News in brief
News in brief
Principals encouraged to say 'gay' and 'lesbian'
"I know there are gay and lesbian people in our school. It's important to me that they feel safe and welcome here. I don't want you to use that word any more."
This is how School District staff should respond when students inappropriately use words like "faggot" or "dyke" in the classroom, says Danny Horn.
Horn is the lead facilitator of the current districtwide effort to train principals on how to better implement the District's landmark equity policy, Policy 102. The policy calls for making schools safe for all students, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT).
District CEO Paul Vallas issued a statement to all principals in early December that underscored "the importance of full participation" in these training sessions, part of an overall effort to reaffirm Policy 102's commitment to creating safe schools for all students.
At one of 10 regional trainings to be completed by March, more than 40 elementary, middle, and high school principals in the Northwest Region gathered at Leeds Middle School in late January to discuss ways to support LGBT students and address anti-gay harassment in schools.
Horn told the principals that when students use language that is insulting to LGBT people, teachers and principals need to model appropriate language instead of avoiding the issue altogether.
"What we have to do as a District essentially is to say 'gay' and 'lesbian' are not bad words. They are not bad for kids," said Horn, who is also the education director of the Mazzoni Center, a local LGBT health advocacy group.
Some principals at the training expressed skepticism about the use of these words when disciplining students.
But Katherine Pizzimenti-Murphy, principal of Germantown High School, which has an active gay-straight student club, reflected: "What am I doing as an administrator to make sure that [Policy 102] is implemented, and what am I doing for teachers to make them feel safe and help them talk about real issues?"
Ultimately, the recent trainings send an important message to schools, said Joanie McNamara, director of the District's Office of Educational Equity: "We value all the kids, and all the kids need the opportunity to experience a good education in a safe environment."
New eighth grade tutors to support math, literacy
As part of a districtwide campaign to support improved student achievement in middle grades, the School District has hired its first batch of "Transition Support Tutors" for math and for literacy. These tutors are being put to work in eighth grade classrooms at 39 middle or K-8 schools.
The 52 newly hired literacy tutors and 45 math tutors are an outgrowth of the Middle Grades Matter campaign, a recently launched partnership among the school system, the Philadelphia Education Fund and the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
The campaign is built on the premise that student success in high school depends on strengthened interventions in middle grades. Students who enter ninth grade two or more years behind grade level in math and reading have only a 50/50 chance of earning on-time promotion to the tenth grade, according to research from Johns Hopkins University.
The new tutors allow for a reduction of class size during the 90-minute literacy and math blocks for eighth graders.
District CEO Paul Vallas acknowledged that middle grades teachers need additional classroom support in implementing the District's "guided reading" program. As part of the daily literacy block, students in each classroom are grouped by reading level, and the classroom teacher provides small group instruction while making sure other groups work independently.
PEF Executive Director Nancy McGinley said the tutor program is also "a pipeline to get middle grades teachers certified."
The tutors, who are non-certified college graduates, work in schools four days a week and attend a university program to complete credits toward a Pennsylvania teaching certificate on the fifth day. Tuition will be provided by the District for up to 15 credits a year, so tutors can complete their coursework and pass state certification tests by 2006.
Tutors will partner with veteran District teachers in their assigned schools. In their first year, they will work primarily in one-on-one and small group settings to provide focused lessons. This first batch of tutors is being placed in "Corrective Action II" schools, schools that have fallen short of state standards for student achievement for five or more years and are now facing reorganization if test scores do not improve.
Other components of the Middle Grades Matter Campaign include a principals' exchange program, a middle grades parent forum series for those raising middle grades students, and a districtwide middle grades conference held in February.