A grass-roots organization of parents, community members, and school staff, fighting to defend public education. We work together to provide analysis and demand accountability from the School District of Philadelphia to provide students with a high-quality education.
Although understandable fears have arisen recently that the constitutional rights we have taken for granted are under attack, Americans, for the most part, still have confidence that those rights remain intact. All citizens have the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, to have an attorney present during any trial or hearing, to a fair and speedy trial before an impartial judge and to present evidence and witnesses. Both the Fifth and 14th Amendments state that no citizen can be “deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law” and that all levels of government must adhere to these laws.
Many who read the article last month about the plight of Philadelphia teacher Marianne Kennedy were shocked to learn that those rights apparently do not apply to all Philadelphians.
After coming to the aid of a troubled student with a history of behavior problems last June, Kennedy was summoned by a social worker at the city’s Department of Human Services to come in and “have a conversation” about an incident at the school when the child lay on the floor, screaming and blocking access to a classroom. The DHS worker assured Kennedy she did not need to have an attorney present, and a colleague who accompanied her was barred from the interview. Kennedy explained that the child’s parents, who had just lost custody of him, had a history of drug abuse and that the school’s staff and administration had worked with his guardian to provide emotional and academic supports for him.
Kennedy was shocked to find a few weeks later that her employer had been notified by DHS that she had been identified as a child abuser and that the district was already taking steps to have her terminated – even though she was not, and still has not, been provided with any notice of allegations that specifically states what she could have done that could be construed as abuse.
Several witnesses, including the principal, submitted statements sent to DHS and the district that Kennedy followed proper procedure and never did anything to harm the child. Only the organized and vocal support by her colleagues and community members prevented Kennedy, a teacher with over 20 years of exemplary service to the students of the district, from being fired. There is no law that says that a preliminary determination by one DHS worker must result in the firing of any school district employee.
DHS scheduled a hearing six months after that initial interview, presided over by an administrative law judge hired by that agency. Kennedy has spent those six months in “teacher jail,” even though she had no formal hearing before the School Reform Commission – a clear violation of her tenure rights. Thus, Kennedy was guilty until proven innocent. Her reputation was damaged and her livelihood threatened without due process. She has had to raise thousands of dollars for attorney’s fees.
Kennedy is one of a number of Philadelphians who work with children in schools and day-care centers who now find themselves branded as criminals before they ever see the inside of a courtroom. Not only have they been denied their constitutional rights, many have lost their livelihoods and their reputations – not because they have been convicted or even arrested, but because one bureaucrat at the city’s Department of Human Services makes a determination based, very often, on hearsay.
Mayor Jim Kenney and other elected officials have shown courage and leadership in fighting to defend the constitutional rights of immigrants and other targeted groups. Those same officials must take immediate steps to prevent denial of due process and equal protection under the law by any city agency under their own authority.
Also see:
As child abuse allegations in Philly schools rise, ‘teacher jail’ thrives and reputations are at stake https://tinyurl.com/y9a4ow9r – Inquirer – July 21, 2018
The School District received five applications for new charters to open September 2017. One applicant has already dropped out. APPS members attended all four Charter School Hearings held on Thursday Jan 5 and Monday Jan 9th. The SRC will vote on these applications on February 8th. The Charter School Office will post its evaluation reports on its website approximately one week before the vote. We have researched each applicant. Links to our research follows this Executive Summary of issues and concerns. The four applicants are Metropolitan Philadelphia Classical Charter School (MPCCS); Deep Roots Charter School (DRCS); Friendship Whittier Charter School (FWCS); and KIPP Charter School. Our reports are quite lengthy and detailed so we are highlighting some essential points.
* Three applicants have detailed Attachments that are inaccessible to the public. Representatives of the SRC office told APPS that we would have to file an official Right to Know request to access any of the attachments. That would take months, and it would be unlikely that the district would release the information before the SRC votes in February.
*MPCCS and FWCS applicants are from outside of Philadelphia. FWCS and MPCCS have no connection to the intended community.
*All four applicants used pre-packaged, scripted curricular materials.
*3 out of 4 have limited or no parental involvement.
*FWCS and DRCS are opening in district school buildings closed due to under-enrollment.
*FWCS and DRCS have management contracts with outside businesses. The FWCS management fee is 12% of its budget. This goes to the Charter Management Operator.
*All four are top heavy in management positions.
*Student privacy and the rights to student information are not addressed by any of these Charter Management Organizations.
*There is no job security for teachers at DRCS, KIPP, and FWCS. As it says in the KIPP Parkside Charter School application, employment “is “at-will” meaning that either the employee or the school may end the employment relationship at any time, with or without notice, with or without cause.” At MPCCS all teachers will be recruited from Hillsdale College. The College “considers itself a trustee of modern man’s intellectual and spiritual inheritance from the Judeo-Christian faith and Greco-Roman culture…”
To read the reports on individual charter applications click on the links below:
The School Reform Commission will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, February 8th to consider and vote to grant or deny these new charter applications. The meeting will be at 4 p.m. in the auditorium at the 440 N. Broad Street. If you wish to speak you must register by calling the SDP Office of the SRC at 215-400-4010 by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7th.
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 