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Sunday, February 20, 2011

The audacity of Hope Moffett | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

The audacity of Hope Moffett | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

The audacity of Hope Moffett

by Benjamin Herold on Feb 20 2011 Posted in Latest news
Photo: Benjamin Herold

“I did this because I don’t want my students to be disheartened,” says Audenried teacher Hope Moffett of her decision to go public about her reassignment despite a gag order and threat of further discipline.

Last Friday, Hope Moffett became the most talked-about teacher in Philadelphia.

Though her students at Audenried High School were gearing up for next month’s all-important state PSSA exam, the third-year English teacher spent the day in an overheated basement room in a distant District outpost, isolated but for a few brief visitors and an occasional mouse scurrying across the room.

An outspoken critic of the District’s plan to convert her school into a charter, Moffett, 25, has been temporarily reassigned to so-called “teacher jail.”

Thursday, she received a letter from the District instructing her to report on Friday to the District’s High School Academic Division in Strawberry Mansion instead of to