Len Lipkin

What The Heck is a Charter School Anyway?

So far my research has been all public versus private.  But there is a third option.  While technically public, Philadelphia Charter Schools are a bit of a different animal.  Philadelphia has 71 charter schools.  According to the charter school website, Charter Schools are independently operated PUBLIC schools that are funded with federal, state and local tax dollars.  These schools are established to...

Len Lipkin

Choice Criteria: Educational Quality

This kind of goes without saying.  We want our kids to be surrounded by a strong educational environment.  We don’t need to go to the best of the best of the best per se, but we want our kids to be challenged and pushed to a certain degree, more so than what the average school might offer.  For example, exposure to a foreign language in elementary school would be unusual and desirable for us, but...

Len Lipkin

Judge a Book By Its Cover?

I am perusing different school websites to start my research.  I probably shouldn’t pre-judge a school by its site, but the Meredith School website is pretty lame and it bugs me.  Jenks is a little better.  Penn Alexander blows them both away–better design, more information for parents, better secondary resources.  Of course I want a school to pay attention to education first, website...

Len Lipkin

Choice Criteria: Community

It is important to us that our kids be part of a larger community.  We feel that part of growing and learning involves as much what goes on outside of school as it does in the classroom.  For that reason, we prefer city living for the cultural activities that it offers.   We are not ruling out suburban communities, but we will probably avoid the more far flung ones. Another community consideration is...

Len Lipkin

Choice Criteria: Diversity

One thing that is important to my wife and I is that our child be in a school that values diversity. To us, that means a balance of race, religion, and socioeconomic status. In general, this points towards public school, but not necessarily. If we send our son to our local public elementary school, Jenks, he may likely be the only Jewish child in his class, or only one of a small cohort.  Of course, if...

Len Lipkin

Why Blog?

Just what the internet needs, another blog, right?  I am a father of a 4 year old boy (scheduled to start kindergarten in 9/2011) and a 2 year old girl (9/2013). My wife and I live in Northwest Philadelphia and we love it. Our catchment school is JS Jenks, but we are also considering a regional relocation for many reasons, most of them distinct from the school situation. Philadelphia’s school...