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 of students on the line the state is not stepping in to rectify the financial instability that many rightfully argue was pushed by the states multi-million dollar cuts to education.

In fact as recently as January 17th, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson ordered the state advance $3.2 million to the Chester Upland School District so it could meet its payroll for the time being.

Regardless of the state’s claims that the Chester Upland School District mismanaged its budget, students shouldn’t have to suffer not knowing whether or not they will be able to keep attending their schools.

Teachers shouldn’t have to question whether they will be paid and whether they will be able to continue teaching their pupils.

Remarkably, before the federal court ruling for the $3.2 million advance of funds the teachers vowed to teach without pay for as long as they could.

That is absolute dedication to not only their profession but also to the  state’s most precious resource: our students.

Why doesn’t the state display such dedication to its students and their instructors?

Furthermore why would any state allow conditions like this to go on this long?

Will you join students & parents from across Pennsylvania to demand that Governor Corbett make equitable school funding a top priority in the next budget?

You must register online in order to reserve a seat on one of the Philadelphia buses: www.showloveforeducation.eventbrite.com

• Read More...

People need to know what is happening in Chicago because it is a preview
of the national agenda for urban schools. Since 2004, under Arne Duncan,
Chicago has been closing neighborhood schools in African American and
Latino working class communities and turning them over to charter schools,
selective enrollment schools for new gentrifiers, or to an outside
“turnaround specialist.” We have been fighting for quality neighborhood
schools in every neighborhood and  against these school closings every
year. This year Duncan, before he became Sec. of Ed, recommended closing
or turning around 22 schools on a few weeks notice. In the end the Board
of Ed. voted to go ahead and close or "turn-around" 16 neighborhood
schools, rocks of stability in their communities, each with a compelling
story to tell. We saved 6. We, a multiracial coalition of grass roots
community organizations, teachers, parents, and students are angry but not
surprised. They ignored research data (2 reports that disputed their
reasons for closing the schools), the data from the parents and teachers
and students who testified for hours and compiled elaborate piles of
documents in their defense. At the Board meeting, Board members admitted
not one had read the testimony from these hearings -- the tears, anger,
pleas, careful documentation and reasoned argumentation of hundreds and
hundreds of African American and Latino working class parents and children
and their teachers and administrators. This travesty of democracy and
disrespect, this crass closing of neighborhood schools for gentrification
and charter school give aways, this "cost cutting" on the backs of Black
and Brown communities is made possible in part because the mayor, who
works in collaboration with the most powerful corporate and financial
interests,  runs the school system and appoints the Board of Education and
CEO of CPS. They are completely unaccountable. Now Arne Duncan recommends
Detroit (and what other cities?) follow Chicago’s lead with mayoral
control.

After candlelight vigils in the cold, many many community meetings, 2 mass
rallies and marches, a tent city sleep over in front of the Board of Ed in
subfreezing temperatures, and many other kinds of protests, we are tired
but unbowed. We are pushing for a retroactive moratorium on school
closings in the state legislature right now and regrouping for the next
phase. It's the parents, especially women, and youth and community members
who are the heart and soul of this fight. Their courage and determination
to fight, to picket and march and speak out day after day, to become media
spokespeople overnight, and to rise up as grassroots leaders should
inspire us all. It's a long fight because the stakes are high. People need
to know. This is the national education agenda on the horizon. We have to
stop it. For good coverage of the recent phase of our struggle see
http://www.substancenews.net/
Pauline
Teachers for Social Justice, Chicago

Chicago Teachers Organize Against Privatization

— Jackson Potter

As the CEO of Chicago Public Schools heads to Washington to run the nation’s schools policy, a new reform caucus of Chicago teachers is glad to see him go. But with their union in chaos, and city leaders hell-bent on privatizing schools, what’s a teacher to do?

The Caucus of Rank and File Educators formed this summer to fill that void. Frustrated with the union leadership’s inept response to Mayor Richard Daley’s privatization scheme, CORE and its community partners called a city-wide public hearing on the plan January 10, attended by more than 500 students, parents, community members, and teachers representing 81 schools.

The organizers are trying to head off a Board of Education announcement of 20 school closings and 12 “turnarounds,” a euphemism for school privatization that entails firing every teacher in a building and rehiring new staff.

• Read More...

So, the Notebook just did a News Flash on the drafy report from the Succeful and Failing Schools working group.  It's a pretty good article and discusses how the district is trying to use Chicago's Renaissance 2010 as a model for turning schools over to CMO's.  All students should read this article to see where things are headed and figure out what we want to do next.