Schools

The grade school dilemma: One parent’s take

August 12, 2011

This 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

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A chance to help a local school – supplies needed

August 11, 2011

With the school year approaching (public schools open on Sept. 6) and the school budgets shrinking, The West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools is organizing a school supply drive for the Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.).

Community members can drop of new, unopened supplies – everything from pencils and glue to notebooks and backpacks – to the University Dollar Store on Spruce Street between 47th and 48th and the St. Mary’s Church at 3916 Locust Walk (push the buzzer at the red door). There are boxes waiting at both locations.

In particular, the school needs:

• pencils
• pens
• pencil cases
• pencil sharpeners
• crayons
• markers
• spiral notebooks
• loose leaf paper
• two-pocket folders
• books bags
• protractors
• compasses
• composition notebooks

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Petition asking for answers at Penn Alexander goes online

August 10, 2011

As the new school year approaches, parents and community members concerned about the cap on new students in the lower grades of the Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St.) have started an online petition asking that all school-age children living in the school’s catchment area be admitted.

The petition follows a letter sent by the Spruce Hill Community Association to University of Pennsylvania officials last month asking the university, which manages the school in cooperation with the School District of Philadelphia, to address the cap. Options recommended for investigation include erecting temporary classrooms and moving students from the middle school grades, where classes are sometimes under-enrolled, to a different building.

The group circulating the petition, Advocates for Great Elementary Education Everywhere (AGREE) West Philly, asks Penn President Amy Gutmann, School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and Penn Alexander Principal Sheila Sydnor to “work collaboratively, and in a timely manner, with concerned community members to find a viable solution to PAS’s overcrowding problem.”

School officials have said that the K-8 school, which since its opening has pledged to maintain a lower-than-required student-teacher ratio, is overflowing with students in the lower grades. New Penn Alexander students begin to register on Monday (August 15), which will be the first indication of how many will be affected by the cap.

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Last day for Lea kindergarten registration until Aug. 22

August 5, 2011

Today is the last day to register for kindergarten at the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) until registration for the entire school begins on Aug. 22.

The West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools has all the you need to get your youngster into the school, which has managed to skirt many of the problems associated with budget cuts through grassroots community efforts. The school has retained its art teacher and will have a fully staffed library thanks to a grant by the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children and volunteers from the neighborhood. It is also bolstering its music program.

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Opposition mounting to proposed school kitchen closures, including Penn Alexander’s

July 12, 2011

Groups advocating for healthy school lunches in the city are urging parents and community members to sign a petition opposing the planned closure of more than two dozen full-service school kitchens, including the one at the Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St.).

The proposed closure of the full-service kitchens, which are part of the School District of Philadelphia’s plan to balance its budget, would mean that Penn Alexander students and some 16,000 students at 25 other schools would no longer receive meals cooked at school but would be served pre-packaged meals shipped in from a company located in Brooklyn.

More than two-thirds of the district’s schools, which lack full-service kitchens, already serve lunch this way and the district estimates that closing the 26 full-service kitchens would save an additional $2.3 million. Many of the schools that serve pre-packaged meals now never had full-service kitchens.

But advocates from Fair Food, The Food Trust and a growing number of parents oppose the decision, which has not yet been finalized, arguing that the pre-packaged meals teach children bad eating habits.

These groups are asking parents and community members to sign this electronic petition, which will be sent to Superintendent Arlene Ackerman.

Fair Food and The Food Trust are also trying to save the “Farm to School” program at Penn Alexander and two dozen other schools in the city. The program contracts with local farmers to supply schools with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Alyssa Moles, the Farm to School program coordinator for The Food Trust, said by e-mail that her organization is lobbying the District to retain the program. She wrote that she has been assured that, even if the full-service kitchens are closed, that “it will not affect the Farm to School program at those schools and they are also looking at ways of making sure that the schools that were not part of the program will continue to receive fresh fruit and vegetable offerings every day.”

Many schools nationwide have made the transition to pre-packaged meals prepared off-site. These meals are not always hot. For some insight into what pre-packaged lunches are like, check out this blog from “Mrs. Q,” a teacher in Illinois, who ate (and photographed) them every school day in 2010.

The District’s proposal has also garnered national attention. Writing in Mother Jones magazine, Tom Phillpott argues that the cuts are indicative of a new austere reality in the United States.

The school’s losing cafeterias (from the Inquirer):

Baldi Middle, Barratt/Childs Elementary,Beeber Middle, Conwell Middle, DeBurgos Elementary, H.R. Edmunds Elementary, Feltonville Arts and Sciences, Finletter Elementary, Franklin Elementary, Harding Middle, Hunter Elementary, Jones Middle, Juniata Park Elementary, Marin-Munoz Elementary, Marshall Elementary, Meehan Middle, Overbrook Education Center, Penn Alexander Elementary, Penn Treaty Middle, Pepper Middle, Shaw Middle, Spruance Elementary, Tilden Middle, Grover Washington Middle, Wagner Middle, Wilson Middle.

Other ways to follow the story:

Good School Food for Philly Kids (Facebook group)

Philadelphia Inquirer story on the proposed closures

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School budget cuts trickle down, community groups step in

July 8, 2011

We are starting to get an indication of what the cuts to the School District of Philadelphia budget will mean for local neighborhood schools.

The Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.) has lost its full-time librarian for the 2011-2012 school year. Luckily a combination of grassroots groups are stepping in to help out. The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) will bring its celebrated program Open Books Open Minds to Lea. That means that volunteers will keep the library open and help younger students with reading and older students with research for school projects.

Click here if you are interested in volunteering at Lea through the WePAC program. WePAC asks for a minimum commitment of two hours every other week.

Also, the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools is sponsoring a book drive through the summer to provide more books for in-classroom libraries at Lea. You can drop off books at Bindlestiff Books (4530 Baltimore Ave.) during business hours or on the porch at 4317 Larchwood Ave. All books appropriate for children K-8 are appreciated. A group of teachers will go through the books over the summer and divide them into the appropriate grade levels.

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