Schools

The Pennsylvania Constitution says the state must "provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth. " And yet, for the third year in a row, we look to the Corbett administration to help us fill a sizable hole in the School District of Philadelphia budget. The district's "ask" is $120 million from Harrisburg and $60 million from the city to prevent the elimination of art, music, sports, school nurses, guidance counselors, assistant principals, all after-school activities, and more.

By Robert Maranto The best book about public schools is not about schools at all. Jeffrey Race's War Comes to Long An tells the tale of a province viewed in completely different ways by the North and South in the long Vietnamese civil war. The communists and government forces had different names for the same towns, had safe havens and danger zones that were mirror images of each other, and had completely distinct views of what the war was...

FREEHOLD, N.J. - A central New Jersey school official was indicted Monday on charges that she failed to report allegations that a teacher sexually assaulted a 4-year-old special-needs student and tried to cover it up. Sandra Brower, 46, was serving as assistant school superintendent in Wall in 2009 when the incidents occurred, the indictment said. She left in 2011 to become superintendent of the Lacey Township district in Ocean County. Brower pleaded not guilty to charges of official misconduct, obstruction, and hindering apprehension.

A Philadelphia School District auditor testified Monday about long-standing financial issues at a Kensington charter school during a district hearing to determine whether the school should remain open. Mayer Krain, a certified public accountant from the district's auditing office, said Community Academy of Philadelphia failed to maintain adequate financial reserves; ended some years with deficits; and had written off the debts of a related nonprofit that owns its building on Erie Avenue.

Ryan Baxter took an unusual career path: He earned a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, then decided to become a science teacher in the Philadelphia School District. Doreen Coleman has spent 34 years at the same neighborhood school, 24 of them as dean of students, viewing her job not as a way to mete out discipline but as a way to change lives. Sharon Jackson knows that teaching her students about making good choices is just as important as teaching them about math. Despite the often tough backdrop against which they teach, Baxter, Coleman, and Jackson are three strong examples of what can be found every day in Philadelphia public school classrooms: excellence.

I HAVE watched with interest the actions or, better yet, non-actions of the leaders of the Phila school system. Knowledge has a cost, but the only ones benefitting from that mindset are the superintendent and his generals. They need to implementing a more comprehensive strategy aimed at the majority of the students who have a desire to learn. They have placed too much blame on disruptive students, but when should the actions of a few supercede the desire of the majority? Get a backbone.

If the doomsday budget being floated by the nearly broke Philadelphia School District comes to pass, this is what school will look like in September: "No books, no paper, no clubs, no counselors, no librarian," Masterman teacher Elizabeth Taylor grimly told City Council last week. There would be bigger classes, but no aides to help manage them. Schools would lack sports, support staff to monitor lunchrooms and playgrounds, and secretaries. Some would lose security officers. Thousands of musical instruments would sit unplayed because there would be no music teachers to give lessons.

It's not every day that we can point to a labor negotiation as a great opportunity for children. We are members of the Coalition for Effective Teaching, a coalition of the city's education, business, and community leaders who want the public to know that, while the discussion about the Philadelphia School District contract likely will focus on money and budget issues, the negotiations also present a unique opportunity to boost the effectiveness of...

Karen Rile teaches creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania I get shocked faces whenever I reveal that two of my daughters graduated from a Pennsylvania cyber charter school. Maybe I seem as if I should be a better parent than to let my kids morph into lazy, pajama-clad, screen-addicted slobs sliding downhill toward a life of failure at taxpayer expense. That's the problem with stereotypes - peek a little closer and they dissolve. To be honest, the prospect of Internet-based education was not intuitive to me at first, either.

Apparently, Philadelphia doesn't really mind that its school system is on the verge of bankruptcy. Guess that Philly pride the city is supposed to be so famous for extends only to its sports teams. The superintendent of public schools shows up to ask City Council for additional funding, and gets the type of "I'll catch you later" response that a Center City panhandler might expect from a familiar pedestrian. Six dozen people supporting more money for schools signed up to appear before Council last week, and came away with nothing.