Nutter backs bid for Danza high school reality show

In a letter read to the Philadelphia School Reform Commission this afternoon, Mayor Nutter implored the panel to allow a classroom reality show to film at Northeast High School.

The A&E show would bring the actor Tony Danza to Philadelphia as a 10th grade English teacher.

"As a product of urban public schools, Mr. Danza is dedicated to enriching the young people who enter his classroom," Nutter wrote in a letter read by his education secretary, Lori Shorr.

The show would be called Teach. Danza would co-teach the class with a certified teacher, and would also participate in extracurricular activities such as the prom and the school play. Students would opt into his class, district officials said.

The actor is already participating in the district's new-teacher induction.

Executive producer Donny Jackson also addressed the commission.

"Long before his fame as an actor, he aspired to be a teacher," Jackson said.

Jackson said the show would bring benefits to the school, including student internships, and to the district, including help recruiting teachers.

The commission will vote next week on a resolution that would give Teach Productions the right to produce "a nonscripted documentary TV series at Northeast High School, for an initial cycle of 13 episodes ordered by A&E Network."

If approved, the district would get a $3,500 fee, reimbursement of the district's added facilities and personnel costs, and payment of legal fees up to $10,000.

The district would have the right to object to footage in the rough cut of each episode.

The resolution also includes the option to produce additional cycles of the show.

Contact staff writer Kristen Graham at 215-854-5146 or kgraham@phillynews.com.