Brandon Ford (right) with West Philly Hybrid X Team teammates Shamere Palmer (center) and Stefon Gonzales. (Photo from Hybrid X Team Flickr feed, www.flickr.com/photos/evxteam)
When First Lady Michelle Obama’s guests settle in tonight for President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, a young West Philadelphian will be among them.
West Philadelphia High School junior Brandon Ford, a leader on the school’s famed West Philly Hybrid X Team, is on a very short list of guests of the first lady announced last night. Ford forgot his school ID last September when members of the team traveled to the White House to stand with President Obama for the announcement of a new science program. He was not allowed in. But, as the Inquirer points out today, the White House didn’t forget him.
The West Philly Hybrid X Team has garnered national attention for its fuel efficient car designs that have fared very well at competitions that have included teams from automotive companies and Ivy League universities.
Ford, who also plays football at West, left with his mother, Linda Jackson, on the 8:15 a.m. train for Washington this morning.
We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry after this ABC6 story about parents braving frigid temps to get their kids into Penn Alexander’s kindergarten, which is capped at 50 students. We’re happy that such a school exists (full disclosure: we have a child there) and that parents care so much about their child’s education, but we’re sad that they are so scared of the alternatives that they feel they have to sleep outside on the coldest night of the year to get in.
This kind of stand-in-line, first-come-first-serve enrollment system obviously isn’t sustainable. Penn Alexander, which prides itself on small classes, is filling up quick in the lower grades as parents move to the neighborhood (some before they even have children) looking for the Holy Grail of a nice urban neighborhood and a good public school.
West Philadelphia High School garden. (Photo by Allison Ostertag)
The West Philadelphia High School Garden at 47th and Locust Streets needs a volunteer group or individual to design and/or build a rain water harvesting and garden watering system. A stand for a rain barrel needs to be built and the barrel needs to be adapted to collect rain free-standing, not from a downspout.
Right now the only access to water is inside the school, which is very inconvenient and unavailable during school breaks.
Volunteers should have some building skills, tools (they can be rented from the Tool Library) and possibly a vehicle to transport the lumber. The garden has drills, hammer nails and will supply building materials.
To apply and for more information contact Allison Ostertag at 504-710-5406 or by e-mail: freeduh2 – at – hotmail.com.
Philadelphia schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman will meet with concerned West Philadelphia parents and others on Monday, January 24 at the Philadelphia Business and Technology Center (5070 Parkside Ave., first floor) at 1 p.m. West Philadelphia Coalition for Neighborhoods and Businesses is organizing the talk and Ackerman is expected to discuss, among other things, the district’s strategic plan – Imagine 2014 – and community involvement in schools.
The meeting organizers want to remind those interested in attending that the entrance is on Columbia, not on Parkside.
The crisis in public education is perhaps the biggest challenge facing our city. You only have to go as far as our own neighborhoods to see the disparity among schools. To address these concerns, teachers, parents and students from some area schools are coming together tonight for a local screening of “A Community Concern,” a documentary about organizing for better urban public education, at the Enterprise Center CDC (4548 Market St.) in studio c. The film begins at 6:30 p.m. and doors open at 6.
From the organizers:
“A Community Concern is a new documentary about people who refuse to accept the system’s failures, and are working for change.Their spirit, passion and commitment shows that when organizers, parents, youth and educators work together, they are successful. It brings together stories of people who face different challenges, but share similar goals.”
West Catholic takes on South Fayette today in the PIAA Class AA state football championship at noon. If you didn’t make the trip to Hershey you can still catch the game live on television.
The game will be televised on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). Here is a listing of the channel numbers for a bunch of cable companies.
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