Tell Em Tom

 BOOK BANS ARE UN AMERICAN!

They Contain Ideas

 

Just Pretend

 

The Truth About Indoctrination

 

Education, The Way it Should Be

 

Critical Thinking

 

Nothing To Do With The Bible

 

What School Libraries Really Need

 

I Support This!

 

What's Best For You!

 

Heady Stuff

I was 8 years old when this episode of Batman aired...Everybody in my elementary school class was talking about it..We had a cool substitute teacher, who turned it into a teaching moment...We wound up discussing violence on TV and how it might influence real life...Heady stuff for some second graders. Good memories...

Are there imaginative and visionary teachers like this still around today?  Interesting premise..I would like to hope so.

Communist Plot (Free College for everyone???)

And Now For Something Totally Sensible

Call Me Stupid But....

Lebron's New School

When You Also Enjoy Eating!

I didn't even have a car when I graduated from college...And for two years ,I worked two minimum wage jobs to make ends meet....

"Save Money?"  That was a joke....I know it's much harder now for these kids graduating from college!

Amerikan Education

Education is important to some nations....I guess it's not that important to this one.

A Perplexing Situation

 

I am a product of the Philadelphia Public School System...I'd like to think that I got a pretty good education when I was a part of it too...

I don't know if the children in the system today can say the same..

My grandchildren are part of it today...My grandson is headed to the third day and one of my grand-daughters is headed to kintergarden....What awaits them?

I'm scared.....If you have children in the Philadelphia Public Schools you should be afraid..

The leadership is clueless and State Government could care less.....Our children...Are headed to unemployment,illiteracy and ultimately prison...

What kind of ass backward...to quote my grandmother, Rebecca...leadership throws more money into locking people up than educating them??

You tell me...In India, Sweden, China,Japan and Germany it's the exact opposite...They toss millions into education...Their children are ahead of American children in Math and Science and their quality of life is steadily rising above ours..

Today the leadership of the Philadelphia School System all but raised the red flag..

If you have an idea for overhauling a city public school, the Philadelphia School District is listening.
 

Officials on Tuesday announced the "School Redesign Initiative," inviting teachers, principals, universities, and community organizations to propose turnarounds of their own design.

That's a shift for a system that has relied heavily on charter conversions to reform struggling schools. Schools slated for redesign would remain part of the district and would continue to employ union-represented teachers.

As many as 10 schools could be transformed beginning in September 2015.

That means closed and converted to a charter school or just closed...

Successful teams would receive grants of up to $30,000 - to be raised through donations - to plan the overhauls, although teachers on redesign teams would have to do the work on their own time, and schools are not guaranteed bigger budgets to make the changes.

For a district where the ongoing budget crisis has cast a shadow over everything - including whether schools might open on time - it's a big step. But it's a necessary one, said Paul Kihn, deputy superintendent.

"It's really important that there be an outlet for all of the energy that we feel and hear about, even amid the financial turmoil of the district," Kihn said. "If we want to attract and keep all of the really terrific teachers and principals that we have here, they have to have an outlet for their energy and passion."

For a decade or more, the district has attempted school turnarounds with varying degrees of success. Some in-house turnaround schools - "Promise Academies" - still exist, but those overhauls were directed by the central office and have lost resources over the years, as the district's money woes have grown.

Officials said School Redesign Initiative schools would be different.

"We have a moral obligation to ensure that all schools are providing a high-quality educational experience for our students," according to a district document. "

For too long, and despite many well-intentioned efforts by hardworking individuals, we have not met our obligations. Increasing the availability of high-quality learning experiences for children is our fundamental priority."


Ryan Stewart, the district's executive director of the Office of School Improvement and Innovation, said the effort is a response to employees' wishes, and is guided both by other districts' work in this area and by lessons learned from current and failed district turnarounds.

"There have been calls for more opportunities for teachers to step up and take leadership roles," Stewart said. "We want to create that platform to ignite and excite local educators to do this work."

Teachers have been invited to submit turnaround plans in the past, but all have been rejected. Kihn and Stewart said the new process is designed to help teachers succeed.
Teams must submit letters of intent by Aug. 19, but will have until Oct. 10 to formulate proposals, and will have district support to do so. Final selections will be made in November.

In addition to the grant funding, successful teams will receive work space, connections to experts, and networking opportunities, officials said.

Those eligible to apply include current school leadership teams, teacher-led teams, collaborations among school families, community organizations, or universities in partnership with educators, and other groups.

All teams must have at least one member who is a principal or holds valid Pennsylvania principal certification.


Applications may be submitted for any district school except current Promise Academies, but funding will only be granted for the district's lowest-performing schools.

The new initiative does not mean the end for charter conversions and Promise Academies, officials said. Those options will still be open to the School Reform Commission.

As so many things in the district do, the program hinges on Harrisburg legislators' signing off on a $2-per-pack cigarette tax that would yield the district millions. Lawmakers return Aug. 4 to decide the tax's fate.

Without that money, Kihn said, "everything comes into question."
Reaction to the announcement was mixed.

Teacher voices need to be heard and incorporated into school design more, said Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. But he remains skeptical.
"I find the timing of this very strange," Jordan said. "It comes at a time when the district doesn't have sufficient resources to provide all the children in all of our schools the programs and services they need to get a high-quality education."

Timothy Boyle, a teacher at Chester Arthur Elementary, said his early reaction was that the program appeared to be a "home run. This is what people in my position have been asking for."

An eight-year veteran of the district, Boyle has seen reform efforts come and go, and he knows there are possible pitfalls to the program: How do you give your all to your teaching position and plan an ambitious school turnaround? How do you make a transformation work without a guarantee of additional money?

Arthur doesn't fall into the category of target schools for the program, but he's still intrigued.

"This is a really attractive option for me personally," Boyle said. "This is work that I'm interested in."

I never thought I'd see a day when schools would be up for auction....Legislators seem to find money to do things they want to do...Like go to war,like send aid to some foreign country,like give themselves a raise...But they never do the right thing with the money...They never invest in the people right here...

Why is it other countries do?   I'm just asking!

Shame On This City

I read the latest news about what is in store for the school system in this, the city of my birth and I shake my head...This is a sad day indeed... I also get angry....People need an accounting of how their tax dollars have been spent..Specifically our property tax dollars that are supposed to fund the school system...

On the heels of  yet another “doomsday” school budget for 2013-14 that has no funding for things as basic as paper and new books, the Philadelphia school system is now laying off 3,783 employees, including 676 teachers and 283 counselors, effective July 1.  Unbelievable!!!!

Superintendent William Hite Jr. announced that the pink slips were in the mail on Friday, while calling the layoffs “nothing less than catastrophic for our schools and students,” according to this Philadelphia Inquirer story.

Along with teachers and counselors, those losing their jobs include 127 assistant principals and 1,202 aides who monitor the cafeteria and playgrounds. Among the targeted teachers are those that teach reading, math, English, special education and music. Teacher layoffs are being conducted based on seniority, according to the current district-union contract.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

And get this!! more jobs are expected to be lost on top of these if the city doesn’t find more money for the school district, which is said to be trying to deal with a projected $304 million deficit. Mayor Michael Nutter said he is looking for ways to raise more revenue for the schools, but so far, nothing has been definitively done to stop the cuts.

Funny...When I was growing up in this same city...The school system actually had money...the school system actually worked and I managed to get a pretty decent education in this city school system...This was before all things Philadelphia became political football in Harrisburg, our state capital...Before people from upstate Pennsylvania who hate all things Philadelphia got a foothold in the state capital...
In March the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted to close 23 public schools at a meeting where American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was arrested for protesting the action. About a week ago, the commission approved what was called a doomsday budget for the next school year because it includes no money for items such as new books, paper, counselors, assistant principals, arts and music programs, athletic programs, secretaries and librarians

.
Randi Weingarten released this statement after the news of the layoffs:

"What was Superintendent Hite brought in to do? Mass-close schools even though it makes the corridors and streets less safe for kids and destabilizes neighborhoods? Make draconian budget cuts that strip schools of nurses, libraries, guidance counselors, art, music and after-school activities, and rob children of the rich learning experience they deserve? And now impose nearly 3,800 layoffs that public schools can’t function?"

Even though Hite is my fraternity brother, I want to ask him the same thing!

 This is a  damn travesty. What we have before our very eyes the evisceration and destruction of public education in the City of Brotherly Love as we knew it. And what really galls me is that instead of an all-hands-on-deck approach, instead of investing in our children’s futures, we see Gov. Corbett and Mayor Nutter sit on their hands while Superintendent Hite and the School Reform Commission have the gall to strip our schools to the bone and blame the very people who work closest with kids—the very people who devote their lives to helping children achieve their dreams,Teachers, for this mess. Where are the priorities of the governor, the mayor, the superintendent and the SRC? It's for damn sure that it's certainly not with the children of Philadelphia!!!...Certainly not with the parents and taxpayers....

All this and my property taxes are still going up....What the f^&%???

SHAME!  SHAME ON THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA!!! OUR KIDS DESERVE BETTER!!!

Color Of School Closures

I didn't write this...It comes from something emailed to me, but it is something to think about...Observe the illustration above and tell me what you think?

"There is no evidence to suggest that school closures work. Despite what policymakers say to justify these mass closures, reports have shown that the majority of students who are affected do not get placed in high performing schools. And though closures are often touted as a way for districts to save money in tough economic times, those savings often fail to materialize and can in reality cost taxpayers millions in hidden costs." -Philadelphia School Union Website.


Mass school closings have become a hallmark of today's dominant education policy agenda. But rather than helping students, these closures disrupt whole communities. And as U.S. Department of Education data suggests, the most recent rounds of mass closings in Chicago, New York City and this city,Philadelphia disproportionately hurt Black and low-income students.

See a pattern here?  Hmmmmmm!

I don't want to just present a problem with no solutions...Here are some viable alternatives-

What is the alternative to closing schools? Evidence-based policies that provide students, schools and communities with the opportunities and resources they need to succeed, including:

• Wraparound academic, health and social services to help struggling students get back on track
• Recruiting, training and retaining high-quality teachers in every classroom
• Equitable school funding systems so that those who face the toughest hurdles receive the greatest resources
• Universal high-quality pre-K so that all students start school ready to learn
• Expanded learning time, including after-school and summer programming
• Turning schools into community hubs that provide expanded services to both students and community members

For more information, check out this report from Communities for Excellent Public Schools, "A Proposal for Sustainable School Transformation."
Here are just a few of the many groups organizing against school closures in the cities highlighted in the infographic. If your organization is doing anti-closures work, let us know and we'll add it!

• Chicago: Kenwood Oakland Community Organization
• New York: Coalition for Educational Justice
• Philadelphia: Philadelphia Student Union
• National: Journey for Justice

Think about it people!