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The grade school dilemma: One parent’s take

August 12, 2011

commentaryThis will be a stressful weekend for a lot of parents in the neighborhood. Registration for the upcoming school year begins at the Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St.) on Monday and many are still unsure if their child will get a spot, even if they live in the school’s well-publicized catchment area.

The school has become so popular that it’s lower level grades have filled up, prompting a grassroots organization, Advocates for Great Elementary Education, to seek answers about how the school will operate in the future. Will parents have to queue through the night to get their child in? Will there be a lottery? Can they make the school bigger? The group has drafted a petition asking for answers, which has reignited a debate about gentrification, class and race that always bubbles just under the surface around here. This brings anxiety to parents who are balancing their desire to get the best for their children with their desire to see everyone’s children get the best.

One parent, Jon Grabelle Herrmann, whose daughter will be eligible to attend Penn Alexander’s kindergarten next year (if she gets a spot), shared the following commentary on the neighborhood e-mail listserv UCNeighbors. He graciously allowed us to republish it here.

I have lived in UC/West Philly now for 15 years, the first part as a Penn student. I’ve seen the neighborhood change dramatically for the better, despite the roadblocks facing some. Less crime, less blight, increased wealth for many long-time residents — and yes, some displacement too. I was thrilled that the creation of PAS meant that I could stay in the neighborhood that I love when I got married and built a family. And I’ll be in line this fall, or doing a lottery, or whatever comes to pass, to get my daughter into a school that I still see as of a lower quality than the public school I attended growing up, and in a neighborhood where things are much better but there are still many risks for a school-aged kid walking around. I am committed to living in the City and willing to do whatever I can to do that.

But private school is not an option. Moving out of University City is an option.

I have always considered the PAS a blessing, not a right. Here is an attempt by the University I attended to provide new options for families like mine that otherwise might sadly end up in the suburbs, families for whom moving to the suburbs would break out hearts. And for families who live in the neighborhood of various backgrounds. It’s a blessing I will fight for and even pay for, but of course I need to keep an eye open to the realities of Philadelphia’s broader school system.

Because I know that my family can and will move for the best educational opportunities, I balance my liberal viewpoints on supporting public urban education with pragmatic realities. I am willing to pay more taxes to support the Philadelphia school system. I am willing to be supportive of efforts to improve neighborhood schools. I am willing to research charter school options, though somewhat skeptical. I am willing to give up my right to stand in line for PAS in favor of a fairer lottery system. But I am not willing to pretend that in Fall 2012 my daughter has another option for free kindergarden in my neighborhood. Maybe my son will have another option in 2016, and I’m happy to help make that possible — as long as I still live in this neighborhood and my daughter gets to attend PAS. And only if someone who knows about schools tells me it’s possible and there are other models of success to replicate.

But the connections between my kids’ education and the education of those whose parents grew up in the City in the modern era are frankly not that tight. That ship sailed 50 years ago when my parents generation disrupted urban education by leaving cities. As a citizen, as an activist, and as a liberal, I think it is my responsibility to do what I can as an individual to support systematic change and improvements to Philadelphia’s school system. I’ll vote, pay taxes, maybe even get involved with a nonprofit. But that will have very little to do with where my kids go to school or more broadly kids of the middle and upper middle class. It just so happens that I have the opportunity to send my kids to PAS, for which I am thankful and hopeful that my daughter gets in.

So I admire Amara Rockar’s activism [editor’s note: Rockar is a volunteer organizer with West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools, which is helping improve the Henry Lea School] and hope to learn more about her work. I’m skeptical that work will impact the choices I have in front of me this year. I would like to hear from an educational expert about what really is going on at PAS — what would it mean to expand capacity, setting aside how it would be financed and whether the facility would look ugly? What are the options for Lea and Powell? What is the potential there? What am I sacrificing to send my kids to PAS versus a suburban school, even with no changes? Can we provide catchment zone financing to continue full enrollment, even with an additional tax? It certainly would be offset by our increased real estate values… Can UCD [University City District] help with that?

I don’t want people to have to move away. And I don’t want people who have chosen to live here to have to lose their chance at going to a good school. I also think the system needs to be fair and transparent. And I’m going to make damn sure that my kids gets a good education no matter the answer to any of these questions.

Bottom line: in the absence of answers to these questions, I am willing to sign the petition — not necessarily because its path will solve our problems, but because we need to stand up and work for a solution however possible. And with a 6-week-old infant in my house, signing an online petition through Facebook and sending this email is about the best I can do right now.

Thanks,
Jon

 

5 Comments For This Post

  1. Amara Says:

    Because I’m an Internet loudmouth, re-posting my response here:
    “WPCNS’s Steering Committee has sent representation to an AGREE meeting previously and will send a rep to the next one and hopes to collaborate with AGREE. From WPCNS membership survey results, there is some overlap in the membership of the two groups.

    The impulse for PAS catchment parents and residents to take care of their child, their school and their immediate neighborhood is understandable. PAS has things about it that sets it apart from any other public elementary school in the city. For this reason, the demand for enrollment at PAS may always come close to exceeding its capacity, especially in the lower grades.

    However, the situation is also due in part to parents across the city with the funds, savvy and/or connections feeling as though they must all pile on to the same five district elementary schools. Each person has a different list but it is generally some variation of PAS, Meredith, McCall, Greenfield, Powel, Henry or Jenks (or others I’m sure). This is replicated in the charter lotteries and private school waitlists.

    For the continued growth of our city and strength of our neighborhood, this is clearly unsustainable.

    To every person on this list terrified of where to send their child to school, I would like to invite you to spend a morning or afternoon volunteering in Ms. Mykytiuch’s kindergarten class at Lea once school starts. At best, you may find an alternative to your five choices even as soon as 2012 (or this year, for that matter). At minimum, you will have spent an hour or two helping children in your neighborhood learn. Email me directly [arockar@gmail.com] to arrange this. Thanks!”

  2. Mike Lyons Says:

    Thanks Amara. We like Internet loudmouths around here.

  3. Jen Skirk Says:

    Very well said, Jon and Amara both. EVERYONE benefits when public education improves (at ALL schools).

  4. Anna Says:

    Thank you for this candid post. It takes courage to publish something like this, and I’m sure many people appreciate it. But I hope you could expand on something you say: “But I am not willing to pretend that in Fall 2012 my daughter has another option for free kindergarten in my neighborhood.” There are, in fact, a number of free options in your neighborhood-Wilson, Lea, Drew, Powel, Harrington, and Huey. Collectively they enroll thousands of kids. Could you expand upon why you do not see these as options for your child? What would you need to see changed at those schools before you consider them options? How do you see those changes occurring? Thanks!

  5. A PAS Parent Says:

    Amara mentions that parents tend to pile on the same five district elementary schools — I think that’s BECAUSE it is well known that other parents are choosing these schools. Meaning, if people are actively choosing certain schools you can be somewhat assured of a lot of “engaged parents” at that school. Parents with extra money and free time — parents willing to put a lot of soft money into the school by participating in fundraisers. I’ve had kids at PAS for a while and I’d be curious to know how much additional money goes into the school (beyond the Penn per-child premium). I’m not sure, but I think MUCH of the art program (if not all?) is funded through the efforts of organized parents — and there are the wrapping paper fundraisers, the spaghetti dinner, the musical (which could be pretty much self-funded because it sells out every year!) Maybe the proceeds of all that fundraising is just a drop in the bucket? I really don’t know! But I suspect that some portion of the quality of what’s available to my kids at PAS is due to the efforts of the Home School Association, not just Penn. It sounds like Lea parents are really working hard to develop this kind of activity/interest at Lea. This is great.

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