Penn Alexander catchment parents once again forced to camp out in the insane weather to secure a seat… PAS kindergarten line started this morning | West Philly Local.
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Category Archives: West Philly
Recycle Your Way to a Better School
Recyclebank is a rewards programs that has partnered with the city of Philadelphia to promote recycling. They accomplish this by rewarding participants with points for recycling, which are redeemable for goods and services like gift cards or coupons. Last year, Recyclebank introduced its Green Schools Program, allowing schools to propose projects and recyclebank members to donate their points to local schools for those projects. From the Recyclebank website…
The Recyclebank Green Schools Program is designed to promote green education and encourage innovative thinking. Schools can raise funds for their projects by getting point donations, which will be converted into dollars and awarded to fund the project. Green education is so important, and that’s why Recyclebank will match every $1 earned.
Thanks to a groundswell of support from The West Philadelphia Coalition for Neighborhood Schools WPCNS, the Lea Elementary project has raised the most funds of any Recyclebank Green Schools in the country! Close behind is the C.W. Henry Elementary project with with $192 still needed. Several other local schools also are raising money this way.
Although this effort is cool, the impact is negligible. What is really cool are the breadth and scope of all of the projects being taken on by WPCNS of other parent organizations across the city. Parent grassroots efforts are gaining momentum.
Check Out This Great School….HA HA Made You Look!
The City Paper published an article last week entitled Urban Studies. The article highlights the risk that parents take in choosing to go the a Philadelphia public school in the current climate. Specifically, budget cuts and declining enrollment are forcing the district to close schools and change catchment boundaries. The result–parents that gamble by buying a house in a desirable catchment or choose to invest in their catchment school and forgo the lottery or private school application process could end up out of luck–their intended destination becomes overburdened with students from other schools being diverted in or worse, the school is simply taken away.
Don’t think that the problem of having a school yanked out from under you is limited to public schools either. Private schools are not immune. Faced with declining enrollments, last week the Archdocese of Philadelphia announced that it was closing 44 elementary schools in the region (Inquirer story).
If you hadn’t noticed before last week’s news cycle that the education landscape in this city is in the midst of a sea change, how do you like the wake up call?
Vacation Camp? Seriously?
Having had my son in year-round day care prior to starting kindergarten, I was prepared for the fact that we would need to find child care for him during the summer months in the form of one or more camps. While I haven’t resolved that issue yet, another related issue has reared its ugly head. What do you do with a kid during their school vacations? Up until this week, it has been routine. A day for a teacher inservice is easy enough to find coverage or schedule my own work vacations. Two weeks for winter break, sot so easy. Timing my work vacations to coincide didn’t cover it all. I found myself scrambling to figure out what options I had for stimulating activity and child care during this longer break. I was disappointed in the number of options that I found. I really only found three programs, though I admit I didn’t really research music or athletic programs. Here they are, in no particular order.
- The Philadelphia Zoo has “Schools Out” Full Day Camps for kids ages 4-11
- The Philly Art Center has “Vacation Camps” at its Fairmount and Queen Village locations
- The Schuylkill Center in NW Philly has some interesting looking “Day Off” programs with an environmental focus designed for kids ages 5-12
They all seem great, but I am wondering–what other choices are out there? Please leave your suggestions in the comments–I want to try to create a larger repository of “vacation camps” for parents to have as a resource. Bookmark this page–I will link to that repository here when I create it…
Why I Chose Henry Lea Elementary: 2011-10-27 School Selection Report
This is a snapshot of one parent’s school choice. You can read other parent testimonials and help other parents. Take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!
What school did you decide on? Henry Lea School
Calendar year your child entered 2011
Grade your child entered 3
What neighborhood are you in? West Philly
What schools did you consider? Friends Select, Germantown Academy, Charter Schools, Catholic
What factors were most important to you? Tuition, Location, Teaching Philosophy, School Performance (test scores, success of graduates), Teacher Quality, Principal Quality, Diversity, Special Programs (language immersion, music, etc.)
What first attracted you to the school? Diversity, the classroom teacher, the principal, the home and school association, art and science teacher, afterschool activities.
What were the critical factors that led to your choice? Diversity, the classroom teacher, the principal, the home and school association, art and science teacher, afterschool activities, and the bonus – it is within walking distance to school!
Did you relocate in order to choose this school? No
On the political spectrum, I consider myself to be Liberal
Please share anything else about your experience SAVE YOURSELF $24,000 A YEAR and still get your child a quality education. Go visit the Philadelphia public school in your area. You will be pleasantly surprised. I had my son in private school for two years. Lost a job and we took a chance on the public school in the neighborhood. He is doing better than ever! He attends school with kids who are intelligent, kind, interested in learning, and from all over the world. He is learning to play tennis at recess, and we just signed up for a free ice hockey camp sponsored by the school. They have writing workshops sponsored by PENN, and string lessons start this year. The list goes on and on. If there is something you want changed in the school – get involved and change it!
Save yourself from the thoughts of uprooting your family and moving to the suburbs, putting yourself on tons of charter school wait lists, and filling out the financial aid forms every year. Check out your public school!
This is a snapshot of one parent’s school choice. You can read other parent testimonials and help other parents. Take five minutes to complete an anonymous survey to tell PSS and our readers about your school choice!