Re: [UC] fwd: The kindergarten queue (from Westphillylocal.com)
Kathleen, We need a Marshall plan for our public education system. The charade about privatization and lazy teachers distracts from a real debate and teachable moment about the funding gap and evidence based interventions for impoverished communities. We give two billion dollars in aid to Egypt alone so that its dictatorship can oppress the people for the interests of multinational corporations. We have over 1000 permanent military bases in most countries on earth sucking up the wealth of our society. That is the real source of our problem as public education is under massive assault and the people are fed fake solutions and the need for austerity. Glenn On 1/27/2011 11:54 AM, Kathleen Turner wrote: The real source of the problem is that since Kindergarten is not mandatory in Pennsylvania (I don't think kids are actually required to attend school until they are 8, which is completely ridiculous) -- the schools are not really required to ensure space for them. If you do somehow get admission to another school for kindergarten, there is no transportation available. Kathleen On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 11:40 AM, krf...@aol.com mailto:krf...@aol.com wrote: In a message dated 1/27/2011 10:28:37 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, l...@verizon.net mailto:l...@verizon.net writes: We're not sure whether to laugh or cry after this ABC6 story about parents braving frigid temps to get their kids into Penn Alexander's kindergarten, which is capped at 50 students. We're happy that such a school exists (full disclosure: we have a child there) and that parents care so much about their child's education, but we're sad that they are so scared of the alternatives that they feel they have to sleep outside on the coldest night of the year to get in. This kind of stand-in-line, first-come-first-serve enrollment system obviously isn't sustainable. Penn Alexander, which prides itself on small classes, is filling up quick in the lower grades as parents move to the neighborhood (some before they even have children) looking for the Holy Grail of a nice urban neighborhood and a good public school. What makes matters worse is that, if you don't make it for your kid into the first 50, the Lea and Powell schools tell you you're not in their catchment areas so the best they'll do is put you at the end of their lists in case they have some empty spaces. Maybe... oh, this might be too much to ask... the School District could estimate how many kindergarten-age kids they have and figure out how to accommodate them. Or, is Ms Ackerman too busy counting her bonus money and collecting business cards from noncompetitively-priced contractors to worry about trivia such as educating children whose parents actually want them to get educations? *-* Alan Krigman KRF Management, ICON/Information Concepts Inc 211 S 45th St, Philadelphia PA 19104-2918 215-349-6500, fax 215-349-6502 krf...@aol.com mailto:krf...@aol.com or al.krig...@krf.icodat.com mailto:al.krig...@krf.icodat.com No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.872 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3406 - Release Date: 01/27/11 02:37:00
[UC] fwd: The kindergarten queue (from Westphillylocal.com)
This is interesting/crazy... LL The kindergarten queue 25 January 2011 We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry after this ABC6 story about parents braving frigid temps to get their kids into Penn Alexander’s kindergarten, which is capped at 50 students. We’re happy that such a school exists (full disclosure: we have a child there) and that parents care so much about their child’s education, but we’re sad that they are so scared of the alternatives that they feel they have to sleep outside on the coldest night of the year to get in. This kind of stand-in-line, first-come-first-serve enrollment system obviously isn’t sustainable. Penn Alexander, which prides itself on small classes, is filling up quick in the lower grades as parents move to the neighborhood (some before they even have children) looking for the Holy Grail of a nice urban neighborhood and a good public school. see ABC local news video here: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/localid=7916203
Re: [UC] fwd: The kindergarten queue (from Westphillylocal.com)
It IS interesting. Penn-Alexander School still links to the learning web site at my school which I co-authored with our tech teacher leader. I am the content person. Our school web site is one of the few in the district which hasn't been converted to a generic School District web site. There ARE other good public schools in Philadelphia, but parents do what they have to do. From: Linda Lee l...@verizon.net Reply-To: Linda Lee l...@verizon.net Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:27:48 -0500 To: UnivCity listserv UnivCity@list.purple.com Subject: [UC] fwd: The kindergarten queue (from Westphillylocal.com) This is interesting/crazy... LL The kindergarten queue http://www.westphillylocal.com/2011/01/25/the-kindergarten-queue/ 25 January 2011 We¹re not sure whether to laugh or cry after this ABC6 story about parents braving frigid temps to get their kids into Penn Alexander¹s kindergarten, which is capped at 50 students. We¹re happy that such a school exists (full disclosure: we have a child there) and that parents care so much about their child¹s education, but we¹re sad that they are so scared of the alternatives that they feel they have to sleep outside on the coldest night of the year to get in. This kind of stand-in-line, first-come-first-serve enrollment system obviously isn¹t sustainable. Penn Alexander, which prides itself on small classes, is filling up quick in the lower grades as parents move to the neighborhood (some before they even have children) looking for the Holy Grail of a nice urban neighborhood and a good public school. see ABC local news video here: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/localid=7916203
Re: [UC] fwd: The kindergarten queue (from Westphillylocal.com)
In a message dated 1/27/2011 10:28:37 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, l...@verizon.net writes: We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry after this ABC6 story about parents braving frigid temps to get their kids into Penn Alexander’s kindergarten, which is capped at 50 students. We’re happy that such a school exists (full disclosure: we have a child there) and that parents care so much about their child’s education, but we’re sad that they are so scared of the alternatives that they feel they have to sleep outside on the coldest night of the year to get in. This kind of stand-in-line, first-come-first-serve enrollment system obviously isn’t sustainable. Penn Alexander, which prides itself on small classes, is filling up quick in the lower grades as parents move to the neighborhood (some before they even have children) looking for the Holy Grail of a nice urban neighborhood and a good public school. What makes matters worse is that, if you don't make it for your kid into the first 50, the Lea and Powell schools tell you you're not in their catchment areas so the best they'll do is put you at the end of their lists in case they have some empty spaces. Maybe... oh, this might be too much to ask... the School District could estimate how many kindergarten-age kids they have and figure out how to accommodate them. Or, is Ms Ackerman too busy counting her bonus money and collecting business cards from noncompetitively-priced contractors to worry about trivia such as educating children whose parents actually want them to get educations? - Alan Krigman KRF Management, ICON/Information Concepts Inc 211 S 45th St, Philadelphia PA 19104-2918 215-349-6500, fax 215-349-6502 krf...@aol.com or al.krig...@krf.icodat.com
Re: [UC] fwd: The kindergarten queue (from Westphillylocal.com)
The real source of the problem is that since Kindergarten is not mandatory in Pennsylvania (I don't think kids are actually required to attend school until they are 8, which is completely ridiculous) -- the schools are not really required to ensure space for them. If you do somehow get admission to another school for kindergarten, there is no transportation available. Kathleen On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 11:40 AM, krf...@aol.com wrote: In a message dated 1/27/2011 10:28:37 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, l...@verizon.net writes: We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry after this ABC6 story about parents braving frigid temps to get their kids into Penn Alexander’s kindergarten, which is capped at 50 students. We’re happy that such a school exists (full disclosure: we have a child there) and that parents care so much about their child’s education, but we’re sad that they are so scared of the alternatives that they feel they have to sleep outside on the coldest night of the year to get in. This kind of stand-in-line, first-come-first-serve enrollment system obviously isn’t sustainable. Penn Alexander, which prides itself on small classes, is filling up quick in the lower grades as parents move to the neighborhood (some before they even have children) looking for the Holy Grail of a nice urban neighborhood and a good public school. What makes matters worse is that, if you don't make it for your kid into the first 50, the Lea and Powell schools tell you you're not in their catchment areas so the best they'll do is put you at the end of their lists in case they have some empty spaces. Maybe... oh, this might be too much to ask... the School District could estimate how many kindergarten-age kids they have and figure out how to accommodate them. Or, is Ms Ackerman too busy counting her bonus money and collecting business cards from noncompetitively-priced contractors to worry about trivia such as educating children whose parents actually want them to get educations? * -* Alan Krigman KRF Management, ICON/Information Concepts Inc 211 S 45th St, Philadelphia PA 19104-2918 215-349-6500, fax 215-349-6502 krf...@aol.com or al.krig...@krf.icodat.com
