Schools

Gerald Hodges' football career has been about adapting, persevering, and producing. And now it will be about adjusting - to the NFL. The Penn State linebacker and former all-South Jersey performer from Paulsboro was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round, the 120th player chosen. "It's a blessing when my name was called, and now I get a chance to put a franchise on my helmet," Hodges said by phone. The 6-foot-1, 243-pounder began his college career as a safety but moved to linebacker.

William R. Hite Jr. knows it's a tough ask: $120 million from a state that historically views Philadelphia and its public schools "as a cesspool. " So, the superintendent figures, the only way the nearly-broke Philadelphia School District is getting the cash it needs from state coffers is to end teacher seniority. "If we stand any chance to get money from Harrisburg, it's going to have to support something that is different from what we have now," Hite told the Inquirer Editorial Board on Thursday, adding that legislators are unlikely to support a system where "individuals get another increase just because they're remaining on the job another year.

HARRISBURG - Another member of Gov. Corbett's cabinet is on his way out. Education Secretary Ron Tomalis is looking for another job and does not intend to stay past summer as Corbett's education czar, two senior administration officials have told The Inquirer on condition of anonymity. An official timetable has yet to be set for his exit, but the sources said Tomalis would likely stay in his $149,804 job until after the July 1 deadline for getting a state budget passed and signed into law. He would become the fifth cabinet member to leave since Corbett took office in January 2011.

SCHOOLS Council to grill school chiefs School-district officials will be on the hot seat in City Council on Tuesday, when they appear before the city's legislators to explain their budget and why they need an additional $94 million in property-tax revenue. Council has raised questions about Mayor Nutter's proposed property-tax- reassessment plan, which would generate the extra money for the schools. With Council members wanting more information on how the schools will spend the dollars, this hearing — which starts at 10 a.m. in Council chambers in City Hall — could go long.

THE SCHOOL DISTRICT of Philadelphia is getting into the cyber-school business this fall in an attempt to win back city students who attend cyber-charter schools, which cost the district more per pupil. The Philadelphia Virtual Academy, for kids in grades six through 12, would offer some real-life perks, such as a drop-in center where students can meet up with fellow students as well as a support team for each pupil. Every team includes a teacher and technical specialist. "We want to begin competing for students," schools Superintendent William Hite said in a news briefing.

IN 1939, a 6-year-old boy moved to Detroit with his working-class parents - Lithuanian Jewish immigrants - and walked into the remarkable engine that propelled so much of America's prosperity in the 20th century, his neighborhood public school. That kid, Eli Broad, graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1951 and went on to become one of the world's richest people, a billionaire who made his fortune first in the post-World War II housing boom and later in insurance. Today, the 79-year-old Broad (it rhymes with "road")

Marie C. McMaster, 79, a kindergarten teacher at the Clymer School for 15 years and the mother of Army Gen. Herbert R. McMaster Jr., died Friday, May 10, at the LifeCare center in West Chester of complications from a blood infection. As an educator, Mrs. McMaster had a positive influence on many Philadelphians, said her son, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Often, when people at the airport or elsewhere saw my name, they would ask me if my mom taught kindergarten at Clymer School.

TONYA SEARS SAID she felt "excitement" and "sheer pleasure" when she learned Tuesday of the district's reprieve for her beloved alma mater, Strawberry Mansion High School, from a controversial school-closure plan. But the fight for public schools isn't over, she said. "I do like to think of this as the beginning. It was saved from closure, but what about next year?" said Sears, who graduated in 1985. "It's my prayer that all the community, the principal, the alumni and families continue to work together to improve the school.

Small high schools came to Philadelphia in a big way four years ago, when four new ones opened their doors. Less than three miles apart, High School of the Future in Parkside and Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Center City had vastly different beginnings. Expectations for both were high. Both awarded their first diplomas this month. But although leadership was identified as key to both, one had turmoil at the top and the other had a stable principal. Though both emphasized technology and were given freedom to innovate, one kept a close eye on district standards and the other initially veered from the path.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Starting with the new school year in September, Gaza boys and girls in middle and high school will be breaking the law if they study side by side. Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers argue that new legislation, mandating gender separation in schools from age 9, enshrines common practice. But women's activists warned Tuesday that it's another step in what it sees as the Hamas agenda of imposing its fundamentalist world view on Gaza's 1.7 million people. The Gaza rules appear harsh compared to Western practice but are not unusual in parts of the Arab and Muslim world.

With cries of protest coming from all directions - from dozens of business owners in Council chambers to thousands of public school students marching down Broad Street - a Philadelphia City Council committee advanced a bailout measure Friday for raising $30 million for the School District through a higher Use and Occupancy tax. The finance committee voted, 5-1, to move a bill to the full Council that would set the tax for businesses at 1.4 percent....

The Phillies have signed players from all over the world and recently they added an outfielder from Germany. Julsan Kamara, a 17-year-old outfielder and a member of the German Junior National Team, was recently signed to a seven-year minor league contract. Kamara is 6-foot-4, 192 pounds. He throws and bats righthanded. "The ball comes off his bat well and we think there is potential power there," said Benny Looper, the Phillies assistant general manager, player personnel.

Hope Against Hope Three Schools, One City, and the Struggle to Educate America's Children By Sarah Carr Bloomsbury. 336 pp. $27 Reviewed by Martha Woodall   In Hope Against Hope , veteran education reporter Sarah Carr takes a penetrating look at what happened to schools in New Orleans after the city was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Instead of giving a broad overview of the city's altered educational landscape, the former New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter offers a more personal, ground-level perspective.

AS THOUSANDS of students, parents and teachers marched down North Broad Street to City Hall yesterday calling for more school funding, a City Council committee approved an alternative plan to raise money for the cash-strapped school district. Council's Committee on Finance approved a bill sponsored by Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez that would raise an extra $30 million for schools through the use-and-occupancy tax levied on businesses - two days after Mayor Nutter's proposed tax hikes on booze and cigarettes for the same reason.

Their silence was deafening. Mayor Nutter invited the 17 City Council members to stand with him Wednesday when he announced a plan to give Philadelphia's destitute public schools more tax money. But none of them spoke up for the proposal. In fact, Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell, who chairs the Education Committee, later made a remark that suggested she's more concerned about neighborhood bars than public schools. Nutter's plan would raise the city's cigarette tax to $2 a pack and its by-the-drink tax on alcoholic beverages from 10 percent to 15 percent.

Pallam Raju has a daunting job. In India, he oversees the education of 230 million children. Raju, 50, also oversees higher education as the minister of human resource development, a position to which he was appointed in October. On Thursday, he described the challenges of his job at the commencement ceremony for the Fox School of Business at Temple University. Raju, who earned his master's of business administration degree at Temple in 1986, had an honorary doctor of humane letters conferred upon him earlier in the day at the university's main commencement ceremony.

Shayla Evermon-Muniz, a student at Nebinger School, was vocal in more ways than one at City Hall on Thursday morning. After singing Mariah Carey's "Hero" outside City Council chambers, Shayla, 10, talked about how education has accommodated her love for arts and music. If those programs were cut from the Philadelphia public schools, "I would never come back to school," she said. "Music is a big part of my life, and so is drawing. " Shayla and two other students joined civic activists to push for more funding for the Philadelphia School District.

William R. Hite Jr. knows it's a tough ask: $120 million from a state that historically views Philadelphia and its public schools "as a cesspool. " So, the superintendent figures, the only way the nearly-broke Philadelphia School District is getting the cash it needs from state coffers is to end teacher seniority. "If we stand any chance to get money from Harrisburg, it's going to have to support something that is different from what we have now," Hite told the Inquirer Editorial Board on Thursday, adding that legislators are unlikely to support a system where "individuals get another increase just because they're remaining on the job another year.

The men's lacrosse teams that will play for the NCAA Division I championship in Philadelphia will be determined this weekend. Winners of the quarterfinals Saturday and Sunday will advance to the semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field next Saturday at 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. The championship game is set for May 27 at 1 p.m. at the Linc. On Saturday, No. 1-seeded Syracuse will face unseeded Yale, and No. 3 Ohio State will meet unseeded Cornell at Maryland's Byrd Stadium. On Sunday, No. 4 Denver is set to play No. 5 North Carolina, and No. 2 Notre Dame will take on No. 7 Duke at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Saving lives one infant at a time For public health nurses, it is no surprise that the city ranks fifth-highest among the nation's most populous counties in the rate of infants who died within 24 hours of birth ("City rates poorly in infant mortality," May 7). Staff at the Philadelphia Nurse-Family Partnership and its complimentary Mabel Morris Family Home Visit Program know firsthand the challenges low-income mothers face to have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. These dismal infant-mortality rates did not happen overnight and are not going to go away with one approach.