The Notebook

Stories tagged: segregation and desegregation

Esos vatos locos forever! And school racial violence, Somali pirates

Submitted by Gustavo Martínez on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 13:26 Posted in Social justice in education | Permalink

I'm supposing none of y'all know what the title to this post means. I'll put it this way: that's proper Chicano English, a southwestern US of A dialect of Spanglish, for "aw yeah, crazy dudes!"

Down there, by our own Berlin Wall, we live in español, but go to school in Spanglish, which goes to show how unsuccessful Operation Wetback was.

What worries me is that still, today, there are people who think that English is the only language that should be spoken in this land. But I take relief when amigos gabachos stand in defense of the many tongues spelling out life in the today's United States. So, gracias to attorney and blogger Len Rieser for his post in response to a Christopher Paslay's op-ed piece that appeared in The Inquirer earlier this week.

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Talks address how teachers are assigned

by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in Fall 2009 | Permalink

The Effective Teaching for All Campaign has stepped up its efforts to rally public support for key changes in the new contract as talks between the School District and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) proceed amidst a money crunch.

The campaign, a joint project of the Education First Compact and Cross City Campaign for School Reform, has set as its top priority getting a contract that promotes equitable distribution among schools of experienced and effective teachers.

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At the SRC

Posted in August 2009 | Permalink

At a special meeting on July 8, the School Reform Commission unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the District to sign a consent agreement bringing an end to a long-standing lawsuit on racial inequity. The case dates back October, 1970, when the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission filed a complaint that the Philadelphia School District was "unlawfully segregated by race."

The agreement uses Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's Imagine 2014 strategic plan as a framework for continuing steps to address racial inequities in the District. The PHRC will retain the ability to go back to court if the agreement’s goals and objectives are not met.

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As parties cheer deseg settlement, union calls it fatally flawed

Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 19:39 Posted in Breaking news | Permalink

Not everyone was cheering the end of the 40-year-old desegregation case in the courtroom presided over by Commonwealth Court Judge Doris Smith-Ribner on Monday morning. Leaders of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers sat silently as the parties urged adoption of an agreement that would significantly impact their collective bargaining agreement.

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Very little busing for desegregation left in Philly

Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 15:19 | Permalink

As the School District and the courts prepare to put to rest the long-running legal battle over racial equity in schools, some statistics about school busing came to light that deserve a little more attention. Busing students for desegregation, which in the 1980s and 90s was the District's main avenue for parents to exercise school choice, has declined by almost 90 percent since then.

Instead of busing between District schools, students are now primarily bused around the city to attend charter schools.

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Is the desegregation case over, or has the hard part just begun?

Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 21:08 Posted in Breaking news | Permalink

After nearly 40 years, it is over.

Or not quite.

On Wednesday the School Reform Commission voted to accept a consent agreement that will end a unique desegregation case that had its beginnings in October, 1970. That was when the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission first filed its complaint that the Philadelphia School District was “unlawfully segregated by race.”

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Brown of the North

by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in Winter 2008 | Permalink

After the historic 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education started dismantling Jim Crow, leaders of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund looked for a strong case that could attack school segregation in the North.

It was a tall order. In non-Jim Crow states, separate schools were not codified in statute. So the legal case was murkier, even though discrimination was as pervasive and the results - segregated schools - as real.

Philadelphia, with a history of racism and an African American legal elite, was the perfect place to give it a try.

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History shapes the work of superintendent and SRC chair

by Wendy Harris Posted in Winter 2008 | Permalink

Sandra Dungee Glenn remembers vividly the moment she first became aware of educational inequities.

She was in fourth grade, attending a creative writing class at the University of Pennsylvania with some of the brightest students from all over the city, White and Black, well-off and poor. She was in a group with a White girl from the Northeast who talked about her school’s cafeteria, gym, auditorium, and a science lab with rabbits and turtles.

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Talking equality

by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in Winter 2008 | Permalink

In her first months as Philadelphia school superintendent, Arlene Ackerman has consistently emphasized how Black and Latino students, particularly males, continue to be at a severe disadvantage despite citywide student achievement gains over the past few years.