Letters: Parents, beware of school plans
Parents are right to be suspicious of a system that allows a student's personal information to be shared by special interests.
THE PLAN recently discussed at a School Reform Commission meeting for a universal system of enrollment proposed by multieducation providers Great Schools Compact and its facilitator, the Philadelphia School Partnership, sounds on the surface like a simplification of a complex system. The idea is for families to provide on a single application a list of school preferences, including public, charter and diocesan schools. Using a formula supposedly meant to match the student with the best choice, the decision about which school to attend is made for the family.
Parents are right to be suspicious of a system that allows a student's personal information to be shared by special interests with a stake in privately operated competitive schools. Furthermore, we have a state constitution that strictly forbids using public money for private and religious education, yet more and more such blended arrangements are permitted. All with no accountability.
Gloria C. Endres
Philadelphia
Christine and Christie
Christine Flowers' tut-tutting of the inconveniences of Bridgegate reminded me of my dad's description of Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince as a "homer," i.e., a partisan who sees merit in even the questionable performance of his team. No harm in children being four hours late for class, after conceivably studying late for an exam? Ninety-one-year-old woman dies after EMS is held up? Of course, ambulance delays could have contributed to deaths, but that's not relevant, because the perpetrators somehow knew that it would just be a minor affair.
Before all the shoes have dropped, Flowers is ready to exculpate Christie. I will give her credit: Unlike Dick Armey, she's at least willing to admit that Rachel Maddow is "smart."
James Miles
Collingdale
Cablegram
Excuse me if I'm not overly excited about this new Comcast building in Center City. Experience has shown me that their promise of thousands of jobs never materializes, and they put all these restaurants and stores up that no one outside of rich people can afford to patronize.
Donna Di Giacomo
Philadelphia