I have a list of questions, but I'm going to start where Councilman Goode kind of left off and focus on some of your schools that I'll leave names out of and just say that one of them is the corrective action school, if you would, that deals with discipline, and these are students that actually leave the regular system and are sent to schools that are specialized to deal with those kinds of matters, and some of the performance ratios there are a little bit disturbing, and I would cross-reference probably some of those graduates or lack of graduation, dropouts, and wonder if some of those are troubled young people who wind up going on to violence and say that that corrective action plan needs to focus on them and be targeted towards them. 96 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. A couple of things, too. I would be concerned about the administration of some of those programs and some of their success ratios and who is monitoring that. The cost that individual students have range from $1,500 in one school versus $6,000 or somewhere thereabouts -- I think that's right, Councilwoman -- about $6,000 per student, and the outcomes don't correlate with the amounts of dollars spent for those two schools. And we are going to take a hard look at that in Council in a separate hearing that my colleague, Maria Quinones-Sanchez, is going to take a lead on, but you need to put a pin in that and note that we are noticing those disparities and, in fact, want to know what we're doing to kind of address them. In those same schools, there are acts of violence perpetrated on teachers on a daily basis and to the degree that they have become accustomed to accepting that as their way of life. 97 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. So I want to know specifically in those cases what we are doing for some of those students that probably fall in the same category by way of performance that Councilman Goode talked about.
The review of the alternative education and how we provide it to the students has been an ongoing project for the last four months, headed by Dr. Jones, who is the Chief Academic Officer. It included all the stakeholders, including the alternative ed providers, and it looked at not only the curriculum and results, but also the costs and what happens to the students within the program. From that, at the beginning -- and that work is nearing completion, but from that, we already have an RFP, a request for proposal, to go out to providers, successful providers, with much more strict accountability and measures, that the District will have to look at success rates of those programs. 98 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. If a teacher is attacked in one of those schools, then we will take immediate action to make sure that -- and to the best of my knowledge, it has not been reported in the last year where a teacher has been assaulted.
Excuse me. Just last week a teacher was interceding in a fight at one of your schools between two students and was viewed as too aggressive in breaking them up. The student went back to school and the teacher was suspended. The teacher was suspended. You should look into that.
So that happens, and it is a demoralizing kind of condition where you are putting them on the front line, asking them to deal with the toughest population, and we have a policy by which that is more geared towards the protection of our students, which it should be, but it should also 99 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. take into account the difficult task that teachers face in dealing with that population.
Correct. I couldn't agree with you more, and after the hearing, if I could get specifics on that, I would personally follow up. Thank you.
To move on with my time, I'm looking at my capital budget. I've learned as a rookie not to give the compliments out like this part, but I feel compelled to use some of my time. I've had a great interaction with the School Board on a number of cases within my district, specifically the Mifflin School where we had to intervene. Councilwoman Blackwell was there and other members of Council, but I want to specifically give praise to them on a difficult situation which they helped me with. Mrs. Jones, Dr. Jones, was a part of that. 100 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
But in my 30 schools in the 4th Councilmanic District, I'm looking at the capital improvements and what gets repaired and whether a boiler gets repaired. And I'm going through it, and I appreciate the information that was provided, but I would be curious as to know what is your formula by which you determine which are the priorities of capital budget and what neighborhoods and is there -- I've been in economic development for a time and I understand one of the biggest decisions any business or individual corporate person makes is not so much what's going on in the neighborhoods, but what's going on in the school system in the neighborhoods and where will I send my child to school. So how are you determining what schools get these capital improvements and when?
Thank you, 101 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Councilman. About four years ago, the District, prior to full implementation of the capital program, conducted, with external support, a condition assessment of every facility in the School District of Philadelphia, and that assessment was used to help us prioritize the work across the District, and we primarily focused on the kinds of things that you're referring to, boilers and things like that, where we've tried to use the money to protect the envelope of the building, grooves, windows, boilers, things like that, and the condition assessment guided us in how to spend that money. And I might add that while our capital budget is really the largest it's ever been, it's about $1.4 million, we probably have about -- I'm sorry; $4 billion. We have about $4 billion in need. So there are schools out there that do need capital work. (Bell rung.) 102 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
So you're saying to me the condition of the neighborhood and its viability as an up-and-coming versus low-and-moderate has nothing to do with your appropriations of capital budget?
I think Mr. Farlino was talking about the process about four years ago, Councilmember, but the good news is that we've engaged and a firm is already assisting us, CRE, in preparing an updated facilities master plan, which will incorporate and work very closely with the City in terms of demography, in terms of city planning and what -- in the next five- to ten-year window, where the students will be, what communities are developing, and it will come up with -- when we do go to the SRC in about a four-month period, what will the City of Philadelphia look like five years from now in order to make those investments in that capital program. Some areas will gain schools, some areas -- where to 103 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. invest. It goes to your point that you were talking about before.
All right. Here is my point on my point: My point is that I should not see disparity between investment in education, which is the single most important pathway out of poverty, based on, oh, here's some new neighborhood and it's up and coming and we're going to make the schools look nice there, without in fact investing in low- and moderate-income areas that need that educational venue as much as other neighborhoods.
No question. Don't misinterpret my comments at all, and we can lay out exactly what we have in the short term and part of that plan to revitalize neighborhoods as part of the education -- investment in education and schools within a neighborhood can help to revitalize. So it's simply not looking at those on the rise. It's also what can we do with the established neighborhoods 104 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. and equity across the City.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. I also want to thank Mr. Brady for responding to the call of duty. As I mentioned to you at our meeting, in Philadelphia we tend to be pretty brutal with outsiders sometimes. So thanks for surviving some of that. Going back to some of the issues around class size, there was a commitment by the CAO's office for a report on class size. Has that report been completed and when do you expect to roll that out?
We do a weekly report that we share with the Interim Chief Executive Officer and -- 105 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
Excuse me. I'm sorry. Would you identify yourself for the record?
I'm sorry. Cassandra Jones, Interim Chief Academic Officer. We do a weekly report that goes out from the Interim Chief Executive Officer to the principals' union and the teachers' union monitoring class size every week so that it is up to date, and we can certainly forward a copy to you.
How many classes would you say are oversized at this point?
At this point, we know that we have two high schools that have oversized ninth grade class that we are monitoring and that we report that. At the middle school level, I want to say that we are leveled, and at elementary, I believe we have two that are oversized by one in third grade and -- I don't recall off the top of my head. 106 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. What we do -- and we monitor it every week. If we see that the attendance, that it has remained constant, that we do add teachers. So even in the last -- at this point in the year, if there is a need, we do add a teacher or an aide. So we do monitor it very carefully.
So what would be the number on average weekly that we have oversized classrooms, or does that number fluctuate?
Oh, no, no, no, never that large, but I will tell you that in the last month, in one of our high schools, we had a lot of students who came in at the ninth grade level and we have one high school that is the ninth grade level that I would say easily maybe ten oversized classes. And we are working with that high school in that 107 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. region to try to resolve that, because it's actually a transition of students that came between two regions. That is our highest.
I'm sure you'll share with us, because I know that we've allocated over $11 million to reduce class size, so I'd be interested in what methodology you'll be using as to how do you target those monies. That's something you can share with us later. Going back to some of the alternative school questioning that Councilman Jones was making, can you tell me the success rate of some of the alternative schools in terms of actually graduating? I know the intent is for these kids to go into these schools and potentially come back to their schools. How many of them are coming back and how many are staying there and graduating from them in comparison to our traditional high schools?
I would have to get 108 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. the exact information for you, but the process is, as you say, that many of them do come back. And one of the things that has been a focus of this task force is to really look at that, because it's very uneven between the providers. And so one of the things that we've been doing in terms of the meetings with the providers, as well as with the task force members, is to look at that figure and to look at the process, as well as to look at the schools that they're coming back. Because we also want to know what happens when they come back to the schools, what did they learn, what did they gain, what was the transition plan back. So I can absolutely provide that information for you.
I appreciate that. I want to encourage my colleagues, thanks to our Chair of Education, Councilwoman Blackwell, we will be having some hearings in the evening at the school-base level next 109 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. week, and I invite all my colleagues, both who are on the Education Committee and ones who are not, to join us on May 6th at Hunter High School where we will have hearings specifically targeted at correction action schools and specifically high schools, which is of great concern. So I want to plug those hearings in and thank the Councilwoman for allowing us to do that. It's part of our commitment to going out into the field and listening to folks and engaging folks. In terms of the shared services that I've heard folks talk about, having been a provider for the School District, every few years in our reform efforts we go from the family support services network to the resource support networks to the cluster support network, and we go from school to career to out-of-school youth services, and I know there's been a lot of attention paid to Project U-Turn and some of the other initiatives, but I 110 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. want to remind folks that we have folks like Fairhill Community Academy and others who have been doing this work for years, but have just never been in 6 style, you know, because we kind of go 7 through these phases. And they're 8 dealing with the same population as some 9 of these challenged schools that my 10 colleague, Councilman Goode, mentioned, 11 and really want to encourage the School 12 District to look at what they're doing 13 and why they've been so much more 14 successful in doing some of the work, and 15 I'm particularly concerned around the 16 schools that feed into that same 17 community, the Edisons. 18 I've made it a point to visit a 19 school every single week since beginning 20 my term in Council, and I'm very 21 encouraged by the commitment that's at 22 the school level, but I want to make sure 23 that the Administration is paying 24 attention to those programs that have 25 been successful. 111 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. I ran a twilight program and one year at Kensington. We graduated more kids out of our twilight than we did out of Kensington, and what that showed me was that sometimes taking the kid out of an environment where they've been unsuccessful and putting them in a partnership where they get a clean slate -- what I used to tell me kids, you get a clean slate -- and it costs us a lot less money to do, but it was in partnership with the schools. And because, again, we go through these phases where we create new initiatives. Let's look at what we've done in the past that has worked so that we're not reinventing the wheel and we're not using our kids as guinea pigs. Okay. Let's try something new. I'm very concerned -- I'm very encouraged by what the Chairwoman Glenn said around we're going to make sure that whatever we do to some of these corrective action schools, it's proven 112 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. successes versus trying that out. But I'm a little concerned that we haven't paid attention to some of the successes that we have internally. And I think Councilman Kenney mentioned this earlier in our briefing where Dr. Ackerman is, that we don't praise the good stuff that's going on in the most challenging, because we're always looking for new, innovative things as opposed to applauding what works. (Bell rung.)
So I just want to put that out there, that there's a lot of good things in the District and we need to study them better.
I think that you will see in both with Correction Action II task force and alternative ed, we have absolutely done that, and one of the reasons that we are taking our time in terms of especially around the alternative ed or request for proposal -- 113 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Fairhill actually happens to be one of the groups that we'll be reviewing, because we feel that they have had a lot of success. And one of the things we want to make sure is that we investigate and study and replicate the things in the District that we have done well and we are making sure that we're taking the time to have the multiple voices in. So we absolutely are doing that.
I appreciate that. I have more questions, but I'll ask them later.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
I want to ask you a question about truancy, a 114 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. longstanding problem. I'm sure I was a truant at some point in my life. That was in the olden days. It was a little different. You actually were afraid to be caught. It's a little different now. During the course of the hearings, particularly related to some of the issues around Safe and Sound and some of the children in youth programs, and then here more recently during the District Attorney's testimony, there was issues relating to truancy. There was some concern raised by Councilmembers, and I know particularly Councilwomen Brown and Miller, about the proposal to eliminate all of the parent truant officers. And then when we got into the discussion, there was some thought that there were two things: One, they were viewed as not being effective, although I thought, frankly speaking, they weren't given enough time, but the other issue came up that there was no relationship between the School District and the 115 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Administration and the placement and the formulation of that program, which was perplexing to me. I couldn't understand how you could not have that relationship. And then during the District Attorney's testimony, she said that she felt that her office, to some degree, was a better placed position to provide a truancy program in the District Attorney's Office, pointing to some past successes, and requested from Council that we increase her budget to reflect her ability to do that. My question is, one, do you think that the School District should take the point as it relates to truancy? And I'm sure you're going to say yes. I'll be a little surprised. Two, if you do agree with that premise, what is the position or what is the strategy as it relates to truancy relating to our young people? What are we going to do? Are we going to have these partnerships? Just kind of talk to me about how -- 116 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
Just reflectively, it would be yes, but I think more careful thought has to be going into it, because as you said, if it's a City-driven initiative -- and as I recall, the PTOs, or the parent truant officers, was a very important item in, I believe, the last Administration and --
But let's forget about that for a moment. Let's talk about the active engagement of the City and the School District together, because if you're not working as partners, it can't work. And I think that the delivery systems are also absolutely critical. If the parent truant officers are trained and they're doing their job between 9:30 in the morning and, I believe it was, 12:30 is their normal span and they are in fact approaching students and asking why they aren't in school, and if they aren't, then where 117 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. are they going to be delivered to, and when they transition back to the school system, do we have a robust system to get them to where they need to be. I don't think you can simply say it's going to be the School District alone without the City assistance. So I really think that it needs to improve, but I think it needs to be a collaborative effort. Clearly, I don't think -- and, again, I haven't studied the proposal and I haven't talked to the District Attorney, but eventually the District Attorney for law enforcement purposes and prosecution, but I think we're talking about well before that in terms of prevention. So I'm not sure that you start at the end and work backwards. You'd start at the beginning and work forward.
Exactly. First let me say that -- and I forgot to mention, Councilwoman Sanchez is being a very vocal Councilperson, because 118 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. actually I think a significant number of those parent truant officers actually live in her district. So it not only was an issue with respect to removing that much-needed program, but actually now having people unemployed. I'm not clear, and I hear your answer. The first part was yes. So as we move ahead, who is going to take the lead on this? Because I know from my perspective in talking to the prior Administration, the reason why they got into that business, because they believed that nobody was paying attention to it to the degree that it needed to be, so they came up with a process that didn't include you, and I think it was born more out of frustration than anything else. So again I'm going to ask you, how do we take the lead on this issue? Because I was a little concerned, because I didn't really see it reflected in the testimony, what we're going to do with this. So can you kind of talk us -- I 119 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. mean, if you don't have a sense of what you're going to do yet, fine.
It's not totally fleshed out, but I can respond to what we're doing. It actually sits in our Office of Specialized Services, headed by Brenda Taylor, and that's been part of this alternative ed review, because the students that were in truancy programs and then coming through alternative ed and then what was coming through twilight, they were crossing, and many times we had looked at them in silos, and that's been part of what we've been discussing. So I can tell you where it is sitting. We don't have the final answer yet. It is sitting and it is on the radar.
The reason I ask -- well, and I'll not necessarily ask in a different way, maybe a little more direct. We have a significant number -- Councilwoman, what do we have, like 200, 300 PTOs? 120 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
Over 300 PTOs that are either out of work or going to be out of work, and I thought, frankly speaking, it was a good idea. We had a District Attorney who was going to be asking us to increase the budget to reflect her ability to do truancy programs, and I don't know what that will be. Timeline-wise, when do you all think that you're going to be in a position to give us some recommendations? I mean, at the end of the day, these are school kids.
It's all of our responsibility, but more so the School District than anybody else, in addition to their parents, because ultimately that should be a part of it, but we haven't figured that one out yet, how to get parents to be a little more responsible. 121 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. In the next week or so, what can we expect as we come to this process of finalizing our budget? Because all of these earlier issues that I discussed will be a part of that budget process and I kind of -- I guess we kind of need a little more direction from you.
The other element of that is also the shared services task force that I talked about before where we're going to look at things like this and what would make sense to put this together. (Bell rung.)
And I appreciate the urgency, and more often than not when -- we can certainly look at it very carefully, and we'll -- I'm ah-ma-mon (ph). I appreciate that we don't want in the haste in the next week to put something that should be within the School District in some other operating agency and not have it work. So we will come back through the SRC with a proposal 122 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. but not fleshed, not to the degree of where it would be, but some timelines and specific responsibilities that we feel comfortable in putting forward.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez for a point of information.
I want to agree with Mr. Brady. I think in this shared services task force, for us I think it's important, because the Mayor, through some of how we're going to reorganize the money that was flowing through Safe and Sound, it has to be put in a priority area. So I agree that it's in your shared services task force, but it's been missing on all your information. So it's a big concern, because I think if some of the increases that we 123 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. saw in terms of attendance at some of these schools was directly related to some of these truancy officers -- and I know there was a variation of success rates -- but if that's not a priority area, it's going to get lost in how we reallocate some of that needs-based money that will be allocated through the HR. So it is a priority.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Five minutes moves quickly, so let me first formally welcome your new School Reform Commission members to this forum, and let me also congratulate you also on the dramatic increase that has happened with the number of young people attending 124 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. preschool. I'm going to pick up from where a couple of my colleagues left off, starting with Councilman Goode, who provided us the real clear numbers around high schools that are not meeting AYP. At what time during a child's, young person's attendance in school do they take those major statewide tests? It's third grade and -- three through eight?
Focusing on those tests that happen between third and eighth grade. I contend that we see signals of young people not doing well long before they get to ninth grade, starting with truancy-related matters and how well they're doing or not doing on AYP. So my question is, what triggers are in the system systemically where you see early on that this young person who is not reading, not learning to read or reading to learn after third grade, 125 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. that's a signal, not attending school between fourth and fifth grade so they're catching up with their reading. Because if they're not reading to learn, then they're not getting the concepts, consequently not doing well on AYP. So what signals are there in the system that send the signal that we need to get our hands around this student or these students so that we can give them a better starting point at ninth grade? What instructions or whatever are given to principals who give to teachers that says, I want to know what students are not where they need to be so that we can get them and not lose them before they get to ninth grade? What is in the system that send those kind of triggers?
Currently, using the core curriculum, that's the first thing that's standardized, this is what a child should be able to learn. And then how do you use the professional development for the teachers, for their 126 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. the administrators to make sure that they are learning it. But it goes beyond that. Then what are the assessments. First of all, they start with the daily assessments that our teachers make, and then they have that information fed into what we have systemically, which we have our benchmarks.
So every six weeks for the students in K through 8 and then every ten weeks for students in high school, we give an assessment, and it says what the child should have learned in that time period. And if indeed you can tell child by child if that work has not been mastered, then we also give very specific strategies for the teachers to go back to reteach and to use that work. But then it's also attendance. It's also how are the teachers and our administrators interfacing with our partners and with the parents, because part of this information is what are we 127 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. sending home so that a parent knows what does my child need to do or the parent knows if the child has not been in school, that the parent knows this is the homework. So when a child is coming home and saying, I don't have books, it's that constant communication. So that if a child says, I don't have a book, we reach out and make sure that that child has a textbook. So it's not only the assessments. It's looking at attendance. It's looking at how we communicate with the parents in terms of what is being done, and then how do we coordinate with our after-school programs. When we talk about the extended day, how are we really working with them. With those kind of assessments, that information goes to those providers also. So there are lots of triggers, but lots more to be done.
So knowing that this clock is going to go off in a minute, and this is only one question, if 128 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. we know between sixth and eighth grade young people are not doing well, acknowledgment of that is one thing. Stipulating that something different needs to happen with this student is another thing, because we are about to move them to ninth grade. And so my question is, what kind of arrest happens where we say this student is not where they need to be and we need to come up with a different corrective, preventive plan of action? That's the question I'm trying to answer.
If I may, Councilwoman, we asked -- because for the Commission and most of us, the majority of us, are not educators, they have to keep it simple for us, and the way they broke it down for us was that the gateway was first third grade. So there's a special attention now being placed on it. That's why you've heard us talk about reduced class size K to 3. The second half of second grade and third grade are 129 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. really the key places that staff is saying they're really honing in with teachers, particularly around literacy skills.
The next point is sixth grade intervention point, where that seems to be the next grade, if you would, that becomes particularly critical to make sure that young people are where they should be. Different kinds of interventions -- I'm not the educator, so I can't spell them out, but the sixth grade is where we've also made now the next intensive, I guess, support.
Triggered in. And then the transition from eighth to ninth grade. So we go through our budget years and one of the things we're trying to understand is how we then have to prioritize those grades in particular for the kinds of supports to make sure that they can be in place. So that's how 130 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. we've begun to think about it, if that's helpful.
Yeah, that is helpful, and it goes again to Councilman Goode's question. If you were to look at the performance of African-American boys at sixth grade, period, you could see the dot easily connect to what's happening or not happening with African-American boys between ninth and twelfth grade. So that is helpful, and that's just one question. Truancy. We really do need to hear back from you on this truancy question, because as Councilman Clarke indicated, in a minute we have to make decisions, and it is my personal opinion as a former educator truancy belongs in the School District, because it's also the message we send to young people with where a particular program is housed. So I will look to the document that tells us where you're going to put -- what you're going to do with regards to the truancy 131 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. program. (Bell rung.)
And I'll see you after the next round. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. This Committee will stand in recess until 1:30. Thank you. (Short recess.)
The Committee of the Whole is now back in session. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. If we could please go back to the line of questioning raised by Councilwoman Tasco around the agreement with the building trades and opportunities for young people. As I understand it, three years ago the understanding was that the $5 billion 132 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. capital building program would be leveraged or the equation would include the hiring of Philadelphia public high school students. So that program, in effect, is how many years old?
The agreement was signed two years ago, as I understand it. End of the second year.
So we're at the end of the second year. The School District's practice is always to have a document, a curriculum, a plan or something before the actual signing of the agreement. When could we get a copy of the actual plan that articulated the provisions of the agreement? Long before you sign an agreement, you have to read something. You have to read a document. So when can we get a copy of that?
I'm sorry. You're going to have to identify yourself for the stenographer. 133 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
Fred Farlino, Interim Chief Operating Officer. Councilwoman, the agreement was signed in June of '06, and at that point, the document was presented to the District and we operated for a full year under the agreement.
There was no plan that was prepared before the document, the final agreement, was signed. We are now working with the trades, because much of the language in the PLA itself is not specific, and we are working with them, and I'll use the example of the whole term of "apprentice." The District had its own perceptions of what that was, and, in fact, we are working with the partnership committee, which is part of the PLA, one of the components of it, and we are working with the trades to make some of the terminology specific so we can track apprentices, we can better evaluate the performance of all the 134 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. components of the program.
So let me make sure I understand what I think I heard. The School District signed a document, an agreement, with no written plan about how the program would work; is that what I'm hearing?
You're working with the partnership and working with the trades to determine the terminology. Who is the partnership?
The partnership committee is made up by four members of the School District of Philadelphia.
It's the Chief Operating Officer. It's the Senior Vice-President for Facilities and School Operations, also the Senior Vice-President for Capital Programs and the third one is our Senior Vice-President for Procurement. 135 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
We are preparing an end-of-year report for the SRC. We are working with Philadelphia Area Labor Management to work through some of the issues and concerns that we have about the language in the PLA, especially as it relates to some of the issues that have been raised here today around apprentices.
So all dots in terms of accountability for the first and second year ultimately lead to where?
There is a four-year goal that the trades will recruit 425 apprentices from the School District of Philadelphia and have them become members of those various unions 136 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. that they apply to.
The program is two years old. How many apprentices have been recruited thus far?
We don't have this year's number, but the first year's number I think was 65.
I want a documentation, something that says who they are and where they come from. So what reports, documents have you produced -- you have a document that says there have been 65 young people?
Yes. We actually have a database that we had concerns about around the accuracy, and that is a very specific part of the PLA that we are asking for clarity. We are working with the trades to revise that to be more specific, to have a database that will allow us to track our students as they become members of the trades.
When can we get a copy of the tentative database 137 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. of students?
That's available immediately. We could provide you with what we have.
If you could forward that to the Chair. Who is responsible for the curriculum?
The curriculum is part of what we call the pre-apprentice program and it's part of our vocational education program.
So there's a document that exists that says that this apprentice curriculum is directly linked to the opportunity for young people to ultimately have access to the building trades?
If you 138 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. could forward that to the Chair. Who is responsible for the recruitment, the orientation, the retention and the graduation of young people who complete this curriculum program?
It's part of the vocational technical high school program. It would be under Dr. Jones.
So all lines ultimately lead to Dr. Jones with the recruitment of students?
Okay. And all lines lead to the COO when it comes to building trades and that part of the equation honoring what you put in the PLA?
So the relationship with the building trades and them honoring their part of the equation 139 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. rests with whom?
Ultimately it rests with the SRC, because we will be making a report --
No, no, no, no, no. Forgive me for cutting you off. I try not to do that. Accountability is the issue here. It's two years old. We should safely assume that no one has actually graduated yet and, therefore, found themselves actually in the trades. So who is ultimately responsible for ensuring that young people get the access, which is what the agreement was months ago? 18
Okay. And 21 you say currently the numbers for the 22 first year are 65 students? 23
And you're 140 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. going to get that hard document to President Verna?
Yes. To make -- to further elucidate on that, the database actually shows a much higher number, but as far as the School District is concerned, we have our own expectation and profile of what we think apprentices should be, and as a result, we have been very selective in what we acknowledge as part of the overall goal that we have set with the trades.
At the end of the fourth year, that's correct. And we have a database that shows somewhere in excess of 300 students or apprentices were selected by the trades, and once the District analyzed the data, we felt that 141 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. those students -- that 65 of that number met the District standard in terms of what an apprentice should be, and it was specifically around the issue of residence and age.
Okay. So are we clear about what's coming to President Verna?
So you're telling me that Dr. Cassandra Jones would be able to walk us through the program from the recruitment prospect of young people to the graduation of those young people, and then the ball falls to you and the COO and your relationships with the trades to ensure access to the trade unions?
That's correct. There is a transition, because staff members from vocational programs are part of our committee that works on the PLA and there is a component of the PLA called the Apprentice Committee, and 142 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. Dr. Jones' staff works -- they work with that committee, and that's primarily made up of trades, specifically those parts of the trade unions that deal with recruitment and testing and evaluating apprentices.
Thank you. Just one other issue I want to raise that you've raised in your line of questioning. The issue of apprenticeship is 143 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. important, obviously, and each individual union and trade has their own apprenticeship rules and regulations, but the next step is even more important, and that's the transition from apprentice to journeyman or journeyperson. Apprentices are much easier to employ because their cheaper hourly rate. Where the rubber hits the road is when you transition from an apprentice to a journeyperson, that's where you really need -- that's where we're going to see them hopefully not fall by the wayside, because if they don't get called at that level that they're at, they're going to go somewhere else and find work somewhere else. So in your negotiations on language, I think you need to clarify what the future of that young person is going forward beyond their apprentice designation, because I know people who have gotten into the building trades on their own through just applying, that once they became journeymen, they very 144 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. rarely got called. So they went and drove a truck or did something else. So I think it's very important that, in addition to the numbers, clarifying what an apprentice is, how many there really are. You need to figure out what their next step is after they're through their apprentice training. Thanks.
Councilman, we made about recommendations when we 14 made our last presentation to the SRC on 15 amendments that we were recommending be 16 addressed in the PLA, and one of them was 17 exactly the one you just mentioned. 18
How soon could we have those documents to President Verna?
We should be able to have them tomorrow. 145 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
Thank you very much. I can continue, Madam President?
Thank you. African-American history is part of its curriculum. Can someone please just give us an update on that new opportunity there for young people at the School District. How has it been received and at what level of children engaged in the African-American curriculum studies?
Cassandra Jones, Interim Chief Academic Officer. Our African-American studies curriculum, we have presently over 12,000 high schools taking this course, and we have -- actually, it is a mandated course and it is now part of our promotion and graduation policy, so that we have now as a requirement our students take four 146 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. years of history, one mandated, and this is it.
Okay. The only reason why I raise that as a footnote is, soon our Mayor will be signing a bill calling for the professional certification of tour guides, and one of the reasons that was introduced as legislation is because Philadelphia's entire history has not been told, and if we're going to require tour guides to be more knowledgeable about the diverse history of Philadelphia, we need to make sure our own students are as well.
Okay. Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, did you discuss the four closings at West Philadelphia High School? I just don't want to repeat that if it was already addressed.
Did I discuss the closing of West Philly? 147 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
Pose questionings around the status of that and the future.
I did about -- no. I did about Sulzberger and how it relates, but not about West Philly High per se.
Okay. What were the lessons learned, then, from the West Philadelphia High School experience for the School District regarding the four school closings? Can you speak to the -- scheduled for West Philadelphia High School. This is going forward. I'm misreading this question. So West Philadelphia is scheduled to close?
Yes. We're working with the community and we have an opportunity. In the short term, we are moving the two programs that are now currently in the old West Catholic Boys, in that particular building, and we're relocating those programs because of the 148 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. age of the building and the cost to renovate or bring it up to safety standards. That may be the site of the future West Philadelphia High School, but in the meantime, there is a community planning effort that's in design for the new West Philadelphia High School to include four smaller portions, four smaller schools housed in one building. And so that's the plan that the community is working on now with the design, and that design will be able to be located at either one of the sites.
So it's premature at this point to say West Philadelphia is going to be closed on this date and the new construction will occur at this particular site. But the lessons learned, like all closings and openings and working with new schools, is that we have to have an active and repetitive involvement in the community, listen, make changes as 149 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. necessary. And I think we're on the right step in working with the elected officials in the communities to make sure that we're doing the right thing in West Philadelphia.
If I may add, where Parkway Maya is is the site for the new West Philly, but the other won't close until a new one is built, so that kids won't be displaced.
And as a reminder, I mentioned in a separate meeting, as a reminder, don't forget about the U.S. Attorney and our criminal justice/public safety to follow up for Sulzberger.
Thank you, Councilwoman. 150 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
You're welcome, Madam Chair. Please give us an update on the progress with regards to art and music systemwide. And let's just go with grades K through 8, recognizing that dollars simply don't permit to have a systemwide K through arts and music 10 program. Where are we? 11
Actually, that is a 12 good-news story, because in the preparation for the '09 budget, the SRC was very clear in the priorities, and in addition to $15.4 million we added to the budget, one of those requirements was to have art and music in every school in Philadelphia. So I ask Dr. Jones to elaborate on that, but it is part of the '09 budget.
If you look at the budgets that have just been released and returned from our principals, you will see that all of the schools have a 151 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. provision now for art or music in grades K through 8, but also in the high schools. And many of the schools using -- because some of the schools have some additional dollars; for instance, because they're Title I eligible, some of them have even increased that. We also have a commitment working with our Central Office and Human Resources to recruit and provide professional development for the teachers that are going to be coming in providing the art or music experience for our children, as well as partnering with some of our performing arts organizations throughout the City and our community-based organizations, because this is how we can make sure we have the connection, and we're very excited about that.
Well, a lot of the arts and cultural organizations want to partner. They want to do more in the schools, and typically 152 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. they can do that at no additional expense to the school. So it behooves the system to take advantage of that. So what I'm hearing is that principals no longer have to choose between providing art and music and something else?
Yes. This was actually a budget revision that was done and completed last week, and all of the principals have been notified. They actually have this in their budget. They've been working through their allotments and making the appropriate adjustments so that we make sure that every child has that experience in September.
Congratulations. That's an enormous improvement. Let's go to police involvement with your Operation Safe Schools.
Excuse me, please. 153 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Green for a point of information.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just on Councilwoman Reynolds Brown's last point, are the art and other programs she mentioned mandatory or elective?
This is an SRC priority and so you will see it in every school.
Mandatory for the students or elective for the students?
The reason -- it's a clarifying question. The reason it's a priority and you'll see it in every school is because if you make it a mandate -- and I just want to explain why it's a priority -- that it is a deliverable, you'll see it in every 154 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. school. If you make it a mandate as a deliverable, then that eliminates the use of certain funds that schools will want to use to add it. So that's why it is a priority that will be in every school.
And it will be required. Students are required to have that experience.
Art or music. And many schools because of additional dollars do art and music, but it's required that they have art or music.
We did not break down the yearly requirement, but for this year, it's in every school. And we would 155 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. have to go back to see -- I would be able to go back and look at every school budget to tell you how much, but in every school every child will have art or music. Some will have it --
Every year? Every child every year will have art or music?
Surely. I might add, Councilman Green, in the short years that I've been here, that's an enormous progress and 156 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. improvement that they've come to. So we're excited about that and what that means for young people. Let's talk about the libraries, which was another concern raised in years past. Where are you with libraries systemwide? Have you ever explored the possibility of a school ID being acceptable at our Philadelphia Free Library where children can -- children and young people -- young people don't like to be called children -- where students can use their student ID for a library card? Have you ever explored that possibility, knowing that some of our schools, for reasons we understand, simply are not equipped with well-stocked libraries?
We're actually in partnership with the Free Library now and they are looking at for the summer actually making sure that all of our students get a library card. They are actually forgiving all of the past due 157 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. fines as part of our --
They're forgiving all of the past due fines. So that part of this initiative has been that we want to make sure that we can get a library card in the hands of our students. So that's another initiative. And in terms of can the ID, our technology, we still have some work to do around making sure the technology can be the same, but the first step towards that was to work in partnership with them right now to make sure that effective this summer, actually July 1, 2008, all of our students will have a library card, forgiving their fines, and then actually working with the libraries to have -- this year we have a required summer reading list, and they are working with us and they are stocking all of their shelves with additional books, because this is a requirement, for all of our 158 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. students to read books over the summer and complete an assignment, and so the Free Library has partnered with us to do that. (Bell rung.)
Congratulations. To know that there's a summer reading list now systemwide -- I mean, the past principals took it upon -- some principals took it upon themselves, but if it's a systemwide expectation, that's great. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. I just have a couple more questions I'd like to raise. On -17 of the budget, there is a seven-year breakdown for your Capital Projects Fund. Can you explain what the Administration Support Services category is and why are you projecting to spend $126.1 million in this category 159 4/28/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080158, etc. over the seven-year term?