As a former Philadelphia public school student, I can only imagine where education is heading when the only stories regarding students are told from the outside looking in. With adequate funding of our schools and a serious analysis of not only what students need in the classroom, but also what they’re dealing with outside their school doors, peer-to-peer violence would decline.

I can’t stress it enough that if there were more supports inside of schools that catered to the stark and frightening issues our young people face at home and in their communities the school environment would improve. Students are coming to school from broken homes, raising siblings, abuse, and a host of other constraints that often aren’t addressed inside of school. It’s very easy for publications and adults alike to just demonize students and sensationalize the violence in schools without ever talking about the root causes of that violence and the steps that could be taken to resolve them.

Young people didn’t create the larger societal issues, like poverty, that lead to violence inside schools. The reality is, that despite their hardships, students endure inside and outside of school, many manage to make the most out of the education they receive. Which is why I find it extremely disheartening that a news publication can win an award at the expense of students.

The Philadelphia Inquirer was recently honored in March with the Larry Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism which is open to journalism of any medium (print, broadcast or online) produced in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, South Jersey or Delaware. It includes one top prize of $10,000 and two special recognition prizes of $2,500. In addition to the Weiss Award on Monday April 16th The Philadelphia Inquirer also won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The Philadelphia Inquirer received these awards for their Assault On Learning series that looked at the issues of school violence in Philadelphia.

The Inquirer’s series, however, only reflected student participation as victims or aggressors of school violence. There was no investigation into what students think could change the violence they see inside their schools.

The violence captured in the Inquirer’s Assault On Learning series seemed like an insurmountable task for  anyone to try and change. In fact the series left me, a graduate of the Philadelphia School District, frightened by the accounts of youth violence. 5 of the 7 pieces of the 7 part series presented such an overwhelming sense of despair that I found myself believing our students and our schools were hopeless.

Provocative portraits like the Assault On Learning series don’t help students, it only condemns them. Sensationalizing the interpersonal violence in schools is like waving the green flag to usher in more zero tolerance inside of schools and shaping the image of young people as dangerous.

Yes violence occurs in Philadelphia schools, I know this first hand, but it’s ludicrous to only cast the spotlight upon the acts of violence committed by students and not the underlying issues that lead to that behavior. Violence is a symptom of the greater injustices that our schools, communities, and students are suffering. Our schools don’t have money, our communities don’t have money, and our students don’t have money. This lack of money which provides the access to much needed resources is downright painful. It’s irresponsible to only look at school violence as students running wild and not as a reactionary response to the structural violence they face in under-resourced schools and communities.  

Philadelphia schools have the capacity to serve students better and The Campaign For Nonviolent Schools outlines how. According to its platform school violence will decrease if the discipline, student supports, student voice and classroom engagement are the main focus. “Climate improves when young people receive individualized attention and when they don’t fall through the cracks.” The CNS platform of restorative practices that include individualized attention for students is the solution to violence found in Philadelphia schools. Just this past Tuesday, young people from CNS groups attended a meeting of the School District’s School Safety Committee,to share their best practices for supportive school discipline. The members of the committee include school principals, district officials and representatives of the Mayor’s office and is chaired by School Reform Commissioner, Lorene Cary.

Recently the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has barred Philadelphia teachers from administering the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test to their own students. The PSSA is a series of tests given to students in grades three through eight and grade 11. The assessments are in math, reading, writing, and science.

This development of teacher exclusion surfaced after an ongoing statewide investigation of cheating on the PSSA. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer the scandal involves 53 Philadelphia public schools and three city charter schools. In a recent Philadelphia Notebook article, PDE spokesman Tim Eller said that even though hundreds of schools in Philadelphia have not been flagged for any suspected testing irregularities, "The Department believes it is necessary to apply the policy districtwide."

I don’t believe that makes sense at all. I never understood the concept of spreading the consequence amongst all. Cheating wasn’t found district-wide so there is no reason to affect all for the actions of some. Once again, band-aid solutions prevail whilst overlooking the root of the problem.

Cheating wouldn’t be a problem if this kind of testing wasn’t so high stakes. Students and teachers spend lots of time preparing for tests that have serious implications if scores are low. When schools get low scores they don’t make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a measurement to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to standardized test results. When this happens consistently, the consequence can be devastating. Low scores can put schools in a position where closure and other interventions look like better alternatives to continued poor performance. The amount of stress on both teachers and students is an unnecessary burden. Teachers and students have to worry about how test scores may hurt the existence of their school. The reality of losing their school, their job, and their students is exactly what drives teachers to cheat. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer article “extraordinary security measures have been imposed on city schools, including requiring teachers administering the tests to sign statements acknowledging that criminal penalties may be sought if wrongdoing is found.” The real criminal act is that standardized tests shortchange the educational opportunities of both students and their instructors.

Teachers and students spend far too much time preparing for a test which will essentially make or break the foundation of a school community. Furthermore, passing a standardized test doesn't show any applicable skill-set other than you can do well on a test. It doesn't require a critical mind to complete. It doesn't show what knowledge students possess. Its all about filling in bubbles and giving responses. I can only ponder what real knowledge our students take into the future if all they know is test taking. The exclusion of teachers that students have been preparing for the PSSA with really isn’t the solution to the issue at hand. Students and teachers will still feel the pressure to get high scores.

On Thursday February 16th The School Reform Commission of Philadelphia (SRC) voted to suspend a portion of the Pennsylvania Public School Code that requires a three-month window between an official public hearing on proposed public school closures and a vote to make them official.

According to legislative functions pdf available on the School District of Philadelphia website “The SRC may, upon a majority vote, cause to suspend at any time the operation of a SRC policy, provided the suspension does not conflict with legal requirements.” Thus granting them power to change the school code when they deem it necessary.

Regardless of why they have the authority to change the school code, the suspension of school code grants the SRC the power to close schools without any opposition from the public. We are looking at a major abuse of power and a complete disconnect from the SRC and the community. The SRC’s change in policy effectively shuts the door in our faces and is a blatant issue of accountability and transparency.

School reform cannot exist when the community is disenfranchised from the process. Who checks and balances the SRC’s power to silence us from school closings? We don’t appoint them. The governor chooses three members and the mayor chooses two. None of our parents or students sit on the commission so I don’t see how the SRC could go through with a major shift in policy like this without allowing our voices to be heard.

Community members were showing up in opposition to school closings, it wasn’t as if they weren’t showing interest. The community made it a point to be at the 21 community meetings around the issue of school closure.  As recently as March 4th, parents, students and other members of the Philadelphia community showed up on a Saturday to voice their opinions against school closings. The SRC’s abrupt change of school code hurts the community’s ability to be involved in the school reform process.

I know the SRC has a code of ethics which should have influenced its membership to make a more sound decision than to suspend such an important portion of school code. According to its code of ethics the SRC is supposed to include stakeholders in all communications, distribute relevant information about the district, as well as lead with respect and take full responsibility for SRC activity and behavior. However, actions speak louder than words and while members of the SRC may say it wasn’t a move to completely disregard the public’s persistence what else could it be viewed as?

In the meantime I hope for the well being of our students at the schools on the closing list. Where will they go? How will they feel when their schools are no longer available to them? Our students deserve better than this and our community needs to be central to the SRC’s decisions. The community can look back and say they did everything they could to keep the doors open but can the SRC?

Students and parents’ voices echoed throughout the capital as people from across Pennsylvania chanted,  “Whose state? Our state! Whose schools? Our schools! Whose lives? Our lives!”

On February 14th, Valentine's Day, more than 400 students & parents from several Pennsylvania school districts held a rally for public education at the State Capitol.

They represented people from all over Pennsylvania with folks from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading, and Chester.

“Fall Back in Love with Public Education” was the day’s theme. Holding heart shaped signs and wearing Valentine’s Day colors, students spoke out about the devastating effects of last year's billion dollar cuts to education. They demanded that equitable school funding be a priority in the next state budget.

This action came a week after Gov. Corbett announced his plan for the next state budget, on February 7.  He has proposed keeping education spending at about the same level it was last year, carrying over the almost $1 billion in education budget cuts.

Although the Governor’s office is working hard to present his budget proposal in a positive light, the people of Pennsylvania recognize that if the new budget follows the same suit as last year’s budget, the effects will cripple Pennsylvania.

“To our elected officials, where will our state be 20 years from now?”  said Baseerah Watson, a high school senior and member of the Philadelphia Student Union. “Can you rest assured that our state will continue functioning when education is not being invested in? I can tell you that the long term effects will not be pretty.”

Many school districts in Pennsylvania are teetering on the brink of meltdown as funds are dwindling.  Schools are having to cut teachers, services, and programs that enrich the lives and experiences of students.

“In Andrew Jackson School were my children attend, between 2011 and 2012, the school lost half of its teaching staff, and now there are more children in each classroom. We do not have a school nurse, or psychologist or counselors, and next year all the bilingual staff may be cut, in a school where 12 languages are spoken,” said Angelica Victoriano, a parent of two children at Andrew Jackson Elementary and a member of JUNTOS who spoke at the rally.

When students no longer have incentives to attend school and their schools, communities, and teachers are severely under-resourced what society can possibly thrive in Pennsylvania?  

“Politicians claim that we don’t need music or art programs, we don’t need clubs, we
don’t need extra curricular activities. Go ahead cut them from schools. Well what about the students who hate school but are passionate about music?” said Margarita Robinson, a student from Reading High School, “What happens when the program is gone and students have no initiative to come to school?”

As was stated many times at the rally “Education is a human right.”  Students have the right to be educated equitably, and parents have the right to feel secure in the education of their children.

When the rally came to a close, host Shayla Johnson made sure that students’ intentions were known, “We are the students and parents of Pennsylvania. And we will continue to organize around education until we see results.”