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To the Editor:
It is touching to read about Jason Kaye’s concern for the welfare of students in the Philadelphia public schools (“Eye on students,” Sept. 5). No one is calling for a strike. Teachers in Philadelphia are not permitted to strike under the 2001 state takeover that put Philadelphia’s public schools under the supervision of a commission appointed by both the governor and mayor. School workers who survived layoffs are therefore returning on schedule while still negotiating a new contract.
Mr. Kaye is most anxious about the provision of the Pennsylvania School Code that requires schools to base assignments of employees on their years of experience. So if two music teachers are attempting to return to a school with only one music position, the senior teacher gets the job. He opines that teachers should be assigned positions only according to their “effectiveness,” which he believes can be quantitatively measured the same way “the real world” of business measures “success.” I always laugh when I hear the buzz words “real world” as if school is nothing but a television soap opera.
Let’s talk about what is “real,” shall we?
What is “real” is that Philadelphia educators who choose to work with the poorest children in the state are subject to the same state requirements for degrees, certification and tenure as their counterparts in surrounding districts, who make 19 percent more than they do and have better resources, smaller class sizes and full community support.
It is also “real” that Pennsylvania has no defined school funding formula. Forty-seven states recognize different district costs when calculating and distributing education dollars. Pennsylvania does not. Shortchanging districts forces local taxpayers to pick up the slack.
What is definitely “real” is that suspending seniority will put budget needs, not children’s needs, first. It will guarantee arbitrary and capricious assignments based not on “effectiveness” but on making ends meet.
What is totally unrealistic is asking teachers with families to take a combined cut of 26 percent of their pay, while giving them insufficient books and supplies and taking away their rights.
Gloria C. Endres
South Philadelphia
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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