What it means for parents to support teachers
by pagrundy
Philadelphia parents are currently engaged in an active struggle against a particularly extreme form of school district “transformation,” which includes many school closings. Their actions have included a March 5 sit-in at the Philadelphia mayor’s office. Here are the thoughts of PAA founding member Helen Gym, originally posted on the website of the Philadelphia parents’ organization “Parents United for Public Education.” Helen notes that: “Last week’s release of the District’s teacher proposal was a clear wake-up call: School closings aren’t an end in themselves. They are the tip of the iceberg in terms of a massive and rapid divesting of public education. Whether you’re in North Philadelphia, Center City or Southwest or a magnet school, this contract more than anything lays out the future beyond school closings and why we’re fighting them.” Let’s all voice our support for the Philadelphia parents’ actions, as well as heeding Helen’s warning.
Like many parents across the city, the preliminary release of some of the terms of the Philadelphia teachers contract made me heartsick. For months I had watched city and district leaders make promises about mass school closings – they were necessary for financial viability, they would concentrate resources in remaining schools, they would put more students in “high performing seats.” Of course, no such promises had ever been delivered upon by over a decade of studies of hundreds of school closings in cities all across the
