Letters: Who are the Phildelphia School Partnership?
The group of bankers, lawyers and pols have had some bad ideas.
AS A PARENT of children in the Philadelphia school system, I can't help but notice that the Philadelphia School Partnership seems to be behind every misguided school policy reported on in this newspaper.
Who supported the plan for massive school closings that will displace 14,000 students and disproportionately harm our most vulnerable students, while expanding unaccountable charter schools?
Who takes private funds in order to shape district policy, but recently lobbied legislators in Harrisburg to deny Philadelphia schools $45 million unless the district implemented anti-teacher policies?
Who helped to develop this school-grading scheme, so whole groups of schools will be written-off as "failures" instead of given the support they need to help students succeed?
The answer in each case: the Philadelphia School Partnership.
And who is the Philadelphia School Partnership? According to their website, they are a collection of bankers, lawyers and political operatives. They work in secret. They are not elected. And they have more influence over our schools than parents or the community.
Philadelphia schools need help to turn things around. Teachers, parents and community leaders are coming together to build a better future for our kids. But first things first - we need to rein in the power of the Philadelphia School Partnership before they do more harm to our schools.
Kia Hinton
Philadelphia
Hold the withholders
A federal judge recently overturned the 1992 first-degree murder conviction of James "Jimmy" Dennis, who, at age 20, was sentenced to death and has been fighting for his life ever since.
In her 40-page ruling, Judge Anita Brody pointed out that city police and prosecutors ignored, lost or covered up evidence that Dennis was not the man who robbed and fatally shot a high-school student near the Fern Rock SEPTA station in 1991. Citing a "miscarriage of justice," Brody ordered the commonwealth to retry Dennis within six months or set him free.
Any chance that those responsible for withholding exculpatory evidence in the case will be prosecuted?
Rob Boyden
Drexel Hill, Pa.
Bouquet for Flowers
What an enjoyable read by Christine Flowers on Charlie Manuel. It just seems so appropriate and satisfying that Ms. Flowers combined her thoughts about him with those of her family members. Any of us who have been blessed with honorable and "salt of the earth" people being a part of our lives should happily relate.
Maybe it is my advancing age coupled with its inevitable losses which lead me to value sentimentality as being much more than quaint or pathetic. Or maybe I have come to believe that a decision, even one dressed as a "good business" decision doesn't in the long run make it necessarily good or right in the overall picture of life.
So I do get your drift, Ms. Flowers, because in my view life and literature more than mirror each other.
Joseph Ridgway
Marlton, N.J.