Public school students returned to understaffed buildings across the city today under a cloud of uneasiness that has hung over the School District of Philadelphia all summer. Many of the city’s 137,000 public school students are off to new schools after last year’s closure of 24 schools and nearly every school will be missing personnel as a result of mass layoffs.

Here are a few things that parents can do to help get through the first week:

• Parents United for Public Education has a thorough guide to filing official complaints about a child’s education experience. Complaints could be about anything from seriously overcrowded classrooms (35 students or more), to the need for a school counselor when none was available, to special needs students not receiving adequate services. The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia will also help out with complaints.

Parents United stressed that these complaints are not meant to target specific teachers or principals. “The purpose of this effort is not to file complaints against principals or school staff but to focus on the mandates of the state constitution,” the organizations website reads. “It’s important to make clear this is not a lawsuit. These are administrative complaints that are intended to document and make public how terrible the impact is on young people across the city.”

• For students heading to new schools, the city has come up with “safe routes” that will be staffed by volunteers from 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. each day of the school year. You can access those here. Locally, that includes students who attended Alexander Wilson, which closed last spring, who have been assigned to Henry C. Lea. Parents are already questioning these.

• If you are on Twitter, follow the local public school movement at #phillyeducation. Also, include #Philly1stday, on tweets about your experience on the first day of school.

• Last but not least, thank a teacher, a principal, a security officer, a secretary. These are trying times.

The “safe routes” map from Alexander Wilson to Lea.

Penn Alexander School (archive photo).

UPDATE (8/29/13, 8:32 a.m.): District spokesman Fernando Gallard said that the wait list will expire each June 30, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. So students on the list before July 1 will retain their spot. Letters should be going out soon, he said. Gallard’s explanation of the new policy is not consistent with what some parents who have contacted the school have been told. Further clarification will be needed and Penn Alexander’s School Advisory Council will take up the issue in the fall. Basically, our original  suggestion still stands: If you are enrolling a student this year, call the school.

UPDATE (8/28/13, 9:30 a.m.): We asked the chair of the School Advisory Committee Terrilyn McCormick about the new process at Penn Alexander School and whether the school is contacting parents directly to let them know about the new policy. Here are her responses: 

“It’s really not clear. I’m going to work with the SAC in September to make it more clear. People need to contact the school right now.”

(8/27/13, 6:00 p.m.): The School District of Philadelphia has changed the admission policy for the Penn Alexander School two weeks before school is due to start, according to the chair of the School Advisory Committee.

Effective this month the school will no longer recognize the previous year’s wait list for spots in grades 1-8, Terrilyn McCormick told West Philly Local in an e-mail. McCormick said that parents who were on the wait list should contact the school immediately (215-823-5465).

Penn Alexander’s wait list for the lower grades, many of which are at capacity, had become controversial in the past couple of years. Parents often complained that the process of getting on the list was not transparent. The District has apparently agreed.

Penn Alexander’s lower grades, particularly grades 1-3, have become difficult to enter, particularly for students who are new to its catchment area or were not admitted to school’s kindergarten. Students from the kindergarten are automatically admitted to first grade, but the school is not obligated to take students from its catchment area once its classes are at capacity, according to the District.

In January the District instituted a lottery for kindergarten admission after students lined up outside the school in frigid temperatures four days before registration was scheduled to begin.

–Mike Lyons

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) will hold a rally at the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) on Tuesday to protest cuts in school funding.

The rally is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. and is one of many events that the PFT is holding at neighborhood schools around the city in response to cuts in school funding. The PFT contract expires on Aug. 31.

Gov. Tom Corbett has made it clear that the state will contribute another $45 million to help close the $304 million budget shortfall if the union agrees in millions of dollars in concessions in its new contract.

The School District of Philadelphia laid off about 4,000 school personnel, including hundreds of teachers, in response to the budget crisis.

Come September, Spark, the national nonprofit providing professional apprenticeships to underserved youth, will launch its first yearlong program in Philadelphia and is currently recruiting new mentors across West Philadelphia through this Friday.

As West Philly Local reported in December, the award-winning Spark came to Philadelphia in the spring to test-run a pilot program in the city, partnering with Henry C. Lea School, McMichael Promise Academy, and Mastery-Shoemaker Charter School to serve about 60 at-risk 7th and 8th grade students and connect them with two-month long apprenticeships at local businesses to complete career-related projects with their assigned mentor. Through these apprenticeships, students learn a variety of personal and professional  skills and build confidence and their personal identity in order to improve their educational career and goals, and keep them on the path to graduation. This fall, Spark expects to work with over 100 students based on the success of the pilot program.

Last year, West Philadelphia students worked with mentors from Honest Tom’s Taco Shop, the Enterprise Center, and the University of Pennsylvania. Those local businesses will partner with Spark once again this fall, along with the City of Philadelphia, WHYY, Reading Terminal Market, Duane Morris, and 16 other companies.

If you are a local business owner and would like to participate in this program, please fill out a mentor application here.

–Annamarya Scaccia

We recently published information about two school supply drives in West Philadelphia to help local families in need get ready for the new school year. Here’s information on two other back-to-school drives and fundraising efforts happening in the area.

The Nehemiah Davis Foundation (NDF), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that works hard to serve our city through efforts such as the Back-to-school Book Bag Giveaway, annual Thanksgiving dinners for veterans, seniors and homeless, an annual Christmas toy drive for youth, and more. On Sept. 1, 2013, NDF will be holding its Fifth Annual “Back-to-School Book Bag Giveaway” at Malcolm X Park (51st and Pine). Community volunteers will help to distribute donated book bags filled with schools supplies and clothing to over 300 local children.

During the event, NDF will also provide entertainment, free food and haircuts for all of the families who attend (see flyer for more information).

NDF would appreciate donations of school supplies, book bags, or clothes for the giveaway. Book bags are especially wanted so if you can donate one it would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be dropped off at Myra Herbal Wellness, 666 N. 52nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19131. Monetary donations are also accepted at: www.gofundme/neodaviso.

Families Forward, a local organization that assists homeless families and runs 75 transitional and permanent family residential units in West Philadelphia, is working hard on preparing their children for school as the school bells ring in 2013-2014. In the past, the School District of Philadelphia provided school uniforms vouchers to homeless children and children in transitional housing, but this year they have cut that funding dramatically, according to Families Forward’s Director of Fund Development Grace Hightower. Children K-8 will only receive $20 (previously it was $50) and students 9-12 will only receive $30 (previously it was $75).

Gifts of $50 can help Families Forward purchase two uniform pants, two shirts and a pair of shoes to help a child have a great start to the school year. Gift cards to Forman Mills are also a great way to help with purchasing school uniforms.

Typically, used items are accepted at Families Forward, but this is not the case with back to school. Donors are asked to collect NEW:

• Backpacks (youth and teen)
• Black and white composition books (MEAD)
• Plastic scissors
• Crayons (basic colors)
• Markers (erasable)
• Glue sticks
• Pencils and pencil cases
• Ink pens (Blue or Black)
• Highlighters
• Rulers
• 3 Ring Binders and dividers
• Loose leaf paper
• Folders (with side pockets)
• Index Cards/poster board
• Flash Drives
• Calculators
• Dictionary and Thesaurus
• Tissues/Hand sanitizer

If you would like to organize a drive or have any questions please contact Grace Hightower by phone at 215-240-4828 or email at: ghightower@taphilly.org. Donations can be delivered until August 30, 2013 to 111 N. 49th Street; Philadelphia, PA 19139. Gifts can also be made at www.familiesforwardphilly.org.

No Child … curators (from left) Walter DeShields, LaNeshe L. White and Carlo Campbell at Malcolm X. Park (Photo from Facebook page).

This might be the most timely theater performance of the year. On Sunday, Aug. 18, “Theatre in the X” debuts at Malcolm X. Park (51st and Pine) and the first performance is the off-broadway piece No Child ..., which gives a first-hand account of what it’s like to teach and learn in inner-city schools.

Click to enlarge.

Originally performed as a one-woman show, the play is based on playwright and actress Nilaja Sun‘s experience teaching art in the New York public school system. The Theatre in the X version will feature a multi-general cast to play the teacher, students and school personnel who provide a glimpse into a school classroom.

The performance comes as the public school system Philadelphia is making national headlines for its financial difficulties.

Andre G. Brown will direct the play and Walter DeShields, LaNeshe L White and Carlo Campbell are the curators. The Leeway Corporation provided a grant for the performance.

The curtain opens at 6 p.m. and admission is free.

Theater in the X will continue the following Sunday, Aug. 25, with a production of Black Mass.