Is it on 15, dealing with the equity issue? 136 School District Budget - 4/18/05
Yeah. Yeah. The equity -- Don't we have a second table on this? Anyway, let me summarize by saying we -- we will continue -- Our approach to music -- We provide the schools with a discretionary budget, Title I, supplemental educational financing support. We provide funding for art and I believe music teachers based on a formula. This, of course, does not guarantee that every school will have an art, music teacher. And it doesn't -- It also doesn't guarantee that every principal will use that money to fund an art and music teacher. But there is a formula and there is an allocation. Now, what we have begun to do is a couple things. First of all, working through our university internship program, what we hope to do is, we hope to be able to provide the schools that have deficient -- that have staff deficiencies in art and music with basically teachers and teacher aides that can 137 School District Budget - 4/18/05 be -- that can be recruited through the university internship programs, through the colleges and the universities that have perhaps art and music as their educational specialties, like Chestnut Hill University and others, where they have departments that are dedicated to art and music. So, supplementing what we already have in the schools through the -- through our university internship program will allow to us get additional support in the schools. In addition, we have been moving aggressively to purchase art and music equipment. This year we're going to raise another million dollars for bands, for string instruments, so that all the schools have the musical instruments that they need and the art materials they need to have a viable art and music program. What we're also doing is, part of our curriculum standardization is to standardize our art and music curriculum because at the lower grades it's -- a lot of the time it's the classroom teacher that 138 School District Budget - 4/18/05 introduces children to certain basic instruments or does kind of like pre-music programs at a younger age. And it's that self-contained classroom where art and music is taught, not --
Did I hear you say that principals have the option on whether or not they want to spend those dollars?
Yes. We don't mandate. We will give schools a budget allocation based on their student population. They have "X" number of students to get "X" amount of funding for things like art or things like music. But we don't tell them that you have to hire a full-time art teacher, full-time music teacher.
We leave it up to them. It's the same thing with librarians. I mean, one of the big controversies has been elementary school librarians. If you remember, two years ago at the request of the City Council, I restored the high school 139 School District Budget - 4/18/05 librarians.
I restored direct funding for high school librarians in all the libraries. And, you know, we've gotten -- We've got some pressure in some circles to restore the elementary school librarians which I cannot do because to do that would cost about $15 million. So what we do is, we leave it -- we let the schools decide if they want to have a full-time librarian, using their discretionary budget. But what we're doing to help them is, we have told them you, can hire a LIMA which is like a library assistant. You can hire a retired librarian. You can hire a retired teacher who has experience in the library sciences or you can go through our university intern program and you can recruit somebody who's majoring in the library sciences to come in and run your local 140 School District Budget - 4/18/05 library, you see. So that model -- That model we're going to use for counseling to supplement our counseling staff. Retired counselors, university interns, students that are majoring in counseling. That model we're going to use to hire our student psychologists. That model we're going to use to hire our art and music teachers. And I say this because, quite frankly, we're always going to be limited in the -- in the availability of resources that we have.
I would love not to have to finance the stationing of a school police officer in every one of our schools, and instead use that money to guarantee that every single school had a central office subsidized full-time art and music teacher, but I can't do that. There are -- There are -- We're going to continue to be limited in our ability to be all things and to do all 141 School District Budget - 4/18/05 things. But one thing I can do. I can make sure that everybody has the equipment, everybody has the materials. And if you want to have a band, you'll have money for a band. I can make sure that -- that -- that -- that there's money there to hire a retired teacher, a part-time teacher, a university intern, to partner with a university music school to come in and provide those services. The one college and music out there has 600 music students. So -- So -- So, we can do that to supplement the resources that exist.
And the partnerships you're referring to are being fostered or initiated by central operations versus principals themselves engaged in local...
There's two 142 School District Budget - 4/18/05 additional pieces I wanted to share with you. Earlier in Mr. Vallas's comments he talked about the extended day opportunity. One of the directions we think is very vital is to provide extended day opportunities in the areas of arts and music for youngsters. Not only will those opportunities avail themselves on -- every day in every school. We've created opportunities for youngsters to have Saturday, as well as summer experiences, in arts and music. The other is, we talked about this concept of emerging scholars.
And one of the things we haven't done successfully is identify a protocol of the type of music program that we would like to have. On , it will identify --
in our colorful brochure. 143 School District Budget - 4/18/05
Will identify the emergent scholar schools. And for the first time we will set up what I would consider state-of-the-art music and arts programs to complement the educational services that will be delivered in those schools and sites. 9 And they're geographically 10 positioned to allow for youngsters who have a 11 wonderful talent or an expertise or desire to 12 be part of that opportunity. 13 Because the sites that you see 14 identify have district-wide buffing. So, 15 it's a bifurcated effort.
It's an effort to provide extended day opportunities, Saturday opportunities, summer opportunities in the arts and music. And then there is a protocol which we will geographically place throughout the City which will allow a mini-magnet -- It's a new concept, a mini-magnet, to allow youngsters who have that talent and desire to 144 School District Budget - 4/18/05 participate in those areas, in the emergent scholars.
The anticipated start date for the emergent scholars school is?
The start date for all the gifted academies, as well as the after-school extended day programs -- the after school extended day and enrichment is September of next year. The after-school programs actually start after the first benchmark, which is mid-October. But, you know, Greg's absolutely right. Because we have such an expansive after-school extended day program, just as next year, all the schools are going to have after school gifted and after school high achievement, all the schools can also have 145 School District Budget - 4/18/05 after school music and after school art. So, it's a way for us, with our limited resources, to strategically spend our money so that our schools are having more enrichment activities, because as you know we have two hours of after school programs. The first hour is academics and the second hour is enrichment. That's the model. And we're going to continue to perfect that model. I also want to make one other comment. There are actually 30 elementary schools that are going to have the comprehensive music model. So, as part of our purchasing of musical instruments, a part of our -- a part of our music programs, in addition to doing after-school and extended day enrichment and making it easier for schools to access music and arts and art teachers through the universities and through the retired teaching core program, we are going to designate 30 elementary schools to be -- in effect have, like, music academies. And they have comprehensive music programs. So that is 146 School District Budget - 4/18/05 also -- That's also the capital --
Okay. Let's shift to nutrition type of issues. Council passed a resolution in 2003 regarding -- you very much -- Well, that's a great success story.
No more sodas in schools for kids. But September of last year a major report was released regarding the increasing rise of obesity amongst young. And the in the last years, the percentage of 18 overweight children in fact has doubled. 19 I think that leveraged piece was an 20 initial excellent first step. Where are we with regards to healthy choices for young people in our schools?
Let me just make a couple general points, and then I'm going to ask our director of food services to comment 147 School District Budget - 4/18/05 in general. You know, let me point out that I want to congratulate the Council. I want to congratulate you, Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, for your leadership in -- in passing the ordinance, so to speak, which we complied with. And we got a lot of national attention, some real nice national publicity on our initiative, which was probably more far-reaching than any initiative out there. We also haven't stopped there. We're actually -- We've actually moved towards being as aggressive when it comes to snacks. So, we think we've addressed the soft drink issue, in that all of our soft drinks, all of our drinks have to be juices or they have to be milk products. And of course, they're not carbonated. We're not talking about the juice drinks that have a lot of sugar in them. We're talking about a hundred percent natural. The only place we used the isotonics 148 School District Budget - 4/18/05 is in relation to the gym. So, we'll have isotonics near the gyms because the kids become dehydrated when they participate in athletics. But we're looking at being equally as aggressive on the -- in the nutrition area on the -- you know, on the -- on the -- on our regular meals. I do want to say one thing, though, so you understand the scope of our food services. We feed 32 million meals a year, because we not only feed lunch. We feed breakfast. And because of our extensive after-school tended day program, we feed dinner or what we call snacks. So, for many of our children, our nutritional program is the nutritional program. You know, they get their basic three-a-days from us, which obviously puts an additional burden on us to make sure that those meals are nutritionally sound. But I want you to understand the scope of the food services that we provide, and that's literally three meals a day. 149 School District Budget - 4/18/05 Do you want to make some comments about...
Wayne Grissell, Director of Food Services. In September we -- Actually, step back. And I believe it was in July, the School Reform Commission adopted a policy for beverages. And basically the only thing we offer, whether it's over-the-counter or in any school or through vending machines, are water, juice -- a hundred percent juice, and as Mr. Vallas mentioned, isotonics around our athletic facilities. In addition to that, in September we also integrated snack guidelines which greatly restrict sodium, sugar and a variety of other nutritional aspects. And we only serve products that are -- that meet those requirements, whether it's over the counter, as well as vending machines.
In addition, I'm very pleased to say we've been aggressive on the 150 School District Budget - 4/18/05 grant side as well. As we speak now, there's a $10 million grant appropriation that we're optimistically hoping to get. And It's driven around the whole issue of healthy students make healthy minds, and I think will revitalize our who nutritional educational initiative if we're successful. And we should be hearing from that relatively soon.
That would be a curriculum side. We felt that in order to have sustainability with the students, that had to be integrated, and part of interdisciplinary units that the youngsters will be able to sustain the learning and hopefully turn into healthy habits.
Okay. On the curriculum and the massive 151 School District Budget - 4/18/05 improvement you've made, the one question I noted here was, how can we be assured that the standardized curriculum will be institutionalized beyond the leadership and the staff personnel that are there now?
We've created -- We've created -- Well -- And that's a good question because most reform movements, the reason they fail is because they don't become institutionalized. Superintendent comes and goes, new superintendent comes in, they start building a whole new reform movement. Our expenditure of time and effort in -- in -- and our heavy investment in curriculum instruction in itself will help guarantee that it hangs around a while. Because you don't make this type of an investment where you not only have -- when you not only have aligned your curriculum instructional models to the state standards, but all your curriculum instructional material has been purchased.
And is aligned with those standards. You don't make that type of an investment and then change that investment around. So -- So -- So the sheer size of the investment has in many respects locked us in. But what Dr. Thornton and his crack team have done beyond this is, we've created two offices: An office of curriculum and instruction and an office of professional development. And the central mission of those two offices is curriculum, instruction and professional development. They are there to monitor instruction, to manage professional development. They are there to fine tune instruction.
And to fine tune and improve professional development. They are the R & D office. They are the commanding general staff office. They are the war college. They are the think tank. They are the Rand Corporation. 153 School District Budget - 4/18/05 I mean, they are there to not only monitor the implementation of the curriculum reforms and to make sure that all teachers are being trained on those curriculum reforms, but to fine tune those curriculum reforms every year. So, this is -- This curriculum, if -- First of all, the models we've selected are -- are -- are models you'll find in the affluent suburbs at the elementary school level. And the models that we're developing at the high school level are models that other school districts, including my former district in Chicago, have come out here to see if they can purchase. So -- So these are superior curriculum models. And... But, the -- the office of professional development and the office of curriculum instruction will be there to monitor the implementation of the models, but then to allow those models to be fine tuned so the models continue to be revised. 154 School District Budget - 4/18/05 But the sheer size of this investment will make it extraordinarily difficult for any future administration to change course. And I'll tell you, this is the heart and soul of what we do. Remember when President Clinton was running for President, they had a big sign that said, it's the economy, stupid. I have a sign on my desk saying, it's instruction, stupid. At the end of the day, that's our primary mission. That's why, if you look at our budget -- And the way the money is divided, 79 percent of all the resources that we spend in this district are spent on either curriculum instruction, professional development, classroom support, classroom modernization. That's where the bulk of our money is going. And obviously, teachers' salaries, teachers' compensation with that. So, yes, this indeed is being institutionalized. It will be very difficult for a future 155 School District Budget - 4/18/05 administration to come in and change courses.
There are two additional components, I think, that ensure the success of the teacher quality initiative. One is the instructional management system which allows to us know where every youngster is and how youngsters are progressing. It answers the basic question, what do children need to know and how we're going to remediate. The second is an investment we've made in the data warehouse. And the data warehouse will allow us to take longitudinal date to make determinations whether students are making the progress that they need to make. As we move forward, our benchmark assessment certainly becomes one. And I -- And I -- And I do say very candidly that No 23 Child Left Behind is where you have this aggregation of data where we can't leave children behind. 156 School District Budget - 4/18/05 We'll point to ways that we institutionalize the programs and initiatives that we have under office of curriculum and instruction, as well as staff -- staff development. And the other thing we have invested in is what I call process improvement, where we constantly looking to upgrade our performance. We will have in the district in the next couple weeks a group from Phi Delta Kappa which will be able to identify issues and correlations that continually need to be made by curriculum to be upgraded so we will have succession but in many, many years to come.
Okay. On the issue of professional development, last year every other Friday young people were dismissed so that teachers would have that time for professional development. This year the structure has changed. How have you reconciled ensuring that the teachers are getting the adequate instruction 157 School District Budget - 4/18/05 they need to handle this -- for example, the new math.
One of the reasons that we modified that was because last year we did literally two weekend -- you know, two Fridays a month early dismissal, regardless of how many holidays they were or how many days off they were during that month. We have some months like December, okay, where, you know, literally a third of the month is off or February where you've got -- where you've got all sorts of holidays. And that's an abbreviated month. Or for that matter, spring -- our spring cleaning or our -- the holidays -- the days that we have off around Easter. Not because of Easter but the holidays we have off it. I just wanted to clarify that. But literally Thursday, Friday and the following Monday. So the feeling was, that was just too much time off. So, what we did was, we went from 16 half days to 9 half days, but then we went to -- Is it 7? 7 full professional 158 School District Budget - 4/18/05 development days, and we spaced it out, you see. So -- So roughly we -- we are still -- particularly when you add our Saturday paid -- paid -- paid professional development, we are providing close to the same amount of professional development than we did the year before, close to about 100 hours, you see. So, the feeling was like, in, you know, giving -- giving too much of a burden on the schools, too much of a burden on the families to have two half days during the month where you've already got three or four holidays or when you have, like, a week of spring cleaning, so to speak.
Very well. I have several more questions, Madam Chairman. I'll wait for my turn next time around.
Thank you. 159 School District Budget - 4/18/05 Councilwoman Miller and then Councilman Clarke.
I have a couple more questions regarding literacy interns. And would you say that the literacy interns have had a positive impact on our students with their academic achievement? Would that be a combination of the interns and the extended day?
Well, let me point out that the literacy intern program existed long before my arrival. And certainly, if you look at the test scores aggregate, you know, something wasn't having a positive impact, you know. 160 School District Budget - 4/18/05 I think it really varies from school to school. It depends on the principal. There are some who say the literacy intern program has been a -- a good program in providing supplemental support and others who have said, I would rather hire a full-time teacher. So, you know, it's really mixed. I will say this, though: The literacy intern program was originally created to serve as a recruitment vehicle for children -- for potential for future teachers. And when you consider that the literacy interns get paid a starting teacher's salary minus, I think, $2,000 an intern, and they're not full-time classroom teachers but teacher aides, and that the literacy intern can spend three years in the system... Add it up. It's about $110,000 in compensation. And then -- And yet the certification rate among literacy interns is under 30 percent. That's not -- That's not cost effective. So as a -- as a vehicle for 161 School District Budget - 4/18/05 recruiting future highly qualified teachers to the school district, I don't believe it has been successful. But has the additional help been successful in many individual schools? You know, I think it really varies from school to school. I just don't think the program for the cost has been -- I don't think the program has been cost effective, which is why we're not just cutting the program to balance the budget. We're cutting the program to hire more teachers. We have hired in the last two years how many additional teachers to do class size reduction? VOICE: (Inaudible.)
Yeah, but how many to reduce class size reduction? 400? We've hired about 450 teachers exclusively to recruit class size reduction. Part of those teachers' salaries are being funded out of the literacy intern line. We have also -- We have also -- We 162 School District Budget - 4/18/05 have also eliminated leveling which is the adjustment in staffing that occurs within eight weeks. What happens is, if schools have fewer teachers or fewer students than were projected, then they lose teachers eight weeks into the school year, which means you have to change the entire roster and move -- We've eliminated that now two years in a row. We don't level down. So, in other words, if you have fewer kids, guess what? Your class sizes are smaller. That alone costs us $7 million a year. And... And in addition to that, we have also eliminated splits which are horrible, that the fourth and fifth and sixth -- This is where you have because of overcrowding. You stick fourth and fifth graders in a single class and fifth and sixth graders in a single class. So, those three things have been eliminated. Now, what we're going to do with the literacy intern money savings is, we're going 163 School District Budget - 4/18/05 to continue to make permanent the class size reduction, the split elimination and the leveling elimination. But we're also going to use a portion of the savings, and we are going to in effect subsidize close to 1500 university interns who are going to work in the schools. They're going to work as teacher aides, teacher assistants. They're going to work as counseling aides. They're going to work as art and music teacher aides or art and music teacher support staff. They're going to work in the counseling office. And they all have to come in. They all have to be trained. They all have to go through our extensive training. They're all providing our curriculum instructional models. But we think that the university -- that the university interns going through the Philadelphia education fund training that will be -- that is required of the literacy interns will be at least as effective as any first-year literacy intern. 164 School District Budget - 4/18/05 And we will literally be recruiting four to -- three to four times the number of university interns as we did literacy interns. So we think we'll have -- There's more positive to come out of the reprogramming of this money than -- than the literacy intern program can provide. We also think that if we have a pool of about 1500 university students working in our schools, the goal is that a thousand of these students be student teachers. And they're not only working in our school during the day, but they're working in the after-school program. And those who do well are kept beyond their student teaching semester. We think that this will provide us with a much larger pool of potential teacher candidates to recruit from. So we think that the university internship program will be a better program in the long term than the literacy intern program, when it comes to recruiting 165 School District Budget - 4/18/05 teachers. And we also think the benefits of reduced class size, eliminated leveling and elimination of the splits will do -- will help us better on the academic side.
So the interns are then eliminated across the board in each region of the School District.
Yeah. They're actually not eliminated totally, in that a number of the interns are going to be moved to the middle schools where we really have our shortages. And that could range anywhere from 65 to 100, depending on the schools, number one. Number two, schools that want to keep their literacy intern have an option to do that, using their own discretionary money. And number three, if we have literacy interns who look like they're going to get their certification, we're going to -- we're going to give them emergency certification for the year so that they can finish, get their certification work in the 166 School District Budget - 4/18/05 school. So, we think -- We think that that will help a lot of those interns who look like they're on track to getting certified and becoming teachers in the system.
Right. That was going to be my next question, so I'm glad you did answer that. Also, what are we doing right now for high schoolers? I know the extended day program goes from grade one to grade eight. What about those high school students or student -- ninth grade and up that needs extra academic support?
We have built certainly -- If you would allow me just to go back, put the pieces on the literacy and our transition.
There's a wonderful document, external review, that was done on our literacy intern program, that, you know, when I say external, it wasn't done by the School District. It was done by a 167 School District Budget - 4/18/05 consultant. And what -- the model basically shared with us in places where we had fidelity and rollout, we had a high degree of success. However, there was a number of transitions. And as a result of that -- of that report, and also a result -- because the driving issue for us when we began this discussion is the fact that July 2006 they wouldn't exist anyhow. So, that was a driving piece because we had to make a decision whether we're going to go in and try to provide opportunities to improve the initiative. But due to the fact that we had a twilight of July 2006, it really made us move in a very aggressive way to begin to reprogram because our highest level of turnover is at the middle school level. And as a result of that there's 70 transitional tutors that will be hopefully -- literacy interns will be transformed to those middle level educators. 168 School District Budget - 4/18/05 With respect to the high school, for years high school has probably been the only place that we've done a really good job with after school activities, whether you look at our athletic programs, you look at our clubs, your look at our debate clubs and all those kinds of things. However, what we're looking at now are extended opportunities in the area of academic supports, and both internal -- within the day of -- Mr. Vallas talked about a couple dosing of literacy, a double dosing of mathematics. And we're extending and providing opportunities not only at the end of the day, but we do a really good job with respect to Saturday initiatives because we have really strong Saturday initiatives for PSATs, strong Saturday initiatives for SATs. And during summer we have course recovery extended day during the summer for course recovery and acceleration. One of our hopes is that there's a high degree of success when youngsters have 169 School District Budget - 4/18/05 an opportunity to preview courses. For example, if a youngster was going to take algebra next year, he has an opportunity to preview that algebra class during the summer. The research that's very conclusive is that youngsters do a much better job in doing it. So, we're looking not only within the day, but we're looking outside of the day with extended day, with summer, as well as Saturday opportunities.
Okay. Now, I actually had a community meeting last week. And one of the parents said that -- I believe she said her niece, once she got to college -- graduate of Philadelphia public school -- once she got to college she felt or academically she wasn't actually prepared. What are we doing in that area?
Well, one of the things -- One of the reasons that we moved to standardized curriculum so quickly, is to 170 School District Budget - 4/18/05 make sure that all the children are being taught to grade level curriculum at every level. And where most school districts have moved to standardize the elementary school curriculum -- and a lot of times not in all four subject areas or in five because we're going to do our two -- but actually they usually focus on reading and they follow up with math. We decided to do it in all the subject areas, you know, at all grade levels. So, two years ago we embarked upon -- we brought Caplan in. T. T. training and things like this. One of the things that attracted us to Caplan is not only their capacity to provide the curriculum instructional support, but also Harold Levy, the former Chancellor of New York public schools, is the Director of Caplan education, and his extensive experience, particularly with curriculum, particularly with high school reform. But we standardize the high school 171 School District Budget - 4/18/05 curriculum in all core curriculum subject areas, 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and next year 12th grade. And so, standardizing the curriculum, and then training the teachers to the curriculum instructional models was one step -- was one step in the -- in the -- in -- you know -- you know, in the right direction. The second thing we did was, we -- we -- that insured that when children entered 9th grade, they would be taught to grade level standards. Because in the past, without a standardization of the curriculum or any sort of accountability for the instruction being done in the high schools, you know, you sometimes lower the level of instruction for the lowest common educational denominator. If the majority of your kids are below grade level, you lower the standards. You can't do that with the data driven system. The data driven system is designed 172 School District Budget - 4/18/05 to make sure that children, when they graduate 8th grade, have gone through a high school preparation curriculum, and when they hit high school they're being taught to a college level curriculum. The second thing we did was we did, as Greg point out, double dosing which means 9th graders are provided with two periods of algebra, two periods of language arts. We also did an extensive -- We've done an extensive prep period so that when children graduated 8th grade, if they're not at grade level, they can participate in a summer prep period to prep them for high school. In addition, we established a summer credit recovery program which -- which is designed to help those 9th graders that have fallen behind, that have failed their courses, given them an opportunity to do credit recovery over the summer and basically recover their courses. I think the credit recovery rate last year was, like, two-thirds of the 173 School District Budget - 4/18/05 children who got into credit recovery recovered their credits. They passed. Which is for us -- Which is kind of a breakthrough. So, we think all these things -- We think all these things will help transform the high school. Finally... One final comment about high schools is, we also establish what we commonly refer to as the 8th period, which is after school homework clubs, after school academic assistance, after school academic support, with the heavy focus on 9th and 10 grade. So, if children are struggling during that day, you know, you're not going to be able to mandate after-school programs like you can do in the elementary school level. The older the kids get, the more difficult it is to keep them. But adding that 8th grade support period, that 8th grade instructional support period, that 8th grade homework club was a way of providing additional support. 174 School District Budget - 4/18/05 Last year when we -- Last year -- Not this year, but last year when we began to institute these reforms in the high schools, something interesting happened.
We did it first at the 9th grade level. The 9th grade reading and math scores on the turnover really jumped. I mean six, seven, eight, nine percent, depending on the category that you're looking at. That shouldn't have been surprising, given the fact that we standardized the curriculum and we doubled the instructional period. P. went from 900 to 4,000 in a single year. Okay. P. exam, too. So, we think that -- we think that our high school strategy is going to help move us forward. A. T. T. T. T. exam. T. T. All the children -- This will get all of our children, whether they think they're college bound or not, it will get them in a college bound frame of mind. And one final comment. I'm absolutely convinced that as we break up our schools into smaller schools, with every new high school we -- we open, converted middle school, branch school, has to follow the following template: Because you can do small schools for small schools' sake. And then you know what you have. You have a lot of mediocre small schools. Our template is the following: They all have to be college prep. In other words, they have to use the college preparatory curriculum. P. P. prep company. They all have to have a signature program. So, if you're not a magnet school, you at least have what we call school based magnet programs, international baccalaureate, math science academy. You know, in the case of -- in the case of the Peace Corps, a governmental service, community service, you know, curriculum, math science and technology curriculum, all the schools have to have a university partnership. In other words, they have to have articulation agreements that allow for dual enrollment, so when the children hit that senior year, they can take university courses for dual credit. And all the new school projects that we have on board, whether it's the Peace School, partnering with Arcadia or whether it's Sarah partnering with University of the Sciences or whether it's -- or whether it's -- or for that matter, partnering -- or whether it's Lamberton partnering with Easton 177 School District Budget - 4/18/05 University with the Gates grant. They're all going to have articulation agreements with universities. So, they begin to take on this characteristic of like the university lab school. So, we think all these things -- all these things will help because the children will be learning in smaller learning environments in buildings that are more self-contained, in buildings where children can be monitored, in buildings that are safer, more secure, but they'll also still be in an educational environment that have strong academic achievement. I was reading the New York Times this morning. They were talking about the New York public schools, and they were talking about the small schools initiative, and they were talking about how in many of the small schools the attendance seems to be up. But guess what? Academically they're not up at all. And they said in the small schools some of the graduation rates 178 School District Budget - 4/18/05 seem to be improved, but the number of students passing the graduates exam, percentages has actually declined. So the bottom line is, the model that we have, combined with our move towards smaller learning communities, we think in combination, accountability plus smaller learning communities translates into higher academic achievement. A long answer to a short question. I hope you don't penalize her on the time. But I really felt that it raised -- it raised -- it demanded a larger -- a larger description -- a larger explanation of what we are trying to do in the high schools.
And I understand. I have one more question, Madam President. Just in terms of the adequate yearly progress, from 22 schools to 160, what does that represent, in terms of percentages of our 200,000 students? And do you have a list somewhere in this booklet of those schools 179 School District Budget - 4/18/05 that have now -- I mean, is it in here somewhere?
Okay. We'd like to get a list of those schools. And also... I just want to get some information. Were you more successful in lower grades versus higher grades or... Just like to get more information about the progress.
We'll get it to you. But roughly, we've gone from fewer than 10 percent to about 70 percent. And our most successful is at the primary grades. The least successful is probably in the middle grades. I will tell you, though, that this is going to be -- this coming year will be a challenging year because what happens with the No Child Left Behind standard is every three years they bump the standard because the goal is to get all the schools at 100 percent by 2014. But every year they bump the standards. 180 School District Budget - 4/18/05 This year the standard bump is about what, nine percent? Nine percent. So if we can hold our own this year, that will be real progress. And then it stays the same for three years, allowing school districts to play catchups. So in other words, it takes you to that next level. Then it gives you three years to make an adjustment.
And I just want to ask just one more question because then I do have to go to a meeting with Council President. I'd like to know... I'd like to get a report on the private managers, like the Edisons, those types of people.
Tomorrow. Not today because I have to leave. And I would like to hear your answer.
And to see just how many of those 160 schools, if any, are being privately managed because we've never received an update, not that I know of. 181 School District Budget - 4/18/05
We'll make sure you get one. We come out per S.R.C. directive. We do an annual management report. And we'll make that available to the -- we'll make that available to the City Council before the meeting. As a matter of fact, we'll try to get it to you this afternoon.
You're welcome. Councilman Clarke and then Councilman Ramos. And I know Councilman also has a meeting. Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Actually, the last question that Councilwoman Miller asked was my first question in this round about the partnership schools, the status of the partnership schools versus the traditional schools. And I'm assuming that will be incorporated into 182 School District Budget - 4/18/05 the information you forward to us.
Too much junk on my desk. (Microphone accidentally turned off.)
Question about the capital construction program. I know earlier last year, and maybe actually prior to that, we were talking about a very aggressive minority participation component, as it related to that. Can you tell me where you are with that? I know you indicate in your testimony that to date you've only spend $70 million of capital construction. And I'm assuming that that's not -- that does not include the new School District headquarters.
No. It -- It doesn't because we haven't spent that money yet. I mean, we haven't paid all that money but we 183 School District Budget - 4/18/05 have it under contract. Kim Sangster is our Director of Capital Construction... Capital construction. Of contracts and procurement. Sorry about that, Natalie. But she can take you through the numbers. I will say this, just as a general comment, we're exceeding our numbers. And whereas, two years ago at this time, we maybe had two to three percent. And one year ago at this time we maybe had 14, 13 percent. 14 We are now over 30 percent. And 15 that number continues to rise. We're going to exceed our numbers. We're going to blow past our numbers. And -- And -- And as I had mentioned, some of the biggest projects aren't even out to bid yet. But we have -- we are very aggressive. And everybody who comes in has to comply with our MB/WB numbers. Okay. But...
Well, I think actually, since you mentioned that about the 184 School District Budget - 4/18/05 larger projects not being put out to bid, I think you may find that it will become more difficult, as you proceed, with getting high participation levels. And you know, I sat on the oversight committees for the stadiums. And the more development that you did, the more difficult it was to make sure that you got an infusion of participation because minorities are not in the unions.
My experience -- My experience, Councilman, was if you stick to your guns and you push your numbers and you pay prevailing wage -- Because as you know, the School Reform Commission is wrestling with the trades -- with the unions on the whole issue of the project labor agreement. But the bottom line is, if there's not an agreement signed, we'd pay prevailing wage. But we are not going to shortchange minority companies or minority workers. But my experience has been the level of minority participation continues to rise. So -- So as we go out with the bigger 185 School District Budget - 4/18/05 contracts, you can expect those numbers to hold, if not get better, because this is not something that we're doing to be politically correct. It's not something that we're doing to avoid political heat.
It's the right thing to do. And I believe in this. And we'd like to brag about what we are able to accomplish elsewhere with our 50 percent-plus M.B.E. W.B.E. and our 50 percent-plus construction hours performed by minority workers. I don't know if those lofty goals are achievable here, but we're going to do a heck of a lot better than anyone has ever done before because it is a priority.
You reference prevailing wages. Are you also... Is all your construction being done with union labor?
I say that because it tends -- When you have a union job, it tends to be more difficult to get the appropriate participation levels as a result of that.
I'm Pat Henwood, Director of Capital Programs. The prevailing wage is the equalizer. It allows... First of all, it's a state law. Anything over $25,000 has to be bid utilizing prevailing wages, as determined by Labor and Industry. That's supposed to be the equalizer for the trades and open shops. They're all paying the same wages.
Yeah. And we're not out there policing to say, are you union, are you not union. What we're saying is, are you paying 187 School District Budget - 4/18/05 prevailing wage, are you not paying prevailing wage, you see.
So, you're saying that there's a possibility or possibly a likelihood that you have or will have as a part of your work force a substantial amount of contracts given to non-union companies?
There could be companies that use individuals who aren't card-carrying members, as long as they pay prevailing wage.
Prevailing wage. So, we'll have a prevailing wage requirement.
That's correct. In Chicago our P.L.A., project labor agreement, required -- and unions agreed to this -- required prevailing wage, you see. They didn't say, oh, you all have to be our members. You have to pay prevailing wage and you have to be willing to deny a contract to 188 School District Budget - 4/18/05 any company who is not paying prevailing wage anywhere else. So, our project labor agreement basically said, we will pay prevailing wage, and if you're a company that wants to do business with us honor schools and you're not paying prevailing wage in the suburbs or in some rural part of the state, you won't get business with us. So prevailing wage became our union standard. And what would happen would be, companies would become signatories to the union agreements for the duration of a project. You see what I mean?
So, you would pay prevailing wage and compensation, and things like that. And that's the approach that we would take. Now, hopefully there will be a project labor agreement, and then -- then -- then our approach might differ. But that's really in the School Reform Commission's hands. 189 School District Budget - 4/18/05 But as far as we're concerned, we're going out. Prevailing wage is the requirement. We want the companies to be signatories to the prevailing wage and to the so-called union --
Wait a minute. The prevailing or the union? Because they are two different things. You said two.
The compensation mandates. We want them to be like signatories where they're paying prevailing wage. They are, in other words, providing the same compensation and benefits that a company would provide if all of its company members were union representatives. So, so what I'm saying is...
I'm saying, there's a difference, you know. And I'm not a union member. But prevailing wage requirements aren't necessarily the same as what you would get as a union. And you have a good friend of mine who happens to be a union member, could, you know, correct me or substantiate what I'm saying.
Point of information, Madam Chair. Prevailing wage for the City of Philadelphia for three years. I believe the answer to your question, Councilman, is that in an area like Philadelphia that's considered, you know, a union town, the prevailing rate is usually the rate that a union pays for whatever trade that may be. So the prevailing rate in this region will be, if not identical, very similar to whatever the union rate may be for the region. That might be different than -- That will be different than, let's say, Florida. 191 School District Budget - 4/18/05 But in the Philadelphia region, the union rate is very similar to the -- because the union rate to a great extent establishes the prevailing rate of the region.
Okay. I just on occasion, my limited interaction with construction projects, found that if you have a union contractor, you will pay more for the job, as opposed to a non-union contractor that you pay prevailing wages because the prevailing wages don't necessarily incorporate the union dues and the dollars associated with being in the union.
In the Philadelphia region, if you're a carpenter on a -- on a school district job, that rate will be the rate of whatever that union carpenter is getting because it happens to be the prevailing rates. A survey that is done, and the ones who responds to those surveys are the union 192 School District Budget - 4/18/05 organizations in most cases. So that will establish the prevailing rate for which then the School District and the City of Philadelphia can go by, and which is the only one legal obligation that the entity has, and that is to pay the prevailing rate. It doesn't have a legal obligation that it be a union shop or have a collective bargaining agreement.
Also, sometimes companies for the duration of a project may decide to become a signatory to the union contract for their workers for the duration of the project.
So that's why I made reference to the signatories. But the bottom line is, we're going to enforce the prevailing wage law very rigorously. And hopefully we'll be able to negotiate a project labor agreement. But if we don't, we don't want to deny minority companies or minority workers an opportunity to participate in what is the 193 School District Budget - 4/18/05 biggest capital program the City's probably ever seen.
Okay. Thank you. Can you talk to me about the numbers?
Yes. Kim Sangster, Senior Executive Vice President of Procurement. So far the School District has prequalified 155 general contractors. Out of that number, approximately percent are 14 minority and women-owned businesses. 15 As we have indicated, the program is 16 just starting. Out of 54 projects thus far, 17 about 12 percent of those are -- have been 18 awarded to minority and women-owned 19 businesses on a prime level; and on a 20 subcontract level, about 44 percent. 21 So, our interest is to increase the 22 number of prime awards, but we're doing very 23 well in terms of our program thus far. 24 For our professional services, our architects and engineers, we're -- about 50 194 School District Budget - 4/18/05 percent of those awards have been to minority and women-owned businesses.
Now, that's for what? Is that for the $70 million already spent in capital construction --
-- or is that also including the School District building, the headquarters?
We don't manage that project, but we can get you the breakdown on that, absolutely.
I do have some information on our headquarters 440 for our fit-out participation. There is percent 23 M.B.E. and 10 percent W.B.E. 24 For the core and shell work that was 25 done, it's 10 percent M.B.E. and 21 percent 195 School District Budget - 4/18/05 W.B.E. for a total of... Let's see. For the fit-out that's about $5 million, and for the core and shell participation that's about $12 million to minority and women-owned businesses.
I don't have the exact total, but I can provide that to you.
All right. If you can, because I don't -- I know we have some limited time. Can you get me all the information on both the $70 million on capital projects?
And also on the School District headquarters building.
And by trade. Be helpful to me, and the dollar amount per 196 School District Budget - 4/18/05 contract.
I believe we have the capital program breakout right here, don't we?
Actually, you know what? Can you have it sent to...I forgot the protocol. Can you have it sent to the Chair, and the Chair would distribute it to the members.
Thank you, Mr. 197 School District Budget - 4/18/05 Vallas and company for coming here today. Mr. Vallas, you've given us a voluminous amount of information. It sounded a little bit there like I was reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. However, I appreciate and I'm quite sure all my colleagues appreciate you providing us with this tremendous amount of information, all of it sounding very, very encouraging, very positive, heading in the right direction. However, at the end of the day, when schools are evaluated -- and I don't intend by no stretch of the imagination to be an expert in this area of education. And I know you are. But at the end of the day, when we take a look at schools throughout this country, they will evaluate our success by, you know, among other points, two points. One is safety and the second one is dropout rate. And I just want to talk a little bit about the latter, about the dropout rate. I don't know if I just missed it in 198 School District Budget - 4/18/05 your testimony and the volumes of binders you have sent over to all of us, but I didn't see the word dropout rate anywhere. I saw in your report a very encouraging statement that said 85 -- that you expect 85 -- correct me if I'm wrong -- 85 percent graduation rate by 2008. Is that -- Am I correct? I think that's the number I saw.
Are you saying that by the year 2008 that our dropout rate will be around percent? 15
Because that's very, very, very encouraging, and that's what...
Well, we have gone from, I think, about a 50 percent dropout rate three or four years ago to now we're at, I believe, 62 or 63 percent. Our goal is to get the graduation rate at 85 percent. And the reason we calculate it that way -- The reason we calculate it that way is 199 School District Budget - 4/18/05 because, you know, some students who may drop out of our system may re-enroll in other systems. And plus, we've opened up a whole network of alternative schools. In the past, students who might have been disciplinary problems, some who were not simply transferred to another school would just drop. Now I have what? 2500, 2600 students in disciplinary schools and another 1,000 students in the accelerated schools. These are 17-year-old freshmen who normally would drop out. So, a lot of students... So, what we do is, looking at graduation allows us to get, you know... The important thing is, how many kids do you have are graduating. So, we -- we want to -- we want to identify those kids that we enroll back into the system. So, the graduation rate is the rate to look at. Now, no one's excited about a 61, 62 percent graduation rate. That's -- That's a 200 School District Budget - 4/18/05 very low rate. We can say, hey, it's up. But I'll tell you, I can't trust the old data because the old data is probably as reliable as some of the other data we have. So, I don't know how accurate even that old data is. But the S.R.C. has been clear to me. They have mandated that I get that graduation rate to 85 percent by 2008, and they've also mandated that by 2008, I believe it's 80 percent of those who graduate go on to college. So, our goal here is, if we can add 10 percent to our graduation rate over the next three to four years, we'll be -- we'll hit that goal. But the aim here, because in the past, Councilman, only about half of our kids -- Three, four years ago only half of our kids graduated, and only half of those who graduated went on to college. That means percent of the kids ended up going to 24 college. 25 So that means I've got to get both 201 School District Budget - 4/18/05 rates into the 80s. And I think -- I really truly, truly believe that that's achievable. I believe that that's achievable. And the programs that we've talked about putting in place, particularly the college preparatory curriculum reforms in high schools and the recovery program -- credit recovery programs are designed to help us achieve that.
I accept your explanation. But let's say you have an annoying City Councilman or maybe an annoying reporter that says, I hear you, but what is the dropout rate today? And if you're projecting a graduation -- you're projecting 85 percent graduation rate by 2008, what is that equal to in the way you have reduced the dropout rate?
I say that because I know, for example, something that I -- I think you and I have talked many times about these number of issues, is that the 202 School District Budget - 4/18/05 dropout rate, for example, among Hispanic kids in this School District for a very long time has been very problematic. And though in the last few years it has gone down -- the dropout rate has gone down -- it's still very serious issue for that respective community. And at some point, because there -- if this is one of the measuring barometers of the success of a school, I want to be able to say, oh, 85 percent of our kids have in fact graduated. And when I'm asked a question how about the dropout rate? I can say, well, the dropout rate is at 15 now, compared to 43 percent in 2000.
The answer to that, that is the correct answer. We count dropout rates -- When we count graduation rates, we're including kids that re-enroll. And they shouldn't be counted as dropouts. But the goal is what it is: 85 percent graduate. 15 percent don't graduate and don't transfer to some other system to 203 School District Budget - 4/18/05 graduate. So, that's -- that's the way -- that's the way it should be reported. But let me point out that --
So, I can just... For clarity. So, when you project that your goal is to get the graduation rate at 85 percent by the year 2008, you're also saying that you will acknowledge that a dropout rate has been reduced to percent. 12
And that's our goal. 15 And obviously that's the goal that the S.R.C. holds me accountable to.
Okay. Earlier I heard you -- No. I read. That you're increasing your budget for after-school programs and for summer school programs. I'm for more money for pre-school, during school, after-school, evening school weekend school, whatever works to keep our kids focused on education. 204 School District Budget - 4/18/05 In your summer -- In your summer program in the budget that you have for that, and you did increase that as well, did you -- does that include summer youth employment? I didn't pick it up. I don't know if it's there.
Yeah. Well, last year we did summer youth employment for about 1,000 students. We're going to try to do same thing this year. Let me also point out, we actually began to do second semester youth employment. As we speak, we have 1600 students working in what we call our student -- our senior residency program. These are students who are working as teacher aides, assistants, support staff. They're working in the homework clubs. And so, in fact, we have special uniforms for them with their insignia and their ties, and things like that. So, we're going to try to -- we're going to try to have some sort of a summer youth program again, this year too. 205 School District Budget - 4/18/05 But again, you know, if you're going to have any sort of summer youth program and take any summer youth program to scale, the Federal government has all but cut summer youth programs. And of course, as the Federal Government has cut, the cities have had to reduce some of their summer youth funding, too. So, you know, I don't want summer youth programs to be competing with regular summer programs. I have made a suggestion, and I have made it on a number of occasions, you know, as the -- as school -- as the City and as the state moved forward to begin awarding these casino or racino licenses, I urge you to have those who are submitting their -- who are bidding on these licenses, to all make a commitment to put up something for both scholarships, the Philly Core Scholar Program or to put up money for a summer jobs program. Because, you know, simply awarding these contracts without at least getting them to commit to doing something in the community 206 School District Budget - 4/18/05 or something in a constructive way, there may be ways -- that may be a way to secure additional funds. But we will have a -- we will have a modest summer jobs program this year. And again, our goal here is -- what we want to do in the coming year is, we want to make this senior residency program permanent. But there are -- We could use 10,000 to 15,000 summer jobs. And we work with a number of citywide organizations to, I think, provide summer job services to -- I'm not sure what number is. I could get you that, Councilman Ramos. But I think clearly there needs to be a large -- there needs to be a larger commitment from other sources for this.
Count me on board. I already instruct the staff let's get that letter going and be on the phone and go visit. I agree with you. We have to go get wherever we see an opportunity where the corporate community's involved in City life. 207 School District Budget - 4/18/05 And I believe that they have an obligation to reach out and be of support to our school. Since -- I don't want to belabor this next point but it's very important to me, because a lot of the people that come -- that I represent -- and I'm a member -- I'm an at-large member of this Council, are people that are making low wages. And whenever I am approached about cafeteria workers and other folks within your system or from without, you know, I'm very concerned about the -- It always kind of looks like you're picking on the ones making the less money. And whether it's true or not, that's the way it looks from the outside. So, I sure hope that -- And I've talked to a couple of the union officials from 1201, that I sure want to encourage you guys to come to some sort of agreement, where no one will get hurt. And those that are working -- You know, I understand the business of Mondays and Fridays. I've been there. And I have -- And 208 School District Budget - 4/18/05 I -- The first -- One of the first things my staff will tell you, that I told them when they got hired, you don't miss Mondays and Fridays. That's what my boss used to tell all of us, don't miss Mondays and Fridays. So, I'm aware of that. Those are things that can be corrected. So, thank you so much for indulging us today.
Let me ask one question that I learned about, Mr. Vallas, with regard to a program to rescue students who are overage, those 16 and over which we're very grateful for.
We understand there's an RFP out. And we wanted to know a little bit more about that program, and where 209 School District Budget - 4/18/05 some of these alternative programs might be located.
Right. We realized that as we moved to -- And just indulge me as I give you kind of an overview of what we're trying to do.
We realized that so many of our children are so far behind. I mean, we have children that are two, three, four years below grade level. And, you know, if -- you can't keep a 15- or 16-year-old in a middle school. Two years ago, you know, 3,000 of our middle grade students reached the age of 16 before they graduated. That's -- That is not a healthy situation, particularly when you consider that most of the middle grade students were being educated in these large behemoth middle schools. So -- So we've -- The curriculum reforms, the data driven instruction, the additional instruction on time on task, the 210 School District Budget - 4/18/05 expanded early childhood programs that will better prepare our children for school, that will close the gap. That will narrow the gap. That will help close the gap long-term. But what are we going to do with those 16-, 17-year-old students who find themselves in eighth grade or find themselves in high school with less than one or two credit hours? The majority of the students who end up in the serious incident reports are students who are overage and underachieving. So, last year we opened up three accelerated schools. These were schools that targeted 16- and 17-year-old students with less than three credit hours of high school credit. In some cases these were eighth grade students, so they didn't have any high school credit. The results have been so positive that we're going to move forward. And our goal here ultimately will be to have literally an accelerated school in each of the ten regions. 211 School District Budget - 4/18/05 Now, let me point out that these are not disciplinary schools. These are not schools for bad kids, for badly behaved kids, for kids who have violated the zero tolerance policy. These are schools for high risk students who simply can't cut it in the general high school environment and need to be put in an alternative setting. They're very small schools. They have small class sizes. They have a lot of wrap-around services. I mean, the -- the three schools where we've piloted this program, all of which are privately run, I might add, have -- it's -- the schools are very peaceful. There's been little if any disruptive behavior. The students are doing very, very well. So, our goal is to expand the number of accelerated schools across the system so we can get these kids before they become a statistic. The state has given us ten separate 212 School District Budget - 4/18/05 unit numbers which means we can create these accelerated schools in comprehensive neighborhood schools, too. So a Germantown could have an accelerated program. South Philly could have an accelerated program. West Philly could have an accelerated program. So, we are not only looking at independent sites to have these -- to have these accelerated schools, but we're also looking at perhaps housing some programs in neighborhood schools. But the objective is to get the older age kids who are really, really struggling into a different high school environment, where they can be with their peers and where they can be provided with more -- more wrap-around services to help accelerate their expansion. We think this is going to help us with graduation rates. It's going to help us with dropout rates. We think it's going to help us with school climate. So, we feel very good about this. And it's something... 213 School District Budget - 4/18/05 The RFP... We are looking at proposals. We -- There are some superb providers out there in Abraxas. Boone is doing a great job. There are a couple of charters that have a big interest in this type of program. So, we'll be more than happy to keep the -- keep the Council informed once we get -- once we get our first cut at the -- at the companies that have responded to the request.
The point I would make is, there are diploma programs. One of the things that you're seeing is less and less discussion around dropout which Councilman Ramos was present, Councilwoman Blackwell, is that less and less of the professional discussions around dropout. The reality is that like college, many of us -- And I'm one that took five years to get through an undergraduate program.
And we're beginning to see the same types of things in high school, that the time element that we used to lay out of a four-year traditional approach is no longer existing. These youngsters will not graduate on time, but these youngsters will graduate. And the point that I would like to make, as we begin to calculate dropout rates, we're going to have to take a look at extending the period of calculation; and that, unfortunately, when you have 65 percent of our youngsters who don't read at grade level across the City now, we're going to have to give them what I consider the gift of time to allow them to be successful.
Good point. Good point. Yeah. We will -- We will -- We will -- If it takes five years, so be it. And in some case if it takes six years, so be it. But it's a healthier environment to have the overage children, 17-year-old freshman or 18- or 19-year-old sophomores and 215 School District Budget - 4/18/05 juniors, maybe a 19-year-old or even a 20-year-old senior, in an alternative program, an alternative placement, a school that specializes in dealing with students who are trying to make up for lost time, you see. So we think this has great potential. We benefited over the last six months. Both the Daily News and the Inquirer have done stories on our disciplinary schools in our accelerated programs. And you know, we get scrutinized tremendously in this City. And I think people have acknowledged that those programs -- that initially the programs are showing some tremendous promise. But we do not want to leave any child behind. That includes a child who's 17, 18, 19 years old. At the end of the day, if they drop out of our school without a high school diploma, they're hitting the street. That's not good for anybody. So, that's what this is about. The message we're trying to send our kids is if you behave and you attend school regularly, 216 School District Budget - 4/18/05 and you put the effort in, if it takes us another year or two... I mean, I had to go to community college for three years to learn what I didn't learn in high school in order to get into a traditional four-year college. And I'll tell you, nobody told me that your time is up; you're on the street. So, the feeling for us here is, if we -- the message we're sending is, we'll help you. We'll try to get you in the right environment. But you've got to behave yourself. You've got to attend school every day, and you've got to work hard. That's all we ask. You know, if you meet us, that meets us more than half way. We'll do the rest and we'll get you over the goal line.
That's very exciting. And so many of us have similar circumstances. I remember my late husband used to tell students, don't worry if you drop out at 16 because just drop back in. Because if you 217 School District Budget - 4/18/05 live to be 80 you could have been 16 five times. Thank you very much. Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My editorial comment would be bravo for going the extra effort or making the extra effort for young people who need a little more but deserve the time to complete the curriculum. Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller's line of questioning triggered a couple of more for me with regards to the literacy interns. How old is that program?
So, there's been adequate time to arrive at the conclusion that one out of three simply don't stay around.
Yeah. Well, we'll -- 218 School District Budget - 4/18/05 we'll -- we'll -- we'll be ending the program, but we will be placing a number of literacy interns in the middle grades. They'll go in the middle schools as transition support tutors which is a fancy word for middle school literacy interns. I mean, literacy interns. And a number of them that are -- that are recommended by their principal and that are -- we feel can become certified, that have the talent to deliver in the classroom, we will emergency -- do emergency certification so that we can get them in the schools and we can get them certified.
Okay. And this -- all of which you just shared will in a very thorough way be shared with literacy interns so that they know what lies beyond June '05.
Yeah. Yeah. Right now there is some anxiety over the fact that there are some -- particularly the first-year literacy interns worried about them not getting the second year. 219 School District Budget - 4/18/05 And we're going to focus our attention on those first-year literacy interns who are in need of a second year. And we're going to try to place as many of them as we can. If you're a third-year literacy intern and you don't have your certification, I'm sorry. I don't know what you've been doing, but you need to get certified. But we'll be sharing in greater detail the options available to them so that, you know, they have an opportunity to make an adjustment, to make their -- to select the options available.
Thank you. Mr. Craig Williams, I know, moved on. The functions out of that office, have they been assumed by a new person or not?
Yes. We have appointed as an interim superintendent Al Beechner.
He was with us. He left to... He had an emergency. 220 School District Budget - 4/18/05
We had an incident at Kensington, so we dispatched him to Kensington High School.