Thank you. You mention NTAs versus that new position, a person with an Associate, as school climate.
Climate support assistant. Tell me what you feel about that. Obviously we know it's a lot more personnel, but I believe that person 369 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget would trade off in terms of a principal picking whether they want that person or a teacher. Tell me what your thoughts are on that position.
We don't agree with that position. That's a position that will be replacing current non-teaching assistants. It's a newly created position that the District has probably advertised by this time. The salary that they are proposing is $23,000 a year. It will mean the layoff of up to probably 200 current NTAs in the School District, and the jobs would be almost identical. They will be working monitoring the hallways, the cafeterias, the yards, all of the duties that NTAs currently perform.
I see. So they won't be like teachers' aides and that sort of thing, it's a whole different -- it's like an NTA position.
It is, when I read the job description, absolutely, but at a lower cost. 370 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget
Thank you very much. Any questions? (No response.)
Thank you very much, and, again, thank you both for your patience and for all that you always do. Thank you. Mike McGinley, Local 1201. After Mr. McGinley is Shelly Yanoff. Shelly, are you here?
Okay. Good afternoon. Thank you for your patience. Please identify yourself and begin your testimony. MR. McGINLEY: Good afternoon. Mike McGinley, Local 1201.
Thank you. MR. McGINLEY: Good afternoon, Majority Leader Blackwell, Council members, 371 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget 1201 members, parents and taxpayers, my name is Michael McGinley. I am President of Local 1201, the union that represents 3,500 non-teaching School District employees. The vast majority of our members are minorities and females. They earn about $24,000 per year. They are an older group of employees who will find it exceedingly difficult to find new employment if you allow the School District to lay them off. They are your constituents. Nearly 100 percent of our members live in Philadelphia. They pay Philadelphia taxes. They vote in Philadelphia. Of the 225 employees who face Vallas directed layoff, 68 are single parents. I sit before you to ask for your support and for your understanding of what is currently taking place in the operations of the School District of Philadelphia. Yesterday the School District CEO, Mr. Paul Vallas, testified in this chamber. He stated, in part, that he wanted to privatize the jobs of 225 members of our union 372 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget who are your constituents. His testimony was not completely forthcoming or correct. " I am here to set the record straight. Our members clean the school. When they leave at or o'clock at night, the 10 schools are clean. The challenges they face 11 daily are daunting, graffiti, vandalism, simply not paying attention to the rules that principals don't enforce. But they get the job even if it requires them to stay late or work extra hours to complete the work of an absent co-worker. They are proud of the job they do. You can see that pride in the pictures we have attached to my testimony. We make no claim that the schools are spotless, but within the system designed by the School District, the system that the School District negotiated over an 18-month period, our members have more than met the challenge. The majority of problems that exist in the cleaning process are not the 373 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget cleaners but the system itself. In the last contract, we warned the District that its square footage cleaning requirements were too high for the number of staff they assigned to the job. We told the District that its square footage cleaning requirements were way above industry average. We told the District that forcing these square footage cleaning requirements would lead to burnout and absenteeism. On the subject of absenteeism, we offered to work with the District to reduce the absenteeism. They ignored our offer. Yesterday Mr. Vallas stated that absenteeism was at percent. That figure is 17 wrong. And under the same terms of the past 18 contracts and the current contract, there is a 19 system to reduce chronic absenteeism that the 20 School District ignores. 21 Mr. " I've 23 been to the restrooms here in the City Hall 24 both yesterday and today. They are not clean 25 at noon time or mid afternoon. Not because 374 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget the cleaners are absent, but because they are not scheduled to work in the daytime when the building sees heavy use. I might add that City Hall bathrooms are the responsibility of one of the same companies that have submitted a bid to clean our high schools. Yesterday Mr. Vallas stated publicly that all fired cleaners would be absorbed into the system and would not lose their jobs. In private meetings with the School District, the District made no such promise. In fact, they stated that they would simply abide by the terms of the contract, which would allow them to lay these resident voter caretakers off from their jobs and end their pension promises if they gave proper notice. Privatization of cleaning the public schools has failed before. Failed miserably. In 1992, ten schools were outsourced to a for-profit private contractor. These contractors performed below 1201 standards.
After 18 months, they walked away with millions of taxpayer dollars. 1201 cleaners were reinstalled. 375 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget Firing 225 employees will not make the schools any cleaner during the daylight hours. Firing 225 employees will not make the schools any cleaner at o'clock at night or 6 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Changing the 7 system will make the schools cleaner. Proper 8 staffing, proper equipment and proper supplies 9 will make the schools cleaner. 10 This Local has a strong history of stepping up to the challenge and solving problems. For example, in 1995, there was going to be no JV sports programs. While others were pointing fingers and placing blame, this Local found the solution. Our members sacrificed their pay increase and diverted their money to fund the sports program. 5 million. What we want is not a pat on the back, just the opportunity to provide these kids with a safe, clean and healthy environment. Involvement with the kids and the schools won't occur with for-profit companies. 376 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget For-profit companies are ultimately for the shareholders, not the kids and the community. We have offered to work with the School District to keep these schools cleaner. We are prepared to co-pay for a program to teach the kids and school staff to be responsible for the cleanliness of their own schools. We have a solution for making the schools cleaner. Give it a chance. Give it support. Join us in working for a real solution. Today I end with an offer and a challenge. This union will be happy to take any or every member of Council to any school to do a tour of what the schools look like before our members arrive and a few hours later we'll do another tour to inspect the condition after our members have completed their task. If you accept this offer, you will walk away with a new appreciation of the dedication and accomplishments of the work these underpaid, understaffed minority public servants succeed at every day. Thank you. 377 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget
We thank you for your excellent testimony and the job you do. Thank you very much. MR. McGINLEY: Thank you.
My pleasure. Shelly Yanoff, PCCY. Is Sasha Vann here or representatives from Comprehensive Day Care? UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Blackwell, Councilman Rizzo. I'm Sharon Ward of PCCY. I'm here on behalf of --
Spell 378 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget your last name.
I'm here on behalf of Shelly Yanoff. I'm the Child Care Policy and Advocacy Director of Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth. I'll give you my testimony. The issue of having to stretch dollars is not new and it is particularly not new to the School District. In fact, what is new is that the District is undertaking an enormous numbers of initiatives, from building many new schools, to developing a variety of options for children in every part of the City, to setting a goal of providing almost all three- and four-year-olds with an early childhood program, to having some kind of magnet school everywhere for almost every age, every grade grouping. We applaud these effort, as well as the critical one of focusing on high schools, making them small enough to develop the kind 379 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget of learning climates that kids need and large enough to provide the opportunities that life demands. We urge the District to work with these communities in developing the schools. Small schools are enhanced by community planning and commitment. We at PCCY are working with the District on developing a school dedicated to the pursuit of peace and conflict resolution. We are hopeful that the school will open in September and be a model for creating a more peaceful, less violent climate for all in our community. As proponents of more music and art in schools, we applaud the announcement of a new music program for 30 schools, as well as the emphasis on the arts and the extended day and Saturday day programs. But we are concerned this will still leave many schools without art and music as part of the regular school day. At last count, there were more than 50 elementary schools without a music or art teacher. We believe that our children all need art and music programs as part of their 380 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget regular day. We understand that the District is proposing to convert many of its early childhood programs to a new school day pre-kindergarten program. While we applaud the District's continued commitment to school readiness, we are concerned that there are many families and children who will lose out during this conversion. The Comprehensive Early Learning Centers, which the District is scheduled to phase out, provides valuable child care services for almost 1,300 families. The program has improved in recent years, and research shows that it is particularly effective at preparing children for success in school. It is argued that the program is expensive, but one of the reasons for the expense of the program is that it really helps provide child care for working parents. Over 75 percent of the three- and four-year-old children in this City have a single parent or two parents who work, and they need the hours that Comprehensive 381 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget provides. Part day programs provide a hardship on the parents and an unnecessary transition for the children. We are particularly concerned about the closing of the Infant/Toddler programs, which will affect 182 families this year. The children of teen parents need quality child care if they are to succeed. Without this care, the teens will come to school when they can and not when they should. Moreover, providing high-quality child care for the children of teen parents is one of the pivotal pieces of the Cradle to Classroom program in Chicago. Program founders recognized that the kids of teen parents are the most at risk. An intervention with them early would help ensure their success later on. A two-hour weekly home visiting program that the District is establishing instead a pale imitation and will not produce comparable results. We now have 40 years of evidence that quality early childhood programs result in substantial benefits to children and 382 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget society.
Children who participated in the Abecedarian program; for example, the child care program for children from six months to five years, experienced substantially better school performance and high school graduation rates than those that didn't. Investing in the early years is critical. However, even the fourth year is too late. The best predictor of a child's reading ability in third grade is his or her language development by age three. Comprehensive Early Learning Centers provided the early education necessary to get kids on track and keep them there. Research by the University of Pennsylvania demonstrated two important facts, that the CELC programs had great strengths and that children who attended them performed well, better than children from most comparable programs. This translates into dollars and cents for the District, saving money in remedial programming later. Comparable programs in Pittsburgh reduced special education costs and grade 383 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget retention substantially. Closing these programs may appear to save money in the short term but may cost more in the long run. We disagree with this decision and believe that there were steps the District should and could have taken to improve the marketing and shape the programs to be more efficient. We urge that in undertaking this step, the District commit to providing for the infants of teen parents who need to be in school. If the District must go forward with its plan, we urge that it work with the state and the community of providers to ensure that no baby or toddler is left with a mom who quits school because it was the only available option to care with her baby. We need as a community to support and prepare families for the responsibilities and opportunities of life. We need to ensure that the District is sensitive to the needs of working families and will help to ensure, if not provide, full day, full year services. The City and School District need to work together to commit to helping our 384 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget children arrive at school ready to learn. We need to commit to providing the child care that allows our parents to work. This takes a willingness to plan and to work together. Recently PCCY has, with a group of community volunteers, been visiting schools and looking at schools, and while our results are preliminary, we do have some thoughts to share with you today. We found in our visits to schools that there were not near enough substitute teachers available to cover classes when teachers were absent. We found that this lack of substitutes lowered staff morale and student learning. We urge the District and believe they need to fund a cadre of well-trained, well-supported substitutes. We're pleased that there are many new opportunities to have university students in more of our classrooms, but we're concerned that these are coming at the expense of the Literacy Intern program, who seem to have been at least in part responsible for both the lower class size and the improvements in 385 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget younger students' test scores. The research that was developed as the basis for the District's adoption of this strategy was that the teaching assistants without college degrees had not been near as effective in teaching students as those with college degrees who are in training to be teachers. If the problem with the Literacy Interns was that they needed to be placed in middle grades to fulfill that need, then we would urge that the interns be placed in the middle schools. Further, we believe that breaking the promise of three years' employment as interns to this cadre of people will hurt the District in its effort to attract teachers, particularly when their work seems to have been responsible for student achievement the District can claim credit for.
We understand that budgets always require choices and that unfortunately our school leaders have had to make harder choices than do those in wealthier suburbs. You don't find educators in Radnor or Merion or Bryn 386 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget Mawr having to decide between reading teachers or art and music programs, librarians or adequate counselors, but Philadelphia educators do. We must all continue our work together to support an adequate financial formula for funding our schools. In spite of these difficulties, there is much to celebrate in these plans, but lowering standards or changing programs that have been shown to work is, at best, penny wise and pound foolish. We urge the City to support the District's funding, and we urge the District to reexamine these plans and to continue to work with the community in pursuit of its remarkable and visionary declaration of education. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Any questions? 387 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget (No response.)
Thank you. Scott Yusem. Vernard Johnson, are you still here? You're next. Welcome. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
I am Scott Yusem, a second-year literacy intern in Philadelphia public school system. Good afternoon --
-- Ms. Blackwell, Mr. Rizzo, other Council members who are listening, Mr. Kirsch and PFT representatives. To my side is Vanette Capece, another second-year literacy intern in Philadelphia public schools, and we also have three first-year interns accompanying us -- I'm sorry; four. Excuse me. Recently we have been offered information by Mr. Vallas from yesterday's proceedings where it appears to be misleading 388 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget in regards to literacy interns being offered extensions of their certifications to retain their emergency certificates to teach in the School District for the 2005-2006 school year. As of right now, we have not received any such promise from the School District, and we are under the assumption that our positions will be terminated June 30th, 2005 per a letter received March 25th from the School District. After speaking to Mr. Jordan of the PFT prior to these proceedings, he has informed us of options for the upcoming school year that will be offered to second-year literacy interns as well as first-year literacy interns in positions other than intern teaching. However, continuation of our current positions was not mentioned by Mr. Jordan. We are here today to make the Council aware that 450 interns are still attempting to find out what is happening to their positions for the following school year. The clock is ticking. We only have about two months left before our benefits will be 389 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget terminated, our employment will be terminated as per this letter from the School District sent to us March 25th. The letter clearly states that we will be separated effective June 30th, 2005, as the School District is not offering us positions. We have tried diligently to contact as many people as possible to find clarification for what is happening to our positions. We are in grades K through three. We spend our days with children in kindergarten, first, second and third grade. We enjoy our jobs. We love going to work. We have left other business opportunities and employment opportunities to pursue a career in teaching, knowing full well that it has been an underappreciated field of employment. Yet, we still have invested thousands of dollars of our money into our certification programs in graduate school, as required by the School District to obtain this position. We don't want that money to go to waste. We want to pursue another year of teaching and learning how to teach in the 390 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget School District of Philadelphia. We believe that telling 450 people that a program that they were signed on for three years is cancelled is not the best way to retain and attract new certified teachers in the School District that has been struggling to keep teachers.
I'm sorry. Vanette Capece, second-year intern at Mayfair Elementary.
V-A-N-E-T-T-E, last name C-A-P-E-C-E. When we accepted this position with the School District, current second-year interns signed for three years. That was our agreement and what was told to us by the District, and current first-year interns were told that they had two years, as long as we 391 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget would all be certified by June 30th, 2006, and now the District has decided to end this program and is not -- they're not holding up their end of the agreement. What we would like is for the District to continue this program for another year to allow us to complete our certification and become highly qualified as under No Child Left Behind. Thank you.
Thank you. We're going to ask Mr. Jordan to come back to clarify something on the record, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, long-time supporter of children and schools.
My 392 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget pleasure.
We share the concern of the literacy intern teachers here and those in the classrooms, but we just want to clarify one point. The testimony that was given is that, yes, there was a letter sent to literacy interns telling them that the program would be ending this year, and the administration and the union have sat down and the administration has agreed to allow each of the current lit intern teachers the opportunity for alternative teaching positions. The District is eliminating the program. That is correct. The District eliminates any number of programs each year, as you know, and I think that Ted pointed it out in the testimony that he gave. There are schools without a variety of programs. However, these lit interns should be assured that they will be offered, before the end of the school year, a choice of various positions in the School District to allow them, as they have asked, for the opportunity 393 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget to become fully certified by school year '06, and that is going to happen.
That's exciting news. So you all have heard Mr. Jordan speak. We can all attest to his honesty. If he says it, then certainly we believe him, and he's back there on his way out. I see you shaking your head. You should check with him, and we're happy to go from there.
I will get paid $35,000 and benefits and will be able to be in the classroom for five days a week, go to school at night. We have fabulous teachers among other interns. It's unconscionable. I go in there every single day and I teach --
Ma'am, you have speak at a mic. You can't speak from behind the...
Give your name 394 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget first.
My name is Pamela Halpern, P-A-M-E-L-A, last name H-A-L-P-E-R-N. What I was saying was that, yes, we received a letter that had four options. All of those four options were not equal to our jobs. They were not the same job. We called Kim Goodman at Human Resources. She did not even know what one of them meant, and the name that was given as a reference was call Kim Goodman with any questions. I left my job to come here to teach for the School District because I thought I'd be a good teacher, and you know what? I am, and so are the other teachers here at Mayfair. To tell us that you're going to turn your backs on us is just wrong. I think you need to reconsider what you want to tell people the School District of Philadelphia is about. Because I know when I teach my students, it's about integrity. It's about doing the right thing. And when you see something wrong, you stand up and you don't take it or accept it.
We 395 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget agree. That's what America is supposed to be about. And certainly you have people from Paul Vallas' office who are still here. You have Mr. Jordan, PFT, and if he says that's the negotiated position, I think that it would behoove you to talk with him or talk with the School District and see if we can't get some understanding here. Would you be willing to do that?
Thank you. Thank you. Would you speak with her, and then Mr. Jordan is there.
Thank you both very much have. Thank you. Vernard Johnson, concerned parent, long-time defender of public education.
Welcome. 396 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget
Thank you. I hadn't made a decision to talk until today, so I don't have a written statement, but I'll go through this what I have quickly. Right now I'm going to -- I'm reading from the annual yearly progress report where Philadelphia public schools stand done by our Research for Action. It gives you 2004-2005 data around each school. In my opinion, right now, I think it's a good time for the EMOs to pack up and go. I don't think that they can do a better job than the District, and let me say that this administration has been an administration that --
Excuse me, Mr. Johnson. We don't want to miss good people. We don't want to lose good people, so let's hang in there and see what we can do. Thank you. Thank you. Continue, Mr. Johnson.
Yes, ma'am. This administration has given, I believe, parents 397 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget more access to the administration and to the decision-making process than other administrations that I've been around for a number of years, but there's still some things that I think that this Council needs to be made aware of, at least from my perspective, and one of them is the work of EMOs. Their work has been average, and I think the District could do just as good a job as the EMOs and I think that the money that the EMOs are now getting could be better utilized if it would go to the schools and to support other needs of students. I just want to read an explanation of some data, some statistics that I'm going to give. Corrective Action 2: If the school continues to be identified as a need of improvement, it necessitates creation of a new plan to be carried out the following year, including at least one radical change, could be replacing the staff, converting to a charter, turning management over -- the school over to the state or private company or other major management restructuring, and that 398 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget parents must be involved in the decision about the plan. And I thought there would be other Council people here, Councilwoman, but I'll just read to you schools that I believe are in your district or close to it. Tilden Middle School is in Corrective Action 2. 6 percent of the kids there are reading at the proficient level. 3 percent of the children there are reading at the proficient level. Locke School, which is one of your schools, I believe, is in Corrective Action 2 for the second year. 13 percent of the children are reading at the proficient level. 6 percent of the children are reading at the proficient level. That's a school, Councilwoman, that I'm sure you're very familiar with in terms of the social needs of the children who attend that school. A lot of the children who attend that school are living in family shelters, some from the local public housing development, and I'm going to get to what I think is a way that if the District had 399 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget more money, it could address the needs of those children. McMichael School is in Correction Action 2 even though it's making progress. 9 percent of the children are reading -- are doing math at the proficient level. org and you can see this information for yourself. And where I'm going with this is that I believe that the CSAP is a critical program for children that I believe is seriously underfunded. It's the Comprehensive Student Assistance Project. That's seriously underfunded. And there are a couple of levels of action that the District could take if it had the appropriate amount of funding to carry out CSAP to allow teachers more time, as teachers would say, to allow teachers more time to analyze the needs of the students, to put supportive services around the needs around the students and to also identify maybe 400 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget community-based organizations who are agencies that could provide a service to children that would address their needs even before they get to the level where they may end up in truancy court, which was an issue today. It's nice that the courts are working with the School District, but I believe there are things that can happen for children and families way before they get to truancy court. So I just wanted to bring that point out, that I think it's now time for those organizations to pack up and go. And you remember, Councilwoman, when we were here a year or two ago our position has always been around reform, and the question around Edison was there and this chamber was full of people and it wasn't too pleasant for my family and other families that were here that day who were advocating for full reform, which may have included Edison. So they've had their chance. I think Mr.
Vallas and his administration and the union, with the working relationship that they have, can do a job 401 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget without the EMOs. I wanted to say, though, to Councilman Rizzo, and I said it to him earlier in private, that for me the dropout rate isn't at and years old. Students stop coming 7 to school at eighth grade. The dropout rate 8 at ninth grade is high. You know that. 9 You've been around for a long time. The 10 dropout rate at ninth grade is high. Half 11 your class disappears. A 500-student ninth 12 grade class, it's gone by tenth grade, if not 13 by the second semester of ninth grade. And 14 that if a kid can make it until he's 17 years 15 old, he's probably made the cut if it's not in 16 ninth grade. He's probably made or she's made 17 the cut and they're going to graduate. 18 So, you know, I think that it needs to be a solid plan around how you stop the bleeding at the ninth grade level and how you continue to get kids who may not be very successful at eighth grade, how you get them to come to school more regular so that we can address their needs earlier on. School climate, Mr. Vallas talked 402 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget about school climate today and that if there is a short side in his view of the EMOs, it's around the management of schools. Well, if they can't manage schools and keep schools safe, then I don't know why they're still here. And so if you look at Vare Middle School, which comes under the management of Universal Companies, friends of mine, I would hope that they would think so, it's been on the persistently dangerous list for three or four years that they've been responsible. And if you talk to principals and talk to teachers, they're often confused about who their boss is, is it the School District or is it the EMO. And for me, it would be very easy to define who the boss is if the EMO wasn't there. Truancy courts are a year behind. They're a year behind. They do a good job, but, again, they're a year behind, which shows that we're still sending a lot of children to truancy courts, and that isn't the answer by itself, I don't believe. So if you look at the 17th police 403 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget district where my wife's company manages a family center at the Peirce Middle School, the truancy rate there is alarming, and they speak about it at every safety climate meeting that the South region has. Every month the principals are concerned about the numbers of students who are truant in that district. And I'll close with these two points: We're still going to advocate and still advocating for quality health services in all schools, that we believe that there should be a full-time nurse in every school every day, and that if the School District is paying for a nurse three days a week and an EMO gets anywhere maybe between $800 and $1,000 per child, then two days a week the EMO, in my view, has considerably put up enough dollars to bring in a healthcare professional to fill the void for two days a week. And a lot of our children, for whatever the reasons are, go to the school nurse for primary care services, even though the nurse isn't there for that, but they go to the nurse for belly aches and headaches and for injuries 404 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget that they sustain in the unmanageable schools, some of these unmanageable schools in the school yard where they're getting hurt, and there often is a not a nurse on duty and we're often concerned that children are taking medication unsupervised and that injuries are going untreated while the kids are in school. And the last point I want to raise, Councilwoman, is the need for a parent academy in every region.
One of the foundations -- I'm often confused about who it is -- just funded a parent academy in three regions where parents would work with parents to help parents either advocate for their children or help their children with homework, whatever it takes to have a child be successful in school. It now leaves six regions and soon to be seven with the addition of the Center City region that will not have a parent academy, and if the School District doesn't ask for dollars to support services to parents, additional services to parents like for a parent academy, then I don't have a problem saying that I believe that the City 405 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget when it looks at its budget and looks at what it's going to send the School District for dollars might want to increase what it provides the School District around social services, to increase healthcare services, to increase education and parents, to make it more possible that teachers and other people in the schools can actually carry out the responsibilities to serve children through the state mandated CSAP program, and you know for years I've always came here and objected to the School District getting more money and this time I don't think that they've been aggressive in asking for additional dollars. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson, Councilman Clarke has a question for you. Mr. Johnson, thank you. Councilman Clarke?
You're welcome. 406 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget
First I'd like to commend you for your diligence on the School District issues. I see you in the chambers, in the neighborhoods and hear you on the radio, and I want to commend you for your wonderful work that you do.
I did have a couple of questions as it related to your testimony. Actually, the earlier testimony centering around truancy. You indicated that you thought they were doing a good job, you said, but they were a year behind, and we had earlier questions for Mr. Vallas and his staff about truancy, because I know we talked -- some parts of the district that I represent, it appears on the street to be an extremely high level of truancy, and they didn't have the statistics that show geographically where there were improvements and where there were not improvements. 407 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget Can you kind of give me a sense of what your sentiment is on that?
Well, from my view, the truancy sweeps mainly take place, let's say, along the Broad Street line and certainly in Center City. So when you look at areas of Southwest Philadelphia that I'm familiar with than your district, but when you look at areas of Southwest Philadelphia and areas of South Philadelphia where we work every day, you see kids in the neighborhood not in school, and that's a concern, that they're really very visible in the neighborhoods. And so those sweeps -- and I'm not saying the sweeps are the answer by themselves. Those sweeps are not taking place to our satisfaction. There's a group of community-based organizations that I believe feel the same way. Those sweeps are not taking place to our satisfaction in the neighborhoods. As an example, we had Mr. Vallas and Ms. Averette, the Chief of Staff, out at Southwest Philadelphia, the far Southwest 408 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget where Pepper School is, and that question came up about truancy and kids vandalizing property, things like that. So in the neighborhoods, it could be a greater effort, I believe. But on the other side of that, kids are truant for reasons, and I think that if you looked at -- and I'd be happy to provide your office with these regulations and CSAP. I believe if the District and the PFT worked closely together to make sure that teachers, if you take the teachers point of view, to make sure that teachers have more time to do the paperwork that's involved in CSAP and look at the problems and the situations that kids have every day, that we could begin to address some issues of truancy that way. So they all can't be addressed through the courts. And fining parent's isn't going to help resolve their family matters. So I think that we, the community, the parents, the School District, Council, could do a far better job in serving kids. Now, the dollars aren't there. Most 409 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget of the dollars are going to the classroom. And I'm not suggesting the dollars shouldn't go into classrooms, but there are a number of kids who we advocate for who are doing basic and below work that have social problems that need to be addressed. And if the only measurement is going to be test scores, AYP test scores, and you can move eight, ten, 15, kids literally to the next level, the kids 11 who are maybe already advanced and you move 12 them to proficient, that's all you got to do 13 under No Child Left Behind. You look like 14 you're doing well, but then down the bottom 15 here, back in the neighborhood, you know, 16 standing on corners, you see these children. 17 So I think that's a problem. 18
Right. You 19 mentioned that some of these community-based 20 organizations that are contracted with the School District to provide, quote/unquote, lack of a better term, truant officers that are parents or community members. You indicated that they're not necessarily comfortable with the current process that 410 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget focuses on Broad Street and Center City. What levels of involvement do they have in terms of the policy decisions in terms where the sweeps are? I mean, are they at the level where they can say, Well, we think you need to focus your activities more in these neighborhood areas or these neighborhood commercial corridors as opposed to Broad Street and some of the high visibility locations, or are they just contracted with the School District to provide one particular service?
I don't know anything about their contracts. What I was referring to were the organizations like mine that don't have a contract with the District to provide -- to do truancy, and we've looked at truancy. And so I'm not talking about the contracted organizations. I don't know what their --
Some. But I don't know what they do day to day with the 411 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget District, so I won't even attempt to answer that question. But I know that on this end, on the advocacy end, we believe that more work needs to be done to work with children who are truant every day and are in neighborhoods. I mean, there are homes in the communities where we know kids are. The hoagie houses are truant homes, whatever you call them, I believe we need to be going to those houses and bringing those kids out and working with those kids and their families and warning the people, the adults who are responsible for those homes that allow kids to congregate in those homes, that if it continues, then there's a consequence for that, because that's a real problem in a lot of the neighborhoods, is that kids are allowed to hang out at certain homes.
What level is your organization involved with the School District as it relates to truancy? Any at all, or informally?
We monthly attend the safety and climate meetings, and I believe 412 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget there's one in every region, of the South region monthly. Our organization represents -- I'm blessed these days. I don't have a kid in school anymore, Councilwoman Blackwell. So we're representing community-based organizations and the interest of community-based organizations at the South region, but I believe every region has a safety and climate meeting once a month. And at those meetings, the Police district comes, community-based organizations, parents, home and school people, and those discussions are held monthly at those meetings. And we have a lot of input into what happens at the regional level through those meetings, and we've suggested to the people who run the meetings in the South region that we need to pay more attention to what goes on in the neighborhoods, as well as in that corridor that might represent the Broad Street line.
Okay. Also in your testimony you talked about the high dropout rate, particularly among ninth graders. The ultimate elimination of middle 413 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget schools have some sort of continuum as it relates to K to eight, then nine to 12. Do you think that in any way, shape or form will impact on the dropout rate in the, quote/unquote, the disruptive years as was indicated earlier in middle school? Do you think the elimination of middle schools will in any way, shape or form --
Well, I'm a proponent of junior high schools. And probably just because I became out of a junior high school system. So I think that kids -- but the District isn't moving that way. I think that kids -- but I think the state might be moving that way. But I think that kids who have an opportunity to stay in elementary school until sixth grade as opposed to moving in the old system that we have now, the middle school system, I think those kids fare better. I think that kids, if given an opportunity at ninth grade, especially kids that we deal with -- and we're talking to the District about this right now -- I think that kids if 414 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget they stayed in a seven-eight-nine system, they would have an opportunity to mature more and grow up a little bit more and then move into the high school at the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade level. So in my thinking, we're on a totally different track than the administration is at this point. They're moving through the K to eight system. I think if you don't have the kind of building, the kind of structure in the building to have second, third graders be able to see what seventh and eighth graders are doing, I don't know that -- I don't like that type of system. I wouldn't want my kids to be in that type of system, especially if the building isn't structured so that you could keep them separated. If you have a -- I went to a K through 12 system, actually, but the building was structured so that K to six was there, seven to nine was there, ten to 12 was there, and if you ventured out of that area where you're supposed to be, you had real problems. So I'm still a proponent of the seven to nine 415 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget system. I think that we need to be reaching kids -- and we have a program at Peirce, we call it Move Up Move Forward, where we work with the administration at Peirce School at 24th and Christian, South Philadelphia, where we work with that school, and primarily our work is with students who are overage. I don't want to say they're achievers. I don't think they've been challenged enough to have that tag on them, that they're underachievers. Kids are overage in schools for all kind of reasons. Maybe they didn't start until they were eight years old, maybe they were sick. It doesn't mean that they don't have the ability. And so we've been able to work with kids who might be a year behind and they're in sixth grade or in seventh grade. I think if we start waiting for kids to reach a number where they're 16 in the ninth grade or whatever that is, I think we wait too long. So I think that we need to be working with those kids and their families a lot sooner 416 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget than the District is moving on it now. But no 3 one moved on it before, so I can't be too critical of what they're attempting to do at this point.
Thank you very much. Mr. William Mackey from City Wide we note is not here. Lewis Harris, Healthnastics is not here. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: No. He's here.
Oh, Lew, come on up, Mr. Harris. And is Brenda Digiovannangelo here? I didn't do badly with the name. Okay. Mr. Harris, welcome. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
My name is Lewis Harris, Jr., and I just want to say thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak, because 417 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget I wasn't planning to. I just listened to the testimony earlier and I did have some concerns about the NTA. I think that's a critical piece that they need to stick with, and I found -- I feel that when I was listening to their testimony, they made their testimony that indicated that the schools would have a choice to have two classroom assistants instead of an NTA and they will save money, and that kind of bothered me, because I feel that the NTAs do a lot more than sit in a classroom setting throughout the day, as well as the fact that -- they indicated that the classroom assistant will be able to go to the cafeteria and do all of the things that an NTA would do, but I feel that an NTA does far more than most people really know. And I just had -- my wife happened to be an NTA, and she's been one for about 13 years, and every day I listen to all of the stories, that she is so well versed on the kids' names. I mean, she can indicate if a kid come in and their face is not right. She can tell that something is wrong with that 418 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget kid and she can go over and talk to them because she knows those children. The problem I have with a classroom assistant based on what they're saying is that they would be actually mandated into a classroom setting, and if they are mandated in a classroom setting, that's a totally different operation than the current NTAs, because most NTAs float. They go from floor to floor. They go from basement, they go to cafeterias, they go through bathrooms, they go through school yards. I mean, they do a variety of things. They actually do inventory. They load stock rooms. They make sure that the teachers get their supplies. It's a lot to do with NTAs. And what I was concerned about is that they made it sound like it was such a simple thing by having a classroom assistant do the work of an NTA, and I think that's a mistake. The other problem I had with the NTA piece is that I didn't see nothing or heard anything mentioned about a career path for them. In other words, if they're going to 419 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget phase out an NTA who has been around for 13, 14, years, why haven't they begin to offer 4 them career paths towards something else 5 that's relative to that field or give them the 6 opportunity to have some participation in the 7 training of the classroom aides, being that 8 they will be new, you know, as far as working 9 with kids. 10 And, also, I'd like to close with 11 saying that I'm concerned about the fact that 12 they are giving the illusion that that 13 position is going to stay viable, when I keep 14 hearing statements like they getting ready to 15 eliminate them, and I think it's only fair that they can begin to start telling the NTAs and them in advance to begin to position themselves within the school system with maybe more education or with some other alternative so that they stay within the school system until their retirement. So basically that's what I wanted to say, and I really wasn't prepared to speak and I apologize for not having nothing in writing, but it just hit me as I heard their 420 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget conversation this morning. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Harris. Any questions? (No response.)
Thank you very much. Ms. Brenda Digiovannangelo and with her, Anur Dalwaite. Not too bad or anyhow. Is there anybody else here to testify after these individuals? Lenore Shelly, you're here. Is there anybody else? (No response.)
Then Lenore Shelly will be our last. Welcome. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. I'm a little bit nervous. I am here on behalf of Comprehensive Early Learning Centers. I've been with this program for and a half years. When I 25 started out back in 1979, we were 185 strong. 421 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget We're now 45. Every year, no matter what we try to teach, whatever came along, we always taught the children. Always. They were always our first concern. Things have changed through the years. We have learned ten times as much when we first started out, but even from the beginning, I always did lesson plans, always had lessons. Now we have core standards that we have to do. Myself and six other teachers were chosen to advocate the DLM program, which was actually advocated to the Focus on Fours that Mr. Paul Vallas introduced to us two years ago. He had closed down Comprehensive classrooms, left a lot of centers with one classroom and after school age children. That program, Focus on Four, failed. There's only about five of them left. Now he wants to take away all of the program. When we introduced -- the parents were hearing rumors and rumors when we first saw the article in the paper yesterday, the first thing our parents asked, What are we 422 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget going to do with our children? We have to work. The difference between Comprehensive Early Learning Centers and Head Start, our parents are all working, they are in school training to be able to go out into the work field. Head Start, you do not have to work. I have children in my class and 10 we have 19 school-agers. Now, the parents' 11 concern is they want to know what day cares 12 are available, not at the times they've been 13 told. It's not suffice to them. 14 My program, my teaching, my children 15 always came first. My greatest story is what 16 I teach my children, the theme of whatever 17 month it is, whatever we're learning about, 18 for them to come back and repeat everything to 19 me. 20 I've gone to workshops, literacy 21 workshops, to teach our young, our three to 22 five-year-olds the beginning of reading. You 23 can walk in any one of my colleagues' classrooms. We've all been going to the same workshops. We do a message board every 423 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget morning. The message board consists of calling the child up, seeing if he recognizes a letter. We have workshops to learn how to handle special needs children. We have a lot of special needs children in our class. I do many, many things with my class. We just got done doing a life cycle of a butterfly. Now we're doing a life cycle of little chicks, watching them beginning to hatch. If you could see the joys on the children's faces. This is our future. If we're not here to teach them and we're nurturing -- I'm not baby-sitting. I have never baby-sat my children. They learn. Our children in the core, on the core testing, we score higher than Head Start, any other program that we score higher than. My class scores are very high. It's just -- it makes no sense you want to close down a program that is really doing children good. Parents come in. I get children 6:30 in the morning, and sometimes the children wake up on a bad side, they're upset, 424 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget and when the parents leave them with myself and my co-worker, they're happy. That's 6:30 in the morning. And we're there until 5 o'clock at night. 6 If this is our future, what is this telling you we want to take away everything from our children. It's just not fair. And for me, it's the children. I have been asked what is my main concern. The children. Where is it going to leave the children? If we're not there for them, who is going to be there? There is really nothing out there. I have private day cares of parents and pulling them out left and right because they have no structure. They have nothing. And Mr. Vallas is saying there's going to be plenty out there. No, there's not.
Not in the kind of care that we give. He has never come up to my classroom or any others. Whatever site he went to, we know nothing of. But I want him to come to my classroom and see what we do, how my children learn and what they know. Baby-sitting? No. If some of us 425 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget are not certified but we have degrees, okay, I don't have my certificate, but I do have my degree and I have and a half years behind 5 me of nurturing and loving and be able to 6 teach these children. And, Mr. Vallas, I'm 7 telling you right now, you're taking this 8 away. You're taking away what I love to do, 9 what I've done for 26 years. That's what 10 you're going to do. 11 Thank you. 12
Anur Dalwaite. 19 I'm a center leader at Rhawnhurst Early 20 Learning Center. And as one of our 21 teachers -- she's not in my school, but this 22 is the teachers I see every day. 23 As I sit in here, I lost all my 24 thought after I seen a young teacher in tears. 25 I am older. I'm going to retire maybe this 426 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget year or next year, but when I look at the young generation that comes to School District, wants to thrive, wants to teach, wants to do something, they should not be sitting in here and crying. They should not be worrying about that they have no future in school business. They should be proud of themselves. I don't think they will have enough time to pay their fee bills, I guess. They will be fired probably in the next month. So this is really sad. I try to write something to talk about it today, but I have so much in my mind. As I look at it, I said, Okay, let's start with our President's slogan, No Child Left Behind. I think we are leaving lots and lots of children behind and we are leaving staff behind. We are leaving parents behind. This is a business that has a chain reaction. It is not just we're going to get rid of 644 students, could be infant or after-school program. They could be two months or they could be 11 years old. It 427 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget doesn't mean how old they are. What it means is, parents needs us. Children needs us. Everybody needs the services. I don't know where these people are going to go, where this parents going to go. I have been speaking with my parents yesterday and today. They are very upset. "I must quit my job. " Number one, last year when we opened this Focus on Four, it does not work for the people who we deal with. Our parents is not executive. Even they don't come home 3 o'clock. Mr. Paul wants to run the school hours 8:00 to 3:00. Which parents comes home 2:30 or goes to work 9 o'clock? Some of my parents goes to work 6:30 until 6 o'clock, and I still don't have enough time to serve for their needs. And they make maybe $250 a week. And you're asking me, these people going to take the child from my center or any other centers we have and just put them in some lousy neighbor's house so it can get hurt, killed, whatever, God knows what. So these are issues that it is not 428 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget just we're going to lose services, our staff going to be jobless, it is the social issues. My after-school program, my parents like dying, "Please make sure, make sure they have room for me," because they don't want their children to go home by themselves after 3 o'clock. They want them to stay in my school where they are safe. Sure, they are learning. We are educating. We are not just baby-sitting, which seemed to me Mr. Vallas even himself looked upon us we're a bunch of illiterates, we're just baby-sitting. No, we are not. Whether some of my staff are older, they do not have the Bachelor's degree, but they have the years of knowledge, and they raise 18 their own children and they are pretty good 19 parents. 20 And I feel so sad to see these learning centers will be closing. We're talking about 35 centers -- 45 centers. He's going to leave us with six centers. Where are we going to 300 staff, from custodian to center leader, of course. I don't know where 429 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget we're going. I'm not worry about me because I already put my retirement. I will leave. I am here for the people who I am leaving behind, because I do care what I do. years ago I used to be a clinical 7 director and I left twice as much income to 8 join the School District just to help the 9 young children, because in this society, 10 children are dying. We lost our kids. And I 11 do not believe that we shall be shaping the 12 children when they are seven, eight, nine, ten years old. They shall be shaped way before the five, and that's our job. And we do very well job. And I wish Mr.
Vallas was in here to see that crying teacher and to hear what we are really seeing. Look at our eyes, what we are saying it, because we are not joking in here. This is a serious matter for the City and this is a serious issue that has to be dealt. I cannot just retire and say, Oh, well, I got what I want, it's your problem and deal it. No. I still live in the City and I'm proud to be a Philadelphian, and I love my 430 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget children and I will not stay back and just close my eyes. I will fight for this cause. And, Mr. Vallas, hear me out, please. Sit down and think. This is the richest country. We always cry we're broke from here to Washington. Well, when the things arise, we found money, don't we? So find your money, through your elected officials, through whoever. You cannot keep cutting the Comprehensive Learnings that make money. You cannot get rid of the NTs or whoever works for the children to make money. Please. Understand the reality and the reality of what we do all day in here. So respect us so we can all respect each other. Thank you very much. )
Hi. Good afternoon my name is Lenore Shelly. I have two children that attend the Comprehensive Program on Belmont. It's Joseph Leidy School. The Comprehensive program is the best in 431 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget Philadelphia. I have let my children attend private day cares, were the worst. The Comprehensive program is structured and also they do background checks. They just don't let anybody work for them. And, also, I would like to say that my son who just turned five years old is reading on a kindergarten level, which is better than any school that he's ever been to private, and I would like to urge Paul Vallas not to end the program funding but to continue the Comprehensive program. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. (Applause.)
Do we have anyone else that would like to testify? You do want to testify?
Thank you, Madam Chair, Mrs. President and Mr. Rizzo, my friend. I just want to make some remarks.
Excuse 432 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget me one minute. We need you to introduce yourself. We call him The General, but, John, introduce your.
John Ross. I live in West Philadelphia. I'm 71 years old. Everybody says, You don't look 71. How are you supposed to look at 71?
I just want to testify, Madam President and Ms. Chairman, that in my experience in school, I hookied school when I was a young fellow because I didn't have the right clothes to wear at the time, in 1949, 1948. However, I learned the value of school in the Air Force. I also learned the value of being a good boy in the Air Force. I received at that time a top secret clearance, which was very difficult to get. However, I found out for the FBI agents who checked my background, they also check with the teachers for their remarks in their little books to see how you behaved in class. So I want a program started in the public school system -- and I've stopped 433 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget children from fighting, because I tell them, number one, your background is very important. You live in your background now. This is important. If you go to get a steady state job, federal job, city job, and if you look in the paper, a lot of private jobs are requiring background investigations. Background investigations mean if you're in kindergarten, first grade, fifth grade, they're going to check your background. I think more emphasis should be put into the kids' curriculum as to what your background means, the consequences of being bad. These kids don't realize how important it is to get a good education in addition to being a good person. I was so glad I was a good person to get that background investigation clearance. You don't know what it means. Then, too, as a police officer, HIU, Headquarters Investigation Unit, Mr. Zanoe (ph) know what I'm talking about, they check your background. If you're a smart aleck in class or act up in class, those teachers' notes are not thrown away. 434 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget So, Mr. Vallas, Mr. Green, those people in charge, along with the school, should make the kids aware of why they're there, what they're there for and what the consequences are when they get into trouble. I'm quite sure a lot of them don't know. And one thing, Madam Chairman, the ones I've talked to did not know that that can depend on your income, your promotion, where you're hired. The state department doesn't want you. A lot of departments will not accept you with a bad reputation. Now, this gentleman over here that spoke about the parents/teachers thing should emphasize that character is very important in the school system, and I see nowhere where it's taught. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Ms. Chairman.
Thanks, Mr. Ross, very much for all your leadership over the years. Many of you who 435 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget remember Senator Freeman Hankins and Representative James Barber, he was their right hand. So we've known each other a long, long time, and he's loved our city and its children a long, long time. Thank you, General.
I don't want to go back to the President's dad in South Philadelphia.
Thank you. Nice seeing you. Is there anyone else to testify? (No response.)
Seeing no one, the Committee will stand in recess until 5:30 this evening. Thank you. 436 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget (Recess from 3:45 to 5:40 p.m.)
Good evening, everyone. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole. I would ask Mr. McPherson to please call our first witness. MR. McPHERSON: The first witness is Johanna Lanum.
Pull the microphone closer to you, and I think there's the button there; is there not? MR. McPHERSON: No. 14
There's not. Okay. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon, President. Good afternoon, Council members. My name is Johanna Lanum, and I am here on behalf of my Comprehensive Learning Center, which is located at 6100 of Cobbs Creek Parkway. I am a working parent with three children and I am truly concerned in reference 437 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget to the closing of the Comprehensive Learning Center. The accusations that Mr. Paul Vallas had put across in the article in reference to the Comprehensive Learning Center stating that the Comprehensive Learning Center had no core or no standards was false. I can speak as a parent that the Comprehensive Learning Center not only has a core curriculum, it also has standards. Taking away this program would take away a big part of my working. The before and after care is a big help to myself and my husband, picking my children up from school and taking them to school. I'm a parent that has to be at work at 5 o'clock in the morning. And I'm not talking about leaving the house at 5 o'clock in the morning. I mean I have to be present at the Internal Revenue at 5:00 a.m. I just ask that you guys review every single document that you have in reference to this program and please look really hard into helping this program continue to stay. Thank you. 438 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget
What time does your child go to the Comprehensive Learning?
Okay. I don't know whether someone from the School District would want to address this. No? Okay.
Would you just come to the witness table and say that? Please identify yourself for the record.
Hi. Good evening. Claudia Averette, Chief of Staff. I just responded that Mr. Vallas is still working with the union on this issue so there's no response at this time. 439 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget
Would she be able to answer a question in reference to where Mr. Vallas received the information in regards to the Comprehensive Learning Center saying that it had no standards and it had no core curriculum?
I don't know that she would be in a position to respond to that.
Okay? I think that's something that Mr. Vallas would have to address.
You're welcome. Our next witness? MR. McPHERSON: Amy Miller.
I'm Amy Miller and I am a first-year literacy intern at Arthur Elementary School, and I'm just asking that 440 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget the literacy intern program be saved, because I know that it's up for being cut next year. And I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania last year, and I know that I wouldn't have considered staying in Philadelphia if not for the literacy intern program. And then now I plan on continuing to complete my certification and become a stand-alone teacher next year and that I really don't think I would have gone into teaching if not for the literacy intern program. That has been a great bridge into teaching. So it's not head first as a stand-alone, but I've been able to work for a year with a mentor teacher. I have spoken with a lot of other literacy interns also who feel that they wouldn't have gone into teaching if not for the literacy intern program. And so I really feel like it should be saved for next year.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments from members of the Committee? 441 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget (No response.)
Thank you so much for coming in to testify. MR. McPHERSON: The next witness is Sherria Saunders.
Good evening. How are you doing? My name is Sherria Saunders and I'm here on behalf of the Cleveland Early Learning Center.
My name is Sherria Saunders and I'm here on behalf of Cleveland Early Learning Center, and it's located at 19th and Erie Avenue. I have two children. We need our Comprehensive Early Learning Center morning and after-school care. It is very valuable to us parents who work and who do not have anyone to help us to take our children to school or pick them up. I have to be at work at 7:30 every 442 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget morning. I drop both of my children off. I just had a three-year-old and a five-year-old. He's been there for two years and he has learned a lot. And for him to want to close the centers down is not right and it's not fair to us parents who are working to take care of our children. We need this service. Not just for them, but for us, to help us to stay and work to be able to take care of our children. So the services is needed for the inner city schools, so please don't take it away.
I just want everyone to know that we do have representatives from the School District here that are hearing your plea, and though Mr. Vallas himself is not here, they will certainly report back to Mr. Vallas your concerns.
Thank you very much. MR. McPHERSON: The next 443 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget witness is Debra Nelson.
Good evening, Ms. President. My name is Debra Nelson. This is my daughter, Crystal, and my granddaughter, Lisa. Lisa attends the Germantown Learning Center located in Germantown on Haines Street, and my concern is that my daughter is in college and if she doesn't have day care for Lisa, then she won't be able to go. I have to pay for it and it's very affordable right now for me to be able to pay for the day care, as well as pay for my daughter to go to college. She's in her first year, so she still has three more years to go, and if they take away the day care, it's going to cause a lot of problems for us. Not just locating another one, but being able to afford another one.
And what time do you take your granddaughter to day care?
She usually gets there between 7:30 and 8 o'clock in the 444 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget morning, and she's usually picked up between 5:30 and 6:00.
Okay. Are there any comments from members of the Committee or questions? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
I really don't have -- I just want to thank parents for coming in. Day care is an issue that certainly I'm familiar with, having been a mother and knowing how important it is in our lives where we're trying to work or go to school. Mr. Vallas did address the issues yesterday, and I think some of us Council members still have questions. I've always seen the Comprehensive Day Care Learning Centers as being a valuable resource to people. Most recently my niece went to the same one. You're talking about the one in Germantown High School?
My niece 445 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget just had a daughter to go through there. In fact, she was actually trying to get her youngest son in that same Comprehensive Learning Center. So I just want to thank you for coming in. There were questions yesterday as to what options would be available to parents, particularly those the children under three, because it sounds like there will be some alternative that the School District will run for those three and above. So I guess we have to continue to get information, too, from the School District.
And I also wanted to add that my granddaughter is reciting some pretty remarkable things that she has learned in this center. I don't know if she'll do it now, but she is learning there, and I think that it's great that at the age of 3 years old she's able to repeat some of these really positive things that they are putting into her. So I think it's a good program.
I would offer the suggestion that many of the 446 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget concerned parents that are coming before us certainly go to the School Reform Commission when they have their meeting. Does anybody know when the meeting will be held?
And will this issue be one to be considered? Should parents be going before the Commission tomorrow?
It's Tim Spreitzer (ph), Deputy Chief of Staff for the School District of Philadelphia. The School Reform Commission is considering the School District's budget in the May meeting. So parents and other community members are certainly welcome to attend. Those are the second and third Wednesdays of the month. So I don't know the date off the top of my head, but it's the second and third Wednesday of the month in May, and those meetings are o'clock at the School District headquarters at 2120 Winter 447 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget Street.
I have a question of the School District. When are they proposed to eliminate the Comprehensive Learning Centers? When would they close?
Well, we can get -- I can get you that information after this session. I don't have it off the top of my head. I don't want to give an incorrect answer.
Because I think I'd like people to know that -- I don't know about you, President Verna, but I actually just found out about this yesterday.
The 448 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget Chair recognizes Councilman Ramos.
Thank you, Madam President. If my memory doesn't fail me, I believe that when Mr. Vallas brought this up, he said that the Early Comprehensive Learning Centers were going to be changed into something else.
Right. Or at least I got the impression that this program was just going to change name and maybe some changes in it, but it was not going to be eliminated as such.
I think he also indicated that they would be able to service more children.
Well, they did say that service more, with my memory, three to four-year-olds and above, pre-kindergarten, but I think the concern was for children -- how old is your daughter?
My granddaughter. 449 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget She's three years old.
She's three? I think the concern was for the children below three, because I think the centers serve from zero to four or five years old. I think it was the children under three years of age.
Again, I don't want to give out inaccurate information. I know in the briefing books that Council members received, the issued papers, there's a section and it does detail the movement to these centers. So if you have that -- actually, I have mine with me. I just don't want to give out inaccurate information.
Again, I personally would encourage the concerned parents to go before the School Reform Commission, and as you heard, they meet on the second and third Thursday in May at o'clock. 450 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget
It's the second and third Wednesday. So it's May 11th and May 18th, are the two meetings. And just the public needs to register the day before at 4:30 and they can do so by just calling 215-299-7850. I'll give you that.
215-299-7850. And you have to register the day before by 4:30 p.m.
No. 17 Mr. Spreitzer, I think Councilman Ramos is asking you a question. Is there a meeting tomorrow?
There is a meeting tomorrow, but speakers need to register the day before by 4:30 p.m. So there's a School Reform Commission meeting 451 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget tomorrow, but as I was mentioning earlier, the budget is being considered at the May SRC meeting. The School Reform Commission is adopting -- has plans to adopt the School District's budget for '06 at the May meeting. So if parents have concerns, they can do so either at the May 11th or May 18th meeting.
But if they wanted to attend the meeting tomorrow, they certainly could?
Certainly they can attend, yes, but to come and speak, they have to register the day before at 4:30. The School Reform Commission requires you to register the day before at 4:30. So people would have had to register today by 4:30.
Council President, in this booklet that was passed out yesterday, it says, "Comprehensive Early Learning Centers, one year phaseout," and then it says "Bright Futures, 67 new classrooms modeling Head Start will replace." So, Councilman Ramos, certainly you're correct that it would serve more 452 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget children, at least in that particular age category. I think the three's, the four's and the five's -- well, by five, they may be in kindergarten. And I believe the issue yesterday was that the children under three would be those that would be having to seek -- and someone did question Mr. Vallas about the availability of day care for those children that would not be able to go to Bright Futures, and he did give an answer. I just can't remember exactly what it was. Okay? But it says here it's a one-year phaseout.
Thank you. Councilwoman Tasco, I believe your light is on.
Right. Good afternoon. I just wanted to say that I think the concern is for the children/infants to three, what's going to happen to those children. And Mr. Vallas did say that there were other Comprehensive day care programs in the City. They're run in private homes. But what was happening in the 453 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget private homes, they are limited to six children, and if they go beyond that, we have limited them in City Council, they have to go get a variance, and in most instances, the City and most of us oppose having those day cares expanded to more than six because of just the nature of the business. So it is -- and also we raised the issue of the quality of service, and the School District certainly provides quality service and education to the young people. We're not sure that we get the same quality of service in the home day care. Not that they're not protected or well fed, but what is the educational opportunities for these children. And so that is a concern we have to phase out of the program, what happens from birth to three or four.
Thank you. 454 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget Thank you both for very much. Do we have anyone else to testify? Hello. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Latifa, please pull the microphone closer to you.
Sure. My name is Latifa Simmons. I'm a parent of my daughter, Martina, which she's a five-year-old that goes to Whittier Comprehensive Day Care at 27th and Clearfield. What I wanted to say was, she goes there for before and after school basically. So I want to know what happened to those five-year-olds and six-year-olds that need before- and after-school care if they close the day cares? I work until 5:00 in the evening. I won't get to her until 5:45, and then I have to be at work by 8:30 in the morning. So that basically was the leeway for me to get to work on time and still have her in school and still pick her up and still be 455 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget able to stay at work all day. So I'm wondering, why are they closing them if -- I'm a single parent. I don't have anybody else to pick her up or anything. So to me, closing them would be a big inconvenience for a lot of single parents, who really have nobody else to pick up their child, who has to work an eight-hour day. That's all I wanted to say.
What are you being told by the school or the center?
What I've been told is, they're just looking to close certain ones of them. Certain ones are going to stay open. I think about six of them. But after that, the rest of them are going to be closed.
Did they say whether yours is going to be closed?
Well, to my knowledge, the teachers at the Comprehensive Day Care are telling us that they're closing. By June 30th, they're supposed to be closing.
Well, 456 4/19/05 - Bills 050004, 050005, 050006 - Budget again, I would encourage you to go before the School Reform Commission and make your plea there. It is our understanding that they do meet on the second and third Wednesday in May. That would be May the 11th and May the 18th at 1 o'clock. You would call them the day before to let them know that you do want to testify. I think this is an issue that certainly should be brought before them and they should hear what the concerns of the parents are.