Posts (Newest to Oldest) – Page 97 – Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools

Eyes on the SRC: May 18, 2017

by Karel Kilimnik
May 15, 2017

Outsourcing of professional development for teachers and administrators continues with this month’s resolutions. Relay Graduate School of Education, which received a contract just two months ago, will be paid to send three assistant superintendents and nine principals to a twelve-day summer program in Texas. Dave Levin, co-founder of KIPP, is also one of the Relay founders. KIPP has a large presence in Texas.

After four years, the district still has not reached a settlement with PFT members. That may be the reason that the district has had to undertake a large recruitment effort for the second year in a row. Resolution A-2 calls for the Office of Talent to “develop, implement, and refine a pilot Teacher Residency Program for the District”. It’s ironic that this recruitment effort is being underwritten by the Philadelphia School Partnership. PSP has made the forcing out of teachers a condition for funding school transformations, including Blaine and WD Kelley elementary schools.

What If…?
Instead of paying $415,800 to a vendor to provide a summer school literacy program at seven schools, every school could determine what summer enrichment program to provide for its students. If we took all of the money from contracts going to corporate education vendors at this one SRC meeting, there would be over $1 million for almost 20 summer school programs.

Note: The next two SRC Action Meetings will be held on Thursday May 18 and Thursday May 25, both at 4:30 PM. To register to speak, call 215.400.4180 before 3PM the previous day.

Click here to read selected Resolutions for the May 18th meeting and the APPS analysis.

APPS News: May 2017

by Karel Kilimnik
May 10, 2017

Spring is showering SRC meetings upon us: there are two meetings each month from March until June. We continue to inform supporters of public education in several ways: an overview of Resolutions to be voted on in our Eyes on the SRC, a report of these meetings in Ears on the SRC, video of testimonies from members and supporters, and a new section of Calendar Events. We appreciate any and all feedback on our writings. Please feel free to share additional information and resources or to ask questions. The next two SRC meetings for May are listed in the Calendar section. We are happy to advise those who want to testify but have never done so. We urge all who want to fight for public schools to attend and bring a sign if possible.

New SRC Policy Committee Meets—When Those Affected by Policies Cannot Attend
In March the SRC passed a resolution creating “ a policy committee that will review policies that affect students and staff”. They scheduled these meetings for 9 AM, when a when students, staff, and working parents are unable to attend. Thus, those who are responsible for implementing the policies, and those affected by them, are excluded. The first meeting of the SRC Policy Committee, Chaired by Commissioner McGinley and attended by SRC Chair Joyce Wilkerson and Superintendent-designee Naomi Wyatt, met on April 6 in a small conference room at 440. About 80% of those present were district staff. Four APPS members attended, along with Councilwoman Helen Gym and her chief of staff. Prior to this initial meeting over 75 pages of district policies were posted Friday afternoon March 31 for public perusal. Read the APPS Ears on this Meeting for a more detailed account. If the intent was to enable the public, in particular those directly affected by these policies, to have some input, then these meetings need to be scheduled at a more convenient time.

Action Meeting Morphs into Budget Meeting

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Ears on the SRC Special Meeting – May 1, 2017

SRC pic May 1 2017 #2

by Diane Payne
May 9, 2017

This special meeting of the School Reform Commission was announced in a press release sent out Monday April 24. The school district’s official notice was not published in the newspaper until Wednesday April 26. Those who wished to speak had to sign up by Friday. The sole purpose of the meeting was to vote on charter renewals and amendments for 26 schools. The day after giving notice of this meeting, an article appeared in the Notebook giving the public some information on the schools up for renewal. Because of that article, the public did have some information on the performance of these schools.

For the past year, the district has violated the PA Sunshine Act by failing to post or distribute the full resolutions on charter applications, renewals and amendments. The SRC has given no explanation for this change in practice except to designate these actions “quasi-judicial”. APPS has asked for an official explanation of this legal term and why it now applies to all charter matters. The district has not provided this, despite their many promises to be transparent. District Chief Financial Officer Uri Monson has stated at every budget hearing that charters are the single biggest driver of increased district costs. The SRC has a legal obligation to inform the public of all matters, especially those that are diverting so much from funding public schools.

APPS continues to monitor the district’s adherence to the PA Sunshine Act, which was enacted in order to ensure that the public can know what its government is doing and have an opportunity to speak about it. The SRC violates not only the Sunshine Act, but the court-ordered settlement between the SRC and APPS. We are challenging their practice of only announcing the topic before the vote, then publishing a full resolution in a revised Resolution Summary after the meeting. No governmental body is permitted to report false information about its public proceedings.

SRC Position Remains Unfilled
Present for this meeting were Chair Joyce Wilkerson and Commissioners Farah Jimenez, Bill Green and Chris McGinley. The State Senate still has not confirmed Governor Wolf appointee Estelle Richman. State legislators, most recently House Speaker Michael Turzai, are quick to meddle in the school district’s business, making false statements about legal conditions which charters must follow, yet they fail to do their own job of holding a senate confirmation hearing—as well as a failing to fully and fairly fund our district and others across the state.

Green Disappears–Again

Click here to read the entire article.

The Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools Speaks at the Charter Renewal meeting of the SRC on May 1, 2017

S1130011

On May 1st, 2017 the Philadelphia School Reform Commission met for its Charter renewal meeting.

Details about the meeting can be found here:
SRC approves nontewal of Lab Charter, tables decision on Memphis Street | The Notebook – May 1, 2017

The meeting was dominated by supporters of various charter schools promoting their school and asking for renewal of their charters.

Members of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools spoke in opposition to charter renewals and called for full funding for public schools including an end to the four year impasse over a new contract for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

Click here to view all six videos.

Click on each picture to view individual videos or read transcripts of testimony. The pictures are posted in the speaker order at the meeting.

Note #1: During the charter school presentations, Commissioner Bill Green left the meeting and was not present for speakers. He voted on charter renewals by phone at the end of the meeting. A fifth seat remains empty because the Pennsylvania Senate has not approved the appointment of Governor Wolf’s nominee since last fall.

Note #2: Restrictions by SRC on camera placement continue to be a problem. Since we are required to be in a “press box” which is in the audience there is continual interference with the view with movement in the audience or people sitting between a speaker and the camera. While we were able to move up one row from the last meeting there is still a problem with being required to film speakers from the back and the SRC over the heads of audience members. The one exception is the video for Lisa Haver. We were able to film from the front of the audience because they had allowed the corporate media to film from that position earlier in the meeting.

The testimony of Lisa Haver before the School Reform Commission