A few months ago we were in a playground talking with a mother of a 4-year-old, and at ‘that age’ in Philly all conversation turns to schools. She said she was horrified at the thought of having to resort to her catchment public school for Kindergarten. This was a parent we know, respect, and consider a progressive and intelligent friend. We asked which school her child was destined for and it was Jackson. We were shocked because we knew, as of next year, you could no longer transfer into Jackson and had been hearing about its enviable music and art programs for a few years. We knew that parent and neighborhood groups involvement and assistance to the Principal have made significant improvements there. We knew other friends that had kids there or will be entering the classes of ’15 and ’16. When we mentioned this, the parent seemed shocked and very open to at least checking it out. A few days later we started Philly School News. We started it quick and dirty on Facebook because it made us realize that something was going wrong. We realized that the only news that everyone gets is a picture of doom and gloom and of the deficiencies that our schools are facing. We realized that just because we fell into watching what was actually happening INSIDE our schools didn’t mean that everyone was, and so the views were skewed. After seeing the landscape of the City change for almost 20 years, and to witness this burgeoning movement that started in the Center City public schools over a decade ago, we know there is no where to go but into all of our other neighborhood schools. And it’s actually happening! These movements are giving our schools new life. Principals, faculty and staff are starting to have more resources from their community, despite the fiscal challenges the School District of Philadelphia has found itself in 2014. Our schools are becoming more representative of our neighborhoods, and it is benefiting every student and parent that ventures into the unknown that is Kindergarten. These buildings have great bones, the students are all willing and ready to learn and be met with structure, guidance, accountability, and mentoring. With the right Principal they seem to have extremely dynamic leadership, and this, in conjunction with the passion and investment from our tireless teachers is immeasurable. In that same conversation with the playground parent, we remembered when one of our oldest children was 4 and we were thrown into “School Situation.” We did our research, looked at every private school, got on every charter school lottery, and we even peeked at properties in South Jersey and Jenkintown. In the end, we still cringe at how we weren’t even going to give our public schools a chance, and because we did has made all the difference, especially in ways we didn’t plan for or expect. The extremely positive experience has been much more than a challenging curriculum for our kids, and neighbors and peers from all neighborhoods all share the same story. After this TL;DR, Philly School News just wants to say Thank You to every parent, neighbor, grandparent, and community group that has followed this page to simply keep themselves informed as best they can on our public schools (and taken responsibility for their child’s education and for every single student in our City) in this busy life we all lead. Happy Holidays, and a huge thanks to everyone.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 19:46:18 +0000
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