Len Lipkin

Application Deadline for Fall 2011 VTP Announced

The School District of Philadelphia Voluntary Transfer Program has announced via its website the application deadline for the Fall 2011 school year.  The deadline is soon–October 29–so don’t delay.  You can download a brochure explaining VTP as well as the application from the website.  If you are considering trying to get your child into a Philadelphia public school that is not in...

Len Lipkin

Lawn Signs

File this post under the category of things you don’t much notice when you are not researching schools.  I have seen literally dozens of these private school open house signs around my neighborhood, mostly from GFS, highlighting 2010 open houses.  If you are interested in open houses, I suggest taking a look at the PSS open house...

Len Lipkin

A Primer on Transfers in the School District of Philadelphia

If you wish to send your child to a public school that is not your designated catchment school, you must fill out a VTP application. This post has tips on how to navigate this process, formerly known as the EH-36.

Len Lipkin

Activists Like Me

Thomas Friedman, columnist for the New York Times wrote in a recent column entitled Steal This Movie, Too that “there is a movement stirring in this country around education.”  I like to think that I have not only noticed this movement myself (in South Philly and West Philly, specifically) and, in the creation of this blog, been an active participant.  I also wrote a story about an upcoming...

Len Lipkin

School Open House Season Begins

It’s Fall, and that means school is starting once again.  Parents of schoolchildren are busy buying pencils, paper, trapper keepers (do they still make those?) and new clothes.  Parents of preschoolers, on the other hand, now turn their attention to visiting potential kindergarten classes and elementary schools.  Personally, I have been chomping at the bit all summer waiting to visit (and in some...