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When Diane DellaVella wishes a fun-filled summer vacation to the learners at John H. Taggart School, 400 W. Porter St., tomorrow, she could be offering her final farewell to the enrollees. Barring a multifaceted financial miracle, the fifth-year counselor and 3,858 more School District of Philadelphia workers will lose their positions June 30, casualties of their employer’s $304 million operating deficit.
“For our approximately 500 students, Taggart represents stability and consistency,” she said Monday at the Whitman location. “Because of what might happen, my heart is broken for them; they’re my babies.”
DellaVella, a Port Richmond dweller, and 282 more counselors, along with 1,202 noontime aides, 676 teachers, 307 secretaries and 127 assistant principals, among other cuts, began receiving layoff notices two weeks ago as a result of the School Reform Commission’s May 30 adoption of a so-called doomsday budget. Having already cemented school closings and relocations March 7, the body and first-year Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. have devised a plan that would leave only principals, instructors and few others to mold pupils’ futures and eliminate book purchases and extracurricular activities. Set to slash 19.9 percent of the 19,530-member workforce, the proposal could undergo alterations through help from a trio of sources.
“I’ve encountered all different types of students, and that’s what I’d expected upon entering urban education, which is the only place I’ve wanted to be, so, yes, it would be great if the City could assist its own,” DellaVella said in referring to Mayor Michael Nutter’s City Council-approved aim to generate funds through a $2-per-pack cigarette tax and a pending proposal to bump the liquor tax from 10 to 15 percent. “I experience firsthand the host of problems our kids come here with. Many of them already have so little, and having them say goodbye to trusted figures and resources is not fair.”
Along with seeking $60 million from the local government, Hite, whose handling of the debt crisis will see the shuttering of Abigail Vare School, 1621 E. Moyamensing Ave., with relocation to George Washington School, 1198 S. Fifth St., the sending of registrants from Edward Bok Technical High School, 1901 S. Ninth St., to South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St., and the closing of Smith Academics Plus, 1900 Wharton St., is coveting $120 million in state funding and $133 million from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. The district stands to save $28 million beginning next school year by decreasing institutions and $215 million through the employee exodus.
“I could go get another job, but I’ve found my niche here,” DellaVella, who has aligned herself with Philly School Counselors United to stress her field’s mandatory presence, said after visiting Angela Chan’s fourth-graders, who spoke before the commission May 30 and endowed it with $158 from a lemonade sale. “Just like with death, I’m going to need some time to get over this if I end up let go because I love my co-workers, I love these students and I’ve loved building relationships with families.”
Maureen Fratantoni shares the jeopardized specialist’s take on the union between workers and parents. The Home and School president for George W. Nebinger School, 601 Carpenter St., has advocated for the preservation of all positions, especially nurses and counselors, at commission gatherings, and despite the rapid approach to June 30, also the date by which City Council must submit its budget, she remains optimistic.
“Our school especially needs to retain personnel because we offer autistic support assistance,” the resident of the 1900 block of South 11th Street said of the Bella Vista facility. “In my heart of hearts, it doesn’t look as if the City will come through or act until the state does, but I’m hopeful because what’s on the table now is not fair to anyone. These kids don’t deserve to suffer.”
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| Academy at Palumbo counselor Jamie Weaver would be among the 13 employees at his site in need of another position. |
Like his elementary counterpart, Jamie Weaver loves counseling urban residents. A six-year district employee, with the last three at The Academy at Palumbo, 1100 Catharine St., he had often heard talks of massive scalebacks before this round of talks intensified in the early spring, so many that he initially thought officials were again fabricating the matter.
“I came to take it seriously early on, especially a month ago when [fellow counselor] Christine [Donnelly] told me she’d learned there would be no money for counselors,” the Kennett Square inhabitant said of probable losses for his Hawthorne school. “Aside from what losing my job could mean to my family and livelihood, I’m concerned about the critical student needs that will likely go unaddressed.”
The 718-student secondary site features three counselors, with Tami Tillman completing the trio. The advisors and DellaVella appear on facesofthelayoffs.org, a website aiming to establish additional solidarity among the imperiled hires and to rally support for their contributions to their locations.
“It’s great to have the exposure,” Weaver, who would also lose his wrestling coach job, said, “because there are so many layers to this, including social justice and race issues.”
To support his point, he noted that minorities comprise the majority of the district’s nearly 154,000 attendees. Regardless of race, though, he, his colleagues and DellaVella, whose employer is not offering any assistance in finding new positions, has requested the return of identification badges and has planned to deactivate e-mail accounts, have committed themselves to acclimating students to feeling more in charge of their lives.
“I think it’s a slap in the face of the profession as a whole,” Weaver said of the treatment of his vocation. “Overall, people say Philadelphia has a terrible educational system, but some of the state’s most outstanding professionals are right here.”
Hite and the commission used seniority to gauge which teachers to eliminate yet elected to sack all of the counselors. That means that if any substantial funds become available, principals, having given their overseers a list of priorities, can select from a pool of applicants to fill jobs, with seniority then coming into play for Weaver and the others. Adorning a “Who Will Do the Work” flier that explains what Palumbo will lose if he and 12 other workers end up axed, the father of three wants to continue to be a parent figure for its charges.
“I think the matter will turn out bad but not as bad as where we are right now,” Weaver said. “I’m preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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