Vallas and now Nevels. James Nevels, Chair of the School Reform Commission is the man of the hour. With his unexpected resignation now imminent, who will be appointed in his place? Does the governor choose a new Chair from an academic background or someone from a business background? The answer may be neither. Maybe he should start looking for someone with a development background.
This is an idea I just thought of, a college style president who can raise money and accomplish what needs to be accomplished throughout his tenure. Many Universities and Colleges find new leadership from other Universities or from the business world. Harvard's Lawrence Summers was the Secretary of the Treasury, and though, I doubt the city of Philadelphia can create a vacuum for that kind of clout, I believe they could find someone to run the school.
Think about it, Colleges, public and private, have multi-million, sometimes billion, dollar endowments. If somebody came into the district, couldn't they find donors? It should be a simple procedure shouldn't it? It should, but the red tape required to accomplish things in Philadelphia is almost Gordian. But the bureaucracy is a topic for another day.
I digress. I think it would make sense to stop waiting for someone to change the funding formula. We can raise the money, 10 dollars from half of Philly would be almost 8 million dollars, and though that seems unlikely, I'm sure some wealthy person who attended a Philly school would be happy to have their name on a building. It cannot hurt to try a little innovation.
We cannot do the same things forever and expect different results. The same things bring the same results, but as Newt Gingrich says, "Real change requires real change."
Comments (4)
I wouldn't throw 10 cents down the rat hole that is Philly public schools, let alone $10. But keep dreaming that there is some white knight out there that is going to save this mess. On second thought, buy a lottery ticket. You have better odds of winning.
Posted by Anonymous | August 13, 2007 10:27 PM
Let's cut to the chase. There won't be a " Knight Of Prosperity " or an ' Interlude Maiden ' coming to change any of the physical properties the ' SRC ' face.
Good luck to parents , students and the paying public this school calendar year 2007-08. Lord knows you will need exclusive fundamentals and examination displays... God. Im' tired of this social gospel - bye.
Posted by Jasper Zeigler Jr | August 14, 2007 9:05 AM
My own thoughts on the public school system -- which, incidentally, I attended in my youth -- is that they lack a type of checks and balances that force them to operate at their best. In brief, to teach kids what they need to learn, they lack competition. When I was a kid growing up here in Philadelphia such competition did exist. It existed in the form of well-run public libraries, great museums all throughout the Philadelphia area, quality television, really great popular music and, dare I say it, well-run movie theaters all throughout the city of Philadelphia plus magnificent movie palaces in its downtown part.
Add to this the difference between how Philadelphia parents were back then and now. My parents actually used to read to me! In those days our parents were as much our teachers as those in the school system were! My parents, both of whom were art school graduates, taught me how to paint and sculpt and so on. My father taught me the art of photography. My mother taught me music. An uncle of mine, a Wharton School graduate and financier for the Cadawalader family, taught me a thing or two about business. And what's with parents and other family members today? Why can't they do the same?
Today's Philadelphia public school system seems to be a propaganda machine more than anything. And without competition, really, what's to stop it?
One of the biggest shocks I got several years back with regard to the Philadelphia public school system and how much they've declined due to a lack of checks and balances, in this case having to do with Central High -- which once had been ranked as one of Philadelphia's finest -- came when the issue of the Fox Chase Cancer Center v. Burholme Park came up for discussion in one of its classes. As one student, fully familiar with that situation firsthand, spoke up in favor of saving the park, she was laughed down not only by all the students but the instructor himself. Now was that a brainwashed class or what?! For it's one thing for the average person on the street to be stupid on this matter -- the kind of people Leno quizzes when he does his "Jaywalking" sketch -- but when a licensed instructor is that far gone it's like "Uh-oh!"
But my argument is, without checks and balances, Philadelphia's public school system can never be turned around for the better. It will continue to be teachers not wanting to teach "teaching" students who don't want to learn, with each being pleased with that arrangement. But at the same time what does get instilled, mainly through teacher apathy combined with peer pressure, is brainwashing. Paid for with your and my taxdollars, I might add.
Posted by Steve W. | August 15, 2007 2:11 AM
Paid for with your and my taxdollars, I might add -- as in, WHAT A ROYAL RIP-OFF! No wonder Philadelphia's population is so way down now!
Posted by Steve W. | August 15, 2007 2:23 AM