In addition to the more traditional home and school associations, which are in most schools. You know, in some schools, they're much more involved and active than in others, but in addition to the traditional home and school associations, every school is charged to have a school council, which is another way of having the parents involved in the governance 120 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET structure. Many of the grants that we apply for have parental components where parents are supposed to be receiving instruction to make them better parents in terms of being able to support the child's instructional program. Many of our reading grants that we received have a component for parental engagement in helping children become better readers. We find that our C tech labs, which are our technology labs, computer technology labs, in each cluster have also developed another way for parents to get involved. Many -- as we all know, many students are much more technologically astute than their parents, so it's a way for parents to come into schools and to become much more computer literate. So we're looking for ways to involve parents, not only in the traditional routes, where we think of parents helping to sell cookies and bake sales and so forth, but also ways for parents to be much more involved in terms of real decision-making through governance and also in terms of the instructional upgrades that all 121 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET parents need to stay contemporary in terms of helping their children.
Who the individual school is responsible for parent engagement? I mean, it's one thing for the Board level to talk about the need to do that, but at the end of the day, particularly as we talk about schools making decisions for that particular school, who in that school is it? Is it the principal or is there a staff member assigned?
Yeah, most principals have assigned a staff member to really take the lead in terms of parental involvement and parental outreach. So in most schools, there is a staff member -- it may be an assistant principal, it may be the home and school president, but in most schools, there is one person whose primary responsibility is parental and community outreach.
And does that person have a threshold that they should meet? Is there an analysis done? After six months, if the home and school association still has those same three people coming to the meeting, do we look at that person and say, You're not getting the job 122 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET done? 'Cause, I mean, to be frank, I mean, in a lot of our schools, we have, you know, really poor participation and you can't be soley dependent.
'Cause if that person's not a great person, you know, you don't have much to work with.
So, I mean, is there some threshold that that person should meet, or do we just kind of like let it go along?
Right. Currently, parental involvement is not a part of a school's performance index, which is pretty much the measure that's used to define a school in terms of how it's improving, but in terms of the principal's performance process, there is a category that talks about public engagement, and parents are viewed as part of the public and community outreach. So to that extent, principals are currently pressured to increase their level of parental involvement, although it does not, at this current time, show up as the measure on the performance index. 123 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET
Mm-hmm. One last question with respects to charter schools. Do you get a sense that the parental involvement is at a higher level at charter schools versus the non-charter schools?
In some cases, more so than others. I know in some charter schools, it is a part of the charter that parents be involved and to the extent that, you know, lack of parent participation means that a charter school may opt to say, Well, your child cannot attend here anymore, we cannot do that in the public-school sector; we take children whether or not their parents opt to be involved.
Well, the other thing, Councilman, is that -- I mean, in a sense, you know, the -- you know, I think some -- most of us have experience just from visiting charter schools, you know, and knowing people in charter schools of what the parent experience is. I think it varies a lot. It depends on the philosophy of the school that it's -- you know, I could propose a charter school that says, you know, all decisions will be made entirely democratically by 124 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET parents, or I could propose a charter school that says parents will have no say and everything is completely in the purview of educators, and that might be, you know, acceptable, and when parents choose that charter school, they will be taking that mode of operating. One of the things about the relationship is that, you know, we try to do with them -- what we're going to try to continue to do them as we have more experience with them is to try to learn from 'em, you know, where you have extraordinary levels of participation by parents, you know, because that's a value we have, we can learn from that, but we don't try -- we don't necessarily measure them -- we don't measure them by parental participation. It's up to their own boards of -- you know, their own school boards, their own board of trustees for each charter school to set the goals of parental participation for their own school.
But I think I heard in this last question, I think I heard that you can mandate some level of participation as a requirement of the charter school. Did I hear you 125 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET say that, Doctor?
Dorothy Sumners Rush. The board of trustees that operates that particular charter school can mandate that if the parents don't participate in a certain amount of percentage of time or energy or planning or preparation, they can then look at not having that child among their students, but the School District, whether the parent comes or doesn't come, we do not have the authority to exclude a student or keep a student from participating. That is the difference. They have a separate board which can determine that. We cannot. We must accept all children, whether the parent comes or doesn't come.
But as a part of the issuance of the charter school, we cannot -- the School District cannot require that?
Yes, that's a different question. We do look at that particular part of the community support and the parental support and what they say to us. What they say to us usually 126 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET satisfies us after they understand what it is that we're seeking we. Do look at that very seriously as a reason to either accept or reject the charter, as to whether they do have parental involvement.
Your time is up. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Goldsmith, in an effort -- in your effort to control costs at the School District, I'd like to talk to you about something that you said today. When were the -- when were the additional 185 school police officers added to the District?
I think they've been added over the past several years. The force has grown. I'm not sure I can give you a -- I can certainly provide for you a year-by-year breakdown. 127 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET
It went from 342 to 527. I have no problem with that, I have no 4 problem with that, but I believe that that was almost -- I don't believe that that took too long a period of time for that to occur. And I have no problem with enhanced security, but it's interesting, we add 185 officers to the School District, and today, you state in your presentation that you think the Police Department can do a better job at doing this. Well, I believe in the last few months, officers have been added, and we're going to probably have to maintain those officers that have been newly hired for a long period of time until attrition clicks in or whatever, and many of these officers would have to go back to the Police Academy because they're not sworn officers, so there would be a lot of training. My point here today is that year after year after year, we sit here, we talk about ideas. You leave here -- not you, but the School District leaves here saying great idea, and we never hear anything about it. Today you say that the Police Department -- the Police Commissioner can do a 128 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET better job. Why did we hire 185 more police officers, why do we have a force of 527 if the Philadelphia Police Department can do a better job?
Well, I think there's a couple answers. I want to make sure that I say that I think it's an issue that we should look at. I'm not subscribing that we do it without, you know, the appropriate analysis. I was recently in New York visiting with School District officials there and discussed the process that they went through. It's a laborious process, it's not something that happens overnight, but I do think that it's something as we're looking at how do we leverage our resources and expertise, it's something that we should be looking at, and we should be looking at it seriously, but we have needs now that we have to take care of and we can't wait till for idea to happen. And the other thing is, in New York, and I would presume the same thing would happen here, it would be the school police officers that would be managed by the police district. It's not 129 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET converting those officers into regular policemen.
If I check the record of previous budget processes, we identified the fact that your School District police, and I'm not suggesting that we put armed police officers in our schools, but we have uniformed police that patrol in nights, find an open school, and the first thing that those police officers have to do, they have to call the Philadelphia Police Department to come to give them support, and it is something that could happen quickly. If you -- if the Police Department assumed certainly responsibilities, and we have classes going in and out of the Police Academy all the time, that a segment of that department could be designated as having police officers trained at the Police Academy. We talk year after year. And just out of curiosity, I checked the record in the area of school transportation. Tell me, we're going to spend over $45 million, 45 million on transportation. Year after year after year -- and no fault of yours -- the School District has been asked to talk to SEPTA about a relationship to try to save the School District 130 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET money. We've asked you to work with the Archdiocese about certain economy of scale. And I ask people, Has anything ever been done about those things? No. You walk out of here, happy as can be to get your taxing authority, and nobody follows up or does anything that suggests to me, or that I see, about trying to save the taxpayers of this city money. I hope under your and this new leadership that some of the things we talk about here you really do. Because, again, I don't see a whole lot of that going on. In the area of energy conservation, I ride by schools that every light in the place is on 24/7. Would you do that at home? I don't think so. I know I wouldn't. So, again, I'm frustrated when we talk about monies and these millions of dollars add up to, you know, to big money, that some of these small items be addressed very, very carefully. And I know -- and I've had private conversations with you -- that you are interested in some of these things. But, again, you mentioned it here today, that basically I can assure you that 131 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET Commissioner Timoney knows a lot more about security deployment than I do, so that suggests that you should be out of this business. Thank you.
Thank you. I don't know if Councilwoman Tasco is in the room. Her light is on. If she is not here, the Chair will recognize Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I would like to say before I ask a few questions, I have many, but I will only ask a few that I think in all of the years I've been here, this is the best presentation that we have ever had from the Board and the first time that I feel that we're in good hands. So let me say thank you to all of you.
Maybe it's because we have extra women this time. (Laughter.) 132 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET
Thank you. I was glad to read in your report that you are adhering to Judge Smith's recommendations, and we're glad to hear that. With regard to West and Southwest Philadelphia, do you think that we can get a truancy center there for West and Southwest Philadelphia? I know right now, we have one at Palumbo School. Do you think we can get a truancy center for West and Southwest? The President and I would be glad to share.
We will certainly look into it. It's actually one of the things that I inserted in the budget at this point in time because I meet with the police commanders, six police commanders, on a regular basis as well as our own safety folks. And one of the things that I heard in the course of those meetings is the value of the truancy center, so I exercised my executive prerogative and sort of inserted that in the budget. And -- but I -- we haven't determined 133 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET where that would go, but obviously we will listen very carefully to you.
Thank you very much. Also, rumor has it that clusters, some will be cut back. Is that true? And how will that impact on your overall educational or academic plan?
Well, I think, as I alluded to in my remarks, is that we have to look at the organizational structure, and that's something that we're doing and that we're going to continue to do. I really, truly believe that the focus has to be on the classroom, i.e., the schools. And I know there's a lot of talk and a lot of rumor about clusters, and I really prefer to focus on what's going on in the schoolhouse and how do we support that. I think one of the things that I think we have to be mindful of is that: in 1969, there were 8 districts; in 1977, there were 7 districts; in 1990, there were 6 districts; in '95, there were 4 districts plus the 6 new clusters; and in 134 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET 1996, we went to 22 clusters; and actually, at the turn of the century, not this most recent century, but the century before that, there were 15 districts. So I guess I'm saying there's a time for all regions, and we have to look and see, you know, what makes sense. My point isn't necessarily the number; it's how do we take people and put them in the classroom where they are desperately needed, and we're going to do that analysis. I want to do it with Dr. Farmbry because these are fundamentally academic issues, but do it in a thoughtful manner, because the last thing we need to do is turn the system topsy-turvy. But clearly, we've got needs in the schools and in the classroom, and to the extent that that's where people should be, that's where we have to put 'em.
Let me say thank you. We've asked the same questions over the years about the whole organizational structure, even when clusters first started, so we're glad to hear your response. And one more issue on crime before we 135 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET ask our next question, and that is, we have been involved with Tigerman, and we know that he works -- in fact Christine James-Brown is aware of the work does in terms of crime with the School District, and we certainly recommend his program. We had -- many people know I'm very close too Lee School, and we had an incident there. I taught there, it's two blocks from my house, and I'm just -- Lee School is special to me, I just have a relationship there. And certainly, we think that he does a good job and would recommend him to the Board. My next question is about summer school, and I'm encouraged to hear that with 75 percent of the students failing and -- will we be able to -- and I'm really, really excited to hear that we want to use summer school more. Will we be able to offer students in various subjects what they need to bring them forward for the next school year?
Our plan currently is to offer summer school at the same level that we did last year, and in that summer school, the emphasis really was on remediation and equipping students 136 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET with the skills to pass the test to enable them to get to next grade. There's always been a real focus on 9th-grade students for summer school on our 3rd- and 4th-graders really making sure that the grade of and the grade prior to our testing years, the students get an extra dose of the instruction that they need to be successful. We're always interested in the extent to which our summer programs can be used to equip high school students with the credits that they need for graduating, particularly since the Board just passed its commitment to really maintain our 23.5 expectation for students graduating next year. So we will be looking at how students can use the summer months to make sure they're on track for acquiring the credits necessary for graduation as well.
That's great. And I think it's really good what happens to get 9th-graders ready for high school. I think that's made a big, big difference. I know it has in my area for University City High School, and certainly we support using summer school that way 137 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET as well. Let me make one comment about charter schools. I think that -- my opinion is that charter schools really started and became popular out of the frustration with some neighborhoods schools. We support them. We have found them exciting places for learning, we've supported them from the beginning. As you know, we've done a lot in terms of newsletters and the fact that public libraries asked for ours when there was nothing else. And we support them and think that they are great alternatives. We support World Communications Charter and other charter schools, Dr. Jean Brown's charter schools and many that do a great job. Not all are great, and we're finding the more we have, the more we have the same problems that exist with public schools. Some are great, some are good, and some are okay, and that's -- you know, that's life in the big city. But certainly, we wanted to say -- I think they grew out of a frustrating time in our school's history, and I think they are important places and for our city, important schools, and 138 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET absolutely, we support them. Madam President, I'm willing to wait. I have a lot of questions, but I'm willing to defer mine.
Thank you. I think at this time, we'll recess until 2 o'clock.
Thank you. (Break taken.) - - - (Proceedings resume at 2:15 p.m.)
The committee is now in session. And the Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon. I have a few questions about student transportation issues. The first question that was found in the budget documents, but for the record, could you state how much the School District pays SEPTA for tokens and 139 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET transfers?
I know the figure is accounted for in the budget documents, but for the record, could you state how much the School District pays SEPTA for tokens and transfers. We pay SEPTA 8.8 -- last year, we paid them $8.8 million.
I'm sorry, excuse me. Please identify yourself for the record.
I'm John Lombardi. I'm Administrator of Transportation Services. And for Fiscal Year 2000, we paid SEPTA $8.8 million for tokens and transfers.
Approximately 65 percent approximately, Rhonda, 65 percent?
I think it's 140 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET 68 percent.
And how much is recovered from the sale of tokens to students?
The subsidized tokens are purchased by students throughout the City, both public and non-public. Students spend approximately $5.5 million of their money purchasing tokens, subsidized tokens. We subsidize those tokens for a quarter. Students pay 90 cents, SEPTA charges $1.15. We subsidize 'em for the quarter.
Okay, follow for me a second. 141 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET
My question was, how much is recovered from the sale of tokens to the students?
65 percent of the $8.8 million. The money that the students spend is not recovered. The 90 cents that they pay for the tokens, the $5.5 million, that's not recovered.
You're not following me, you're trying to tell a story. I want you to answer the question as outlined.
How much of that do you recover from the sale of tokens to the students? I'm assuming there's 35 percent.
We don't charge students. SEPTA charges students to ride their lines. These are students who are not eligible for free transportation. The students pay the 90 cents to SEPTA after the School District.
At public schools, we sell tokens to public school students. Non-public schools sell tokens to non-public school students.
I'm referring to the 143 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET public schools.
For free tokens with 144 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET transfers, it costs $5.6 million. That's what it costs the District for free tokens. For subsidized tokens, it costs us $3.1 million. That's what we pay quarterly. We pay them quarterly for that.
Yeah. There's a $98,000 expense that we incurred last year for a pilot program that we initiated last year at William Penn High School, which was discontinued this year.
So the 5.6 is the cost that goes directly attributable to the students. The students pay the 5.6.
No, no that's what we pay. The students pay an additional 5.5 million.
On top of it. The total revenue for SEPTA is about $14 million.
So the 8.8 that you pay SEPTA does not include the tokens that you purchase. So you pay the 8.8, and then you purchase another 5.6. 145 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET
Don't break down the costs per trip, don't break down the costs per token per student.
Okay. We spend $8.8 million a year for tokens. That includes free, subsidized, and transfers.
So you don't give 146 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET SEPTA any money for tokens or transfers beyond $8.8 million.
Okay. What do you get back in terms of State reimbursement?
There's an additional $5.5 million approximately that students pay for subsidized tokens that is not reimbursed by the State. The revenue to SEPTA is --
Don't use term "subsidized tokens" for a second. The students pay that amount, you purchase 'em from SEPTA for that extra price --
For -- not the exact -- for 90 cents. The students buy them for 90 cents. 147 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET
So your purchase price in terms of tokens and transfers that you sell is what?
Reviewing token prices. How often to you review token prices, who reviews token prices, who decides what the cost of tokens are?
Who determines the 148 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET price that they sell them at?
Some time ago, the Board decided to subsidize tokens for cents, probably 5 5 years ago. So it's been a long-standing 6 practice of the Board to charge 90 cents and -- 7
I got that. What's 8 the current process review of token prices? 9
I'm talking about 12 how much you're going to discount to the students. 13
There hasn't been a 14 review in quite some time, if that's your 15 question. 16
Okay. Is -- do you 17 view any connection between token prices and 18 truancy? 19
And truancy? I 20 personally can't answer that. Perhaps someone 21 from the instructional side can, but there may be. 22
There may be some 23 connection between token prices and truancy, but 24 I'd probably venture to say that there's probably 25 a greater connection between a student's lack of 149 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET ability to read and truancy that leads to frustration and just not being in tune with the instructional program. And we know that there's a correlation between truancy and dropping out, and very often, students who are prone to drop out are those who had reading problems early on.
In terms of the connection that may exist between token costs and token prices and truancy, would the Board and the Administration be willing to consider further subsidizing or eliminating the cost of student transportation related to truancy?
Well, let me speak from the Administration. In terms of the truancy issue, we don't have any quantifiable data to really answer the question. I think occasionally, we hear stories that would underlie some indication that obviously it's an impediment.
-- a connection between truancy and token prices at all.
Is there any connection, relationship between token prices and truancy?
As far as I know, we don't have any quantifiable information to say yes or no on that.
Okay, thank you. I have a few questions here. I think, Miss Kahn, in your testimony you talked the fact that lines of communications are better now between some of your major stakeholders like the State reps, the State's Education Committee. When they came down, did the entire committee come? and what did they find that was 151 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET different about Philadelphia schools and about some of the schools around other parts of State?
This was actually the second time in about six months or so that we had invited them and it just worked out members of the House Education Committee could come to Philadelphia. The first time was actually last August, and then again most recently, about ten days ago. No, the entire committee wasn't there, but there was a representative sampling, including the Chair. They had specifically this time requested to visit two of our schools, the Saul High School and then also the new Grover Washington year-round middle school. I think -- and again, with the weather, what had happened was, you know, we early-dismissed that afternoon and we went to Saul and schools wee closed the following morning, but that didn't deter them at all. And we had principals and teachers who, you know, who certainly stayed just so that they show the schools. I think -- you know, and we got a letter to that effect, that they were very impressed with what they saw. But more than that, as we just talked 152 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET about larger issues. We gave them, in fact, the financial presentation from the plan that Miss Chatzkel shared this morning talked, and we talked about issues that affect us, particularly when we looked at the key expense drivers, issues of special education, issues of charter schools. There was commonality, as well as the impact and problem in local communities about the reliance on the property tax to fund schools. They also pointed out certain things, and this is true as well, in their communities that they would like to have that we don't have in Philadelphia -- or that we have in Philadelphia that they don't, for whatever reason, like full-day kindergarten, for example, and that's something that we believe is a better statewide policy, you know, is something that would be great to say in Pennsylvania. So, you know, it's a matter of getting to know one another more, both as individuals as well as understanding each other's communities and trying to build that consensus.
I think that's important because I guess the more -- I believe 153 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET that the more people at the State level understand what the 1.6 or $7 billion is being spent on, then it increases our probability of accessing additional resources. So I'm really glad to hear that that's happening, and I hope some other visits are planned for the future.
I was out of the out of room, and I don't know whether my colleague -- Blondell, did you ask technology-based questions when I was gone earlier? I don't want to be representative.
Okay, all right, thank you. I have a couple questions as it relates to technology, and I'd like to know, what is the overall technology mission and technical-based educational plan for the District, and what is being done to ensure that it will be successful? Is there a plan?
Our instructional plan is to make sure that now that are schools are wired, 154 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET that both teachers and students are adept at really using the computer to access information. We are also interested in the whole field of technology as it is a career option for students, making sure that students have good information relative to career development in fields where proficiency and technology does open the doors of access to those careers. As I said earlier in my response to the textbook question, we're very interested in making sure that students are aware that not only do they have textbooks as a resource for information, but they also have the Internet. We're interested in making sure that there's responsible use of the Internet, that we have at our disposal good software that will help students not only in a remedial sense of trying to catch up and be on top of their academics but also in terms of the use of good software for enrichment an advancement. So it's a comprehensive plan that is tied very much to standards for best use of technology, making sure that students are aware of how to use technology, how to access information, and then how to use it to show a better product, 155 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET how to use technology to show -- to give presentations, to make sure that they can use it proficiently when they have to give presentations, give talks, make convincing presentations, and so forth.
Okay. So the development and the design of that curriculum and the development of that plan comes out of that office. I know you have a COO and you have -- what was that -- Ron Daniels, was that his name?
And if Ron would like to come up and make any statements at this point --
And while he's coming up, every school pretty much has access to the Internet?
There's, what, classrooms set up where computers are required?
Yes. And Mr. Daniels can speak it. Last year, his office really completed a major, major accomplishment, I think, which is the wiring of all of our schools so we 156 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET are able to go into this, you know, technology age and our students are able to have access to the Internet and be able to network, and he may want to talk more about that.
Yeah. The technology plan is basically two parts. We're moving into the next phase of wiring which allows all of our schools to access the Internet, e-mail, that type of thing. Working in conjunction with the curriculum folks now, how do we train our kids, how do we train our teachers on use that technology. And, again, that's training our teachers on how to use it; and then secondly, how do you integrate that into the curriculum. And that's part of what the Curriculum Office is doing on conjunction with our office. How do we present that technology, first of all, from a infrastructure standpoint by having these schools wired and having the computers in the classroom, and then how do we train the staff to use that to make sure every student has a foundation of technology in their curriculum.
Okay. What about the schools that the School District -- what about 157 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET the buildings that the School District does not own, such as some of the alternative programs? Example, Parkway in the Northwest, up in New Covenant. Now, I know that Parkway rents space in those very old buildings, and I don't believe that that school and maybe some other programs like that are wired. And I'd really like you to look into that if it's not, and is there a plan? 'Cause someone said about a year ago that they weren't going to be wired because the School District did not own the buildings, but you have 250 high school children attending that program, and I'm not really sure whether it's been wired or not. I did raise this maybe in a private meeting maybe one-on-one, I'm not really sure, and I haven't checked.
Yeah, we would really need to look into that 'cause I think some are and some are not, 'cause I know in that same campus where Parkway is, that New Covenant campus, Parkway may not be, but I know Amy Northwest on that same campus is.
Right, right. 158 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET Well, they're in a newer building now. Amy is located in one of the newer buildings, the Parkway program is located in one of the older programs, so that may be the issue, I don't know, okay. And I --
If I may add, some of our schools, although there is 259 approximately schools, there approximately 400 buildings, if you include annexes. Not all of those are wired, which may fall into that category. However, there is access to technology at those sites via phone modems that each site has, whether it be a private school or a day care, or even some of our charter schools has access into our main system based on the technology we've provided, so even if they're that wired on our physical infrastructure, they do have phone-up access.
So when you say "phone-up," it doesn't mean much to me.
It's pretty much the same thing. It would have the same capabilities -- 159 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET Internet access, that type of thing. It's just not as quick as what the infrastructure --
So they can still access the Internet, then, whether it's wired or not.
There are two other areas of technology that I think that we're interested in really making sure that we take advantage of, and that is, as we look at teacher shortages, the use of distance learning for some of our courses, and also technology as it facilitates management for teachers, the use of computerized records and so forth so that the teacher can be more freed up to teach with their management system done via technology.
Yes. I'm glad you said that 'cause that was going to be my next question, about the use of computers to supplement in the areas where you don't have a lot of teachers, such as math. When we visited Houston, the CEP program, and one of the things that we saw there 160 3/6/01 - SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET was that all of those students there were basically -- their teaching was supplemented on the computer. So I was just wondering if Philadelphia was moving in that area also, particularly for math. I know that math teachers and science teachers are hard to find. I'll stop and call on some other Councilperson in just a minute.