School closures as a civil rights struggle

Submitted by Ron Whitehorne on Tue, 02/05/2013 - 16:49 Posted in Commentary | Permalink

Across the country and here in Philadelphia, schools are being closed, schools that are disproportionally concentrated in poor communities of color and that serve urban students with the greatest needs.

Chicago is the most dramatic example. African American students make up 42 percent of the school population but nearly all of the enrollment at schools that are being closed or phased out.  

In Philadelphia, both last year’s school closings and the current planned closures reflect this pattern. While 55 percent of the overall student population is African American, 79 percent of the students in schools projected to close are African American.

Proposed closings hit Black students most

Submitted by Paul Socolar on Thu, 01/10/2013 - 19:02 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

Proposed school closings and relocations will disproportionately affect Black students in the District, based on District data analyzed by the Notebook and displayed below.

About 15,000 students attend the 43 District schools being closed or relocated. Of those, 79 percent are African American. Only 55 percent of the District's students overall are African American.

Nearly three-fourths of these 43 schools being closed or relocated have student populations that are 80 percent or more African American. More than a dozen of the proposed school closings and relocations are in predominantly Black North Philadelphia, where many of the school buildings are both aging and underutilized.

SRC considers consultant report; more school closings to come

by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in October 2012 Edition | Permalink

Last fall, the District was weighing a consultant report that recommended closing 26 schools.

Now, the SRC is weighing another report that recommends closing about twice that many schools by the next school year.

Last spring, after a months-long process, the School Reform Commis­sion voted to close just eight. Now, facing huge funding shortfalls and com­mitted to continued charter growth, the District says it must be more aggressive this time and close 29 to 57 schools – possibly as many as 50 of them this year.

What federal civil rights data says about Philadelphia

Submitted by Guest blogger on Tue, 04/03/2012 - 17:42 Posted in Community voices | Permalink

This guest blog post comes from Harold Jordan, Notebook board chair and staff member at ACLU of Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) recently released comprehensive data about the educational opportunity offered to the nation’s public school students. Known as the Civil Rights Data Collection, this dataset draws from a national survey of 72,000 schools serving 85 percent of the nation’s public school students during the 2009-2010 school year. The data include a profile of the School District of Philadelphia, which paints a disturbing picture, especially in the areas of discipline and the equitable assignment of experienced teachers.