Philly Students Unite, Teacher Contract Feud Continues

Philadelphia, PA – Longer School Days. Teacher salaries. These are some of the issues being contested by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and the School District of Philadelphia. Where are the students in this equation?

This is what the Philadelphia Student Union asked today as dozens of student organizers, teachers and allies gathered in front of J.R. Masterman High School. Prepared with binoculars, bold signs and mics in hand, PSU members asked where their needs are being taken into consideration during these heated teacher negotiations.

Top high school, Masterman H.S., was the backdrop for students from both "hard-to-staff" neighborhood and magnet schools, who made a statement about the unequal distribution of teachers across the city.

Under "No Child Left Behind", 70 of 265 Philadelphia public schools received Corrective Action II (CA II) status. Kimora Lamotte, a CAPA student, shared her experiences of having qualified teachers at her school while shining light on the rest of the city's reality. She stated the fact that only 57% of Philadelphia's CA II high school teachers are highly qualified.

PSU offers a smart solution: Teacher Incentive Grants. Greg Jordan-Detamore says "we are asking for the contracts to include teacher incentive grants...sums of money that are given to hard-to-staff schools, where the teachers decide how the money is spent." These grants would be incentives for attracting and retaining qualified and experienced teachers for neighborhood schools.

They challenge the city's school district and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to make students and their needs a top priority for the duration of the teacher contract negotiations, set to be up at the end of the month. If these issues are not fully addressed by the deadline, PSU supports the one-year contract to continue negotiations to fix what Finesse Davis, a senior at Overbrook High School, calls a "broken system that punishes students."

Davis, who is also a member of the Overbrook PSU chapter, sums it all up when she says "I feel that if more people worked for the quality of education for students rather than the quantity of pay for teachers, school would be more engaging for students and more fulfilling for teachers."

Comments

Great report and photos!

Submitted by HansBennett on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 12:20am

I wish the students the best in their struggle.

These young people are

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 3:22pm

These young people are saying what needs to be said. They have so much insight on what we really need to fix Philly's schools; we need to listen to the youth.

I am a student and it is

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 10/06/2008 - 6:35pm

I am a student and it is just plain unfair for the teachers who deserve their job!! And the students deserve to have well qualified teachers. These people work hard at their job and makes school fun for the students, so if they left we would just have a crowd of extremely angry students, unwilling to work.The teachers must stay!!!

They better negotiate and give the teachers contracts, QUICKLY!!! or else it will punish the students and hurt teachers.

I wish them the ultimate

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 12:59am

I wish them the ultimate best in their righteous cause. Too often, we accuse our younger brothers and sisters of neglecting their responsibility and tampering with their future, but when they step up to the plate, our accolades and adulation receive the death of a thousand qualifications. We can't afford to carry on this tradition of remonstration, without recognition. Much praise to these brothers and sisters who are putting it down!

Is the future of society not important?

Submitted by RKoopman (not verified) on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 10:15pm

As the song goes '...children are our future, treat them well and let them lead the way'. A good teacher is an investment, not only in the child's, but in our future. Education must be provided equally throughout the state, even if some jobs/schools need to be incentivized.

Well said

Submitted by JohnPreator (not verified) on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 10:23pm

I heartily agree!!

I think student are right

Submitted by energy audit (not verified) on Thu, 02/17/2011 - 11:59am

I think student are right here they have right to get education by qualified teachers. When they are paying for education then college authority should think to provide them qualified teachers.

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