After 17 Years, Local School Board to Replace State Oversight in Philadelphia

Not unlike Detroit, since 1999, and several other Michigan districts predominantly filled with children of color, the education industry profiteers are the winners and neighborhood schools and families in this dreadful experiment.

janresseger

What will happen in  Philadelphia as Pennsylvania releases the school district from 17 years of badly bungled state control?

In a piece this week for Our Future, Jeff Bryant marks the emergence of the School District of Philadelphia from state oversight: “State control of Philadelphia’s schools came to an end in November 2017, when the state-imposed School Reform Commission (SRC), which governed the schools, voted itself out of existence…. The transfer of governing power is expected to be completed by June 30.”

The School District of Philadelphia has been a centerpiece of corporate school reform for years and years. The issues have always been money and the myth that privatization would relieve the state budget by establishing efficiencies to lower the expenses in the state’s largest and among its poorest school districts.

In 2000-2001, the state seized control of the district, established an appointed School Reform Commission to replace…

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New School Safety Commission has no experience in promoting safety, lots of experience in protecting privilege and criminalizing communities of color

Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Last week, Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, announced that a new School Safety Commission has been formed.

The announcement from DeVos also stated, “The Commission has been charged with quickly providing meaningful and actionable recommendations to keep students safe at school.”

This new commission has been created, in light of the recent school shootings, but is not limited to just gun violence. If the goal is to keep students safe while attending school, then we can make some assessments based on who has been name to sit on this 4 member commission.

Betsy DeVos

Since Betsy DeVos was put in charge of creating this new Commission on School Safety, she has designated that she would be one of the four members of the commission. Her qualifications in this area are rather vague, plus she has inherited a system that in many ways is not committed to student safety.

For…

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