Schools

After hearing Philadelphia School District superintendent William R. Hite Jr. describe the "cold, harsh" consequences of failing to fill an enormous hole in his budget, City Council members nonetheless remained skeptical Monday about pitching in more money for a third year in a row - with a possible exception. "I'm not sure at this point there would be local funding at all," Council President Darrell L. Clarke said of the district's request for $60 million in new funding. "We can't keep going to the well.

IMAGINE you are a high-school student returning to school next fall only to discover that nearly everything is gone: No guidance counselors. No music program. No library. No football, basketball, or any other sport. No yearbook or student newspaper. No after-school clubs or any extracurricular activities. No school play. No Advanced Placement classes. Fewer supplies and books. Fewer teachers. You might ask yourself: Is this a school or a warehouse? Am I here to be educated or stored until the dismissal bell rings?

The School District of Philadelphia is tipping toward the brink of absolute collapse. That's reality. Yet that hasn't jostled most of us from our assumptions about the district's budgeting process as a Chicken Little-style extortion attempt that will feature a miraculous recovery. That's unconscionable. Still, the respective corners - City Hall, Harrisburg, and the union halls - remain as ideologically entrenched as ever. But we all will bear responsibility if the district goes belly up. That scenario is dangerously close to "when" rather than "if" based on the current trajectory.

New Jersey ranks among the bottom states for school-breakfast participation. And when Garden State schools do serve breakfast, it's typically at the wrong time. That needs to change. Across the state, 525 school districts provide the most important meal of the day to low-income students who otherwise might not get breakfast. But most serve breakfast before the first classes begin, and many students who can't get to school that early start the day hungry. Their learning often suffers as a result.

A bomb threat scribbled on a bathroom wall at Cherry Hill High School East caused a lockdown and the cancellation of after-school activities Monday, officials said.   The message was discovered about 2 p.m. and school officials immediately contacted police. As a precaution, students were released from school about 15 minutes early, a school district spokeswoman said.   Police, with bomb-sniffing dogs, were brought to the school. Officials had not found anything suspicious at the school by 3 p.m. and classes are expected to resume Tuesday.

The Philadelphia School District and the city's oldest charter school sparred over the school's academic performance during a district hearing Monday on whether its operating charter should be renewed. Community Academy of Philadelphia opened in 1997, but the School Reform Commission said in January its operating charter should not be renewed because of poor academic performance and financial problems. During Monday's opening session of the hearing, Rosemary Hughes, the district's deputy chief accountability officer, said Community Academy had only met the state's academic benchmarks once in the last several years, and its students scored far below the average of other city charter schools and often scored lower than the average for district schools.

School District of Philadelphia leaders are expected Monday to ask Council to open the municipal wallet again - this time for $60 million - two months before the members have to pass a budget. That request - or "ask," in political parlance - could spark bruising negotiations over school funding for the third year in a row, as Council is already grappling with taxpayer angst over Mayor Nutter's property-tax reform. Last week during budget testimony, Council President Darrell L. Clarke asked whether the administration had a plan for raising the money.

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")

The controversial county police force and the state takeover of the Camden School District have become almost automatic points of contention for the challengers in Camden's June mayoral and council primary elections. Trying to set themselves apart from the incumbents, their opponents in the Democratic primaries speak about doing things differently when it comes to police and education. Theo Spencer, a former school board member who is opposing Mayor Dana L. Redd, says he would do what the council challengers say they would try to do: fight to get back local control of the school district.

  A Philadelphia School District hearing will begin Monday on the fate of the city's oldest charter school. Community Academy of Philadelphia opened in 1997, but the School Reform Commission said in January the school's operating charter should not be renewed because of low test scores and financial problems. The hearing, set to begin at 9 a.m. at the district's administration building, was scheduled after the SRC voted, 4-0, in January to take the first step toward revoking the charter.