Reality Check: Kenney's Community Schools Gap
Reality Check: Kenney's Community Schools Gap
Following the Mayor's comments in D.C. last week, WURD'due south afternoon host notes that the community schools attempt could exist a delicious hoagie...in one case they put the meats in it
Aug. 23, 2018
Mayor Jim Kenney might be feeling all kinds of political heat—sans killer heat wave—when he'south home in Philly. Just it was all passion and adulation when he Amtrak'ed his way downward to Washington, D.C. for an August convening of think tankers, policy wonks and like-minded reformers to talk up his city-wide Community Schools initiative.
It'due south not something the Mayor talks about enough when in Philly—or, that he doesn't really get the space to brag nearly when he's decorated battling over his drink taxation or haggling City Quango over college property taxes. The D.C.-based Center for American Progress (CAP), notwithstanding, was interested enough to not only invite him to their recent conversation on community schools, just to headline him as keynote speaker. See his full speech communication here:
What the Mayor laid out in his community schools vision speech is, theoretically and anecdotally, sound. "Based on the success of community schools in other communities, I was inspired to expand the initiative in Philadelphia," said Kenney, describing the beginning dozen schools in the School Commune that are at present institutions for both academics and a wide range of activities and social services provided by city departments.
In these schools, city and social service agencies tin can bring parents together to hash out challenges in their neighborhoods; assess if in that location's trouble at home and what's needed to alleviate that; help students with food and vesture bug; and direct parents to job opportunities. Substantially, the schools serve equally much more classrooms—they are customs access and wrap-around service popular-ups, central hubs of essential cultural, social and economical activity.
"Investing in student success will strengthen our economy and neighborhoods. Just this process takes fourth dimension," added the Mayor. "In the meantime, our students and families demand access to basic necessities, admission to food, access to jobs. With 1 in 4 of our residents living in poverty, nosotros can't enquire them to look for those things."
Information technology'due south a makes-sense kind of programme the Mayor should earn plaudits for. Plus, this is a skilful moment for Kenney: Why not jump onto the LeBron James community school bandwagon every bit everyone falls in dear with the iconic athlete'southward investment in a make new one for his hometown in Akron, Ohio? And it'due south laudable that Kenney is head-on acknowledging citywide poverty and the demand for this kind of initiative to tackle information technology.
Merely once you lot get past the executive summary, the Kenney Project falls casualty to the usual inability to creatively expand and pay for information technology. Kenney could out-distill LeBron by innovating Philly's community school initiative into the envied national standard. Instead, it becomes but another talking betoken for the campaign checklist manifesto by the time we accomplish 2019.
Where's The Data?
Nosotros've got a dozen schools transformed or repurposed over the past ii years, but withal no data yet generated to show what Philly is getting out of information technology. As well-timed and intentioned as Kenney's CAP speech was, he notwithstanding couldn't offer numbers and only rattled off Lean on Me shorts of several schools, reportedly, showing signs of success. Merely how do we quantify that? Are student scores and other assessments on a noticeably upwardly trend? Are they safer? How many parents are getting jobs or benefiting from social services? At the moment, no one but perhaps the Mayor'due south office knows.
Here We Go Again: Taxes Will Cover Information technology
If whatever Philly residents were in the audience, they would have started rolling their eyes once Kenney religiously heaped mountains of praise on his dearest beverage taxation.
In standing to pay for community schools—Kenney indicated a goal of twenty more over five years—he remarked that "[w]e're gear up to take on this additional responsibleness if we have to." But when Kenney mentions paying for stuff, Philly residents—rightfully and so—go nervous.
Does Philly even have the acceptable or existing school infrastructure to support an ambitious community school initiative? Indeed, that was the first question Kenney got from the audition afterwards delivering his remarks. Merely he didn't offer much conviction that he had any handle on the issue.
That's when he went on to describe an itemized list of, yep, more taxes, from the potable tax (mentioned several times) to the need for a college property tax—leaving out, of course, his controversial resistance to the construction tax and his unwillingness, thus far, to overhaul Philly's tax abatement. And, so, a urban center he acknowledges is saddled with rampant poverty finds itself in a state of affairs where the families who accept students in community schools are conflicted on whether or non they're truly benefiting from them if the city keeps taxing them disproportionately to pay for it.
Nothing wrong with taxes, philosophically—but, residents are getting increasingly agitated that they're the only ones expected to help with those investments. This is where Kenney could find an opening to resurrect PILOTS : Payments in Lieu of Taxes on the metropolis's "ed and med" institutions. Yes, whatsoever happened to that?
Philadelphia is a globe-class center of some of the nigh prominent, storied and well-endowed educational, medical and enquiry institutions. It houses an Ivy League university within city boundaries, likewise as blocks upon endless blocks of other major college education institutions and hospital campuses. These seem like prime partners for the community schools effort, for both programmatic and bookish support, as well as funding and other resources. Why not make the public statement for how Penn, Temple, Drexel and others tin pitch in directly? Harvard and Boston Academy practice it for arch urban nemesis Boston to the tune of an estimated $14 million in combined PILOTS annually—withal, all nosotros tin brag about is how we bested their football game squad.
And every bit we're branding this equally a place for large corporations to practice business, how much are we asking them to invest?
C'mon Mayor—Only 12 Out Of 200?
Yous also get the sense that community schools aren't spreading as fast in Philly as they should. Metropolis Hall is not but stifled by a lack of creativity, it rarely moves with any sense of urgency. We've only seen 12 schools over two years, and the second accomplice only produced three (ane of them is this author'due south alma mater Logan Elementary). Kenney is aiming conservatively for but 20 more schools over 5 years—which translates into only 4 schools per year . Yet, concluding we checked there are 200 schools throughout Philly, and about of them in need of immediate attention. When we discussed information technology on WURD'south "Reality Check," a few listeners chosen in lament that there were but too few schools in the initiative so far to make a difference.
If the model is working that well, can't the city develop a improve plug-and-play model that tin can be applied to all schools at one time? Where exactly is the sense of excitement and urgency?
Can This Actually Piece of work Considering Philly's Crumbling Schools?
If in that location is anything to call "deplorable," it'south the physical state of Philly's schools. More 80 percent of them were congenital before the federal 1978 ban on pb took issue, and there's a wide range of problems the Philadelphia Inquirer rightly put on smash , from leaded paint to asbestos to asthma hazards. Bad enough nearly 3,000 Philadelphia kids (three times the number in Flint, Michigan) are diagnosed with lead poisoning every year from old homes, but and so they find themselves forced into toxic schoolhouse buildings for double the dose of contamination.
Kenney could out-dribble LeBron past innovating Philly'due south community school initiative into the envied national standard. Instead, it becomes just another talking point for the campaign checklist manifesto past the time we reach 2019.
Does Philly fifty-fifty have the acceptable or existing schoolhouse infrastructure to support an aggressive community school initiative (which probably explains the slow step)? Indeed, that was the commencement question Kenney got from the audience subsequently delivering his remarks. But he didn't offer much conviction that he had any handle on the result.
"Nosotros've been in close contact with [Superintendent] Hite and nosotros're aware of the $5 billion worth of infrastructure needs," nodded Kenney as he admitted to the lead, poisoned drinking water and HVAC bug. "We're addressing those issues. We accept the ability to use city resources to help fund these efforts."
Which ends upwards back to the tax question, of course. Yet, once again, if the community schools initiative is about partnerships, why non atomic number 82 a Philadelphia public-private partnership Marshall Plan to save the schools, particularly since the Mayor had once touted a "Services in Lieu of Taxes" (or SILOTS) proposal?
Models Outside The Box
And, lastly, can't community schools also serve as incubators for new emerging educational models in the 21 st century?
At that place was no mention of blended learning or online learning models for either the Philadelphia community schools (or any schools for that matter, based on the post-obit panel discussion), even as public schools go along to struggle, parents grow increasingly interested in alternatives such every bit habitation schooling and communities grapple with prophylactic issues resulting from gangs, guns and bullying. In addition, with public schools still largely stuck in Industrial Revolution era classroom formats, there is legitimate worry American kids—and, specially for that thing, Philly kids—aren't really learning or achieving critical intellectual skills as they should.
If community schools are presenting tailored and individualized approaches to learning, why not exist the first major city to consider, mention and leverage blended learning models? And how seriously are these new customs schools improving student critical thinking abilities?
Kenney seemed a footling dismissive when asked nearly information technology. "Our community school model right now is not dealing with academics; it'due south dealing with daily needs," he offered. "I leave it to the educators to figure out what the academic needs should exist." Considering the performance of those educators thus far, though, the Mayor might want to delve a bit deeper into that.
Charles D. Ellison is Executive Producer and Host of "Reality Check," which airs Monday-Thursday, 4-vii p.1000. on WURD Radio (96.1FM/900AM). Check out The Denizen's weekly segment on his testify every Tuesday at half dozen p.k. Ellison is also Primary of B|E Strategy, and the Washington Correspondent for The Philadelphia Tribune . Take hold of him if you tin @ellisonreport on Twitter.
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/kenneys-community-schools-gap/
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