Activism around the city
Parents to PPA: Where’s the dough?
Deal approved to build new Kensington CAPA
Willard parents spell out priorities for new school
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Activism around the city
Parents to PPA: Where’s the dough?
As the District’s budget crunch loomed over schools this fall, a group of Philadelphia parent activists took action by asking questions about $20 million in anticipated revenues that the Philadelphia Parking Authority has never delivered to the School District.
Those questions asked by Parents United for Public Education and others led this fall to investigative reports by daily newspapers and a storm of criticism over the Authority’s high salaries, political patronage, and other financial practices.
Parents are challenging what they say is an unwarranted explosion in the Authority’s payroll and expenses, which have eaten up most of the Authority’s rapidly growing revenues from meters and parking fines. Parents say more parking revenues should be going to schools. Authority officials say the growing employee payroll is justified.
Inquiries by the City Controller and Inspector General are underway, and Governor Rendell has asked the state’s Auditor General to investigate.
On October 22, more than two dozen parents attended a Parking Authority board meeting to let the agency know they want to see it deliver on a promise of funds to schools.
The parents pointed to a celebratory press conference in 2004 when Parking Authority officials and state legislators John Perzel, Dwight Evans, and Anthony Williams presented a $4 million check to the School District, while promising that the state-controlled Parking Authority would provide a steady revenue stream to the District. No additional money has been delivered in over three years.
“The situation is urgent,” said Aissia Richardson, a parent at Girard Academic Music Program. “PPA has a responsibility more than ever at this time to address the fiscal needs of this District.”
Parents United has published the annual audits of the Parking Authority on its website and called for scrutiny of the agency’s records. The group says that members had concerns about audit figures, including the growing size of the Parking Authority’s reserve fund.
Deal approved to build new Kensington CAPA
Students from the youth organizing group Youth United for Change (YUC) cheered a decision by the School Reform Commission October 24 to buy seven acres of land on North Front Street for a long-anticipated new building for Kensington High School.
Kensington was divided into three small high schools in 2005. One of them, Kensington High School for Creative and Performing Arts (or Kensington CAPA), now housed in the old high school building, will move into the new facility when the $44 million school is completed in 2010.
YUC’s long fight for a new Kensington High School dates back to 2002. A year later, the group presented then-CEO Paul Vallas with a plan for Kensington that involved dividing the school into four small schools.
The project has been slow to move forward, and crowds of YUC members from Kensington had become almost a regular fixture at School Reform Commission meetings in recent months, pressing for action.
“Build it! It got approved – let’s do it,” urged Saeda Washington, a senior at Kensington High School for Business, who testified to the SRC about the need for the new building.
Willard parents spell out priorities for new school
Parent activists at Willard School in Kensington, having secured a firm commitment from the District to begin work on replacing the 100-year old building in 2008, are defining their goals for the new school. They are also weighing in on the school funding debate in hopes that resources will be available for a quality academic program.
According to Shanee Garner, organizer with the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project (EPOP), the group’s Willard School parent team has also been closely watching for the anticipated property transfer of the planned school site – a former recreation center – from the city to the School District. “People would be more at ease if this would hurry up and happen,” Garner explained.
EPOP’s campaign for a new Willard got its start back in the 1990s.
Garner added that among the group’s priorities for the new Willard, “We want to make sure that the school is safe and that all children there have equal opportunities.” Quality extracurricular offerings are also a concern, Garner said. Parents want a say in any District proposals to change school boundaries when the new building is completed.
According to Patrick Henwood, director of capital projects for the District, groundbreaking for the $27 million project, designed to house 800 students, is on track for the spring.
“I can’t wait to get it built,” Henwood commented. “The community has been very patient.”