262 school council members come aboard

Submitted by Paul Socolar on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 18:41 Posted in Breaking news | Permalink

In a reversal, the School District has announced that it is accepting all 262 individuals who applied by the March 9 deadline to serve on the School Advisory Councils at the 14 Renaissance Eligible schools.

The District is continuing to seek parent members for the councils at the eight schools where parents do not yet make up the requisite majority of the membership - Bluford, Daroff, Douglass, Smedley, Stetson, University City, Vaux, and West Philadelphia.

Comments (1)

A graphic account of South Philly violence

Submitted by Paul Socolar on Wed, 02/24/2010 - 10:41 Posted in Breaking news | Permalink

A retired federal judge's report, released on Tuesday, provides a lurid and troubling, almost blow-by-blow account of the violent attacks on Asian students at South Philadelphia High school on December 3.

The outside investigation by James T. Giles, now of the law firm Pepper Hamilton, was commissioned by the District. His report focuses on a series of violent incidents in and outside the school last December 2 and December 3, but did not attempt to examine the troubled history of Asian and immigrant students at the school prior to these incidents. Nor does it draw a conclusion about which of several versions of the events of December 2 is accurate.

The 37-page report (Click here to download the report in smaller sections.), which concludes with 15 recommendations for the school, was formally presented on Tuesday by Giles, joined by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who called on all parties to "move forward."

Some highlights from the report:

Comments (4)