James Roebuck for opposing school vouchers is hitting mailboxes throughout his West Philadelphia district.
“James Roebuck blocked kids from attending the schools of their choice,” is printed in big red letters above an unflattering photo of Roebuck with his mouth hanging open.
Perplexingly, the mailer also blames Roebuck, who has represented the 188th District since 1985, for the enrollment cap at the prestigious and University of Pennsylvania-supported Penn Alexander public school.
"It's obviously a really slanted piece. I don't support vouchers. I do support school choice," says Roebuck. "What we need to do is open up more options for students within the existing public school system so we don't divert money out of the system to the benefit of some kids and not the many."
Teachers and/or administrators have, it appears, engineered far more widespread cheating on standardized tests at Philadelphia schools than has previously been reported, according to a lengthy article in the Sunday Inquirer.
Citywide, 53 city schools—one in five—is under investigation. Twenty-five of the city's top-tier Vanguard Schools—an astonishing 44 percent—are suspected of cheating.
The fallout from former Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's implosion now reaches all the way to Louisville, Kentucky.
Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Donna Hargens has hired former Ackerman communications aide Jamilah Fraser as her chief diversity, community relations and communications officer. But School Board members have demanded more information as to why Fraser left her job in Philly.
The Courier-Journal cites City Paper's reporting that Fraser was part of a “communications team dedicated to promoting and defending [Superintendent Arlene Ackerman] personally, and which coordinated and assisted public rallies in her favor, communicated regularly with private supporters, and spent taxpayer time and money on various kinds of ‘propaganda,’ including protest signs and a farewell tribute video.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer has dedicated article after article to its "Assault on Learning" series, describing a school district where students suffer from widespread violence that administrators underreport so as to not look "persistently dangerous" on paper. They exposed a dysfunctional early intervention program that enrolls nearly everyone — again, like standardized test scores, looks great on paper — and helps almost no one. And they disclosed that school police receive little training and even less vetting. This year, one uniformed officer appeared in court the first day of school — to face charges for crack possession.
The most recent installment, "Armed with Guns and Understanding," however, raises more questions about the Inquirer's reporting than it does about our beleaguered public schools. Profiling the armed school police of Houston, Texas, the 4,500-word article suggests that Philly follow the lead of Houston, which has a lower rate of school violence. Since both cities are similarly big and similarly non-white, what else could explain the schools' lower rate of violence?
Well, we don't really know, since the Inquirer simply implies/assumes that armed police were the decisive factor. And perhaps they were. But as social scientists like to say, correlation does not equal causation. It's bad journalism to assume that the two districts' different outcomes (less vs. more violence) are the result of a single cause (armed police). I would imagine that the differences between the two cities (one Texan, one Pennsylvanian) and two districts go well beyond whether school cops have guns. That's just a hunch, but it's not my job to figure that out — it was the Inquirer's, and they didn't. This was a thinly disguised editorial for arming and "professionalizing" our school police hidden under even thinner reporting.
While its methods may at times seem harsher than in Philadelphia — Houston school-police K-9 units conduct random sweeps for weapons and drugs — statistics suggest that its professionally policed schools are markedly less violent than Philadelphia's.
Former schools superintendent Arlene Ackerman may be gone, but education controversy is on its way back. The School Reform Commission (SRC) will tonight unveil a list of recommended school closings at a special 5 p.m. session following the regular 3 p.m. meeting.
Parents at South Philly’s E.M. Stanton Elementary School will be there. “It shouldn’t close because it’s a high performing neighborhood public school,” says James Wright, parent of a sixth grader at Stanton, which he believes the District will propose consolidating with Chester A. Arthur School and perhaps closing. “We have 15 partnerships, including with Art Sanctuary and University of the Arts. We have a dance instructor and a drumming instructor. It’s so successful where it is — any kind of movement will disrupt that.”
The number of students attending Philly public schools has shrunk over the years and the District has plans to close, consolidate and reorganize schools to save money. The 2010 Census showed a slight population growth in Philadelphia for the first time in 50 years — after the exodus of a quarter million people. That, along with declining birth rates and the growth of publicly funded and privately managed charter schools, means fewer students. The District has an estimated 70,000 empty seats, and has lost 11,000 pupils in the past five years alone.
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Senate passed school vouchers legislation that would give public funds to poor students at underperforming schools to attend private schools, including religious institutions. The legislation has been a priority for Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, and received support from some Democrats, notably Philadelphia Democratic Sen. Anthony Williams. But the teachers' union, public education advocates, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) immediately criticized the legislation, which will now be taken up by the House.
“Taxpayers see school vouchers for what they are — an expensive new entitlement program that takes money from the poorest public schools and puts it into the pockets of private and religious schools that are not accountable financially or academically to taxpayers,” according to a statement from Jerry T. Jordan, President of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. "Meanwhile, public schools with inadequate funding are left with even fewer resources than before to provide the education that disadvantaged children need to lift them out of poverty."
Indeed, Gov. Corbett presided over a nearly billion-dollar cut to public schools this summer, and his school vouchers legislation would use an increasingly limited pot of public school monies to send students to private schools. And there is no guarantee that any given private school will admit a given student. Unlike public schools, they can turn down whomever they choose, including because of a student’s religion or sexual orientation — or just because of weak academic performance, which will be the case with many lower-income students.
- 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
