Kathleen,
We need a Marshall plan for our public education system. The charade
about privatization and lazy teachers distracts from a real debate and
teachable moment about the funding gap and evidence based interventions
for impoverished communities.
We give two billion dollars in aid to Egypt alone so that its
dictatorship can oppress the people for the interests of multinational
corporations. We have over 1000 permanent military bases in most
countries on earth sucking up the wealth of our society. That is the
real source of our problem as public education is under massive assault
and the people are fed fake solutions and the need for austerity.
Glenn
On 1/27/2011 11:54 AM, Kathleen Turner wrote:
The real source of the problem is that since Kindergarten is not
mandatory in Pennsylvania (I don't think kids are actually required to
attend school until they are 8, which is completely ridiculous) -- the
schools are not really required to ensure space for them. If you do
somehow get admission to another school for kindergarten, there is no
transportation available.
Kathleen
On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 11:40 AM, <krf...@aol.com
<mailto:krf...@aol.com>> wrote:
In a message dated 1/27/2011 10:28:37 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
l...@verizon.net <mailto:l...@verizon.net> writes:
We're not sure whether to laugh or cry after this ABC6 story
about parents braving frigid temps to get their kids into Penn
Alexander's kindergarten, which is capped at 50 students.
We're happy that such a school exists (full disclosure: we
have a child there) and that parents care so much about their
child's education, but we're sad that they are so scared of
the alternatives that they feel they have to sleep outside on
the coldest night of the year to get in.
This kind of stand-in-line, first-come-first-serve enrollment
system obviously isn't sustainable. Penn Alexander, which
prides itself on small classes, is filling up quick in the
lower grades as parents move to the neighborhood (some before
they even have children) looking for the Holy Grail of a nice
urban neighborhood and a good public school.
What makes matters worse is that, if you don't make it for your
kid into the first 50, the Lea and Powell schools tell you you're
not in their catchment areas so the best they'll do is put you at
the end of their lists in case they have some empty spaces.
Maybe... oh, this might be too much to ask... the School District
could estimate how many kindergarten-age kids they have and figure
out how to accommodate them. Or, is Ms Ackerman too busy counting
her bonus money and collecting business cards from
noncompetitively-priced contractors to worry about trivia such as
educating children whose parents actually want them to get educations?
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Alan Krigman
KRF Management, ICON/Information Concepts Inc
211 S 45th St, Philadelphia PA 19104-2918
215-349-6500, fax 215-349-6502
krf...@aol.com <mailto:krf...@aol.com> or
al.krig...@krf.icodat.com <mailto:al.krig...@krf.icodat.com>
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