Differing opinions on how to improve schools
The numbers don't lie, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said: Most Philadelphia School District students aren't in "good" schools, if "good" is defined as half of all students reading and doing math at grade level.
ramoThe numbers don't lie, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said: Most Philadelphia School District students aren't in "good" schools, if "good" is defined as half of all students reading and doing math at grade level.
Hundreds turned out for a School Reform Commission-led discussion Monday night to brainstorm ways to change that.
The opinions were as diverse as the people in the room - parents, teachers and community members, some staunch defenders of traditional public schools, others strong charter boosters, others agnostic about everything but children achieving.
"When we keep expanding into so many different untried and untrue models just simply because we're saying our neighborhood schools are bad, that's insanity," retired district teacher Diane Payne said.
"Spend your time and money on what works," said Sheila Horn, the parent of a student at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy. "My son goes to a charter school that works."
Everyone agreed, though, that there is a lot of work to be done.
"These are children that have been failed for a long time," said Christopher Johnson, principal of Science Leadership Academy at Beeber, a new public magnet school in West Philadelphia.
Johnson's school was held up as a model of one way to get Philadelphia children into better schools. SLA Beeber is patterned after and partnered with Science Leadership Academy, one of the city's most in-demand public schools.
Hite emphasized that while the district must replicate strong schools, develop new ones, and close or hand over to charters its struggling schools, its primary job lies elsewhere.
"Eighty to 90 percent of our efforts must go into improving our district schools," Hite said. "Period."
Some are not convinced.
"What they're trying to do is try to turn all the schools into charter schools," said Mille Cappetti, an official with the citywide Home and School Council and a parent of children who attend Franklin Learning Center.
Payne decried an "artificial dialogue" that makes schools responsible for fixing societal ills out of their control, then blames and closes them when they fail to achieve certain test scores.
"We have to fix our neighborhoods," she said.
The worst budget crisis in district history underscores every action the district takes. But officials said they would take seriously all the information presented to them as they move forward with plans for the troubled system.
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