Restructuring

As Jerry Jordan blasted School Reform Commission restructuring plans Tuesday night, heads turned to the back of the room, to a line of children, sporting a poster with a simple message: "We need better schools. " Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, spoke out against SRC proposals to overhaul the Philadelphia School District's structure and planned layoffs to nurses and other professionals at an "emergency community meeting" held at Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia.

T HE Philadelphia School District will massively restructure itself in the coming months, fundamentally altering the way it is organized and run - and possibly closing 40 low-performing, underused schools next year as it shifts many more students to charter schools. The district faces a $218 million shortfall for the coming school year, more than previously stated and subject to rise if Mayor Nutter's proposed city tax plan does not materialize. Pressing academic and safety problems, "and the fact that, financially, we cannot continue in the present form of organization and operations that we have right now," require the district to change its basic structure, Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen said Monday.

The Philadelphia School District will massively restructure itself in the coming months, fundamentally altering the way it is organized and run - and possibly closing 40 low-performing, underused schools next year and shifting many more students to charters. The district faces a $218 million shortfall for the coming school year, more than previously stated and subject to rise if Mayor Nutter's proposed city tax plan does not materialize or if a recent charter school ruling is not altered.

Foamex International Inc., the Linwood, Delaware County, manufacturer of foam for industry and consumers, yesterday said it had launched a restructuring and hired an investment banker to evaluate whether to sell businesses and how to reduce debt. The company said it would close 10 of its 56 plants in 1996, four by the first quarter. It did not say how many employees would be affected or what plants would close. Foamex said it would consider the sale of its automotive-carpet, trim and textiles businesses and its home-comfort-products subsidiary.

Westmoreland Coal Co. announced yesterday that it would restructure its Virginia mining operations and cut an unspecified number of workers there because of continuing heavy financial losses. The Philadelphia coal producer also said it hoped to cut overall mining costs and develop new, lower-cost mines. The Virginia coal division has had huge losses in recent years. Through August, the division lost about $4.5 million. In 1991, the division lost $12 million. Westmoreland has attributed the losses to geological and equipment problems that have reduced output at the Holton and Bullitt mines.

Peco Energy employees will learn the full details today of a major restructuring plan that is expected to result in cost savings - and hundreds of layoffs. The restructuring plan is part of a six-month review conducted by the company in an attempt to become more competitive now that deregulation is ending Peco's electric service monopoly. The plan targets Peco's local distribution company - the regulated part of the business that includes electric lines, poles and meters. About half of Peco's 7,200 employees work for the local distribution company.

Scott Paper Co. yesterday reported improved earnings that the company said were early results of its latest corporate restructuring, which is to be completed by the end of this year. Albert J. Dunlap, Scott's new chairman, said earnings were up in the company's core tissue businesses, outweighing lower sales and prices in Europe and lower earnings of S.D. Warren, Scott's printing and publishing papers subsidiary. "I am encouraged by the increase in our earnings this quarter because my primary focus has been on my four-part program for Scott, rather than near- term earnings," Dunlap said.

After Six Inc., the Philadelphia formal-wear maker, has completed a financial restructuring plan and brought in a new chief executive as it attempts to recover from the damage of an expensive management buyout. "I'm very excited that we have been able to restructure and go forward," president and chairman Robert C. Rudofker said yesterday. The company declined to give details of its restructuring, other than to say that it had obtained a $30 million line of credit from the CIT Group/ Business Credit Inc. in New York.

The questions have been asked time and time again: How long should the school day be? What can be done about violence in schools? How should a school's curriculum change with the times? Of what value is testing? Now some answers may be forthcoming in a report on school restructuring to be developed by eight principals from across the United States, including David S. Hottenstein, principal of Hatboro-Horsham High School. The national commission will work with Ernest Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in conjunction with the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

As Jerry Jordan blasted School Reform Commission restructuring plans Tuesday night, heads turned to the back of the room, to a line of children, sporting a poster with a simple message: "We need better schools. " Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, spoke out against SRC proposals to overhaul the Philadelphia School District's structure and planned layoffs to nurses and other professionals at an "emergency community meeting" held at Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia.

Today, the City Council budget hearing for the school district starts at 10 a.m. Given what's at stake and the complexity of the changes the district is proposing, by our reckoning, the hearing should end ... sometime next month. The district recently announced a massive restructuring plan that will close schools, create "achievement networks," push more students into charters, and rely on major concessions from the unions to get $156 million in savings, while coping with a deficit of more than $200 million for next year.

On the brink of financial ruin and not improving nearly fast enough academically, the Philadelphia School District will, over the next 16 months, completely reinvent the way it organizes and runs schools. And with the announcement of its radical restructuring last week, questions swirl. Is the district privatizing public education? Who will run the new "achievement networks," groups of 25 or so schools to be managed by either outside providers or district staff, bound by performance contracts with the School Reform Commission, and expected to be entrepreneurial?

T HE Philadelphia School District will massively restructure itself in the coming months, fundamentally altering the way it is organized and run - and possibly closing 40 low-performing, underused schools next year as it shifts many more students to charter schools. The district faces a $218 million shortfall for the coming school year, more than previously stated and subject to rise if Mayor Nutter's proposed city tax plan does not materialize. Pressing academic and safety problems, "and the fact that, financially, we cannot continue in the present form of organization and operations that we have right now," require the district to change its basic structure, Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen said Monday.

The Philadelphia School District will massively restructure itself in the coming months, fundamentally altering the way it is organized and run - and possibly closing 40 low-performing, underused schools next year and shifting many more students to charters. The district faces a $218 million shortfall for the coming school year, more than previously stated and subject to rise if Mayor Nutter's proposed city tax plan does not materialize or if a recent charter school ruling is not altered.

Five thousand students are in the middle of an educational tug-of-war in one of the largest and most affluent school districts in Pennsylvania. More is more, administrators and school board members say. An additional 10 minutes a day spent on each core subject, such as math, science and social studies, will help middle-school students learn better, they insist. More is less, parents and teachers counter. Students will lose one period a day of art, music, gym, and other "special" classes.

The William Penn Foundation is donating $1.5 million to help restructure the Philadelphia School District, and officials said Wednesday they thought the move could bring more funds from the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. The money would go directly to pay for what is regarded as a much-needed management consultant, William Penn president Jeremy Nowak said Wednesday. Nowak also said the foundation would help the School Reform Commission identify other private funders to help turn the district around.

CULLEN JENKINS knew his $7.5 million cap number for 2012 might be a problem. In the end, Jenkins was more interested in not having to uproot his family again, and in helping the Eagles be more competitive in the free-agent market, than he was in making every penny he might have been able to squeeze out of his situation. Jenkins, 31, was an honest, solid, reliable performer for the 2011 Eagles, and he remained in that mode yesterday, when the team announced he had agreed to restructure his contract, originally announced as a 5-year deal last August.