Good evening. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Aaron Clark. I attend Dobbins High School. I'm in 11th grade. I also attend an after school program called City Wide Youth Agency. I've attend City Wide for almost three years. I'm here to talk about school reform. These are some of the things that the students think should be changed: There are too many kids in one classroom. By classes being overpopulated the 549 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE teachers cannot effectively teach or manage their classrooms. For these reasons, the teachers need assistance to help manage the classrooms. Textbooks. By only having textbooks that stay in school, students cannot get the best education possible. We need to have textbooks that we bring home to assist us with homework, studying, and extra credit assignments. We should also like more textbooks in the classroom because sharing takes away classroom time. Teachers. We understand everyone needs to be afforded opportunities to work. Should these opportunities be at the expense of the students' education? We have teachers that are inexperienced and not certified. They are apprentices. In conclusion, these are some of the things that school reform should focus on. This is what the students need. Thank you.
My name is Kanika Force (ph). I'm here to talk about casino money being 550 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE used to support schools. Casino money being used to support schools is a positive and a negative thing. Positive things that come from using casino money is that different things can be done with the money. There's great money in casinos these days. Everybody in their family has at least one person who goes to Atlantic City. I think that the casino money should be used to get better teachers because, as of now at my school, mostly we have apprentice teachers, teachers who are not certified but have taught other things and they're used to teaching different things in school. They might have been used to teach chess, but now they're math teachers. We also have teachers in our school who are substitutes who are becoming long-term teachers because teachers have quit unexpectedly and because teachers have to leave school to do certain things, such as have babies, which is something good but we still need more teachers. Also, casino money would be good to use in schools to remodel our schools. As of now, I go to Olney High School. We only have two drinkable water fountains and no working sinks. That means 551 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE that when we go to the bathroom, we have no way to wash our hands. But we are told to always wash our hands when going to bathroom. We have two drinking fountains only on the second and fourth floor which is not good because we have no other ways of getting something to drink in a hot school. I also think the money could be used positively for supporting different things that go in school, such as programs to help children who are not doing so good in school. As of now, since I have an apprentice teacher, I'm not doing well in math. But we don't have the funds to support more after school programs and tutoring programs so children do better. Some of the negative things for using casino money is, who is going to distribute the money? We, City Wide Youth Agency, have decided that we can have six people on a panel who will decide where the money goes. We would have two big business people, two independent people, and two youth. The two youth, they will be there because we're the ones who are in school and who need the money and know where and where not to put it. The two independent people would be there because 552 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE they're people who will help us, the youth, find out how to spend the money, how much goes to what. We would have two big business people because the youth are the future of the big businesses and we, the youth, understand we can be taught from the big businesses how to handle money. Another negative thing about using casino money is, who will own casinos? Who is able to get casinos? Who is able to get license for casinos? Are they really going to give the money to the State, or does the State have to take it out of their money? These are some of the things we talk about in City Wide Youth Agency. Thank you.
Tina Tucker. In 1998, 65 percent of the school related violence ended with death. As a student, I do not feel safe. What approaches should I take as 553 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE a student to prevent this from occurring to others and me?
Hi. My name is Jazmine. I'm here to talk about the problems in our school also. Many students in our school display behavior problems. At times I feel helpless. Why doesn't the School District hire more professionals that deal specifically with children with behavior problems?
Although when we are in school, we are being monitored from fighting. How can we prevent fighting outside of our school among students? And how come the schools do not contact parents of students that may have been involved in an argument before it escalates to a physical altercation?
During 1996, about 4,000 incidents of rape and other types of sexual battery were reported in the nation's public schools. In my school, for example, male students have no respect for female students. There have been numerous amounts of fights. The guys give off vulgar remarks to the females, and the girls just 554 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE rub it off as if nothing happened. I know it's wrong, however, females dress provocatively, which sometimes gives the guys the wrong idea about her. The provocativeness of their clothes makes his problem worse. I think at times the boys should be separated, but that is not an effective solution to the problem. Many females are sexually active. Because of this, guys think that girls are ready to engage in sexual relations, which causes problems for those girls who are not sexually active.
Also, in our school a lot of the bullies are also popular and the teachers like them. Because the teachers favor them, they do not punish them for their actions. I think this problem is because a student feels they have no one to go to. Also, teachers think they have a higher authority. When we try to approach them of a certain matter, they dismiss our thoughts and opinions. When we try to express our opinions, they get offensive and try to punish us like we did them some sort of harm.
Another issue that we have in our school is because of the students' violent, 555 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE disruptive behavior. It prevents other students from learning. This matter, to me, is very frustrating. What steps are the schools taking to deal with the students who disrupt the whole class?
Another issue in our school is that students, so-called gang bangers, feel that they can jump people to get their respect. This is a problem and many students are going to school in fear and they do not feel safe and protected because the NTAs are not always around. Also, students feel threatened if they speak to someone of a higher authority. They might get in even more trouble with those who are bullying them.
I think the School District should hire more NTAs and police officers for our schools because I think the NTAs and officers that we do have are overwhelmed and they need more help. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Do you all go to Olney? Do all of the students go to Olney that were sitting at the table?
What school do you 556 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE go to?
I think we have a number of people here from the School District. I think we heard about Olney not having drinking fountains. They apparently have no water in the ladies room or wash rooms. Can we address that issue? And I think this issue at this other school sounds absolutely horrifying to me.
Karen Burke again. On Olney, I should mention that if you look at the capital program that that school is slated for some really major renovations out there. So as we get out there and scope that, that will be done relatively soon. The water out there is -- most likely you have water fountains in Olney now that meet your health code out there by distance. All of the fountains, however, and water sources should be completed in our program by June, which was our commitment with the Health Department here for the water. So I think in short order, Olney will have water, water in their bathrooms and will be able to participate in what we consider to be a very nice rehab to a building that really needs it. So we 557 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE will look at the water situation for you next week, and we'll be talking directly to your principal.
We heard testimony from Ms. Tucker and another young lady; I don't remember her name. It sounds horrifying to me. Can we talk about what's going on in the school and how we're addressing that?
Yes, Madam President. First of all, I have had an opportunity to visit two of the schools in question here today; one being Dobbins and the second one being Olney. Much of the concerns of the young people, as they have indicated, are very much true and on target. Many of the issues that they discussed, such as lack of textbooks, class size, teacher experiences are the exact same things that you heard Mr. Vallas present in his entire plan and the very same issues that we will be addressing in the high school movement plan. As we look at what the needs are in terms of our high schools for textbooks and curriculum --
I don't think the girls were talking about textbooks. I don't mean to 558 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE cut you short, but we've had a long day, too. I think you heard what we heard, and I think that either you or Mr. Dexter should address the issues as were stated earlier. I think it sounds horrible. And I'd like to know what's being done to address the problem. If our children don't feel safe in the schools, why would they be going? Or why would their parents want them to go?
Madam President, I think that one of the things that Mr. Vallas has talked about since the first day he came here was about a zero tolerance for violence in schools. And I think the young lady was from Elverson. One of the things we need to do -- and I've been out to Elverson before -- is to ensure that students feel -- I mean students are not going to learn if they don't feel safe. And I think one of the things -- I'm going to make a commitment to go back out to Elverson and meet with the principal. And if students don't feel safe they're absolutely not going to learn. One of the things I would encourage any of the students sitting here, the School District has a hot line 215-299-SAFE. I would encourage them, if the kinds of issues that 559 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE you raised here are actually occurring and you don't believe that you can reach out to someone in the school, you can use that phone number and we will respond.
Are the students aware of this? Ms. Tucker, did you know about this number and did you ever use it?
Most students think that if they call the number, they think they're snitching on somebody and that person's going to get in trouble.
Most students think if they call the number, they snitching on another student and the problem is just going to escalate.
Again, Dexter Green. The only thing I can assure students of is that's an anonymous -- it's not taped. The line is not topped. Your calls are anonymous if you want them to be. You can identify yourself if you want to. If you don't, you just state the problem and we'll respond to it. So I just want to ensure the Council of that.
I didn't see Ms. 560 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Tucker writing the telephone number down and she said she didn't know the number nor has she used it. So I would like you to repeat that number again. Do you have a pen, Ms. Tucker?
She said it is listed in the school on the wall. The number is listed in the school on the wall. And it should be. It should be in every school, actually.
Mr. Dexter, I would encourage you to visit the school. I don't know if you've been there lately.
I think in view of what we've heard here tonight, I think it's gross. It's ugly.
Mrs. Gonzalez said that we're going to send a team out tomorrow, and I'm personally going back to the school.
Thank you very much. 561 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Madam President, if I can say one thing. First, thank you, Council, for giving us an opportunity once again to come share some of our feelings and how young people feel about these schools. It's more schools than Elverson that doesn't have running water and are handed out bottled water. You can ask young people, they don't use the rest rooms in school. The rest rooms are awful. And I'm not going to say that this Administration is not doing a good job, Paul Vallas and his team, Chicago 27. I'm not going to say they're not doing a good job. But it's some issue there. And I can just tell you that it's still some textbooks missing out of these schools. We have extended school day now, but the kids can't bring the books home and the books -- some of these schools' math and science and reading books that the young people need for us to give them the proper tutoring with certified teachers is extremely expensive. It has to be more of a bridge here.
Are you saying the books are taken home and not returned?
No. I'm saying that some of the students who come to school all the time, who 562 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE we believe are responsible young students can't get the books even when we write the school for after school extended day tutoring, not to mention the cost. It costs a non-profit organization an additional $25,000 a year to open that school up in the evening and on Saturdays. It's very expensive. So we're saying, while Mr. Vallas' team put this plan together, they have to incorporate the community more. And the schools are not safe. And I'll just tell you about the article. We had an all-day series with young people at William Penn High School two weeks ago. And the things that they say in here, it's horrible. It's not just that going on about the violence. It's the drug use before you enter the school they complain about. It's the sex that goes on in school that they complain about. But one thing today, we did speak to Mr. Williams, and he agreed to sit down. And we asked him to meet with small groups of young people to hear their issues so we can try to come up with a solution. Is that all right, Mr. Williams?
Thank you. Councilwoman, 563 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE again, you've heard many concerns. And as we've indicated, we have begun to address many of the concerns and we do a have a lot of concerns at the secondary education level. And obviously many of them have gone on for quite sometime. We are very aggressive in our efforts to address the concerns of our students as well as the concerns that we realize from an educational point that our schools need. We do have some very aggressive plans and we're going to be very excited to share some of the things that we're doing with our young people. Concurrently, we meet with groups all week long, young people, sharing with them what to expect, what the high school's going to look like next year, what are some of the kinds of activities, the kinds of resources, curriculum and textbooks, things of that nature that we know are going to make a difference at the high school level. So I look forward to meeting with this group and sharing with them as I do with many other groups and schools in terms of what to expect and what the high schools will receive and the assistance that they will be receiving from our offices.
Thank you. 564 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Good evening. Great testimony. I just wanted to ask the young lady a question with respect to the casino gambling. Was there a particular reason why she left politicians off the list in terms of the individuals who are going to work on distributing the money?
You've got business people, you've got students; you've got no 18 politicians.
All right. Thank 565 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE you, Madam President.
Any other questions or comments from Members of the Committee? (No response.)
Good evening, Madam President and Honorable Councilmembers. My name is Alfredo Calderon. I'm the Executive Director of Aspira, and I'm here to speak. But what I would like to do is give my time to the student members of Aspira clubs. With that said, I would like Ms. Christina Rivera to please come.
Good evening. Please identify yourself for the record.
Christina Rivera. Hello, my name is Christina Rivera. I am a senior at Mastbaum High School and president of the Aspira Club Federation. I want to start by saying, over the summer, I participated in a number of activities and 566 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE protests in support of public education of our youth. I testified at the SIC meeting and other hearings and I always ask for the same thing: For our leaders to listen carefully to our community. And every time we ask to be heard, it fell on deaf years. And since Paul Vallas has been appointed, he has met with our community and had open discussions about difficult issues. We still have many difficult obstacles to overcome, but we are confident in this Administration's commitment to listen to our concerns and ideas and include our community in the process of decision-making. I am here to support Mr. Paul Vallas and his administration's effort in our school. I'm here to say that I, as well as other students from Aspira, will keep fighting for a better education for the future of our youth. I expect that City Council, along with the School District leadership will continue to provide public forums to openly discuss decisions that affect parents and students. I urge you to all create more opportunities for the community to be involved in making decisions about our public 567 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE education. Thank you.
Hi. My name is Ellen Espaillat and I'm Vice President of Aspira Club Federation. I just want to address some issues. I'm also from Olney High School. Some things about Olney High School. Well, the kids, they get suspended for doing things in the school and somehow they sneak in the school and they're in the school illegal and they do things, like bad things when they're in there. And this goes to that there's no 14 security -- I mean, there is security, obviously, but not enough because the kids are getting into the schools. Also, books. I have books that would be easy for a 5th grader to read, and I am a sophomore. These are books that we should not be having. I mean, they give a definition for "compass," the word "compass." Teachers. Well, I have an American History teachers who is not qualified to be an American teacher. He's a gym teacher and he's teaching me American History. And I think that I 568 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE will probably not get anything out of that class and fail an exam if I have to take any. The undrinkable water fountains. There are signs up in the schools saying that you can't drink the water because it's unsanitary. The hallways are always dirty. I don't know what happens to the staff that cleans it or maybe there's not enough for the whole school because my school is really big, but the hallways are always dirty and there's always food around and people sneak out of the cafeteria with food and just throw it all over the floor and it's not cleaned up. I think the only time I see it clean is on a Monday when the staff has cleaned it over the weekend. And that's it. Thank you.
How are you doing? My name is Natalio Alvarez. I am a student at Edison High School. And I'm here today basically to say extending the problem is not helping. We need to solutions to the problems. I'm a student at Edison and we have a lot of problems with CEP. I don't know if you know of it. Well, we let out at 2:45.
I'm sorry, what's CB? 569 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
CEP, it's a disciplinary school. So we let out at 2:45 and they let out a little earlier than us. And we meet up and they basically don't like students from our school for whatever reason and we have had occasions where a kid had his jaw broken and somebody had got stabbed with a pen. And we brought these discussions to Paul Vallas and he promised us more security, which he has kept up. They stepped up the security. And we had another incident where another kid had got his jaw broken. And we had a rally, if I'm not mistaken, on Friday and we met with him at 1 o'clock that day and he said he's going to step up the security again. And I'm just hoping --
You mean with all of this stepped-up security, there's still problems going on?
Yes, ma'am. And we just want to know how far does this go until something fatal happens. We don't know how far this needs to go until you say, "Well, enough is enough."
Somebody has to explain. What happens to the children --
The problem with CEP, 570 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Madam Chairperson, is that there are too many students that have disciplinary problems in one school. They need to be separated into smaller schools. But we're here to bring those issues, just like everybody else before have brought those issues. What we're looking at, though, is we know that there is a budget that's been requested by Mr. Paul Vallas and Ms. Nelson Gonzalez and the Administration that they're working towards improving and helping and fixing our schools. We're here to support that and we're here to ask Council that, not only support that budget, but do more. Our kids need books. They need new schools. They need schools where they can go and feel that they're safe, in a safe environment where they're going to learn, conducive to learning. So we're here to ask you, please, support the request and do more. We ask if you can do more, please do so, so we can have kids receive a quality education in the City of Philadelphia and we want to take the opportunity to thank you for giving this time.
Thank you, Madam 571 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Chair. This organization, Aspira, is probably the oldest Latino Puerto Rican organization in terms of education in the country, established in 1962. And I think it probably has created most of the leadership across the nation that has come out in terms of the Latino community. Ms. Gonzalez, myself, my wife, all products of this organization. The fact that they have taken and they have -- it is a leadership program and there you see the leaders. It is also a program that stimulates and orients these students towards college, towards going way beyond the areas and the environment where they grow up and think they cannot go. And they do reach those goals. Olney has been a problem, has been a problem for a long time. And we need to be able to take care of Olney. The water has been a problem. God, I've been holding hearings since the last term, I mean six, five years ago. I held hearings about the lack of water and dangerous water in the public schools, including Olney, and they still haven't been taken care of. That is something that needs to be resolved, and resolved now. It's something that 572 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE cannot wait any longer. Olney should be divided into many different schools. Actually, it's too huge, it's too big, and something else has to be done about it. But I thank you all for coming and waiting so long to speak. I really appreciate that.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening. It's good to see you here tonight and the rest of the group. You said something that interests me about the need for books. You know, when I first came to this Council, we had a very, very serious problem with kids apparently not having books in schools. Please don't tell me that we're still dealing with the issue. You're still dealing with the issue where you don't have books?
Right now I'm reading a 573 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Spanish book called Maria, and we're not allowed to take it home because we don't have enough books. We have to share it with three or four other classes. And not only that, we don't have enough for a whole class so we have to share with another person or share with two other people. So we can't take it home. And when we are reading it in class, we can't read it alone because we don't have enough books. Like, we have to share it with three or four people.
Miss, is this a textbook or is this a book that you're just reading?
This is a textbook. And also textbooks, spanish textbooks, we don't have enough. We don't have enough math textbooks. We don't have enough history textbooks. We have to share history textbooks.
Madam Chair, I don't know the protocol to deal with this, but I'd love the School District --
I believe the group before us also said something about the lack of books. Is there somebody from the District who is present who can address this issue, please?
Thank you, Madam 574 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Chair.
Madam Chair, again, unfortunately, the students speak a reality. As we see it, as we've gone out to visit our high school --
I'm sorry. You're going to have to state your name again.
I'm sorry. Craig Williams. Again, as we've gone out to high schools, it is a concurrent problem where schools for years have had a problem purchasing and being able to maintain an ample supply of textbooks. Obviously, when you talk to schools about it, they say they purchase them and then they're lost and they have problems continuing to purchase them.
They're lost after they're purchased? Or are they lost between purchase and delivery?
No. When you speak to schools, books are purchased. And what they've claimed is that over the years students have lost books over the years, and as a result they're short on books. 575 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
And we have consistently said that parents should be responsible for lost books. We'll never have enough books. We'll never have enough books if somebody is not going to bear the responsibility.
That is correct. Now, what we've done for the record and so the Council will know, our School District, we will be purchasing books for our high school students. Beginning in September as we deliver the new curriculum that Mr. Vallas has indicated, we will be purchasing ample textbooks for all of our students with the delivery of that new curriculum and we will develop a policy --
Sir, I'm looking at a great list here: Additions to relieve overcrowding, boilers, fire alarm systems. If you guys can't keep books in the schools to give these young people an opportunity, throw all this away. I'm serious. It disappoints me to hear that after all that we've gone through that we're even talking about not 576 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE having adequate books in our schools. And like President Verna just said, if you can't develop a process that guarantees that parents be responsible, all of these great things you're doing, if kids can't read a Spanish textbook and take it home and study, that's a failure.
It's not a question of money, right? I saw $48 million on the budget for books.
Are you asking the question, Councilman, or are you making a statement?
I'm saying because I saw $48 million in Mr. Vallas' presentation, $48 million were allotted for books. So I imagine that that should be enough to buy books for all the students in the City of Philadelphia.
That is the proposed amount that we're proposing to spend for our textbooks for next year.
Unfortunately, we have inherited a problem where they've had a problem with books. We do have and will have a textbook policy 577 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE in place to ensure that our students have books, sir, and that a replacement piece is in place to help deal with that.
Mr. Vallas was in conference out in the hallway. Mr. Vallas, we're talking and we're hearing from students, this panel and the panel before, indicating that we are still having difficulty with kids -- and these young people have indicated they don't have enough books in school to take books home. Mr. Vallas, with all due respect, all of this stuff is great, but if you can't figure out who keep the books in the schools, make parents responsible, may the students responsible for books, all the boilers in the world and facilities, it just doesn't cut it if we can't keep books in the school.
Well, let me respond by saying the School District with its 600 different curriculum and instructional models, with schools spending money every which way to loose to purchase and acquire materials, until you standardize things, you're going to continue to have this type of performance. Now, this is my first budget. If there 578 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE are not books in the schools next year, then you can hold me directly responsible. Take it to bank. But you are absolutely right. One of the reasons that we are moving to a standard curriculum, one of the reasons that we've laid out how we're going to budget our textbook purchase, one of the reasons why we've been working, for example, with the Parking Authority in communication with the City to be able to secure the money that had been committed to us is because next year we want to purchase -- we will purchase curriculum and instructional materials for every single student in this school system. So I'm not making excuses, but I've been inundated with textbooks issues all year. But, you know, the basic problem is it's like a school's missing text books. Well, what series? Which of the 100 series of textbooks that they use are they missing? Next year there won't be any excuse because the textbook series will be standardized. And let me tell yo a couple of things, too. This whole policy of not letting kids take textbooks home because they're afraid they're going to lose them, well, the idiot that came out with 579 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE that policy is probably the same person who said, "Let's make all the windows plastic and board them up because someone's breaking them." I mean, really, look around. Find me a glass window in the school system. So you can hold me personally responsible. But the reason that we've invested in this curriculum and instruction plan with the models and the textbooks and class size reduction and the professional development training is so that we never have this problem in this school system going forward.
Mr. Vallas, that's fair enough. But I've been in this Council now going on 7 1/2 years, and I've been hearing about this problem since I've been here. And you're telling us today that this problem is going to be resolved after this curriculum change?
You can hold me accountable next year. And all the things we've laid out that we said we would do this year, we've already begun to do, from the forging of our relationship with the 580 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE teachers' union to after school extended day. But I will tell you, the curriculum instructional forms will be implemented next year and you won't have to wait until March to hold me accountable, you'll know on Day One when school is open in September whether or not the students have the supplies. And if they don't have the supplies, the students from Olney and Edison, the students from Youth United for Change, the students who are associated Aspira will be right here, sending you letters and telling you that's not happening.
Mr. Vallas, that's fair enough. I can't ask for more than that.
Councilman Rizzo, can I please close? We came in here, brought the issues. This has been happening for many, many years, and we know that. We brought them, but we're because we're hopeful that with the plan and the budget that Mr. Vallas is presenting that things can be fixed. That's why we're here to support that, asking you to support the budget and do more if you can. Give us additional dollars so he can reduce the class size and do everything he can do. So next year when 581 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE we're here testifying, we're here testifying about the great things and great changes that has happened in the school district. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Vallas, before you leave I'd like to see you, please. Anyone else testify? (No response.)
Dexter Green, please make sure you get to that school tomorrow. I cannot tell you how that testimony upset me. I think it's horrible.
I want to let you know we have been right on top on this. At dismissal time at Edison, between the school police officers, the Philadelphia Police officers, the SEPTA Police officers that are out there, and the Administration out -- I mean, there are tons of people out there. And as we fan out around the two schools, the last incident occurred almost 9 blocks from the school. As we fan out -- 582 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
No, they are not. And some of the students are being bused. They've taken care of the dismissal times.
The fundamental problem that we have with CEP is that it's too big. And one of the reasons that we're going to be contracting out with other alternative school providers and partnering with CEP to identify a second and possibly third site is so that we can depopulate that site. You can't have 1700 students in an alternative school right in the heart of high-school-ville, because you not only have Edison, but you also have Nuevas Esperansa (ph) along with other schools in the area. So believe me, we're on top this. But the bottom line is there are too many kids, and we're not going to be able to snap our fingers and overcome that. Because all the kids at CEP are not kids who were expelled from our school system. About half the kids in CEP are kids that are in CEP for other reasons other than the School District. So we're on top of this, but it's going to continue to be big headache. I mean, right now 583 3/25/03 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE about best thing we can do is to have resources in that street in that area. But I know, so we know, I've literally been in contact, not only with the school, but with the Student Council President and Vice President who call me at home to give me updates of things that are going on in that school. So we are vigilant, we're on top of it. Ultimately, though, we've got to spread out the alternative school students throughout the City, just not congregate them in the a single section.
Thank you. Anyone else to testify? (No response.)
Seeing none, this committee will stand in recess until April the 2nd at 9:30. Thank you. (Council adjourned at 6:41 p.m.) - - - 584 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of March 25, 2003, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ____________________________ BRIAN RASCO,