This event is free.

Mr. Vallas' Center City Schools Initiative will be explained in detail so parents know how we all can take advantage of the new options.

Representatives from the School District and the Center City District will be available to answer questions.

TOWN HALL ON EDUCATING CENTER CITY CHILDREN
Location: Palumbo Rec Center
10th & Fitzwater Street Entrance, Philadelphia, PA
When: Tuesday, January 25, 7:00pm

PLEASE JOIN PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN FROM ALL OVER CENTER CITY AND SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOODS FOR A SPECIAL
TOWN HALL MEETING
AND A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF A NEW VISION FOR
EDUCATION IN PHILADELPHIA.....

THE CENTER CITY SCHOOL INITIATIVE

featuring
Alice Heller, Phila. School District
&
Ellen Hannah, Center City District

IF YOU LIVE IN PASSYUNK SQUARE, NORTHERN LIBERTIES, FAIRMOUNT, SOCIETY HILL, QUEEN VILLAGE, BELLA VISTA, HAWTHORNE, OLD CITY, WASH WEST, the LOFT DISTRICT, RITTENHOUSE SQUARE, FITLER SQUARE, SOSNA, CHINATOWN and SURROUNDING AREAS.....
GET ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS!

__________________
Reform is on the way......

Bump. Don't forget this is tonight. (Sorry for the late reminder - meant to bump it up sooner.)

So, did anyone go?

I went. It was basically a plug for CCD/School District's new Center City schools initiative including the idea of the "extended catchment area" for center city residents. Plans for the new "high academic, non-magnet" center city high school were also mentioned. It wasn't a whole lot that I didn't already know or learn from their website (www.centercityschools.com).

Details were definitely missing from the presentation....but Paul Vallas' office has agreed to return for a follow up town hall with more details in MAY. They tell us the reason for so little detail is because nothing is set in stone. By the time MAY rolls around, things should be more finalized.

I think another good thing that came out of this is the airing of other concerns of parents. For instance--we all want libraries, music and art programs and sports programs in our elementary schools. But even in Center City, not every school has these amenities. The problem begs the question--HOW DO WE MAKE THIS HAPPEN?

And parents want the school to be open to suggestions. They want a certain amount of accessibility that smaller suburban school districts offer. They want to know they have a certain amount of control.

I think one way to get this might be the creation of mini school boards (one for the Center City area, one for the Northeast, one for the Northwest) made up parents, principals, local business leaders that can affect positive changes more rapidly. That's something I think we should suggest to Mr. Vallas in May.

__________________
Reform is on the way......

Has the May townhall meeting been confirmed by Vallas' office?