Phila. School District plan would dismantle central office, close schools
The realities are ugly, leaders said Tuesday - the Philadelphia School District is nearly insolvent, lags behind most other urban districts in academics, and loses students to charters because parents believe it does not keep their children safe.
"What we do know through lots of history and evidence and practice is that the current structure doesn't work," School Reform Commission Chairman Pedro Ramos said. "It's not fiscally sustainable and it doesn't produce high-quality schools for all kids."
So, at the SRC's direction, Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen on Tuesday announced a plan that would essentially blow up the district and start with a new structure.
Student group pushes for greater school safety
The student group Youth United for Change launched an initiative Wednesday aimed at making city schools safer. The group’s “Safe to Count on Me” campaign promotes preventive discipline programs over zero-tolerance policies in dealing with school violence.
New Jersey state college faculties protest pay, benefit proposals
Faculty from across New Jersey’s state college campuses protested Wednesday as tensions with Gov. Christie continue to grow over proposals to freeze professors’ pay and cut benefits. Christie has called for four-year salary freezes and an end to perks such as guaranteed sabbaticals, a staple of academic life, at the state’s nine nonresearch universities, which do not include Rutgers or the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, according to faculty union officials who have been involved in contract talks.