If you have something to say about the latest public education crisis in Philadelphia, this meeting may be for you. Parents, educators and community residents are invited to “Tell it to the Children,” a citywide town hall meeting to address the budget crisis that could cost the district thousands of jobs and delay the opening of the school year.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Mother Bethel AME Church (419 S. 6th St., near 6th and Lombard). The interfaith social justice organization POWER is hosting the meeting and Rev. Kevin Johnson of the Bright Hope Baptist Church and Rabbi Laura Grabelle Herrmann of West Philly’s Kol Tzedek Synagogue will moderate.

Organizers say that one of the purposes of the meeting is also to discuss the District’s long-term funding issues.

Organizers say that the meeting will also be streamed live at  http://new.livestream.com/accounts/4917752/events/2315718.

School District of Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite announced last week that the start of the 2013-2014 school year could be delayed if the District does not receive $50 million in funding, which he said will just “get the doors open.” The District is maintaining a “school opening” website here to help parents and students navigate the beginning of the school year.

A few months ago we wrote about a wild turkey roaming around West Philly streets, which caused a massive response from our readers and the story even got picked up by citywide media. The West Philly turkey became famous and started its own Twitter account.

While sightings of wild critters around here are not that rare, with periodic accounts of raccoons or opossums in folks’ backyards or near garbage containers, we haven’t heard a lot of stories about groundhogs in the hood. A neighbor, Bill, who lives near 49th and Springfield, spotted this cute fella earlier today after his dog, Oliver, chased it up on the fence in his backyard. Bill’s daughter Margie snapped the photo below. Bill, thanks again to Oliver, was one of the first neighbors who spotted the West Philly turkey.

Photo by Margie Sanderson.

Photo by West Philly Local reader Joel DeGrands.

Many residents who live near 46th and Spruce streets were awoken this morning by a car crash and witnessed a flipped SUV lying on its side in the middle of 46th Street and the driver talking to police. Reportedly, the car hit two others in the crash and a total of four cars were damaged. The accident happened shortly after 7 a.m. We’re trying to get more information and hope that no one was injured.

The new school year is scheduled to start in a month, Sept. 9 (fingers crossed that the budget crisis is resolved soon) and there are some efforts in the area to help many local families get ready. So far we’ve heard of two school supply drives to help West Philly families with school children. If you know of more school supply collections/drives, please drop us an email (editor@westphillylocal.com) or leave a comment below.

ACHIEVEability’s Backpack and Book Donation Drive

Photo courtesy ACHIEVEability.

You can help ACHIEVEability to support more than 250 school-age youth and community residents by donating to their Backpack and Book Donation Drive. If donating a backpack please consider including the following school supplies: spiral bound notebooks, loose leaf paper, composition books, pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, calculators, pencil sharpeners, glue, etc. If donating a new or gently used book, please ensure that it is appropriate reading material for school age children (K-12).

Donations for the backpack and book donation drive can be delivered to ACHIEVEability’s administrative office located at 35 N. 60th Street (between Market and Arch Streets). If you have questions, please contact ACHIEVEability Events Manager Brian Hoskins at brian.hoskins@achieveability.org or 215-748-8814.

Penn School Supply Drive

Through Friday, Aug. 16, multiple locations across the University of Pennsylvania campus will serve as drop-off points for the Penn Volunteers in Public Service’s annual back-to-school drive.

The school supply drive collects basic back-to-school items such as binders, dividers, dictionaries, staplers, glue, tape, calculators, crayons, pencils, pens, paper, rulers, notebooks, book covers, markers, folders, lunch boxes or bags, school bags or backpacks, umbrellas and blank CDs or DVDs. The preference is for new items, but they would also accept “gently used” items like book bags (they have to be in really good condition).

The supplies will be distributed to nearby schools, after-school programs and other organizations in West Philadelphia. One of the schools in West Philadelphia that will receive a portion of the collection is the Henry C. Lea Elementary School.

There are a lot of drop-off locations, so please check out this link for more information.

Superintendent William Hite said today that the 2013-2014 school year may be delayed if the District does not receive an anticipated $50 million from the city by Friday, Aug 16. “We will not be able to open all 218 schools for a full-day program,” Hite said in a statement released this afternoon. “Without the funds to restore crucial staff members, we cannot open functional schools, run them responsibly or provide a quality education to students.”

William Hite (archive photo).

Schools are scheduled to open on Sept. 9, but Hite said administrators are considering alternatives, including pushing back the first day of school, only opening some schools on Sept. 9 or opening for a half day.

Hite said that $50 million is required to rehire hundreds of aides and other school personnel who have been laid off as a result of the budget shortfall.

“Fifty million dollars allows us to tell parents that when their child is walking through the hallways, eating lunch or at recess, an adult will be supervising them,” Hite said. “It allows us to tell parents that counselors will be available to serve children in our largest and neediest schools, and that an assistant principal will be on hand to resolve any disciplinary issues that keep children from learning.”

Hite went on to say that $50 million “only allows us to open the doors” and reiterated the District’s position that labor union concessions are also required.

UPDATED 8/9/13 at 2:10 p.m.: After a few readers asked about the petition in City Paper, we reached back out to Greensgrow to get more info. According to Greensgrow’s Ryan Kuck, as a phase one step, the farm hub gathered signatures from business associations and community leaders for each proposal they’ve assembled. If any of the proposals move forward and once they’ve identified a site, Greensgrow will reach out to the community through meetings and the like for community input.

As we reported in June, a garden center was being proposed at an empty lot at the southeast corner of 51st Street and Baltimore Avenue (pictured). A couple of weeks ago City Paper wrote that Kensington farm and garden hub Greensgrow has its eye on two plots of West Philly land, including at 51st and Baltimore. We checked on it and found out that nothing is set in stone, although, according to a Greensgrow rep, those sites are among many swaths of West Philly land they are considering as their next home.

Ryan Spak, owner of the corner lot on Baltimore, said much the same when we spoke to him this week. While he would be “honored” to bring a garden center to the lot because “the neighborhood deserves one,” he said that he is considering multiple possibilities for the land and an operator has not been identified. As for Greensgrow, Ryan said they were at the community meeting at Seeds Gallery on June 21 and showed interest, but he would not confirm if they are in talks.

We’ll keep you posted on this development when we have more information.

-Annamarya Scaccia