Personal Info
- First NameBenLast NameHeroldOrganizational AffiliationBioBenjamin Herold has spent the last ten years focusing on the experiences of children and families in Philadelphia public schools as a researcher, freelance journalist, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. He has been involved with The Notebook since 2002 as a volunteer, editorial board member, and writer. After twelve years living in his adopted hometown, he's still not sure if he loves how beautiful this city is more than he hates how busted it is.
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More by Benjamin Herold
Friday charter hearing cancelled
Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 16:00 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
The School Reform Commission has cancelled its scheduled Friday meeting about possible renewals for some charter schools.
With the District's finances in a state of crisis, the SRC last month postponed votes on more than a dozen renewals recommended by District staff, as well as an unspecified number of charter modification requests.
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It's not clear schools will open without AVI, Knudsen says
Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 22:09 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks
Without the help of City Council, the District won’t be able to open all its schools in September, Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen told the School Reform Commission on Tuesday night.
At issue is Mayor Nutter’s proposed change to how city property taxes are assessed. The so-called Actual Value Initiative would yield desperately needed revenue for the District, but has met opposition in Council and among some neighborhood groups.
“Were we not to get the $94 million from the AVI initiative, it isn’t clear that we could, in fact, open schools this fall,” Knudsen said. “We would have to make very deliberate choices.”
Listen to reporter Benjamin Herold's radio report for WHYY.
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SRC holds first hearing on budget
Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 14:43 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
Update: Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen says that without the additional $94 million from the city through a change in property assessments -- the so-called Actual Value Initiative -- some schools may not be able to open in September.
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Creighton supporters stave off charter conversion - for now
Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Thu, 04/19/2012 - 23:18 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks
Responding to passionate support from parents, community members, and teachers for an “outside-the-box” plan to keep Thomas Creighton Elementary under District control, the School Reform Commission decided Thursday evening to delay a planned vote to convert Creighton into a Renaissance charter.
“I agree with my colleagues that we should table this motion at this point,” said Commissioner Wendell Pritchett.
“We have a lot of schools to turn around, and we need to take advantage of every opportunity to engage with our teachers to do that.”
Listen to Benjamin Herold's radio report for WHYY from Thursday night's meeting.
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19 high-performing District schools to expand
Submitted by Benjamin Herold on Tue, 04/17/2012 - 14:50 Posted in Latest news | Permalink
by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks
The District will add 2,272 seats across 19 high-performing traditional public schools beginning next September, officials announced Tuesday.
“This lets the city of Philadelphia know that the District is investing in the growth of high-quality, high-performing school options,” said Penny Nixon, chief academic officer.
A total of 1,802 seats will be added in 11 high schools, all of which are either special admission or citywide admission schools. In six elementary and two middle schools, 470 seats will be added. All of the schools are highly rated, with scores of 3 or better on the District’s 10-point School Performance Index (SPI) scale. On that scale, 1 is the top score.
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Philadelphia Education blogs
These are some education blogs from Philadelphia. We're still building our blog roll, please contact us if you have a blog you think should be on our list.
- After the Return
- The After School Hip Hop Project
- The Blacktop
- Building a (great) School
- Chalk and Talk
- City School Stories
- Childwatch!
- Coach G's Teaching Tips
- Divided We Educate
- Education Voters PA
- A Good Day Teaching
- The Hall Monitor
- Keystone State Education Coalition
- Knowing Henry
- Jerry's Blog (Philadelphia Federation of Teachers)
- Language & Literacy for All
- Making the Grade
- Office of Teaching and Unlearning
- Parents United for Public Education
- Parkway Peace and Social Justice Blog
- Philly Publics go Public
- Philly School Files
- Philly School Search
- Philadelphia School Stories
- Philadelphia Student Union blog
- Philly Education Justice
- Philly Teacher
- Philly Teacher Talks
- Practical Theory
- Random Acts of Literacy
- Research for Action blog
- This Year at Jenks
- To and Through (Philadelphia)
- A Very Public Education
- The Workshop blog
- A Year in the Life of a Teacher
Notebook Chatter
I've never been so moved by a post.
-- Anonymous responding to Commentary: You're not speaking to me, Mr. Knudsend
Philadelphia blogs
These are some sites from Philadelphia. We're still building our blog roll, please contact us if you have a blog you think should be on our list.
- Green Jobs Philly
- Green Sanctuary Earth Institute of Pennsylvania
- It's Our City
- It's Our Money
- Media Mobilizing Project
- Metropolis
- NewsWorks
- Philadelphia Independent Media Center
- Philly Future
- PhillyNow
- Plan Philly
- 'Round About Now
- Sam's Parlor
- Skyline Online
- A Smoke-Filled Room
- Technically Philly
- Urban Direction
- Voice of Philadelphia
- Young Philly Politics
Education blogs
These are some of our favorite education blogs
Want to see another voice included? Please contact us if you have a blog you think should be on our list.
- Catalyst Notebook
- Center for College Affordability and Productivity
- Charter Blog, The
- Core Knowledge Blog, The
- D-Ed Reckoning
- Defending Public Education in Detroit
- Dewey21C
- Dallas ISD
- District 299: The Chicago Schools Blog
- EarlyStories
- Edspresso
- The Educated Reporter
- Education Week Blogs
- Education for the Aughts: Matthew K. Tabor
- Eduwonk
- EdVox
- Edwize
- Forum for Education and Democracy
- From the newsroom to the classroom...
- Gotham Schools
- High School Soup
- InsideEd
- Inside Pre-K
- Joanne Jacobs
- NYC Educator
- National Schools Board Association Blog
- Paul Tough: Whatever It Takes
- Perimeter Primate
- Quick and the ED, The
- School of Blog
- Schools Matter
- Small Talk
- Smart Solutions K-12
- Spiral Notebook Blog
- Susan Ohanian
- Swift and Change Able
- Teachers Count blog
- This Week in Education
