I was browsing through Facebook and looking at some internet news and it was then I heard the story about Philadelphia School District shutting down more schools! (THE LINK CAN BE FOUND BELOW) Despite the fact that my own child does notattend a public school, it saddens me to see some of the schools on the list were among some that were fairly large as well as decent schools (about as decent as you can get in this district). Not long ago, several public schools were closed or sold to private entities and just last year, the Archdiocese closed some schools throughout the area as well. When I take notice to the location of the schools, I saw that it was those in primarily low-income areas.
So as a parent, your choice of schools range from those in your neighborhood that are further away or in bad areas to begin with and those so far away, it would still pose an issue commuting. Now while I understand the financial ramifications of this move by the City & the District…what grinds my gears was the fact that during the rally/protest for the school closing there was an altercation where the cops had to be involved. SMFH!!!
REALLY BLACK PEOPLE!!! Now when my daughter’s school was among those to be merged with another nlast year, we appealed, wrote letters and spoke to officials in charge who would not only hear our concern but make efforts to reverse the decision. The result? My daughter’s school would remain not only in tact but no other students from other schools would be cramed in there like sardines!
No fight broke out! No riot ensued…just a peaceful show of protest, which obviously had a better outcome! So my question and reason for this blog was this…where do we fix the wrong?? Where was this show of emotion for schools when the test scores were low or when violence became an everyday occurance? Where were the “angered” parents when drugs overran the schools? Where was the concern when the completion rate of public schools dropped and the number of illiterate kids still gained diplomas? Not sure but the violent outburst now from parents…not helping! And in my opinion…explains the erratic behavior of some unruly students. Just over a month ago, a girl was kidnapped in a Public School!
The thing is we need to show concern for our schools before fiscal matters and hard decisions are made. These schools already had a strike against them being in low income areas. And now it’s too late perhaps for them. The list of abandoned buildings is increasing in Philly and the ghosts of the city’s architecture is sad. No funds, be it raised by the school, parents, volunteers, students, etc was apparent enough to increase student attendance, grades, test scores, building repairs or even lastly teacher salaries.
According to the report, school officials place blame, not accountability on the fact that enrollment is low within the district at these schools! But why? Why are parents such as myself sending their kids elsewhere to begin with? According to the site, “…23 percent enrollment decline over the past decade is partly due to the explosive growth of publicly financed charter schools”
So again I ask where do we fix the wrong?
What happens when the schools are overrun like the prisons? What happens to our future, our legacies, our children?
Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=9018966
Drunken Insomniac Writer 