Education firm linked to Fattah's son lays off all its
teachers, administrators
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ALSO ON PHILLY.COM
Without warning, Delaware Valley High School - a for-profit education firm whose records were recently subpoenaed by a federal grand jury - has laid off all 50 teaching and administrative employees at the four alternative schools it operates in the region.
Staffers said lawyer David T. Shulick, whose company operates the schools, owes them each thousands of dollars for work during the 2011-12 academic year. They had been expecting back pay last week but got furlough notices instead.
In late February, the FBI raided Shulick's Logan Square law office, searching for documents related to Delaware Valley's relationship with Chaka "Chip" Fattah Jr., 29, whose father is U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Philadelphia
Philadelphia schools plan
to spend big on a reform fantasy
It's blockbuster season at the movies, the time of year when many of us allow ourselves to suspend reality, munch on over-buttered popcorn, and get lost in a world of superheroes, alien attacks, and outrageous plot lines.
Philadelphia has its own far-fetched story line this summer. It's about a school district that, even though it's so cash-strapped it can't afford summer school, decides to spend $139 million over the next five years for an education reform strategy that won't improve student achievement. And $38 million of that is to be spent this year.
This script can be read as either horror or comedy. Frighteningly (or hilariously), though, this is reality.
The chief of the Philadelphia School District's charter school office recently conceded that the charter school expansions approved so far this year could cost $139 million over five years — $100 million more than he originally estimated. So, on top of a looming $282 million deficit, the School District plans to spend tens of millions of dollars more while making math mistakes worth $100 million? Clearly, the charter school expansion agenda has trumped fiscal sanity.
The School District's deficit is a major obstacle to reforming a system that was already struggling to serve our children. It's time to stop subjecting our kids to this high-cost, low-return reform