http://thenotebook.org/blog/136394/tweeting-philly1stday-experiences
The Notebook has been counting down the days before schools open. For 40 days, we tried to follow each dramatic twist, every political turn that arose in what many believe is Philadelphia's worst school funding crisis in history.
The School District's staff has shrunk by 3,000 since June, with 17,144 employees (full-time equivalents) now on the payroll. That's a 15 percent staffing cut. The District has not yet released information about how many of those eliminated positions were teachers.
Teachers' contract negotiations took a break on Thursday for Rosh Hashanah, with plans to resume Friday and likely continue through the weekend.
Countdown, Day 2: Tweeting #Philly1stDay experiences
by thenotebook on Sep 07 2013 Posted in Countdown to calamity?
Though the summer's unofficially over and the school year will start on time, the uncertainty of what schools will look like when they open Monday is of major concern. How safe will they be? What quality of academic instruction will students receive? The question remains to be answered: Will it be a calamity?
We ask that, on the first day of school, teachers and other school staff, parents, and students use Twitter help to keep the public apprised of the successes, surprises and problems or incidents that occur due to a lack of adequate staff and resources.
We encourage you to do this by tweeting issues, events, and images as they arise, using the hashtag #Philly1stDay.
Countdown, Day 3: Class-size challenges and split grades loom
by Paul Socolar on Sep 06 2013 Posted in Countdown to calamity?
But when schools open the doors to students on Monday, classrooms will be feeling the pinch from reduced staff in a few different ways.
The District anticipates starting the year with about 100 split-grade classrooms, according to Chief Financial Officer Matthew Stanski. Rarely seen in Philadelphia schools since a push by parents to stop the practice in 2007, "splits" are a way of saving a teaching position.
"We did have more than 100, but we're using [federal] Title II funding to address especially the [grade] 3-4 splits," Stanski said.
To eliminate all the split-grade classrooms would cost the District $11 million.
And that's money Stanski said the District simply doesn't have.
He confirmed that the District has succeeded in eliminating what was once a $304 million budget gap -- primarily through $254 million in budget cuts.
But in this year's budget there is no slack at all, and he anticipates that the District will end the new fiscal year next June 30 with a fund balance of zero dollars.
"That makes it much more difficult to deal with emergency situations," he said. The District had hoped to maintain a reserve through the fiscal year but has fallen far short of its revenue and savings projections.
Reports from schools make clear that the District has been stingy in its teacher allotments, and many schools are looking at class sizes far above what has been the contractually negotiated limit -- 30 students maximum up through grade 3, and 33 students for grades 4 and up.
According to Stanski, the District has brought back a pool of 26 teachers to be assigned to schools to address some of the splits and the most "drastic" classroom overcrowding. "That pool is there to address any major class-size issues we see on the first day of school," he said.
In addition, the District will review all of its teacher assignments and conduct a leveling process beginning in late September when actual enrollment patterns are clearer, and it will "move instructional resources accordingly."
"Leveling" is the process by which the District waits a month and counts how many students actually show up and stay before deciding on a final allotment of teachers. It is a longstanding District process, designed to make the most of existing resources. But it also can lead to much shifting around of teachers and instability.
Now, there is no budget for additional teachers beyond the 26. And in some cases, class sizes are headed through the roof.
A high school social studies teacher at the Academy at Palumbo tweeted Fridaythat she has a class with 48 students on her roster.
At Furness High School, teachers report that the school was alloted teachers based on a spring enrollment projection of 507 students. The population has since mushroomed to more than 680, but no new teachers have been assigned there.
"Last year my largest class was 22 students," said Roxborough High School math teacher Heidi Rochlin. "Now this year we have rostered classes with up to 41."
District spokesman Fernando Gallard noted that typically up to 30 percent of students will move in a given year, and it is necessary to be as economical as possible.
"This is particularly a difficult financial situation we’re in, and we want to make sure we wait and see how many students are in a classroom before we hire any more teachers," he said.
High class sizes are another reason many schools will be missing their counselors, who are available to intervene when students need special attention. The District has restored 126 counseling positions (some schools have more than one), but for now, nearly half of District schools will not have a counselor based there who can respond to a student in distress.
Stanski said there are 156 additional laid-off counselors formerly paid from the operating budget, but the District needs $17.3 million to restore them. And 80 additional counseling positions that were funded with categorical dollars are gone.
Countdown, Day 4: Talks to resume Friday; teachers are under a 'status quo' contract
by Dale Mezzacappa on Sep 05 2013 Posted in Countdown to calamity?
"The expectation is that they are going to go on into the weekend," said District spokesman Fernando Gallard.
Meanwhile, teachers are working under what is known as a "status quo" contract. How is that different from a contract extension?
It means that nothing changes: Teachers will get paid whatever they were paid in June and will not get automatic increments they might qualify for due to working an additional year or acquiring an additional degree.
"Status quo means status quo," said George Jackson, spokesman for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Gallard confirmed that this is the case.
It also means that, for now, the benefits package is intact.
Under a contract extension, the built-in pay increments would take effect, but the contract expired Aug. 31 and the District has not offered to extend it.
The District wants teachers and other PFT members to take pay cuts between 5 and 13 percent, depending on salary level, and start paying part of their health premiums. Most PFT members now do not.
The question of what powers the School Reform Commission has to impose a new pay scale or change other terms of employment is murky and ultimately may have to be resolved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. As long as contract negotiations are taking place, there is no impasse and contract terms cannot be imposed. Some legal observers say that the SRC simply does not have that authority under Act 46, the law governing the state's takeover of the Philadelphia schools.
Short on teachers, aides and copy paper, Philly schools prepare to open anyway
by thenotebook on Sep 06 2013 Posted in Latest news
Photo: Kevin McCorry/WHYY
Cook-Wissahickon Principal Karen Thomas is preparing for a school opening that has been plagued by a funding crisis.
by Kevin McCorry for NewsWorks
With classes set to begin Monday morning, here's the on-the-ground view of what life in a traditional Philadelphia public school looks like:
Fewer staff. More students. Basic supplies at a premium. Money for discretionary spending non-existent.
For a school district that's closed 24 schools and shed 3,000 staffers over the past few months, it's the most contentious school opening in recent memory.
One day this week, Kristin Luebbert leaned over the copy machine at the Bache-Martin School in the city's Fairmount section, making duplicates of her first-day-of-school icebreaker.
"It just asks them like 'What was the best day of my life? Who's my favorite relative?' Just little things that make them feel at ease," she said.
The pieces of paper that whir through the hulking machine are her own. Luebbert, a reading and social studies teacher, had to go out and buy it herself.
"This is my free ream of paper that I got from Staples last week and got a rebate for, so that's where I got my paper," she said. "Everybody was down there getting their paper because otherwise we're really not going to have any."
When she's done making copies she leans down and reopens the tray to the machine.
"Yeah, you've got to make sure you take all your paper," she said. "Although we're really nice to each other and loan each other when we run out, still, you never leave paper in the machine because it's 'your' paper."
Paper. It's become a symbol of the greater woes facing a school district in deep financial turmoil. It's a basic need that, even as schools open, the District says it can't promise.
Read the rest of this story at NewsWorks
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