Ears on the SRC – March 17, 2016

SRC 3-17-16 #2

Rally and Cry

This SRC meeting was preceded by a rally—sponsored by Parents of Wister, NAACP, PFT, APPS, PCAPS, and Parents United—in front of the school district administration building. Speakers addressed the district’s failure to provide the resources needed for thriving public schools. A large and noisy presence of Mastery supporters on the other side of the steps periodically disrupted the speeches of parents and community members, including the president of the local NAACP. Once inside the auditorium, a vocal contingent of the Mastery supporters occasionally ridiculed and disparaged teachers and parents of Wister, as well as those supporting their fight to keep Wister public.

What is noteworthy about this scenario is that it plays right into the hands of the corporate machine. This strategy of pitting community members against each other serves to secure the power and profit of the few over the democratic voice of all. Parents, students, teachers and community members all want the same thing; a fair, equitable and safe education for our children. Although we want the very same thing we find ourselves divided by a promise that some see as salvation for their child while others know is the handing over the democratic rights of every child. The corporate model promises what we all want for our children but comes with two costly price tags: the continued disinvestment of traditional public schools coupled with an alarming loss of democratic rights.

Speakers

Eight members of APPS provided testimony at this SRC meeting: Diane Payne, Deb Grill, Karel Kilimnik, Carol Heinsdorf, Lisa Haver, Barbara Dowdall, Kristin Luebbert, and Robin Lowry. (To see videos of these presentation or read the transcripts, visit APPS members testimony to the Philadelphia School Reform Commission.) The testimonies called out the SRC and Superintendent Hite for a wide range of dereliction of their duties to safeguard public education.

Click here for the rest of the article. 

APPS members testimony to the Philadelphia School Reform Commission – March 17, 2016.

SRC 3-17-16 #1

On March 17th, 2016 the Philadelphia School Reform Commission held its monthly meeting.

This is the testimony of members of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools at this meeting.

All eight videos can be viewed here. (Click on the second blue dot for the second page.) Testimony is in the order of appearance.

Click on the pictures below to view the individual video.

 

Diane Payne SRC 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Diane Payne testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

The transcript of Diane’s testimony and related links.
Note: Due to technical difficulties, the beginning of Diane’s testimony is missing in the video. See her transcript for her full statement.

 

Deborah Grill SRC testimony 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Deborah Grill testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

The transcript of Debbie’s testimony.

 

Karel Kilimnick SRC testimony 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Karel Kilimnik testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

The transcript of Karel’s testimony.

 

Carol Heinsdorf SRC testimony 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Carol Heinsdorf testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

The transcript of Carol’s testimony.

Lisa Haver SRC 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Lisa Haver testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

Barbara Dowdall SRC 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Barbara Dowdall testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

The transcript of Barbara’s testimony and added footnotes.

Kristen Luebert SRC 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Kristin Luebbert testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

The transcript of Kristin’s testimony.

Robin Lowry SRC 3-17-16

Video of APPS member Robin Lowry testifying at the Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting – March 17, 2016.

 

Eyes on the SRC: March 17, 2016

SRC 12-17-15 #2

by Karel Kilimnik
March 12, 2016

Welcome to the Eighth Edition of Eyes on the SRC.

There are no resolutions directly pertaining to the district’s most recent assault on public education, namely the Hite administration’s placement of four more neighborhood schools into his “Turnaround Network”. This month, we simply follow the continual erosion of school staff and resources and the continued outsourcing of services.

At the Monday February 29 hearing of the Education Committee of City Council, Dr. Hite announced that he would be creating more Turnaround Schools by the end of the week. That Friday, the names of the four elementary schools to be “turned around” were released: Roosevelt, Munoz-Marin, S W Mitchell, and Rhodes. Principals and teachers would have to reapply for their jobs, and the district could eliminate the entire staff if it chose to. A series of community meetings were scheduled for the following week, the first one, at Roosevelt, to be held the following Monday—giving the parents and community minimal notification (shades of the October 2014 SRC last-minute/early morning meeting to cancel the PFT contract). APPS members have attended all four meetings, and the level of anger and frustration voiced by parents and community members is unprecedented. These schools have all been though some kind of conversion—or two—in the past five to ten years. Parents at every school said that they would fight to keep their teachers. District staff has been unable, or unwilling, to answer basic questions such as where the funding will come from, how the conversion would take place, why the decision was made before the community meetings, and why it is necessary to get rid of teachers and principals.

Next SRC meeting: Thursday March 17, 5:30 PM. To register to speak call 215.400.4180 by 4:30 March 16. It’s best to identify yourself as a teacher, parent, or community member as the rules stipulate that only “one member of an organization can register to speak.”(There is another SRC Action Meeting on March 24.)

Plan to attend the rally in support of all schools fighting any kind of turnaround, including the four schools just targeted and the three schools previously named as Renaissance schools—Cooke, Huey, and Wister:
Thursday March 17 at 4:15 on the steps of 440 (before the SRC meeting).

Click here to read the APPS analysis of proposed resolutions to be voted on at the March 17, 2016 meeting of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission.

 

APPS Letter to SRC Chairwoman Marjorie Neff about turnarounds

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March 6, 2016

Dear Chairwoman Neff:

The members of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools call on you to halt the placement of four more neighborhood schools into the Turnaround Network. This latest plan will only lead to further destabilization of schools already struggling to survive in conditions caused by both financial and managerial crises.

Three of the four schools targeted—Roosevelt, Rhodes and Munoz-Marin—have recently undergone major transformations. Roosevelt and Rhodes were converted from middle to elementary schools. Munoz-Marin lost the majority of its staff when the district attempted to hand over management of the school to Aspira Charter Schools two years ago. The decision to place Mitchell, a school with a new principal who was praised by Dr. Hite in a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story, is truly baffling.

What is the point of inflicting more trauma on students who need the safety and guidance of teachers and staff who are working to build strong school communities?

The teachers and staff are working under appalling conditions and are now being blamed and punished, along with the students whose relationships to them will be severed.

Community meetings have been scheduled this week, beginning Monday, even though there has been inadequate notification of parents and community members, if any. The district has not disclosed the cost of the program, how it will be carried out, or what criteria were used to select these schools. It is difficult to understand how the district can afford any extra expense of this kind, especially since it plans to spend $15-20 million to place Cooke, Huey and Wister into the turnaround program as Renaissance schools. Dr. Hite has stated publicly that he cannot guarantee the district will not run out of money before the end of this school year.

As a former teacher and principal, you know how important it is for children to feel that school is a safe and stable environment. Instituting a plan whose essential feature is the severing of relationships between adults and students can only add to the trauma many students already live with.

We understand that the SRC is not required to vote on internal turnarounds. But the SRC is responsible for the financial and academic success of every school in the district. Recently, the SRC overruled Dr. Hite’s decision in the Wister case. The SRC should do the same in this matter.

Sincerely,

Lisa Haver, Co-founder

Deborah Grill, Secretary

Also see:

4 elementariness added to Philly district schools slated for closure | Newsworks – March 4, 2016

The above letter to Chairwoman Neff was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer on March 7, 2016 along with her response.

Lisa Haver was interviewed on The Solomon Jones Show on WURD on March 8, 2016. Click here for audio of the interview.

On Thursday, March 10, Superintendent Hite formally announced the four school turnarounds. He included the announcement with an announcement about budgeting a full-time nurse and a full-time counselor in each school next year. Council President Daryll Clark: “It’s hard to be excited about anything that comes out of that building, because more often then not it’s not real.”

Emails show effort to sway SRC on Wister charter conversion
The Notebook – March 17, 2016