Okay. A lot of conversation has been given towards the 85 percent graduation rate. I want to discuss a little bit what's happening with our vocational curriculum for young people who maybe out of pure interest or simply those who are not college material, in the pure sense of the word, that adequate attention is given to their career path as well. In the capital program are there going to be any new schools built for vocational ed?
We are looking at -- We have to -- We're not going to have any choice in this matter. We have to put those students in Bok into a new building because we think that the building may be beyond 221 School District Budget - 4/18/05 repair. The facade its separating from the foundation because of lack of maintenance and deferred maintenance. The upper floors that have been closed are just terrible. They're almost beyond renovation. To renovate that school, just the facade issues, would cost about $38 million. So, we are actively looking for a site because we think that's going to be one of those schools that we're going to have move students out of for safety purposes within the next two to three years.
We have begun -- We're working with our State Representatives, Shirley Kitchen and Joe Williams, to put together a planning committee for the new Dobbins School.
So, both Dobbins and Bok will be rebuilt and if we do it, we want to do it right. We're going to want to structure those buildings in a way so that they're really taylor-made to be modern 222 School District Budget - 4/18/05 vocational educational institutions. That said and done, though, I do want to point out that we are -- we are expanding our, what I call, dual enrollment vocational ed program where, because of the inadequacies of our voc ed programs, we're looking, obviously, at improving our programs, at least those programs that are legitimate. But we're also purchasing more classroom space --
-- in off campus programs, be they the Community College or -- like DeVry. We have a growing partnership with DeVry. We're hoping to bring DeVry into two of our campuses and subsequently also send our students to DeVry. DeVry has two locations, one close in Center City and one, obviously, in the suburbs. We have brought Sunoco in to set up at the Sunoco Academy. We're working with St. Christopher's Hospital to set up a medical careers academy. We're working with Lockheed Martin. We're working with three 223 School District Budget - 4/18/05 schools. So, part of our approach is to actually contract out with corporations, with hospitals, with -- with -- with business institutions or with private for profit and not for profit vocational educational institutions and enroll our kids in those programs, you see. That will allow us to provide those type of vocational technical educational services quickly, rather than say, well, we're going to rebuild this and in five years. It's all going to be built and we're all going to have great programs. So, that's the approach that we're taking to close the gap, the vocational ed gap that we have now, so we don't have to wait four or five or six years for our own investment to take hold.
There are two driving focuses on high school education today. One is a really strong move to make schools smaller. You know, there's not many pieces of literature that you would pick up that 224 School District Budget - 4/18/05 doesn't speak to that. The other drive is to create schools within schools. And within the schools within schools, the smaller learning communities and academies, we're attempting to do a significant amount of work in the academy structures. For example, a traditional high school with 2,000 students, places that we're unable to divide and make smaller, we would try to have vocational type of opportunities within the academy that aligns to the dual enrollment Mr. Vallas talked about, aligns the rigorous curriculum. So, they're part of a comprehensive high school, but yet they have an academy or focus or pathway. And I would say pathway only for the fact that youngsters can get in and get off and basically kind of select courses based on need, as their second alternate way of looking at how we're going to depopulate and have better processes to really make high schools more personal.
And I would 225 School District Budget - 4/18/05 presume with the partnerships that you've just mentioned, a part of that discussion or the strategy or the agreement is that they consider these young people for transitioning to real jobs.
I think there's two vital transitions, one to the world of work, and the other is to extend that -- that -- that -- that -- that -- that opportunity they have in high school to an opportunity that culminates in a college experience as well, like DeVry.
Let's move to this issue of safety for a few minutes. You developed an annual student anti-violence conference that involved students, parents and educators in a number of ways. What level of participation did you see at those conferences? Could you speak to that, please?
Good afternoon. Claudia Avaret, Chief of Staff. 226 School District Budget - 4/18/05 This is our third annual student anti-violence conference which would be held on November the 5th. Our first year of the conference we had approximately 1100 participants at the conference. We were targeting about 700 students, the additional numbers made up of community members, parent and educators. Last year we were about 800 in attendance, but we were in competition of several things that were going on in the City at the same time. So, we believe that's why our numbers was not as high as we had anticipated. However, if I had to evaluate it, I would say that last year the quality of the presenters, the quality of the content of the workshops were probably exactly what we were hoping for. We just didn't have the attendance of the numbers. This year we hope to be able to accomplish both, have the high numbers and the quality. However, out of the conference has 227 School District Budget - 4/18/05 derived several things. This year for the first time we will have our Safe Night Philadelphia which will be held at Ben Franklin High School on May the 13th. Again, will be workshops for students and for parents and educators. Again, we're trying to make this not just an annual event, but we're hoping to be able to create opportunities for students that will go beyond the one-time opportunity in their schools as well, where they can do turnaround training for other students in the school, around reducing violence, around looking at ways to improve leadership opportunities for students as well as to be able to deal with conflict resolution.
Speak to the Philadelphia Gun Court and how the School District is coordinating efforts there with these anti-violence initiatives.
You know, I'm at a disadvantage on that because I have also dispatched Dexter Green to Kensington.
Okay. We can 228 School District Budget - 4/18/05 revisit that.
But I will tell you this: We are working very closely with District Attorney Lynn Abraham's office on a number of community-based initiatives. She really has taken a very aggressive enforcement stand when it comes to prosecuting cases involving violence, not only against students, but also violence against school employees. As you know -- And again, you know, one must remember we are a School District of now with the new small high schools many of them on line, I think 276 schools. So, in a district this large, there's always going to be something going on. So, I certainly don't want to exaggerate the challenges that the School District has, nor do I want to understate the challenges that we have. But there have been a number of celebrated incidents of individuals who have come off the street and have basically threatened or intimidated or in some cases 229 School District Budget - 4/18/05 physically accosted our employees. Our approach, quite simply, is to make sure that those -- Just as we have a zero tolerance policy for students who -- who -- who -- who harm other students, we equally want to have a zero tolerance policy towards any adult who would threaten or intimidate or attack any member of the School District. So, when an incident like this happens, we work very closely with the state -- with the District Attorney's Office to, obviously, not only make sure that this individual is arrested and charged, but also that this individual's prosecuted. And so, the bottom line is, we don't want violence of any sort. But we've worked very closely -- We also are working very closely with the District Attorney's Office to develop -- She has developed a curriculum for our students that is designed to make students aware of the repercussions of breaking the law, of engaging in violent acts. 230 School District Budget - 4/18/05 We have a lot of students who operate in kind of a fantasy world.
You know, young kids who don't know the implications of breaking the law, of assaulting or of attacking someone. And the objective here is to -- is to explain the criminal justice system to young people at a young age, to communicate the consequences of their violent actions. And the program focuses on middle grades.
We think a combination of those initiatives are going to help make a difference.
All right. Project peace is an -- I want to say of our 22 schools. I was looking over at Lee 23 Whittaker.
How many schools? 231 School District Budget - 4/18/05
That's currently in 5 of our schools. For those of you that is not 6 familiar with Project Peace, it is driven by 7 attorneys in the City of Philadelphia who are 8 mentors to students in our classes. 9 And they come in to do tutorial 10 programs and enrichment for our students. 11 And so, we started off with a very small 12 pilot just to gain the success of the program 13 and the efficiency of it. 14 And however, we have been able now 15 to look at taking to it scale in the upcoming 16 school year. 17
Is that 18 happening because of a grant or is that 19 volunteerism or what? 20
The state -- I always have to get any titles right here, being a former outsider. 232 School District Budget - 4/18/05 The State's Attorney General's Office got the -- they have provided a small grant for this program, and they have been the catalyst for this program, the previous Attorney General who did a marvelous job, and now the New Attorney general. We like the model. It is a terrific model. We want to incorporate the model into all the schools. I mentioned earlier when Councilman Ramos talked about summer jobs and things like that, that we have created this senior residency program, where we take our seniors and we allow them, in lieu of electives, to work in the schools in a variety of odd jobs related to tutoring and counseling and character development and staff support. We also give them a stipend. We're doing something similar with the eighth graders. And Project Peace is going to be a big part of that. So, when you have a school, kindergarten through 8th grade, and you can give your eighth graders leadership opportunities --
-- you'll be amazed at the maturation process. So, we view programs like Project Peace as a program that can easily be institutionalized across the School District. And that's a program where our student leaders can take the lead. So, we view it in a very positive light.
Can someone speak about the Safe Hotline? And have you seen any direct correlation between the presence of that initiative and a reduction in bullying and harassment and those type of issues?
Sure. The Safety Bully Hotline actually this year has really improved its quality, in terms of the information and leads that we get in advance. You know, that is an anonymous hot line that is used by citizens in Philadelphia. And it's not just for students but for all citizens. And I wanted to just say that because oftentimes when it's marketed, it's oftentimes thought to be just 234 School District Budget - 4/18/05 for students. Obviously, we encourage our students to call us if there's any information that they can provide us with, and knowing in advance of any information they may be getting around a safety issue or something that could be causing some harm to schools. However, this year we have found that more adults are using the safety hotline to be able to give us leads on things that they may have heard either in their community or incidents that they may have been able to take advantage of seeing things that were going on and wanted to call and give us a heads up.
Have you seen any reduction in violence around the schools, with regards to the Operation Safe Schools effort?
For the year the percentage of serious incident reports -- and again, we report hours a day and we report 24 on school, off school. So, when we issue our reports, it 235 School District Budget - 4/18/05 doesn't matter. If a student of ours is a victim or a victimizer, it's going to be reported. It's going to be identified as -- as part of the -- on the school's record. So, some argue that we may be too aggressive, when you consider that most other school districts have a much lower standard of reporting and also a much lower standing of performance or of enforcement. The percentage of serious incidents are down. I'll get you the actual numbers through March. So, they are down. The biggest drop has been in teacher assaults. So... And again, we define assaults very broadly. It includes verbal threats and things like that. It's just not all physical assaults. But we can -- Yeah. Last year we have at this -- through March we had 5,449 incidents. And again, they include both verbal and physical. So... And these are incidents on school grounds, off school grounds, Saturday, Sunday, 24 hours a day. 236 School District Budget - 4/18/05 This year, we have 5,273 incidents. So, there has been a decline of about... Doing my math here. Looks like about four to five percent. The biggest decline has been in assault on teachers and administrative and school staff. That's from 838 to 707. We also think, in all honesty, that the middle grade phase-outs is having something to do with that, because, you know, I think the grade where there's been a decline that's most pronounced is in the middle grades, particularly sixth grade.
You anticipated my question. Where are those numbers most --
We'll try to -- We'll try to -- We'll try to break them down. But, Again, let me also point out that we now have metal detectors in not only all the middle schools, but we have hand-held detectors in all the elementary schools. Despite that fact, the number of weapons confiscated this year pretty much matches the numbers of weapons last year, 237 School District Budget - 4/18/05 despite the fact that we have many more detectors. Now, you know, I suspect that children are bringing fewer weapons to schools. We have been fortunate. We've had only three guns, firearms, brought to school this year. Three guns are three guns too many. But in past years -- Last year we had 14. And in past years sometimes we had in the 20s and the 30s. The bottom line here is clearly the weapons that students are bringing are much less lethal. Let me point out in the elementary schools we include scissors. So, if you bring a scissors, that's a weapon. That's recorded as a weapon. So, you know, I'm not minimizing. I'm not minimizing. But the bottom line is, we report everything. And then you really have to sort out on the details: What are the serious weapons; and what are -- You know, we have a first grader or second grader 238 School District Budget - 4/18/05 or third grader who's bringing one of those blunted scissors to school. But nevertheless, you know, the rate's not falling as fast as we'd like. We don't know what will happen the next three months, you know, in April, June and July. I mean -- I'm sorry -- April, May or June. But we seem to be moving in -- We seem to be moving in the right direction.
Is there some thread with all those anti-violence measures just mentioned, the Safe Hotline, the Project Peace, I mean, are those worlds talking to each other?
As you know, through the Mayor's leadership, he has set up a school safety task force. And there's a coordinating committee that coordinates on everything. So, there's constant discussion and coordination between the Police Department...
...and between our own safety and security staff. So, between the hotline, between the reporting -- I'm surprised the number of incidents hasn't increased, given the fact that we're -- the reporting is more aggressive than ever before. The hotline has now become like a mini 9-1-1 line or at least kind of a 3-1-1 line for issues involving kids. One would think with this aggressive coordination and this aggressive enforcement that the numbers -- that the numbers would actually be higher. I think that bores [sic] well for the success we've had to date.
But this is the first year, actually, also, where that kind of coordination has been in place; has it not?
If I could add, the calls that have come in to the hotline have more than tripled since last year. 240 School District Budget - 4/18/05
I have a question here regarding the Office of Career and Technical Education. I just need to be clear. Have you met the goals? There was -- Let me get this right. Three year standardized sequence of courses, increasing the use of technologies providing, professional development opportunities and modern -- modernizing secondary and post-secondary education. Have you achieved your stated goals that were cited in that career and technical education web site?
I can't answer that right now, but I'll get you an answer by tomorrow. We can -- We can -- We can check with Al on that. We'll frame it out for you. If you can just show us where that reference was... And we'll get back to you. We'll give you an update on that.
African 241 School District Budget - 4/18/05 American history. Where -- I did read the February 17th article that talked about we have made -- we have taken leaps with regards to that. When is it scheduled to start and how -- Speak to me about the rollout.
I'm presently piloting three four-by-four block schedule schools now where we're in the midst of providing staff development. The S.R.C. has supported the initiative that will be a required elective. And I know that sounds like somewhat contradictory, but one of the things that we are saying is that every youngster in the City of Philadelphia receives five electives, and one of the electives would have to be African American history. I am suggesting that the course be taught in 10th grade, offered 10th through 12th. You know, for the year 2005, freshmen entering will have to have that course for graduation. We will offer the course in all high 242 School District Budget - 4/18/05 schools next year and the graduating class of 2009, that will be a requirement.
And how will you reconcile that with regards to having staff that are equipped with the subject matter?
Training, training, training. That training... We undertook the first round of the training in the three pilot schools that we implemented this year. And we will have a aggressive training initiative throughout the spring and into the summer.
Any course that is required is a course that is accompanied by training. So, you know, 100 hours of professional development training goes a long way towards -- towards equipping teachers for the classroom. When you combine that standardized curriculum with that intensive training and that supervision of the instruction, you can really dramatically improve the quality of 243 School District Budget - 4/18/05 instruction. I will point out that the course aside, all of our curriculum instructional models are multi-cultural. And they're not multi-cultural to be politically correct. You can't teach world history without teaching African history, without teaching Asian history, without teaching Latin American and Central American history, just as you cannot teach American history without teaching students about the African American experience. You see? So, the bottom line is, if you look at our curriculum and structural models in the core subject areas, you will find that the curriculum is as comprehensive and as multi-cultural as any curriculum has ever been. Also, if you look at our literature -- If you look at our reading curriculum instruction models, the books that the children are using, the supplemental reading materials, the classroom libraries, you'll be amazed at the diversity and the 244 School District Budget - 4/18/05 quality and breadth of the diversity, when it comes to the reading material. So -- So -- So, you know, I will say without equivocation that our curriculum and instructional models are as modern, as up-to-date, as relevant, as multi-cultural, and at the same time as qualitative -- is that the right word to use -- as any curriculum instructional models out there. And it's because we've -- we've followed the mandates of the School Reform Commission. And we've had literally committees of educators from within the system and from outside the system, like Dr. Assante from Temple University, working with us every step of the way as we have moved forward.
I would only say -- be remiss I didn't -- that the new African American history course is -- it's one that really has some heavy focus on Africa. We've in the past added African 245 School District Budget - 4/18/05 American history courses in a number of high schools. As you look at the course design of this particular course, .5, half of the time will be spent on the origins going back to Africa. Talked about the whole issue of cultural competence. And one of the things that we is, we have a cultural competence rubric that we look at as we select the materials, as we work with staff. And I think you would be very proud of the efforts we've made throughout not just the African American history course but throughout our entire K/12 initiative.
I am excited about that, that that's finally real for students in our schools. I think this might be my final question. 40 young people were hit -- As of March 2005, 40 students have been hit by vehicles going to and from school. How far have you gone in installing flashers, signals outside of schools, et 246 School District Budget - 4/18/05 cetera? Can someone speak to the PennDOT -- $1 million funding from PennDOT?
How are you doing, Councilwoman? The School District officially transferred $1 million over to the City's capital program office for the Streets Department to install approximately 30 schools worth of school flashing lights.
And who sets the criteria by which schools ultimately get lucky enough to get their flashing light? Is it the Streets Department or your shop?
Yeah. and Mr. Vallas is reminding me that Dexter Green expended funding to have -- If you go past a lot of our schools throughout the City, we have little school crossing signs that are set up. 247 School District Budget - 4/18/05
And schools do use them, which is even better. Okay. I'm just double checking, Madam Chair. I do have a question here regarding the libraries, but you've spoken to that in your opening testimony, and books. So, are we -- Are we okay with adequate books in the schools for our kids?
We -- We -- We -- This year -- Well, first of all, we have set up a hotline that parents can use, so if their children don't have textbooks or they don't think their children have textbooks, and if -- or if the children aren't bringing textbooks home or whatever they call that hotline, we have the textbook police. Because I have not spent $50 million-plus on new textbooks and curriculum and instruction materials to have somebody say, my child doesn't have a textbook. And as you know, the schools are 248 School District Budget - 4/18/05 supposed to let the children take the textbooks home. So, you know, we have the textbook cops, believe me. I will tell you this, though: In the money that we have allocated for the classroom libraries, it will include grants for regular libraries. And we're going to allow the schools to apply and to request the grants to upgrade their -- their library materials.
We're dealing with the high school library separately. We have got a program to do classroom modernization in the high schools, convert the libraries to library, slash, multi-media centers. But the objective here is to begin to award... You know, some libraries vary in quality and vary in terms of their... So, they would be able to apply for grants. And 249 School District Budget - 4/18/05 the grants could range anywhere from $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, depending on the size. So, we're going to probably be allocating about 25, 30 or 35 grants. And then, of course, all the primary grade teachers, though, will receive the classroom library models. And these are portable libraries. The reading material will be used -- will be -- will supplement the reading curriculum and the guided reading program. So, we'll do probably kindergarten through third grade or fourth grade.
Fourth grade this year. Next year fifth through eighth grade, you know. I will tell you this, because I have to reiterate this, too. We are not going to do -- We're not going to be able to be everything to everyone and provide all the amenities that many of the more affluent districts have, but I think we can nevertheless address some of these needs and 250 School District Budget - 4/18/05 some of the shortages. We got a law changed under the leadership of Speaker John Perzel that basically allowed teachers, retired teachers, to continue to work in the school system without any penalty, without any loss of pension benefits.
Retired teachers. Retired librarians. Retired educators. So, what many schools are doing is, they're bringing retired teachers in and retired librarians in part-time to staff the libraries. Also, we have the university interns program, where we hope to have university interns who are library science majors, perhaps working in the school, working in the library, you see? So, we're looking at ways to provide schools with the flexibility to access the additional staffing, so even if they can't afford or they do not want to pay $60,000 or 251 School District Budget - 4/18/05 $70,000 for a full-time librarian because they'd rather spend the extra money to reduce class size, they might still be able to access some additional help in that library. For example, they can pay an existing teacher who has expertise in the library sciences a stipend to basically do double duty and to coordinate the activities in the library. So, we are trying to give our elementary schools a little more flexibility to address their library staffing needs, their music staffing needs, their -- their -- the art staffing needs. But a lot of these issues long term will not be addressed unless there's kind of a long-term funding resolution in Harrisburg. I'm not blaming Harrisburg. I will tell you, we in my two years, now going on three years, have received a lot of support from Harrisburg, from the Philadelphia caucus. It's been a terrific caucus. And the Speaker of the House in 252 School District Budget - 4/18/05 particular, working with Dwight Evans, Joe Williams and Shirley Kitchen, and other members of that caucus have done -- They've been very fair to us And even in the Senate where we have no representation in the Republican caucus, they -- it takes two houses to get full funding for the charter schools. It takes two houses to get the additional money for alternative schools. Senator Jubilier and others have worked with us. Vince Fumo and Anthony Williams in the Senate have been very, very helpful working with the senate majority. So, we're not complaining. Ultimately the legislature is going to have to address hopefully the issue of school funding reform in a comprehensive way. But make no mistake about it. The last three years the legislature has really worked to provide us at least the resources we need to move the School District forward.
In conjunction with 253 School District Budget - 4/18/05 the special partnership with Drexel University, we're introducing a concept called Cybrary.
Cybrary. Cyber library. It's a combination of taking of what we traditionally know of library science, the stats, the working it with technology, and using technology as a vehicle for research and things of that nature. When I went to school, I had to go to something called the Dewey Decimal System. I don't know if any of you remember it. And you would go through these stacks, look for your card, and go out. But the reality is, youngsters begin to move on. And to speak to one of the Councilman who talked about the youngster being prepared for college, is that many of those things are happening in a virtual way, electronic way. We're looking at a program called cybrary which we hope to move forward in a very aggressive way. We're piloting that 254 School District Budget - 4/18/05 program. And I think we will have a roll-out of that program at Central High School in the next month or two. And we are hopeful that if we are successful in this cybrary concept of library science, along with technology, that certainly could be a -- a -- a -- a -- a -- a focus or a direction for us as we move our research effort forward for students.
Teacher shortages. We notice when you first came the number was, like, 400 or 500. And then last year we were down to closer to 100. What do we anticipate for fall '06, fall '05?
So, the challenge for finding middle school teachers is no --
The challenge is highly 255 School District Budget - 4/18/05 qualified, see. Now, you may have a teacher, but is that teacher highly qualified? The big challenge we face -- Let me point out that about 90 percent plus of our teachers are highly qualified. The problem, though, is -- is among the middle grades. That's where most of the teachers -- That's the largest block of teachers who are not highly qualified because most of them are elementary school highly qualified, but not middle grade highly qualified. There are elementary school teachers teaching middle grades. It's a problem that all the -- all the states -- that all the states are experiencing. It's a big issue. Now, the states move forward to modify its definition of highly qualified but it's the biggest challenge we face. Now, the question that is... Well, what happens? If you're not a highly qualified teacher, does that mean that you can't deliver quality instruction? 256 School District Budget - 4/18/05 The point that I've made is, we want all of our teachers to be highly qualified, but more importantly we want them to be highly effective. We believe that if you take somebody who has the intelligence, who has at least a basic understanding of the content area, has the commitment, has the energy, and you equip them with our state-of-the-art curriculum instructional models, which literally provides them with guidance on what to do every day, and you then provide them with the 100 hours of professional development on those curriculum instructional models, you can take -- you can take a -- a -- a -- a -- a -- a teacher who is -- who may be teaching out of their area of certification and you can turn that teacher into a highly effective teacher. So, while we're going to struggle to -- to -- to work to meet the No Child Left Behind guidelines to make sure that all of our not only teachers but our support staff are highly qualified, we've already taken 257 School District Budget - 4/18/05 steps to make sure that our teachers are highly effective, you see. And this is where your investment in curriculum instructional reforms come in. Let me point out that there's no 7 mandate that parochial and private schools have highly qualified teachers. Yet, if highly qualified was the key for them being highly effective, they would be out there making sure that their teachers are highly qualified.
That's right. So, we feel that -- We're going to work to make sure that our students are -- all of our teachers are highly qualified, but we're also by investing in curriculum instruction professional development, we're going to get ahead of the game and make sure that that teacher in that classroom is highly effective. Also, the curriculum instructional models allow us to track and evaluate our 258 School District Budget - 4/18/05 teacher performance better, too, because now we have benchmarks. Are you hitting the benchmarks? How are you progressing? Are you following the guidelines? Are you following the curriculum instructional models?
Yeah. The benchmarks are not as detailed as lesson plans, but any teacher who wants to -- who wants to rely exclusively on the curriculum can use the curriculum instruction models as lesson plans.
You see. But we think that -- We think that -- Again, we're filling our vacancies. Number one, we are willing to fill our vacancies. The large -- The second issue is to make sure that all the teachers are highly qualified. We have till June of 2006 to do that. But once again, we're not waiting for 259 School District Budget - 4/18/05 that day to guarantee quality instruction. That's what we're investing in our curriculum instruction models about.
I assume there are no other questions today. We thank you all for your patience. And we will recess until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. Thank you all.
Thank you. (Public hearing continued at 3:48 p.m.) 260 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the public hearing of The Philadelphia City Council, taken on April 18, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. _____________________________ DAVID A. DEIK, RPR and Commissioner of Deeds (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)