Summer School

For the first time in 15 years, Philadelphia school officials are preparing for a full-scale summer school program for students in all grades. Plans for the $3.9 million summer program were unveiled yesterday, the same day letters went out notifying parents of up to 31,000 public school pupils that their youngsters will not be promoted. The expansion of the summer program - for years limited to 12th-graders who needed one or two courses to graduate - is one way the district says it is giving students extra help in a time of increased standards and tougher grading and promotion policies.

Summer school at Bridgeport Elementary in the Upper Merion School District could be eliminated in 1989 and replaced by aides for remedial math and reading during the regular school year. That could be the scenario if the school board, at its meeting tonight, reallocates about $45,000 in federal education funds. According to Mary Kopa, director of curriculum services, 80 students would attend Bridgeport summer school for 24 days at a cost of $39,710, while 120 students would receive remedial classes for 182 days during the regular school year at a cost of $44,167.

Well, until yesterday, the folks at ESPN had to be really excited about the opportunity to showcase Heisman Trophy hopeful Eric Metcalf tonight when Metcalf's Texas Longhorns visit the Brigham Young Cougars. Then the Longhorns landed at Salt Lake City International Airport, and Texas coach David McWilliams announced that Metcalf wasn't with the team and won't play tonight. It seems that Metcalf got scholarship money for summer school this year, then neglected to do one little thing - go to summer school.

Sunshine, boring through high windows, overheated the Showalter Middle School in Chester one morning this week as 15-year-old Desiree Womack listed her three reasons for coming to summer school: "The education, the money and the help. " Was that second thing money? Yes, $3.70 an hour, to be exact. This summer, 375 disadvantaged middle-school students in Philadelphia and 190 in Chester are earning full-time pay to study in the morning and work in the afternoon as part of a program to keep them from becoming dropout statistics.

RE ROBERT Stewart's letter about Arlene Ackerman spending $600,000 on air conditioning for her "babies" during their summer-school sessions: You wrote: "If her babies did their work during the year, they wouldn't be in summer school. " I have three "babies" in summer school, and it's not because they failed any subjects. In fact, my children asked to go to "S.L.A.M. " - Summer Learning and More, a program the district offers to children who'd like academic help or work preparing them for the grade they are going into.

SCHOOLS CHIEF Arlene Ackerman spent nearly $600,000 so her "babies" would have air-conditioning during summer school. For 30 years, they didn't have air conditioning. They opened the windows. Why can't they do it now? Also, the cost of installing went to union firms and will take a week, starting on a Saturday, a double-time day, and Sunday, ditto. A rough estimate for this whole waste of money is $1.4 million, give or take $100,000. This type of fiscal irresponsibility shouldn't be tolerated.

Many Philadelphia public school students who flunk this June will be off to summer school under a new spending plan unveiled yesterday. But that and other School District measures would contribute to a projected $88.5 million deficit by June 2000, Philadelphia school officials said. They said they expect the district to just about break even on its $1.5 billion operating budget for 1998-99. District financial officials presented their draft budget to the Board of Education's finance committee yesterday.

Do they still call Coca-Cola "The Real Thing"? I don't know because I've been drinking Diet Pepsi ever since I interviewed the Uh-Huh girls years ago. I also have a hard enough time trying to remember if it's polar bears or golden retrievers or talking lizards that drink Coke. Long before there were any Uh-Huh girls, before animals had learned to drink from cans and bottles, whole TV shows used to be presented by one sponsor. You had the Kraft Music Hall or Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater.

For thousands of students across the region, summer school is no way to make up work or squeak through to the next grade - it's an essential part of their school year. "It helps me learn," said Janita Vazquez, 17, a Philadelphia student whose teachers say she's thriving in an extended-school-year program. "It helps me read. " An increasing number of special-education students require longer school years. More students need the summer weeks as a bridge between grades so they do not regress and are ready to learn new skills in September.

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has released a more realistic budget that details the devastation to Philadelphia schools that is likely to occur without additional funding. But the lack of urgency among city officials to respond to the looming disaster suggests they either don't believe Hite's math or don't understand that the city's economic future depends on how well it educates its children. Hite's doomsday budget, unlike an earlier spending plan he presented, includes all the educational cuts that will be implemented unless the schools get a requested $60 million in additional funding from the city and $120 million from the state.

If the "catastrophic" budget picture Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. laid out Thursday comes to pass, Philadelphia schools would be virtually unrecognizable come September. There could be no money for counselors or librarians. There might be no sports or extracurricular activities. No dedicated funds for secretaries, aides, or summer school would be provided. And that would follow the steep cuts made over the last two years. There also could be 3,000 layoffs, including some teachers.

Pennsylvania can generate $365 million for public schools - without raising taxes. This is more than four times what Gov. Corbett proposes to restore in his recent budget proposal. The General Assembly can produce these savings, including an estimated $175 million for Philadelphia, by passing my bipartisan charter and cyber charter school reform bill (H.B. 934). I support charter schools as a way to produce innovations that can be duplicated in other public schools. That was the intent of the 1996 law authorizing these schools in the commonwealth.

By Hillary Linardopoulos After I read that the Philadelphia School District had given a number of administrative employees significant raises in recent months, I wondered how officials had found the money - especially given that teachers like me are spending thousands of dollars of our own money to make sure students have paper, pencils, and more. Some of the more than $300,000 in raises were tied to promotions, and I recognize that some of these folks likely deserve more pay. But it's still hard to swallow when you're in an under-supplied classroom day in and day out, being told that you're just going to have to make it work.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Bobby Jones enjoyed a stellar 12-year professional basketball career that included eight seasons, two all-star berths and one championship with the 76ers. But he earned his first major exposure as a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team. And of the 12 members, Jones was among the least likely to earn a spot - because he was not initially invited to try out. Back then, the team was made up of college players, and 59 participated in two weeks of Olympic trials at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

LAST SUMMER, Chris Wilson arrived on the Saint Joseph's campus, started classes, spoke with his coaches, met his new teammates and promptly got ignored. Well, ignored regarding basketball, which was why he got a scholarship to St. Joe's in the first place. The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, mandated that coaches could have no basketball interaction with players, new or old, during the summer. Coaches could not even walk through the gym when players were there with a basketball. So, Wilson was left to figure it out on his own. So what was Wilson, along with some of his teammates, doing on the St. Joe's practice court this summer, surrounded by Hawks coach Phil Martelli and some of his assistants?

By Jerry Jordan   It's blockbuster season at the movies, the time of year when many of us allow ourselves to suspend reality, munch on over-buttered popcorn, and get lost in a world of superheroes, alien attacks, and outrageous plot lines.   Philadelphia has its own far-fetched story line this summer. It's about a school district that, even though it's so cash-strapped it can't afford summer school, decides to spend $139 million over the next five years for an education reform strategy that won't improve student achievement.

Cassie Harris had a problem: her niece was struggling with math and reading and needed summer school classes, but the nearly broke Philadelphia School District wasn't offering them. Enter Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, where on Tuesday 20 students bent over worksheets, summarized passages, and worked one-on-one with teachers on word problems. All free. "It's like a miracle," said Harris, whose niece and daughter are both attending the Mother Bethel summer school, which began this week and will last through Aug. 3. Niece Sabrina Harris is catching up, Harris said, and her daughter, Briana, is soaking up enrichment activities.

WE ALL KNOW the problems of the city's schools: the thousands of kids who drop out, or the thousands who are failing, or those who do graduate but with a subpar education that prepares them neither for college nor the workplace. Why don't we hold those responsible for this situation more accountable? We're not talking about teachers or administrators, unions or management, or even students and parents. We're talking about the 100,000 people who own properties but aren't paying their property taxes, and thus robbing the schools of the money they need.