Blog entries

The Future of Chester

Koby Murphy — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:26:01 +0100

The future of the Chester Upland School District In Delaware County is and has been up in the air for quite some time now.

As a result of the devastating state budget cuts to education Chester Upland’s school district went under financially.

Chester Upland gets nearly 70 percent of its annual funding from the state but lost almost 20 percent of its allotment because of severe budget cuts according the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Even with the well being Read More...

Creating Nonviolent Schools & Communities: MLK Day 2012

Koby Murphy — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:31:05 +0100

Since 2009 the Campaign for Nonviolent Schools (CNS) has been working to engage leaders of the School District and the community in addressing school climate issues that don’t push students into the criminal justice system .

The Campaign for Nonviolent Schools believes that by ending bias violence, the school to prison pipeline, and using restorative justice practices we can heal our schools and communities.

The work CNS does is important because nonviolenRead More...

Community

Koby Murphy — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:47:20 +0100

As 2011 came to a close it was obvious that the power of community needed to be at the forefront now more than ever.

Time and time again changes in education at the local and state level failed to involve community voice; and decisions came from the top down.

One example is the voucher campaign that Gov. Tom Corbett pushed in Pennsylvania throughout 2011. After slashing Pennsylvania’s education budget, Corbett then decided that the problem with PennsylvRead More...

Great Schools Need Community Input

Koby Murphy — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:29:26 +0100

Recently the School Reform Commission voted in approval of the Philadelphia Great Schools Compact which represents a handful of things for Philadelphia.

To be eligible to receive a grant from Gates, schools districts must agree to his vision of school reform and pledge cooperation by signing a compact which is essentially a contract.

In other words if the School District of Philadelphia wants money from Bill Gates it must follow his vision.

According Read More...

Senate Briefing

Koby Murphy — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:19:30 +0100

On Thursday, December 8th at 3:30pm there was a Senate briefing called “Student Access To Prepared & Effective Teachers: Understanding The Impact Of Federal Policy.” The briefing discussed the issues of teacher quality and equity and the role of the Federal Government.

This briefing was important because the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind, passed the Senate committee and might soon reach the floRead More...

Building Student Power Across PA!

Megan Williamson — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:43:29 +0100

Written by Jaileah Gibson

This fall the Philadelphia student union has been working hard around our statewide funding campaign. So we have had multiple meetings with high school students from Reading, Pennsylvania.

So on November 1, 2011 a few students from the Philadelphia student Union took a trip down to Reading High School. Most schools in Philadelphia face the same issues that the students in Reading high school face. Like violence or having unqualified teachers. But the moRead More...

Not Nearly Enough Relief

Koby Murphy — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:23:34 +0100

On October 26th President Obama unveiled his answer to the growing student loan debt crisis.

Obama’s plan will expedite a law passed by Congress last year that lowers the maximum required payment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income annually to 10 percent for eligible borrowers. Discretionary income is the amount of an individual’s income that is left for spending, investing or saving after taxes and personal necessities have been paid. It goeRead More...

“Education Over Incarceration” Youth Town Hall Meeting

Iliyaas Muhammad — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:41:41 +0100

Education Over Incarceration Youth Town Hall meeting

The Philadelphia Student Union, Youth United for Change and the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus would like to invite you to attend the Education Over Incarceration Youth Town Hall meeting. The meeting will take place on Thursday, November 17, 2011 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at West Philadelphia High School. At this event we will take a closer look at interpersonal and structural violence in our school system and our communRead More...

Students that fought to keep Furness high school open

Ericka Johnson — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:21:02 +0100

When students at Furness High School found out that their school was on the School District's list of pRead More...

Can Advertising Alieviate Our Strain?

Koby Murphy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:30:11 +0100

Bucks County’s Pennsbury School District is allowing marketers to place advertisements inside their schools for profit. Subjecting students to advertising inside of schools in order to make money is ethically wrong.

Schools are supposed to act as the conduit between students and their success. However, in hopes to alleviate their budget crunch, the Pennsbury School District is allowing itself to act as the conduit between companies and students who could become customersRead More...

"A win for youth." Congress Launches Youth Caucus

Ericka Johnson — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:40:24 +0100

Kim Reed joined hundreds of youth from across the country in Washington DC, to report on the historic launch of a new Congressional Youth Caucus. For the first time, the U.S. Congress will have a Caucus where legislators will be talking and thinking about youth issues. This victory was won through the work of the Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) and the Leaders Investing For Equality (LIFE) Campaign. Kim Reed produced this report for On Blast.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN! :)

"We need a penny!" Farmworkers Fight For Justice

Ericka Johnson — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:28:43 +0100

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers organized a rally in front of a center city Trader Joes and the Philly Student Union was there to help support.

Immigrant farmworkers across southwest Florida have been working under low wages and have been treated unfairly for many years. Back in 1993 they began organizing and between there hunger strike and their historic 230-mile march in 2000, their organizing ended over declining wages in the tomato industry. By 1998 they won industry-wide raRead More...

As Voucher Plan Moves Forward Communities Object

Koby Murphy — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:47:30 +0100

Gov. Tom Corbett recently revealed his plan for education, pushing for vouchers as the new standard for education reform. On October 24th, the Senate Education Committee approved a vouchers program. Now, the Senate is poised to pass it. The Senate Education Committee’s support of vouchers is happening despite major opposition from students and parents across Pennsylvania.

Why fund private and parochial schools with taxpayer dollars? If public education weren’t Read More...

Quality Education or Quality Business Tactics?

Koby Murphy — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:20:16 +0100

With a five year plan and billions of dollars invested by the Obama administration to turnaround 5,000 of the nations lowest performing schools, there are quite a few red flags on the field.

In this policy, there are four models of school turnaround: turnaround, restart, transformation and closure. Turnaround replaces a schools principal and no less than 50 percent of its staff and in addition increases learning time along with other reforms. Restart ultimately resulRead More...

Changing of The Guard

Koby Murphy — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:10:57 +0100

Education has been burdened by the weight of the No Child Left Behind law for far too long. Under the umbrella of NCLB the very point of education was not to enrich our students but rather to mold us into effective test takers. We were not taught a curriculum that made us into leaders or great thinkers and what was worse is the very people that actually administer our learning had their hands bound by the curriculum as well.

Finally after many long years there are developments Read More...

LISTEN NOW: Exposing the Threats Behind Vouchers

Megan Williamson — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:05:07 +0100

Right now in Pennsylvania, school vouchers are being proposed as a way to "fix" public education, by using public money to pay for the private or parochial school tuition of certain students who receive vouchers.

Philadelphia Student Union members have taken a strong position against school vouchers, and we were part of a "Say No to Vouchers" Tour with Action United & Education Law Center. Students, parents and community members boarded a bus and visited legislators' offices to Read More...

Taking Youth-Led Workshops to Students Across PA

Azeem Hill — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 05:26:17 +0100

PSU is expanding our workshops across PA. We have been meeting with high school students from Reading and Chester, and leading some of PSU's core workshops. It is our way of getting more students outside Philly to think about organizing, and also a way to build a student network in PA.

Last month, Javier Morris and I led a workshop about young peoples oppression in Reading for students in the Penn State Educational Partnership Program (PEPP) summer program. The students were a little sRead More...

Students Say No to Vouchers

Megan Williamson — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:09:28 +0100

Today on June 23rd, 2011, I --Daesya Parker-- completed my first public speech for the Philadelphia Student Union. This speech was for the “No Vouchers Express,” a joint action that we completed with Action United and the Education Law Center. This bus tour was dedicated solely to stopping our state representatives and senators from voting yes on Voucher legislation.

If you asked me a few months ago “What do you personally think about vouchers, Daesya Parker?&rdqRead More...

Students Rally for National Youth Investment on May 19th

Eric Yates — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 19:30:51 +0100

The phrase “young people are the future” is often used by many adults and Americans in general. If this is what adults in America believe then why are elected officials approving budgets that cuts billions of dollars from education? By saying they believe in young people then taking money from education to invest in prisons proves that if it isn’t demanded, education will be pushed to the side for another agenda. Big budget cuts in education is something that cannot bRead More...

The Philadelphia Student Union Objects to Vouchers for the Following Reasons...

Erika Almiron — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:12:27 +0100

The Philadelphia Student Union opposes Senate Bill 1, also known as, Opportunity Scholarships, and Educational Improvement Tax Credit (Vouchers) for the following reasons:

Vouchers are about handing taxpayer money to private enterprise. Not about equity for students.
Taxpayer money should stay in our schools and our neighborhoods.
Vouchers will do nothing to improve public education. They will help private schools stay open while our public schools close.
More moneyRead More...