Parents, teachers and school administrators gathered at West Philadelphia High School (4700 Walnut St.) last night to discuss that school’s transition to a “promise academy,” a sometimes controversial school district label that includes several measures designed to improve struggling schools. For many parents it means just another change.
These changes include firing the teaching faculty and rehiring a maximum of 50 percent of those teachers back is part of the district’s Renaissance school program. That means that West, which has seen a lot of change in recent years, including three principals in less than year, will start the next academic year with its fourth principal and a largely new faculty. West will be “traditional”promise academy, meaning extra instruction time, including Saturdays, governance by a School Advisory Council and a host of other changes. The Philadelphia Public School Notebook has a nice breakdown of the different Renaissance school designations here.
Many parents and teachers, though, are growing tired with constant changes at their schools.
Here is a Fox29 story about the meeting:
And here is a fact sheet on the Renaissance schools program:
Brandon Ford (right) with West Philly Hybrid X Team teammates Shamere Palmer (center) and Stefon Gonzales. (Photo from Hybrid X Team Flickr feed, www.flickr.com/photos/evxteam)
When First Lady Michelle Obama’s guests settle in tonight for President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, a young West Philadelphian will be among them.
West Philadelphia High School junior Brandon Ford, a leader on the school’s famed West Philly Hybrid X Team, is on a very short list of guests of the first lady announced last night. Ford forgot his school ID last September when members of the team traveled to the White House to stand with President Obama for the announcement of a new science program. He was not allowed in. But, as the Inquirer points out today, the White House didn’t forget him.
The West Philly Hybrid X Team has garnered national attention for its fuel efficient car designs that have fared very well at competitions that have included teams from automotive companies and Ivy League universities.
Ford, who also plays football at West, left with his mother, Linda Jackson, on the 8:15 a.m. train for Washington this morning.
West Philadelphia High School garden. (Photo by Allison Ostertag)
The West Philadelphia High School Garden at 47th and Locust Streets needs a volunteer group or individual to design and/or build a rain water harvesting and garden watering system. A stand for a rain barrel needs to be built and the barrel needs to be adapted to collect rain free-standing, not from a downspout.
Right now the only access to water is inside the school, which is very inconvenient and unavailable during school breaks.
Volunteers should have some building skills, tools (they can be rented from the Tool Library) and possibly a vehicle to transport the lumber. The garden has drills, hammer nails and will supply building materials.
To apply and for more information contact Allison Ostertag at 504-710-5406 or by e-mail: freeduh2 – at – hotmail.com.
The Daily News included a nice little profile of West Philadelphia High School forward Lemeir Mitchell in its report of West’s drubbing of Horace Furness yesterday 76-60.
In addition to being a basketball player, Mitchell, who lives at 52nd and Hazel, is also an artist and, for now, he is specializing in tattoo art. He has even given himself a couple, including one that runs from elbow to his wrist.
A New York-based religious leader penned an opinion piece in today’s Inquirer that outlines what many of us here already know – some creative problem-solving needs to be done to help public schools in West Philadelphia.
Howie Beigelman, deputy director of public policy at the Orthodox Union, and a handful of other religious leaders toured West Philadelphia High School, West Catholic High School and Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School – a public school, parochial school and charter school respectively – in early October. Students First organized the tour. Beigelman highlighted the differences between the three schools, notably that the atmosphere was “less hopeful” at West Philadelphia High, where he observed that teachers often locked their doors during class.
He continues:
The three schools may be within walking distance of one another and serve families from the same community, but they might as well be worlds apart. As we know, West Catholic must charge tuition and Boys’ Latin has a limited enrollment, about one-half the size of West Philadelphia High. So despite living in a community with multiple school options, most students have access only to West Philadelphia.
This comes as no surprise to most of us. Nor do his possible solutions, but they are worth repeating. Beigelman sees some hope in the possible expansion of earned income tax credits and opportunity scholarships. It might also help, he notes, to expand the number of charter schools and increasing aid to all children. The opportunity scholarships aimed at low-income students that he is talking about are addressed in Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1405, introduced by State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams and others over the summer.
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