Nutter to tour new high school during 'education week'

MAYOR NUTTER will visit one of the city's new public high schools Monday to mark the start of classes for the district's roughly 135,000 students.

Nutter and Superintendent William Hite will meet students, parents and teachers at Learning in New Context, or LINC, on Erie Avenue near 2nd Street in North Philadelphia, one of three new schools opening to all students. It is part of a week-long series of events to mark schools' opening.

The new schools are one of the few bright spots in the beleaguered district, which has suffered numerous cuts due to a funding crisis.

Lori Shorr, Nutter's chief education officer, said officials wanted to highlight some of the city's positive educational initiatives, while not ignoring the inadequate resources many children receive.

"I think people are weary, and I understand it," Shorr said during a call with the media yesterday. "I'm weary. I get it. At the same time, we have kids going into those schools every day and as adults, we have to be of two minds when we do our work."

Nutter and Hite will make another joint appearance Monday at Swenson Arts and Technology High in the Northeast, where Nutter will give an update on the Education Supplies Fund, a campaign started last year to provide basics such as paper and other classroom items.

As part of the tradition, Nutter will go to a Catholic school and a charter school on Wednesday, this year choosing Roman Catholic High in Center City and Global Leadership Academy in Parkside. He will also attend an Independence Charter School Board meeting to promote the need for school boards to be transparent.

Sandwiched in between those events, Nutter, a Wharton grad, will visit his alma mater on Tuesday for the Mayor's Scholarship Award dinner. On Thursday, he will travel to Northeast High School to discuss a partnership with Penn State University.

The final - and perhaps most important - stop will be a trip to Harrisburg on Sept. 15 to lobby state lawmakers to okay a Philadelphia cigarette tax, which is desperately needed to help fund the school district. Nutter plans to spend much of the week there, Shorr said, emphasizing the importance of the levy.

"That has got to happen," she said, adding there is no fall-back plan. "Unfortunately, when you put a Plan B out, there will be some people who will rally around a Plan B and that's a luxury we don't have right now."

There is no word on when lawmakers may vote on the tax.