Monthly Archives: April 2011

Say Goodbye to Full Day Kindergarten, and Much More

Well, here’s something to make you sick to your stomach. The School District of Philadelphia announced its budget proposal addressing it’s projected $629M budget shortfall (via Kristen Graham of The Philadelphia Inquirer). The lowlights of the School District’s proposal–laying off 3,820 employees (including 400 administrators and 1,260 teachers + nurses, custodians and other ancillary staff, and elimination of full day kindergarten (return to the pre-Rendell 1/2 day K, thankfully not complete elimination of kindergarten).

Furthermore,

Cuts would hit classrooms hard. Each school’s discretionary budget would be reduced by about 30 percent. Common planning time would be wiped away completely. There would be a 50 percent cut to gifted education, a 30 percent reduction to vocational education, a 20 percent reduction to services for English-language learners, a 9 percent reduction in instrumental music, and a 5 percent reduction to special education.

There would be cuts to nurses (10 percent), psychologists (6 percent), and athletics (7 percent), including the elimination of interscholastic athletics in middle schools.

Facilities would take a 16 percent cut. School police would take a 9 percent cut, including a reduction of 190 per diem officer positions.

The transportation budget would be hit particularly hard, with a 44 percent cut. The district will bus only those pupils it is legally mandated to – special-education and charter students.

Under state law, if the district does not bus its own regular-education students, it is not required to bus nonpublic students, officials said.

Hopefully this budget proposal is just another step in the political dance between the school district, the state, and the city. As distasteful as it is, I hope that some of this is political brinksmanship and that many of the more painful cuts will not come to pass. Regardless, you can’t just wipe away a $629M+ budget deficit by making easy cuts.

From a school choice perspective, this development will surely give parents pause before choosing a Philadelphia Public School. Parents that I have spoken to agree. Even if full-day K is spared along with art/music/athletic programs, district employees’ morale will likely be extremely low and their workload (i.e., class size) extremely high. Not exactly conducive to quality education. Maybe the district will eventually recover and become more lean and mean–heaven knows they have needed to make that change for a long time. But who wants to be around to watch it happen? Ironically and tragically, this will probably tip the scales for many middle class families who have been on the fence on whether to stay in the city or move to the suburbs. The result, an even lower tax base and bigger budget shortfalls in the future.

District Budget Hearings

The District is hosting several community meetings for the public to weigh in on its proposed 2011-12 budget.

Tuesday, May 3, at 6 p.m., Meredith Elementary, 725 S. Fifth St.
Saturday, May 7, at 10 a.m., Dunbar Elementary, 1750 N. 12th St.
Monday, May 9, at 6 p.m., Conwell Middle, 1849 E. Clearfield St.
Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m., Catherine Elementary, 6600 Chester Ave.
Monday, May 16, at 6 p.m., Fitzpatrick Elementary, 11061 Knights Rd.
Thursday, May 19, at 6 p.m., Ellwood Elementary, 6701 N. 13th St.

EDIT: ADDED THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

More news stories on the topic, compiled by The Notebook

District: 3,800 positions may be eliminated The Notebook blog
District Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch presented the 2011-12 District budget and outlined likely areas for cuts if the District funding situation doesn’t change.

How a Community Can Change a School [EVENT]

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I know that many of you are interested in getting involved to improve your local school. If so, this event on May 5 may be of interest to you. It was forwarded to me from the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools. Jacqueline Edelberg, one of the authors of How to Walk to School will be giving a talk followed by a panel discussion with a reception/networking session for prospective and current district parents. We hope to have HSAs, district and community group representatives available.

Picking an Elementary School: Center City/Fairmount Parents Meetup 4/27

Schoooool’s Out For… NEVER?

School Search: Not In Front of the Children!

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You’ve got a 3, 4, or 5 year old running around who only has a very limited understanding of the world and what might be different between this mysterious thing called ‘kindergarten’ and the daycare they are already getting. How much, if anything, do you share with them?

I met one parent–let’s call her “Joan”–who was distressed about a peer speaking openly about the stressful school choice process in front of the children. Her belief is that a preschooler should be shielded as much as possible from this anxiety because they don’t really know how to process it. On the other hand, I speak pretty openly to my friends about these issues in front of all of our children. Just last week I hosted a parents discussion group at a kids play center, for heaven’s sake! Partly I feel comfortable doing this because it’s when other kids are around and I know that my son in that situation is not paying attention to me–he’s in full on play mode. Joan, on the other hand, expressed to me that her daughter listens to her intently in those situations, even when not appearing to. I guess I don’t have a point here except that it probably makes sense to be aware when you are speaking about these kinds of topics in front of other parent’s children, it’s probably a good idea to ask your conversation partner about how they feel about it.

I also thought of this sitting at the Independence Charter lottery. One woman in front of me was there with her happy-looking niece. The woman explained to her what was going on, and that combined with the tense nature of the lottery itself noticeably changed the girl’s outward demeanor, especially after her aunt told her that her name was not called. It could have simply been boredom for the girl, or at some level she may have been realizing that she lost out on something.

It didn’t occur to me to bring my son to a lottery much less explain it to him. But what is the right thing to do? I’m not a child psychologist, but it is my opinion that every family has to answer that for themselves. Every families’ anxiety level around the school search is different, and, as with me and Joan, every child’s propensity to pick up on those kinds of things varies. Of course, if your school search involves an interview or interviews with your child, you have to share something, right? But beyond being forced into it for this reason, there are probably good ways to share your school search process with your child without creating anxiety in them. With my son, we shared with him that we are in the process of choosing a new kind of school for him–that kids after they turn 5 get to go to a school for bigger kids called kindergarten. I told home that mommy and daddy are looking at different schools to figure out which one he would like the most. I also told him that many of his preschool friends will be going to kindergarten next year. Some will go to the same school, others might go to a different school. He would be with some of his friends and meet new ones too. I have not taken my son on any school open houses, but it was because I didn’t want to be distracted, not because I was trying to shield him. I have not discussed any emotional topic with him, though.

What about you? What have you shared with your child? How did it work out?

Philly School Search

Parents sharing the process of searching for a school in Greater Philadelphia. What kind of school are you looking for? Charter, public, private, city, suburban?