Building Reps Retreat...

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers decided to engage its federation building representatives in meaningful and informative dialogue centered on the current landscape of public education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the country as a whole. The first Building Reps Retreat was held in Atlantic City from Monday through Wednesday of this week.

In a nutshell, I loved every minute of it!!

Sessions centered around engaging our schools' communities at large, technical language of our contract, and the law. The agenda also included a session on an unprecedented collaborative effort between the School District of Philadelphia and the PFT to provide an historical level of support for new teachers and tenured teachers whose teaching has been weighed in the balances and found wanting.

It is important to note, that last collaboration is contrary to popular belief that teachers unions are about protecting dead wood, teachers who clearly need to clap their erasers for the last time. But I digress.

Each session was informative and rekindled the fire in each of us to fight for public education! Thank you PFT! I'm looking forward to another successful year in the classroom and hope for the same success in the corridors of City Hall, Harrisburg, DC, and 440!

New found respect for teachers...

Within the past two weeks two different individuals approached me and commented that they have a "new found respect" for teachers. The first was a parent who recently retired, freeing up more time for her to be more involved in her high schooler's education and school overall.  She spent a considerable amount of time in the school itself. That experience enlightened her to the difficult tasks that teachers perform on a daily basis.  She informed me that she had a new found respect for teachers having spent some time on the "inside".

The second individual was employed with the School District of Philadelphia, but with budget cuts and an uncertain future, he decided that it was time to move on, before he HAD to move on. His comment to me, "Man, I have a new found respect for teachers having been on the inside."

Suggestion: Everyone should spend some time on the "inside" and they, too, should discover a new found respect for teachers and the respectable work and service that we perform on a daily basis.

Asked and Answered???

After realizing the 140 characters just didn't seem enough, it was my nephew who inspired me to brush off my blog and get to...well....blogging!

Recently, my state Senator and I, along with some of my twitter friends and colleagues, engaged in a twitterlogue about public education. This state Senator opened up a charter school that shares a corner with the neighborhood public school.

I sent the Senator (via @kellygrade6) the following tweet, "@SenTonyWilliams @TimothyMBoyle @rmschloss have u tried to get Mitchell Elem, BB Comegys and schools like them the resources and services they need b4 u decided to open a charter on the same corner?"

The Senator's response to me was sent in this tweet, "@kellygrade6 @timothymboyle @rmschloss I attended Mitchell and I visited last year."

I'll let you judge for yourself what this "nationally recognized expert on educational issues" (http://www.senatoranthonyhwilliams.com/sen-anthony-h-williams/about/biography) meant by that response, because I think I may have misunderstood something.

For real though?

Hello All!

It has been a while since I shared my most inner, secretive thoughts regarding teaching, learning, public schools, etc. Employing the use of sarcasm of course, the fact remains, it *has* been a while!

So much as transpired since my last post. We have a state legislature that appears to be determined and methodical in its efforts to rid the universe of the very thought and memory of public education! She sees public education as enemy number one and the root of all of the world's woes! Employing the use of exaggeration just a bit, the fact remains, it seems as if we are in the midst of the end of the traditional public school system as we know it. With the moving forward of Senate Bill 1 and other bills that expand vouchers, charter schools (the very thought of them makes my pressure spike) and business tax breaks, it seems as if public schools as we know it will become a thing of the past!

Indeed, so much as transpired. Dr. Ackerman is not longer at the helm of the School District of Philadelphia and has recently filed for unemployment. No comment. An older African-American gentlemen began to sour to the top of the wide field of REPUBLICAN front runners for its party's nomination to become the next President of the United States. Who would've thunk? The very idea that two black men would be running for President of the United States of America and then AT THE SAME TIME, on OPPOSING SIDES! But just as quickly as he rose, he fell, just like the economy!

The economy goes up and down like a roller coaster. Government budgets are tight and (to go back to my original topic) public education seems to be enemy number one! The solution, so they say, remove funds. Cut education spending.

Well, let me ask you this? Would you remove a police officer's gun because crime increases? Would removing doctors' medical licenses because a cure for aids hasn't been found make much sense? Or because streets aren't 100% litter free, let's remove the trash cans right? So, we'd do a better job educating our students if you cut the budget of an already underfunded educational system?

For real though?

Hello, we're trying to teach here!!!

The School District of Philadelphia has kept the news outlets with plenty to report on these past few months. Dr. Ackerman is no longer the superintendent, Counselor Archie is out as head of the SRC, another member has resigned and yet another (if I'm not mistaken) has moved to California but has promised to fly back to Philadelphia for meetings!

The news of the debacle and foolishness with the district seems to overshadow those of us teachers who work hard day in and day out doing what we love to do, teach! My suggestion, focus on the good within the district. Focus on the kindergartners who may be experiencing the very idea of school for the very first time! Focus on the teachers who are giving up preps and lunches to tutor this early in the school year. Focus on the principals who are teachers at heart and are pushing in or taking small groups and providing supplemental instruction---not because of some mandate, but because they are true instructional leaders!

 To the media, let's turn the tide of education coverage! There are teachers, secretaries, aides, principals, students, parents, and organizations doing some wonderful things with shoe-string budgets, let's focus on that! We don't have $905,000 to spend on our classrooms, but we're working wonders with the $95 allotment (actually, $100) that we do get, plus much from our own pockets! Let's focus on that!

I watch and read the news almost daily and I don't plan on stopping now. I have my favorite news entities. But I just wish that sometimes, you wouldn't give all the wrong people their 15 minutes! Ackerman is out....be done with the coverage already! Hello! We're trying to teach here!!

My Daily News debut (I guess)

I have finally made the big leagues!! I'm joking of course, sort of! Recently I wrote in to the Daily News, this after Mastery Charter School attempted to make amends with the Center City community following the idiotic actions of a few of their students. Please note, I am in no way blaming Mastery for the actions of their students! Something in these youth's brains told them it was okay to randomly attack someone walking down the street.

I do, however, put a challenge out to Mastery Charter school.

Enjoy!

http://mrflemming.wikispaces.com/DailyNewsDebut

R.I.P. Public School????

For the past two weeks or so I have been enjoying my reading of Diane Ravitch’s book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education published in 2010.

As a teacher in Philadelphia’s public school system, I am a stanch supporter and believer in public education and the purpose for its existence as a foundational pillar in a democratic society. Not oblivious to the laundry list of challenges that urban education faces, I am one who believes that with hard work and the necessary collaborations, we can return Philadelphia’s and other urban public school systems to the once foremost and desirable educational systems they once were.

Reading Ravitch’s book has reignited that flame and has rekindled that desire!

In recent months public schools, their teachers and principals along with their unions have become the object of much scorn, criticism, and skepticism. We are lazy, adult-interests organizations who are employed for the self-serving purpose of padding our pockets while enjoying lavish health benefits and union protection! If I did not realize that I was a teacher, I would affirm that I was speaking of big business, oil, or politicians, and their special interests organizations, but I digress!

According to many-a-governor, senator, member of congress and others charged with passing laws in this nation, an overhaul is needed. The state capitals’ and Washington's buzz word for this overall is “reform”. Education reform is what’s needed to raise the achievement levels of America’s students, so they affirm. Ravitch’s book tackles this very concept in great detail.  What I can appreciate about Diane Ravitch is that she does not come from an “insider” perspective.  She is not and has never been a public school teacher or administrator. So then you ask, how can she truly write and publish a book about our system? Who better to do this than an objective outsider?

Had she been a public school teacher or principal, no doubt our critics would swear that her opinions about testing and school choice are heavily influenced by her public school predisposition!

Diane Ravitch is an education historian and researcher. She has served in high-ranking government positions in education serving under President Bush, the 41^st and President Clinton.

As she states in her book, she advocated for a strong system of testing and accountability and all that those terms meant for public education. But after working for sometime pushing these agendas forward, she came to a simple conclusion; they didn’t work!

I am enjoying my reading of this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an objective view of how this whole emphasis on test scores and school choice are not “panaceas” (a word used often in the book) for a system that could use some extra help.