“I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.” James Baldwin
Never has a quote been more fitting than with the Philadelphia Board of Education and its new administration. Superintendent Tony Watlington, Sr. comes out of the gate reinstituting the odious practice of leveling–now rebranded as “Enrollment-Driven Resource Review”. Classes that have already established their routines and built relationships over the past month will be turned upside down. The district will again target classrooms that have not reached maximum enrollment allowed under the PFT contract, as if that were a problem to be corrected instead of a more nurturing learning environment. Classes will be collapsed and students will be dispersed to start all over with another teacher and new group of students. Why does the district do this? To save money. Not one board member responded to any of the students or parents who testified against it, nor did they raise it at any time during the 5 ½ hour meeting. The maximum number of students in grades K-3 is 30; in grades 4 through 12 it is 33. Students in the more affluent districts around Philadelphia, where class size is nowhere near that of Philadelphia, don’t have to endure the disruption of leveling.
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 