Parents began lining up outside of the Penn Alexander School this morning, a full 24 hours ahead of registration for grades 1-8.
Ten people were in line as of about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, some sitting in lawn chairs and under tents. One parent even admitted scouting out the spot along the school fence on Locust Street between 42nd and 43rd streets from her car as early as 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. The registration line has become a late-August fixture since the School District of Philadelphia said last year that no spots were guaranteed in the school, but have remained secretive about how many spots were available in each grade.
School officials have also remained tight-lipped about how many spots are available in each grade, leaving parents new to the neighborhood or those returning from long-term absences for things like sabbaticals from university jobs hanging on rumors. That has prompted many parents to wait in overnight lines to register.
Registration at Penn Alexander and Henry C. Lea Elementary starts tomorrow morning. Registration at most other West Philly schools will begin Aug. 20. Click here for more information on registration.
August 12th, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Will the principal show up in the morning and yell at parents for being in line again? She’s done that before in front of reporters even.
August 13th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Today on registration day, both the principal and the UPenn liaison were away. A good thing for them, perhaps, since everybody looking for spots in grades 1-4, including #1 in line, was told that the school is full and that their kids will be assigned to other schools. School officials must have known this weeks ago, certainly before telling parents to “come early” to register, yet decided to only share it two weeks before the start of school. Such nice people.
August 13th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Does anyone know how/whether sunshine type laws apply to school officials? It doesn’t seem that they should be able to keep their admission policies secret.
August 13th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
So classy!
August 13th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
How is that possible that all the 1st grade parents were turned away? There were three kindergarten classes of 20 in 2011-2012, right? Including some out-of-catchment Head Start students that can’t continue on to 1st, right? Aren’t there going to be three 1st grade classes with either a classroom size cap at 24 or 33?
August 13th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
so to which awesome schools are these kids getting reassigned?
August 13th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Anonymous, above, says the administration decided two weeks ago to reveal that there were no spaces? You mean if people called the office during the past two weeks, they were told the truth and didn’t bother to stand in line? But these other folks on the sidewalk didn’t know this fact (maybe because they’d called months ago and were told then to “come early” so they waited in line 24 hours in order to be told at 9am? If that really is the scenario, Ugh, that’s awful.
August 13th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
No, that Anonymous is saying PAS had to have known for awhile that there would be no spaces but instead told parents to come on down to register on the 13th knowing full well they would be turned away with only so many days until the start of school.
August 14th, 2012 at 11:20 am
I’m sure whatever school these kids are assigned to will benefit from such active, involved parents who are so deeply invested in their children’s education.
August 14th, 2012 at 11:37 am
Don’t lose all hope yet! I was called one week from the start of Kinder to be told my child got in. I’m not saying not to make other plans, but also keep hope alive!
August 14th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Hi everyone. We don’t require people to use real names … But for the sake of being able to follow what is an important conversation could everyone please use a handle other than “anonymous”? It’s getting confusing.
Thanks
West Philly Local
August 14th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
What about other schools in the district within West Philadelphia? Why aren’t parents lining up there? This can’t be the only school! Parents please enroll your children in other district schools and then hold the school accountable for educating all children! What is done so well here that we can’t create the same in other schools in West Philly?
August 14th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
@ Monie – I believe the additional money PENN ALEXANDER recieves from U of P makes quite a difference. Also, not sure about other parents but I don’t feel the other public schools in the area compare. The people that need to create better schools in the other public ones around west are those who do not already have children in Elementary school. I am not going to pull my kid out of a good school to fix a bad one. Now, if I was pregnant or had a one yr old and there was a chance I could actually change something before she started kindergarten, that would be different.
August 14th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Monie, this school receives an additional $750,000 in funding from the University of Pennsylvania in addition to having an endowment and receiving in-kind services from Penn and UCD as well as having a new building built with $17 million of taxpayer’s, not Penn’s, money. If for some reason people think $750,000 is small potatoes, the budget PAS receives from the SDP is $2.5 million so this is an increase by almost a third.
Not to mention that it has one of the lowest poverty rates for a catchment school in the district – 24% as reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Don’t anyone dare pull out the “USDA-approved area estimate” of almost 50% on the school’s district website. That’s not an actual count, you’ve been to the school and you have eyes, you know the 24% is accurate.
Whatever your feelings about PAS, the method of its creation and continuation seem quite difficult to replicate in a meaningful way. Parents would do well to look to other functioning neighborhood schools in the district that perform without that kind of additional funding for inspiration rather than waiting for another school to benefit from the largesse of the taxpayers and a private institution. I’ll give you all a hint: they’re schools that are supported by their communities and vice versa even if the communities and the students served aren’t wealthy.
August 14th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Mike, it seems like you missed the story here. You blogged last week that you spoke to “an official at Penn Alexander” about registering students on the 13th. This official neglected to mention that the school was full? I would love to read your follow up interview with said “official.”
August 14th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
@Anonimiss: We called the school and spoke with someone there about the registration date and time. We confirmed that the registration date was a week before most of the District schools. We published that. The school won’t tell anyone anything except the bare essentials: You must register and no spots are guaranteed.
I hope you can understand that very few people will go on the record for this. Parents don’t want to antagonize the school, the school people don’t want to be blamed, etc., etc.
There is a lack of communication between the school and parents. That’s the bottom line.
August 14th, 2012 at 7:06 pm
as well as having a new building built with $17 million of taxpayer’s, not Penn’s, money
I think this is an important point. PAS is basically a subsidy for Penn (and Penn staff, and Penn parents), by the city. You won’t see the same subsidy implemented at another school.
August 15th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
See y’all at Lea! (five blocks away!)
August 15th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Additional funding for inspiration to arrive at Lea via mule or horse and buggy with neighborhood support whilst you await your turn on PAS’ golden waiting list. Five blocks is a long way to go for a decently funded education. Please excuse the 20th century building and less posh amendities. The teachers will welcome your students.
August 15th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
But Mike, what gets us is that the school did start releasing information, but only on the morning of registration. At every point until then, including last week, everyone who called was told “We just don’t know, get to the line early and hope for the best.” And then finally Monday morning, they took people who’d been sleeping in their cars for two days and said to them “Surprise! We do know something, you can forget getting in this year!” What on earth was the point of this behavior? I guess if you are some kind of sadist, it would be fun to wait until people have a nasty crick in their neck and terrible breath and barely feel like human beings, and then and only then give them a nasty shock. A shock compounded by the fact that they barely have any time to line up an alternative before school starts in a few weeks. I’ll bet the looks on our faces were absolutely priceless, if you go in for that sort of thing.
I’m hoping that’s not the real reason the school chose to handle it this way. But what other possible explanation is there? Does the school perhaps feel that the waiting list is a secret brotherhood whose existence can only be revealed to those who have passed the initiation? I’m sorry to be so melodramatic, but the school’s behavior defies rational explanation.
August 15th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Other explanations:
– PAS doesn’t know what it is doing.
– PSD doesn’t know what it is doing.
– There are arcane PSD ‘procedures’ that have to be followed to the letter.
None of which makes much difference to the parents of course, as the outcome is the same.
August 15th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
They had two good options: shrink the catchment or enlarge the capacity, and one bad but transparent option: a lottery.
Instead they chose to continue this soviet-style process with their secret lists and lines, privileged insiders, and absentee officials.
August 15th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
@Jerm, just who, pray tell would be funding the capacity increase? Remember, the taxpayer has ponied up the most bucks in this whole unsustainable experiment thus far.
August 15th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
“the school’s behavior defies rational explanation.”
I don’t think it’s particularly irrational for a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy to be indifferent to its constituency. Immoral and callous perhaps, but not irrational.
August 15th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
I’m not in PSD logistics but I would think the best option is to cut out 7th and 8th grade. Weren’t we told there is substantial attrition by that point?
August 15th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
@ Anonymous(Sorry Mike) I know U of Penn funded the fourth Kindergarten class, not taxpayers. Also, Jerm – I’d be with ya about 7&8 grade but if they cut those classes I think there would be many kids stuck with no where to go then, especially as the kinder classes will be larger now I am sure there will be mor ekids still there in those grades.
August 15th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
@ThebestAnonymous Yes, I am aware of that. I believe the cost to Penn will be something like $100,000. But if you add up the $17 million for the building and the $2 million or so annual district funding per year for the school for the last 10 years and compare with the $750,000/year that Penn chip in, the Penn funding will eclipse the public investment some time around…never. Even add in the extra kindergarten if you want but the taxpayers will always have spent more for PAS than Penn has.
August 15th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
I’m sure if there was a mechanism for desperate parents they would gladly fork over $5k rather than pay $20k+ and a long commute to a private school. Maybe PAS could just raise a rebel flag secede from the PSD.
August 15th, 2012 at 5:08 pm
@Jerm, because then they would have to pay for their own building to the tune of millions of dollars! How is this so hard to understand?! Not only that, they would lose their bragging rights to contributing, so, so much to the neighborhood though as I’ve shown repeatedly the public has invested FAR MORE than Penn in this school.
August 15th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
LW,
I don’t think simple disorganization can explain the school’s behavior. No one at the school would admit to knowing about the existence of a waiting list from last year, until 9:00 Monday morning when suddenly everyone knew all about it. The only possibilities are either they were lying before, or else someone from the central office showed up at 8:59 and finally clued them in. If the latter is true, why wouldn’t the school officials be eager to tell Mike that the situation is not their fault? If the former, why?
Now it is possible that there is some arcane PSD procedure that requires them to stone wall parents about the wait list, but if so they should say so so that we may contact our elected representative and ask them to change this procedure. PAS is not the CIA, there is no reason for them to have a list that is so secret that not only are they not allowed to talk about it, but they’re not even allowed to explain to Mike when he calls that they’re not allowed to talk about it.
I realize that I’m upset and probably coming off like a bit of a nut. But it not just that I’m upset that my kid didn’t get in to the school, the behavior of the school officials has definitely been fishy.
August 15th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
spouse of Anonymous #1, It is unfortunate that the PAS Home and School Association and PAS community at large is so inactive on a systemic level that they don’t realize that our elected officials do not govern the School District of Philadelphia. Neither is there a elected school board. Thanks to the 2001 state takeover, the Philadelphia schools are governed by an appointed body, the School Reform Commission (SRC). Less privileged school communities have spent that last few years begging before the SRC for their school’s continued existence and even reached out to the PAS HSA and been met with a deafening silence.
Too bad, really, because the next SRC meeting is tomorrow night but the sign up time to testify as a member of the public has passed.
August 15th, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Oops, I just reread the thread and realized my spouse is actually Anonymous #2, not #1. Sorry, Anonymous #1, if I creeped you out!
Anonymous (Sorry Mike), Wow, that is too bad, I sure would have liked a chance to speak my mind. You’re right, I didn’t know any of that before, I was assuming that there was an elected school board. Do you know when the next SRC meeting is?
You seem to be implying that the PAS community could prevent other schools from closing if only it were more active. Do you really think that’s true, when the community can’t even get a straight answer to a simple question from their own school officials? I think sometimes people on this blog (e.g. Monie above) overestimate the degree to which University City parents are privileged. The system doesn’t treat us with any respect either. Even the people who work at UPenn – you’d think they’d have some sort of influence with the school, but I hear they got the same stonewall treatment everyone else did, even from the official UPenn liaison. Not even the UPenn liaison anticipates that UPenn employees will be able to hold her accountable! What makes anyone think that University City parents can just show up at Lea and suddenly force everything to change?
August 16th, 2012 at 5:44 am
I heard rumors that there lots of kids who actually dont live in the “Zone”, maybe PAS should investigate to make sure families are living where they say they are, this might help with the classes being full.
I’ve personally seen cars pulling up and dropping kids off at PAS with out of state plates, doesnt mean that they don’t live in the zone but it should be looked into, then maybe the kids who actually live in the area may have a better chance to get in.
Just saying!
August 16th, 2012 at 7:37 am
spouse of Anonymous #2, the SRC meeting schedule is posted on the school district’s website along with the procedures to sign up to testify. It’s not kept under lock and key or anything.
And come on, you can’t have it both ways. Hear it all the time how the PAS community is so strong and active and some of the programs the school has had has been thanks to parents serving on certain boards and the woman second in line one winter was the vice president of a major bank in Philly etc. And now it’s poor widdle PAS parents can’t find their way to an SRC meeting and nobody will listen to them anyway?
Anyway, the PAS HSA wasn’t being asked to argue on behalf of schools that were proposed for closure. Actually, even less was being asked of it and it declined. It was asked to sign on to a vote of no confidence in the SRC as about 50 other HSAs and parent organizations had done in opposition to the 2012-2013 budget and the disastrous “plan” hatched for the district by the Boston Consulting Group. Here’s background on all that: http://www.citypaper.net/cover_story/2012-05-03-whos-killing-philly-public-schools.html
And no one is asking you to show up to Lea and “force” anything. Show up with an open mind (such as not declaring you’re going to force things) and work to support the teachers and student just as you would at any other school.
August 16th, 2012 at 9:07 am
Just a matter of time before someone starts a tumblr blog devoted to photos of out-of-catchment cars dropping off kids at PAS. Methinks the jig is up.
August 16th, 2012 at 10:05 am
Great ideas here! We should round up all of the PAS students in little rows in the schoolyard and demand to see their papers! Those who unable to prove residency will be stripped of their PAS sweatshirts, banned from the school and forced to walk home to whatever stupid neighborhoods they actually live in. This is totally the best and most productive direction for everyone’s energies! Way to go!
August 16th, 2012 at 10:30 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences#Perverse_results