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How CEO Vallas is doing: reactions to his first months

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Notebook editor Paul Socolar can be reached at 215-951-0330 x2107 or pauls@thenotebook.org.

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More local reactions to CEO Paul Vallas

Community voices on new schools chief

It's been wonderful to hear Vallas challenge some tired assumptions about Philadelphia schools. Why can't our kids and teachers have decent buildings, and for that matter, why can't we build some new ones? Shouldn't school libraries have books? Who says that "privately-run" guarantees quality?

But that Midwestern, "let's get it done" approach also poses risks. Changes can't be done to people; they have to be done by people. Parents, kids, teachers, principals can't just be hit with orders. They need to feel a sense of trust, to be heard, to participate in decisions. Achieving that balance Ð leading, while also allowing others to lead - is a key issue.

Something good: Vallas's belief that the bureaucracy can change and can do more than it is used to doing.

A concern: whether he will focus on changing what happens in the classroom by improving teacher skills sufficiently, rather than focus on changing buildings or rules. Whether he will require schools to enrich the curriculum to pass tests, or allow them to strip the curriculum by obsessive focusing on the tests themselves.

The Philadelphia Student Union applauds Paul Vallas for his commitment to improving high schools. Our schools are old, crumbling, and resemble prisons. He recognizes this and is not afraid to take bold action to make a change. Making high schools smaller will make other reforms more possible.

We are concerned about the emphasis the administration is putting on structured curricula and worried that this will result in teachers simply reading from a script. The District should focus its professional development on helping teachers teach in interactive, engaging ways. The focus on structured curricula will not help and is likely to make things worse.

I commend him for coming in and taking on the challenge.

My concern is that this is a system that is so dysfunctional that doing too much too quickly may be as bad as doing too little. I would rather see him take on a smaller number of particular initiatives to work on the first year, such as improving schools' attitude in how they deal with parents and increasing the focus on what teachers are teaching and kids are learning in classrooms Ð monitoring the scope and sequence, or what they are teaching and when.

I'm glad he is visiting the actual schools and has taken time to meet with community groups to hear their ideas and suggestions.

What I'm concerned about is the Balanced Literacy program. What's going to happen to it? Is it going to be dropped? I like the program and have seen much progress in the children. It's not just a program; it's more of philosophy - having kids really read and write. It's not a scripted program. A scripted program is not teaching - anyone can do scripted instruction.

The vision, energy and "can-do" attitude that Paul Vallas has brought to the District is a much needed jumpstart that is necessary for creating an environment of high expectations, achievement and accountability. After a year marked by protest and uncertainty about the future of public education, Vallas has restored a sense of stability and possibility among many in the education community.

Given the statewide movement afoot to create a more adequate and equitable funding formula for public education and an incoming governor who has made this issue a top priority, we would hope that Vallas becomes a more vocal advocate for statewide education funding reform.

As a high school teacher, I am encouraged by the focus on creating smaller schools, especially if there is simultaneous lowering of class size and amplifying humanities offerings. Realizing these goals will help students understand that they are valued for more that the test scores they produce.

I am distressed at the proposed expansion of Junior ROTC during a period of impending war while gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered students, denied the opportunity to serve their country, continue to be at risk of hate crimes in our schools.

Because of his experience running the Chicago schools, Paul Vallas has been able to get right to the heart of the problems in Philadelphia. He has pinpointed areas of critical need, particularly the need to recruit and keep qualified, certified teachers and enforce standards for student behavior Ñ both crucial to providing students with high-quality educational opportunities.

In the future, we hope he will develop a workable class size reduction program to limit the number of children in each kindergarten through third-grade class to about 15 children.

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