Philadelphia Students Head Back To School Amid Cuts, Fewer Teachers And Missing Staff
PHILADELPHIA -- All eyes were on the City of Brotherly Love Monday as students and teachers returned to its massively diminished public schools for the first day back from summer vacation.
Officials said the first day went smoothly, given the circumstances: Twenty-four schools were closed; the district has a junk credit rating; contracts have expired for many school employees; and the district is running a deficit of $304 million. Music and sports will only be available for the first semester. Gov. Tom Corbett (R) was stillwithholding $45 million in federal money as he sought $104 million in concessions, including a massive pay cut, from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union.
K.R. Luebbert, a teacher at Middle Years Alternative, saw the effects of the cuts up close. Luebbert tweeted that parents dropped their kids off an hour before school opened, and there was no staff present to receive them. Teacher Christina Punteltweeted that her school had no counselors. "Seniors wanted to know about college applications," she wrote. "Fuggedaboutit." Another teacher reported that he had not yet received copy paper or workbooks.
At South Philadelphia High School, a huge building fondly known as Southern, a few thousand students were greeted Monday by a red-lettered marquee that said,