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Mismanaging Education in Philadelphia
Business as Usual
By Junious Ricardo Stanton
A good friend of
mine asked me if I was going to write anything about
Philadelphia School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s
ouster and buyout? I told him I didn’t know the behind
the scenes players, the movers or the political dynamics
of what happened to comment knowledgeably on it. But the
more we discussed it and several other Philadelphia
related issues, the clearer the situation became;
irrespective of not knowing who was in the room, who
approved the deals or who put up the private sector
money to sweeten the buy out package for Ackerman. The
one thing that is crystal clear in all of this is,
educating the children of Philadelphia was not the
motivating factor.
Education in the
United States is big business. That’s all you need to
know to discern the real motives behind Ackerman’s
ouster. The Philadelphia School District funnels
billions of dollars of revenue in the form of
procurement and purchases, contracts, building
construction, rents, leases and salaries. It’s not about
educating children especially in a system that is poor,
predominately black and brown.
The latest census
figures for Philadelphia reveal the city has 1,517,550
people, 590,071 households with 352,272 families. Of
these 44% are African-American, 39% Euro-American, 12.5%
Hispanic/Latino, 5.4% Asian, 4.7 other, 3.2 mixed and
less than one percent Native American and Pacific
Islander. The per capita income for the city was
$16,509. 22.9% of the population and 18.4% of families
were below the poverty line. 31.3% of those under the
age of 18 and 16.9% of those 65 and older were living
below the poverty line. While according to census data
the city has attracted 8,456 new residents, over the
past ten years Philadelphia also lost 81,810 whites. In
all probability the whites who exited had a higher per
capita income than many of the black and brown residents
who remained.
Looking at these
census figures, we can clearly discern Philadelphia is
not a city with a lot of wealthy residents. This means
the ruling elites, the business moguls, the financial
elites and power brokers feel no compunction ripping the
people off time and again to fatten their own wallets.
In fact they feel it is their appointed duty to fleece
the sheep and dog you out. The balance of power remains
just as it did when the city was founded centuries ago
with white males calling the shots, setting the economic
and social policy agendas to the detriment of all other
groups.
William Penn may have been kinder to the indigenous
inhabitants of the land than his European colonial
contemporaries, but in the end he still took their land.
This tradition continues unabated today. Whites or
their surrogates, determine how much money will be
spent, who gets the contracts, and the overall quality
of education in this city.
Blacks have risen
to administrative positions within the system; we are
principals, assistant principals, superintendents,
deputy superintendents and mayors. Nevertheless the
vortex of power, the economic power and opinion shaping
ability still remains in the hands of white males. The
proof of this pudding is the fact that Philadelphia has
had three African-American mayors yet the overall
economic climate for black businesses remained abysmal
during their tenure.
Much of that is our
fault because we think the white man’s ice is colder,
his water is wetter and his stuff don’t stink so we
habitually spend our money outside of our own community
like the brainwashed automatons we have been condition
to be. We don’t pool our resources, form banks, credit
unions or venture capital pools so we have no money for
commercial loans, economic development or land
acquisition in the neighborhoods where we reside. Our so
called “leadership” and brightest minds don’t advocate
for these things because their focus is exocentric
rather than ethnocentric. As a result we are totally
dependent upon the largess of others. If we don’t look
like them we are going to get the short end of the
stick.
So when an
Arlene Ackerman or anyone else comes into
Philadelphia and challenges the status quo, questions
the way things are done or dares to be fair and
inclusive in the way the economic pie is divided,
contracts are let, services procured and policies are
set, the good ol boy network leaps into action to derail
them to make sure there are no real changes in the way
business is done! Occasionally when pressured, the
local elites will toss a few crumbs our way, but most
times they merely rig the game or reconfigure it, so
they still come out on top. For example when Blacks
pushed for affirmative action and open access to
resources in the 1970s, white male elites responded by
declaring white women were “minorities” and gave them
the contracts and access! And this was at a time when
whites outnumbered people of color.
Ackerman had her problems many imposed externally
that she could not control, like a serious disinterest
in learning within the Black community, the bogus
No Child Let Behind policy put into effect by the
Bu$h administration without providing school districts
the funds to accomplish the goal and the drastic
political shift to the right with its focus on the
privatization of education. She also had to work with
the School Reform Commission (SRC) an entity created in
2001 by the state to essentiality take control of the
district from the citizens of Philadelphia under the
guise of fiscal and educational accountability. Under
the SRC some “progress” was made vis a vis standardized
test scores during Ackerman’s tenure but many questioned
the quality of the education the children were
receiving. As far as budget deficits go, the district,
the state, and the city have lengthy histories of
running deficits, that’s part of the game they play. So
why is this an issue for Ackerman now?
At the same time
though,
Ackerman turned off many of the rank and file
educators who saw the system becoming increasingly
dysfunctional under her watch. Many veteran teachers
retired rather than continue working under her. She
proved disloyal to people who tried to help her, who
watched her back which further isolated her and made her
easier prey for the jackals who wanted to retake control
of the system.
Then on cue, the
media mind control apparatus stepped up their attacks
on her. The newspapers demonized her for any and
everything she did. If you look up anything about her on
the Internet, you’ll see the spin doctors in the
corporate media put all the blame for the systems
failings on her, they questioned her integrity but
totally ignored the real issue, that in this country,
education is a propaganda process and a multi-billion
dollar enterprise that have nothing to do with
cultivating the latent talents of black and brown
children.
The crux of the
issue was contracts and money, not student safety or
success. When was the first or last time for that
matter, a white newspaper questioned why a white firm
got a major contract in Philadelphia for anything? Yet
when a Black person in a leadership position tries to be
inclusive it becomes an issue. So now that
Ackerman has been shown the door and given a golden
parachute, the Philadelphia elites, the movers and
shakers and their Negro surrogates will go through a
sham search process to “find” someone to take the reins
of the school district to ensure business goes on as
usual.
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Dr.
Arlene C. Ackerman, Superintendent of The
School District of Philadelphia since June
2008, has spent her entire career as a
fearless advocate for children and is a
national expert in raising student
achievement and closing the achievement gap
in large, urban school districts. Dr.
Ackerman brings nearly 40 years of expertise
as a career educator to Philadelphia and has
an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and
experience as a successful urban
superintendent. Dr. Ackerman has led school
reform movements in San Francisco,
Washington D.C., Seattle, and now
Philadelphia. . . . Dr. Ackerman’s
other work experiences include classroom
teacher at both the elementary and middle
school levels; principal at the middle
school level; Director, Upward Bound Program
for first generation college-bound students;
Director, Basic Skills Academy for At-Risk
High School Youth; Assistant Superintendent
for Special Services, Assistant
Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction
and Academic Achievement, and Deputy
Superintendent/Chief Academic Officer. . . . |
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Dr. Ackerman holds
a Doctorate and Master’s Degree from Harvard
University’s Graduate School of Education, a Master’s
Degree in Education Administration and Policy from
Washington University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in
Elementary Education from Harris Stowe State College.—Philadelphia
Schoools
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Ackerman blames
Nutter, union, and politics for her ouster—August
25, 201—By Jeff Gammage and Troy Graham—In her first
public comment since quitting as city school
superintendent, Arlene C. Ackerman blamed Mayor Nutter,
the teachers' union, and other political forces for her
removal, and said her troubles began when she refused to
overrule parents in favor of a politically connected
contractor.
"There are people
who wanted me to stay," she told Education Week, which
quoted Ackerman on its website Wednesday. "But if your
boss does not want to work with you, and they're willing
to pay you a million to step aside - that's how much
they don't want to work with you - then what can you
do?" Ackerman's forced resignation sparked a wild
session of the School Reform Commission on Wednesday, as
a pro-Ackerman crowd of more than 100 booed and shouted.
Speakers accused the board of "lynching" Ackerman.
The SRC members
made no statement and answered no questions about paying
Ackerman a $905,000 buyout, with $500,000 coming from
the district and $405,000 from anonymous donors. Efforts
to contact Ackerman were unsuccessful. She has not
responded to repeated requests for comment since her
buyout was announced Monday. Her attorney also could not
be reached. Speaking to Education Week, she did not
address criticism by union heads, government leaders,
teachers, and students who have described a
superintendency crippled by poor decisions and political
missteps, topped by an inability to compromise and a
management style that many took for arrogance. She did
shed new light on two incidents that helped speed her
undoing.
In June, confronted
with a disastrous $629 million budget gap, Ackerman
warned parents that full-day kindergarten faced
elimination. The mayor and other city leaders prepared
to storm Harrisburg to win new money. But at the last
minute, Ackerman announced that she had her own plan to
save kindergarten - undercutting Nutter's strategy with
state legislators. In the interview, Ackerman said the
mayor had asked her to put all-day kindergarten on the
chopping block because he wanted to use the potential
loss of the program as a bargaining chip with city and
state officials.—Philly
posted 29 August 2011
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Obama's America and the New
Jim Crow
By Michelle Alexander
There are
more African Americans under
correctional control
today--in prison or jail, on
probation or parole—than
were enslaved in 1850, a
decade before the Civil War
began. If you take into
account prisoners, a large
majority of African American
men in some urban areas,
like Chicago, have been
labeled felons for life.
These men are part of a
growing undercaste, not
class, caste—a group of
people who are permanently
relegated, by law, to an
inferior second-class
status. They can be denied
the right to vote,
automatically excluded from
juries, and legally
discriminated against in
employment, housing, access
to education and public
benefits—much
as their grandparents and
great-grandparents once were
during the Jim Crow era.—Michelle
Alexander,
The New Jim Crow |
/Michelle_Alexander Part
II Democracy Now
(Video)
Michelle Alexander Speaks At
Riverside Church
/
part
2 of 4 /
part 3 of 4 /
part 4 of 4
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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Life on Mars
By Tracy K. Smith
Tracy K. Smith, author of Life on Mars has been selected as the winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In its review of the book, Publishers Weekly noted the collection's "lyric brilliance" and "political impulses [that] never falter." A New York Times review stated, "Smith is quick to suggest that the important thing is not to discover whether or not we're alone in the universe; it's to accept—or at least endure—the universe's mystery. . . . Religion, science, art: we turn to them for answers, but the questions persist, especially in times of grief. Smith's pairing of the philosophically minded poems in the book’s first section with the long elegy for her father in the second is brilliant." Life on Mars follows Smith's 2007 collection, Duende, which won the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, the only award for poetry in the United States given to support a poet's second book, and the first Essence Literary Award for poetry, which recognizes the literary achievements of African Americans. The Body’s Question (2003) was her first published collection.
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The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story
of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government
By Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer
American democracy is informed by the 18th century’s most cutting edge thinking on society, economics, and government. We’ve learned some things in the intervening 230 years about self interest, social behaviors, and how the world works. Now, authors Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer argue that some fundamental assumptions about citizenship, society, economics, and government need updating. For many years the dominant metaphor for understanding markets and government has been the machine. Liu and Hanauer view democracy not as a machine, but as a garden. A successful garden functions according to the inexorable tendencies of nature, but it also requires goals, regular tending, and an understanding of connected ecosystems. The latest ideas from science, social science, and economics—the cutting-edge ideas of today—generate these simple but revolutionary ideas: (The economy is not an efficient machine. It’s an effective garden that need tending. Freedom is responsibility. Government should be about the big what and the little how. True self interest is mutual interest. |
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