Anthony West
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:39:06 -0700
There seem to be two kinds of SD finagles: statutory finagles, in which a particular school or set of schools is conferred with special exceptions to achieve system-wide missions (e.g., desegregation or specialized programing); and "petty-cash" finagles, in which a principal uses vague administrative powers to authorize certain students' papers without much of an audit.
Viewed from the consumer's end, there are also two kinds of SD finagles: ones in which you are aided by SD insiders, and those in which you trick SD insiders. In other words, sometimes public-education consumers cheat in order to get their children a good education.
I don't know any research on educational finagling, but I am sympathetic to it because I suspect it often is the poor family's last resource. So I'm not about busting it right now. I bet it benefits working-class West Philadelphians more than it does the scions of the professoriate.
-- Tony West Wilma de Soto wrote:
Apparently SOMEONE voted or finagled politically to have areas that are in Alexander Wilson's 'catchment area' be eligible to attend Samuel Powel instead before Penn Alexander was built and NOW be eligible to attend Penn Alexander. Only part of the former Powel exception area, which you have acknowledged is in another part of the district, got the green light to go to Penn Alexander. As a 20+ year Employee of the School District of Philadelphia, there has ALWAYS been finagling of 'catchment areas', usually known as "school boundaries". The squeaky wheels, the ins and those who wield power usually get what they want. The rest are stuck with the traditional school boundary and feeder areas. That is classic Philadelphia politics for those who know the ropes and how to manipulate them.
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