From NBC:
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers organized the rally out front of the district headquarters at Broad Street and Spring Garden Avenue in the Spring Garden section of the city that began hours before the School Reform Commission was set to meet for the first time since it held a surprise meeting where the SRC canceled teacher contracts over an ongoing dispute about health care.
What's the essential, underlying problem with the Philadelphia school system? A buddy of mine says that well-off white people built a nice system that addressed their needs, but then abandoned the city for the suburbs, leaving Philadelphia to pick up the slack and to maintain an expensive system, on top of which, suburban whites complain of contributing any of their tax money to Philadelphia.
On top of that, DecarceratePA pointed out back in 2012 that our Governor Corbett wanted to spend nearly $700 million on new prisons while ignorig school needs.
Governor Corbett had an opportunity to explain his policies. Granted, he would have had to have spoken to a hostile crowd that blamed him for school budgets being so shrunken, but a serious politicin would have been up to the challenge.
And yes, parents were very much in solidarity with the teachers at the demonstration.
This morning parents stood on the steps at School District Headquarters and spoke out clearly against the SRC’s cancellation of the PFT contract. Parent leaders from all over the city made clear they understand the sacrifices teachers have and continue to make for their children and stand with them.
