School Day

CHICAGO - Angry that one promised raise disappeared and that they're being asked to work longer days without what they consider an adequate pay increase, Chicago teachers are considering authorizing their first strike in a quarter-century. In a signal of their mounting anger, teachers will vote this week - before a summer of negotiations and a recommendation from an independent fact-finder - on a strike that wouldn't happen until the next school year starts. If they do authorize a strike, teachers in the nation's third-largest school district would be leaving the final decision in the hands of union leaders.

BACK IN HIS Overbrook High School days, City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. lived in fear of a student who was two years older, tough as nails and always ready to fight — a student he renamed "Ray-Ray" during an anecdote he has shared at recent Council hearings. This month, when school district officials came before City Council to plead their budget case, Jones and Councilman Kenyatta Johnson couldn't resist reliving their own public-school experiences. Their stories ranged from the terrifying tales of Ray-Ray to teachers who kept members on the right path.

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.

IT SEEMS quite evident that Jason Kaye has never taught in a public-school classroom and is therefore incapable of casting the ballot for the "Are teachers the problem?" vote. In concluding that teachers unions and teachers are the problem, Kaye fails to acknowledge the thousands of teachers who either come a few hours before the start of the school day and/or stay many hours after the dismissal bell has tolled to talk with parents and to tutor children for free! In concluding that teachers would have to do more "heavy lifting" if this American education system is to succeed, I ponder the possibility that he hasn't considered the teachers who spend hundreds of their own dollars to refurbish old computers.

EDDIE LEE Thornton applied her culinary skills to making sure that Philadelphia schoolchildren got healthy food, and that members of her church got nourishment for their bodies as well as their souls. She spent hours in the kitchen of Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, and took care of the children through her 31 years with the school district's comprehensive day-care program. Eddie Lee, who also led neighbors of the 2300 block of McClellan Street in South Philadelphia in clean-up and beautification projects, died Jan. 6 after a long illness.

David Williams said he soon hopes to narrow his growing list of prospective colleges to five or so. Higher on the star running back's current to-do list, after the recent announcement that West Catholic will shut its doors come June, is deciding where he wants to spend his final year of high school. For now, his top three schools, in no particular order, are La Salle, Imhotep Charter, and Cardinal O'Hara. The speedy junior added that Archbishop Wood and Roman Catholic are also possibilities.

David Williams said he soon hopes to narrow his growing list of prospective colleges to five or so. Higher on the star running back's current to-do list, after the recent announcement that West Catholic will shut its doors come June, is deciding where he wants to spend his final year of high school. For now, his top three schools, in no particular order, are La Salle, Imhotep Charter, and Cardinal O'Hara. The speedy junior added that Archbishop Wood and Roman Catholic are also possibilities.

High school feels different in the big white mansion at the edge of the Navy Yard - no desks in rows. No 47-minute class periods. No warnings to remove the hat, put the cellphone away, take the exam seriously. Instead, small groups of students are designing their own workshop space. They're drawing up more efficient bus routes for the Philadelphia School District. Their teachers act as mentors, sounding boards, not lecturers. The premise? American high schools are broken.

The father of a 13-year-old girl who alleges she was inappropriately touched by a Philadelphia School District police officer during a pat-down for weapons filed suit against district officials in federal court Monday. The male officer allegedly stuck his hand down the girl's shirt and touched her chest during the two-hour search in an auditorium full of students at Harding Middle School on Oct. 24, according to the suit. Other students also were searched at the Frankford school, including another girl who had a different male officer stick his hand down her shirt, the suit said.