Focus on The Notebook's First Decade
Summer 2004 Vol. 11 No. 4
The Notebook published our first edition ten years ago with the hope that a newspaper could "fit into the picture of a school system ready for bold change," as our first editorial stated. In this tenth anniversary issue, we look at the challenges that continue to face the School District as well as the strides that have been made by persistent and committed community members.
With a vision of school change, parents and teachers gave birth to a newspaper
by Helen Gym
In the beginning, what the founders of the Philadelphia Public School Notebook hoped to achieve might best be described as providing some “‘Ah-ha!' moments.”
“We would have these discussions about what we wanted the paper to look like and accomplish,” recalled co-founder Myrtle L. Naylor. “And we thought that when it got into the hands of parents and teachers and students, they would pick it up and have an ‘Ah-ha!'moment and say, ‘Let's get organized and do something about this.'”
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More in this edition
Parents need more than good intentions from schools
by Debbie Wei
This article is reprinted from the Fall 1997 issue of the Notebook.
I was volunteering in Chinatown one day interviewing parents who wanted to register their children for an afterschool program run by a community organization. The questions were basic enough: How many children? How old? Why do you want your child in this program?
Across the room I watched another interview taking place. Something in the face of the mother responding to the questions stopped me.
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How do we stop the breakdown of the school as a community?
by Ben Lariccia
This article by a Philadelphia teacher was written nine years ago for the Winter 1995 issue of the Notebook.
Violence in the schools is a topic receiving a lot of media coverage these days - shooting in the hallways, assaults on the play-grounds, vandalism against school property. Commissions at every level have been formed to address the problem.
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Table of Contents
Theme articles
- Racial equity lawsuit enters new phase by Beandrea Davis
- Parents still struggling for a seat at the table by Beandrea Davis
- Fifty years after Brown, same issues still confront Philadelphia by Eva Travers
- Parents need more than good intentions from schools by Debbie Wei
- Fed up with gay-bashing: how one student responds
- A voice for inclusion: why multicultural education? by Germaine Ingram
- How do we stop the breakdown of the school as a community? by Ben Lariccia
- Sustaining test score gains requires good teaching, not skill and drill by Jolley Bruce Christman
- With a vision of school change, parents and teachers gave birth to a newspaper by Helen Gym
- 1994-2004: A turbulent decade, a decade of activism in Philadelphia's schools
Other news & features
- Contract talks bring out views on 'site selection' by Beandrea Davis
- There's no deficit this year, but enrollment losses cause cutbacks by Paul Socolar
- With boom in 'alternative' schools, questions raised about their impact by Paul Socolar
Cartoon
- Summer 2004 cartoon
- A decade of Notebook cartoons by Eric Joselyn
In our opinion
- Still ready for bold change
From our readers
- Credit due on Feltonville school project
- Free private tutoring an option for low-achieving students
- District high school reform plan is positive step
Eye on special education
- Special education: bastion of apartheid by Hana Sabree
Activism around the city
- Students continue push for smaller schools
- Title I funds returned to neediest schools
- Summer conference for education activists
Neighborhood Notebook
- In Northeast Philly, they are fighting for fair funding by Amy Rhodes
School snapshot
- Hunter Elementary School
News in brief
- Thousands of students face mandatory summer classes
- Charter school enrollment continues to climb
- Community meetings held on school construction plans
En español
- Demanda histórica entra en nueva fase por Beandrea Davis
- Con la visión de un cambio en las escuelas, padres, maestros crearon un periódico por Helen Gym
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