Penn Alexander School parents and education advocates will hold a phone bank in the school’s cafeteria next Tuesday (June 11) to push for school funding as the school district’s “doomsday budget” took a step closer to reality last night with an e-mail from Superintendent William Hite to thousands of school employees notifying them of possible layoffs.

The phone bank, which is open to all parents (from any school) and community members, will be set up to call voters in key Pennsylvania districts. The goal is “to motivate voters to contact state representatives requesting increased, stable funding to all Pennsylvania public schools,” according to an announcement. The phone bank will run from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Babysitting will be provided.

A representative of Education Voters of PA will be on hand to give an overview of state education funding issues and conduct a mini workshop on how to make an effective call. They will also provide a list of voters to call. If you can’t stay for the phone bank, feel free to take a list of voters to make calls during the following days.

Be sure to bring your cell phone to the phone bank.

As parents step up pressure on legislators, Hite had the somber duty of informing a few thousand school employees of impending layoffs (see the text of his email below from The Notebook). The School Reform Commission (SRC) approved the “doomsday budget” last week that has no funds to pay for staff other than a head principal and classroom teachers at most schools. Art and music teachers would be laid off, as would librarians, counselors, school aides and other support staff.

The formal layoff notices reportedly begin to be mailed out today.

Some jobs could be spared if money can be returned to the budget. Mayor Michael Nutter proposed an increase in alcohol and cigarette taxes that could restore some funds to the school budget, but those have not yet been approved. The state legislature and Philadelphia’s City Council have yet to grant requests for additional funding.

Nutter and Hite were in Harrisburg earlier this week to make the case for the $120 million the District is requesting from the state.

“So one of the things we hear is that year after year after year the district comes asking for money,” Nutter said in a statement. “Well you’re right, because year after year after year the District doesn’t get what it has asked for, and when you shortchange someone, they have to come back year after year after year.”

Nutter told legislators that the $304 million the District is asking for ($60 million from the city, $120 million from the state and and $134 million in labor concessions) would bring it into alignment with a balanced five-year plan.

“This is the moment to solve this crisis so we’re not back here year after year after year,” he said.

Here is the text of Hite’s e-mail to school employees (from The Notebook):

Aspire Rx owner Hetal Chudasama. (Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local)

A few months ago we wrote about the new independently owned pharmacy that opened right across the street from CVS on Locust Street near 43rd. The store’s location raised some eyebrows. So this week we decided to check back in to see how things were going at Aspire.

Aspire’s owner, Hetal Chudasama, knows better than most the risk she took in locating across the street from the big box behemoth. She managed CVS’s pharmacy for a few years and began working there in 2002.

“I’ve taken all of the things I’ve seen over the years and made them better,” Chudasama said.

While the pharmacists at CVS focus on quantity, a sort of churn-and-burn style of filling prescriptions, Chudasama slows the process of getting medication down to make sure patients get what they need.

“My number one thing is to talk to the patient and give them my time,” she said.

Aspire is one of a growing number of independently owned pharmacies popping up in small towns and big cities across the country. While in the 1970s and 1980s most pharmacies in the country were independently owned, the number started to nose-dive in the 1990s as big-big box stores like CVS and Rite Aid began to dominate the market. Even Wal-Mart and Target got into the pharmacy game as a way to get customers into the stores.

But independents are making a comeback, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association. Reasons for the increase include a tough job market for retail pharmacists leading to more willing to take a chance on their own business.

Example of a blister pack. (Photo courtesy of Aspire Rx)

Chudasama offers the kind of personalized service that most independents do – but places like CVS don’t. Aspire delivers prescriptions for free. Chudasama also assembles medication in specially designed blister packages that group multiple medications by days of the week, making it much less likely that patients will not take all of their required pills. She also works closely with physicians. These are things that CVS pharmacists simply don’t have time to do, she says.

“I went to school to be a pharmacist, not to just stand and count pills,” said Chudasama.

Switching prescriptions from a big box pharmacy to Aspire is as easy as making a phone call. And if you stop by on a hot day, chances are good that you can get a cup of cold lemonade. You’ll have to pay for that at CVS.

– Mike Lyons

The unveiling party for “Hollaback: Red, Yellow, Blue,” a new comic book that takes on the street harassment of women – the catcalls, staring, kissing sounds, hissing, etc. –  is tonight at Locust Moon Comics (34 S. 40th St.) beginning at 7 p.m.

Artist Erin Filson has teamed up with the anti-street harassment organization HollabackPhilly to create the comic, which follows the experiences of two women who are harassed and a man who figures out productive ways to intervene. Filson and the Hollaback team raised more than $8,000 through crowdfunding (link includes a video about the comic) to pay for the book. The first print run is about 2,000 copies.

Here is a Facebook page for tonight’s event.

The cover of Hollaback: Red, Yellow, Blue.

Police are looking for four men who robbed Forman Mills, a clothing department store at 48th and Market, this afternoon. The robbery happened shortly after 4 p.m. Four armed men in masks came in the store and robbed it of about $500, according to police. No one was hurt. The robbers fled on foot through the parking lot. We’ll post more information when it’s available.

Funkateer Desiree Russel and two of her teammates await instruction from their drill captain during Friday’s performance (see more photos below). Photos by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local

No doubt about it, “Chops” would have been proud of his Funkateers on Friday.

The Gold Coast Funkateers, a drill team based at Samuel B. Huey Elementary School (52nd and Pine), performed in the school’s auditorium, the kind of smooth, disciplined performance that their fallen leader, Drill Master Gregory “Chops” Scott, would have liked. Chops was helping to groom the Funkateers to become members of the Gold Coast Buccaneers, the fabled West Philly-based drill team and community outreach organization.

Scott, 55, a beloved community leader, was murdered in front of his home on the 200 block of S. Millick Street on Feb. 27. Police charged his cousin and another man with the shooting death.

The Funkateers were his last team. Scott’s widow, Alfreda “Cookie” Scott, sat with other older Buccaneers in the front row for Friday’s performance.

Show organizers said they wanted to remember Scott’s life and not his death. The Huey students he worked with took the stage dressed in Gold Coast Buccaneers colors, yellow and black, wearing t-shirts emblazoned with a picture of Scott. A group of Gold Coast elders and third grade teacher Sharon Bryant led the team through their steps. Bryant and the Standing in the Gap Foundation helped Scott make the Funkateers a reality. Standing in the Gap is a community enrichment foundation that was founded in memory of Bryant’s son, Donovan, who died in 2008.

“I met Chops out there in the schoolyard, on that emblem, and a very powerful partnership was formed” said Bryant, referring to the Gold Coast Buccaneers logo on the Huey playground. “It started with a few children up in my classroom and evolved into what you see today.”

The Gold Coast Buccaneers are based a few blocks from the school and have a tradition of community service in the neighborhood dating back to the 1960s. Their mission is “to provide leadership, inter-generational recreation, discipline, culture, education and values while creating services and support to improve the quality of life in their respective communities.” The kids who are admitted to the program have to follow a regimented program of discipline and ethics. The organization even keeps an eye on their grades. Older Buccaneers, like Chops, serve as mentors and hope to keep the Gold Coast Buccaneers tradition alive. To do so they will need younger recruits, much like the ones that graced the stage at Huey.

– Mike Lyons

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Jayla (ACCT name) is a beautiful 1-2 year-old female pitbull mix that was found earlier this month in Clark Park (it’s possible that she had been abandoned.) She was taken to ACCT Philly and is now officially up for adoption (or foster) at ACCT shelter.

Jayla is already spayed, so she is one-paw-out the door, ready to go home with you. Jayla is a gorgeous dog and you will be the envy of your friends, walking this cutie pie down the street! She is very playful and full of spunk and would love to go for long walks or maybe a jog! Jayla also seems to be interested in meeting other dogs. A doggy friend for Jayla would be great! She is a sweet young girl who would love for you to show her the good life! So come into ACCT and meet her today!

If you or someone you know would be interested in adopting or fostering her please contact ACCT shelter (267-385-3800 or acctpetfinder@gmail.com). Jayla’s ID is 19795850.