What Have You DONE????

So, the School District of Philadelphia, yet again, in its infinite wisdom decided in the FALL of 2015 that it would like to convert THREE of our district schools into charter schools beginning in the FALL of 2016.

What have you DONE????

I had a principal at one point who insisted that in order for a child to receive an "F", teachers were "required" (I was never really good with that word) to complete a PACKET entitled "Criteria to Give an F", to which I vehemently objected. And a packet it was. That was then.

Today, the the big talker is RTII or is it just one "I" again...or does it have a different name now?? Did we go back to CSAP? Who knows anymore?

But in the case of Huey, Cooke, and Wister, I ask the district, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??? Did you "RTII" them? CSAP them? PTE them?

Like many principals ask of us...what interventions did you try? What have you done to assess the needs of those schools (and others)? What have you done to ensure that they had every possible resource at their disposal to make each day a success for the students in their trust and the teachers and staff who do the teaching, mentoring, and caring?

What have you done to make each building a bright, clean, safe, and welcoming one?

What have you done to boost the morale of all the teachers and staff in each building?

What supports have you given to the principals in those buildings?

Does each building have a nurse five days a week to ensure as best as possible the overall health of the student body?

Does each school have a full time counselor to minister to the emotional needs of the students and to aid in the transition to middle or high school as appropriate?

What have you done to ensure that at least the kindergarten through third grade classes didn't even have to reach the agreed upon maximum, since even that is too large considering the need?

What have you done to ensure that each school had art, music, and gym classes that made elementary students like me at Harrington, WANT to come to school knowing that many kids learn through these media?

Have you set in place truancy programs that included meetings, follow-up, support and possible referrals to social service agencies who can help alleviate the reasons for the truancy to begin with?

Perhaps you've aided principals and counselors in the establishment of conflict resolution, bully prevention, and other programs that all students could benefit from?

What have you done to make sure there were extra curricular activities like active sports, chess, drama, sign language, a second language, gardening, robotics, etc.?

What have you done to help include parents in the school culture either inside the school or outside of the school?

How have you encouraged and supported your building administrators to be more active and visible in the community? Have you provided the necessary resources for them to be able to do that?

What have you done to make sure each those schools has a teacher-librarian, one who would coordinate research projects with teachers, coordinate school-wide fun and inviting literacy initiatives, assist children and teachers in a well stocked and comfortable school library?

Wait, real talk!!
Just what HAVE you done for Cooke, Wister, and Huey?????

(Intriguing that all three sit in a general catchment area for one of Mastery's Charter schools)