The important story that every Philadelphian should read
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The important story that every Philadelphian should read
I'm getting to this party a little late, but better late than never. There was a great story last week on the cover of the Philadelphia City Paper -- a holiday week when a lot of folks were off or not paying close attention or both. (Yes, this too was written by Daniel Denvir...the dude's on a roll). In addition to the horrible timing, it wasn't about the things that usually get us all whipped up here -- race (well, maybe a little) or sports or sex or...did I mention sports? Still, I'm getting the vibe that the piece threw some of the city's elites into a tizzy, even if the common folk didn't notice it.
It's a story about power in this town -- who has it these days, and how they are using it.
It's a story that every citizen and taxpayer of Philadelphia should read.
And the focus is on Jeremy Nowak, the head of the increasingly influential philanthropy, the William Penn Foundation.
You didn't vote for Mr. Nowak. Nobody did. But the article makes this case that he has more say over the future of Philadelphia schools than any elected official.
The group that gathered in May identified two key opponents: Labor unions and the black middle class, the latter led by the Rev. Alyn E. Waller of Germantown’s Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. The unionized teachers were a particularly formidable — and expected — source of opposition. Ramos planned to reopen the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) contract after the July 1 budget deadline, and the group discussed a multifaceted plan to defeat them. While Ramos had asked the Chamber of Commerce to bankroll a lobbying campaign, Nowak felt the chamber was not pulling its weight and wanted it to pay for public relations. But the lobbying, whoever ultimately paid for it, fell apart once infuriated Philadelphia Democrats discovered that Ramos had bypassed them and directly appealed to Republicans for new union-busting powers.
The public-relations objectives outlined at the May meeting were not all achieved — yet the Blueprint proposal lives on. Critically, perhaps the most important player didn’t come from within the district administration, city government or the state. Rather, Nowak — from his 11th-floor office in Logan Square, at the helm of a $1.9 billion foundation increasingly shaped in his image — has been in many ways charting the course.
Behind the scenes, he has had a hand in not only the Blueprint, but the recent superintendent search, dealings with unions and the advancement of a pro-charter, even pro-voucher, agenda. And that’s just the schools. Long before Nowak’s arrival, William Penn had funded urban planning, news media and environmental and community-organizing groups in the city. Now, via the checks he writes — and the apparent political calculus behind them — Nowak has become one of the most influential Philadelphians most Philadelphians don’t know.
A couple of points here. There's no "shock and awe" revelation here, other than the strong suggestion that the recent selection of schools superintendent William Hite was rigged well before the rushed, so-called "public input" (which actually isn't even that surprising). More importantly, here in Philadelphia we're used to power brokers in the Full Voldemort mode (why yes, I was thinking about Vince Fumo, actually) -- corrupt and self-interested if not out-and-out Pure Evil.
The case of Nowak is not like that. He and the William Penn Foundation seem motivated to do what they think is best for the Philadelphia schools. The disturbing questions here are a lack of democracy, a lack of transparency, and the accumulation of a lot of power in one source to make those decisions.
I'm seeing this influence in the part of Philadelphia that I know best: The news media. While the two major newspapers here have struggled with bankruptcy and a string of different owners, an alternative media landscape has sprouted in Philadelphia -- including WHHY's Newsworks, the outstanding Public School Notebook, and a new, well-funded media project called the PPIIN -- that shares a common link: Major funding from the William Penn Foundation. That gets tricky if the foundation does indeed have a bigger agenda -- as the City Paper article strongly suggests.
But the bigger issue is this. No one disputes that the Philadelphis schools have been horribly, horribly mismanaged. But the solution we've hit on is to hand control to the meritocracy -- a small cadre of unelected and unaccountable elites (so often intersecting with hedge-fund Captains of the Universe, who have the money to fund these ventures) who worship the power of the free-market -- as well as their own intellect.
Isn't that the kind of thinking that crashed Wall Street?
Now the meritocracy wants to save Philadelphia's schools? Thanks, but no thanks. There's got to be a Third Way -- still open to the Best and the Brightest but with an active role for parents, teachers, and others who a stake in a future of Philadelphia education for all, and not just for some.
And the Elite of which you speak do not worship the free market. They are overwhelmingly liberal, government interventionists. It is only the we-know-best crowd worshipping their own intellect, and seeking to apply it by force of government.— Mirror- If I take that last sentence seriously, you must be a voucher advocate yourself. Greater "democracy" didn't save the public schools in Chicago (unless you are impressed by the formidable marksmanship of kids in Chicago) and it won't here. It is time to try the ultimate democracy--dismantle the public system and let kids have needs based grants to attend any school they want--but NONE of them should be owned or operated by the City of Philadelphia. I write this as a product of the Philly school system who would never allow a child of mine to go to even the best of the remnant of city schools.— InquiringMindz
- So, Bunch, you would be supportive if The William Penn Foundation wrote checks to support the Archdiocese instead of the public school system??? Maybe the William Penn Foundation should simply use their cash to offer a top rate alternative to the failed public schools??? Based on your commentary, that would be more desirable than writing checks to fund the public school system, correct??
Amazing...folks donate money and left wing loonies are still not happy. I thought that is the core of everything left wing looney...get OTHER people to pay for your stuff. Entitlement-palooza is the liberal mantra.— kelprod2 - Note that Nowak was the first board chair of Mastery Charter Schools. Conflict of interest anyone??— F. Harry Stowe
- Will, I'm amazed that you aren't a little more sophisticated than Dan Denvir. Denvir's mischaracterizations of what he thinks went on are not sourced. Okay I suppose for the editorial page. Easy to criticize from where you are in the so-called tower of truth. Why don't you ask to see the school district's budget numbers; why don't you take a closer look at graduation rates and test scores. Then tell us how all of this is supposed to improve. Will, this is just a shoddy blog. Expected more from you.— Sam Pileggi
- The School District has been run by the state through the SRC for eleven years. They have mismanaged the budget in preparation for the privatization of public schools, especially during the tenure of Arlene Ackerman. — tom-104
- The third way will look a lot like the first way. Promise this time we're going to get it right (we really mean it), take taxpayers money, throw it into the rathole of corrupt pols, unions and kids with no parents and next to no chance and come back in 5 years and we'll do it all over again. One thing Obama said that is true. You cant continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Philadelphia has taken doing the same thing over and over again and failing to epic levels. At least Nowak is using private funding, I say give him a shot. If you want an investigation, I still would like to know how Ben Waxman got his job working for a partnership between WHYY and PNI, funded by the William Penn Foundation.— tr88
- What happened to boy wonder, Ben Waxman? Our own Icarus flew a little too close to the sun.— tr88
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