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Friday, August 23, 2013

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The "perfect storm" hits Philly

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The "perfect storm" hits Philly:

The "perfect storm" hits Philly

In mid afternoon, more than 1,000 protesters, many in red T-shirts and carrying signs and banners, marched from the Comcast Center at 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard to the district's offices on North Broad Street.

Philadelphia streets were a sea of red yesterday as red-shirted teachers, parents, students and community activists marched to save the city's public school system from the "perfect storm" that is massive budget cuts, school closings, teacher firings and corporate-style ed "reform."

In today's Washington Post, Valerie Strauss interviews parent and schools activist Helen Gym about the impending storm threatening the very existence of public education -- and not just in Philadelphia. 

Strauss writes: 
...there is no question that the system is in agony, having been starved for funding by the state for years and used as a playground by school reformers who imposed one experiment after another, each which served to undermine the traditional public schools.
 Says Gym:
We’ve burned through countless dollars chasing after the obsessions and frivolities of this so called “education reform” movement – expensive