It is with real sadness that we are saying goodbye to Dr. Chris McGinley as a member of the Board of Education. I had the privilege of co-chairing the Student Achievement Committee with Dr. McGinley, and it proved to be an invaluable experience. As a career educator from a family of career educators, Dr. McGinley…
Safeguard Education and Don’t Let Coronavirus Force Budget Cuts Doha Ibrahim, Student Representative on the Philadelphia Board of Education, Lincoln High School Class of 2020 Imere Williams, Student Representative on the Philadelphia Board of Education, Boys Latin Charter School Class of 2020 We are members of the class of 2020. In the last few…
By: Julia Danzy and Mallory Fix Lopez are members of Philadelphia’s Board of Education and co-chair the Board’s District Partnerships and Community Engagement Committee (Also posted in The Notebook: Board members urge public participation in virtual meetings) Recently a school counselor reached out to share some of the challenges his school is facing during…
As I hope by now everyone knows, the Board is committed to assuring that each and every student in the city of Philadelphia receives a world-class education that is beyond compare. And we are taking steps to make that happen. However, as a District responsible for almost 204,000 students and thousands of staff, first and…
As we are tasked with the mission of educating students, I deeply thank our teachers for their creativity and perseverance in keeping that going under such unusual circumstances. I know it’s the Board’s intention to make sure that, in the absence of access to our buildings, the learning and ancillary support services can continue, with…
I want to take a moment to acknowledge how difficult these last several weeks have been for our communities and our city, and to thank the District, our educators, and our school and city staff for everything they are doing to support and educate our children. As a grandmother of school-age children, I have seen…
This crisis is a wake-up call. We should be outraged that our most vulnerable communities and children are at most risk as a result of the coronavirus crisis and school closures, and that the achievement gap will likely widen during this time. We should be more outraged because, despite the new crisis, this is not…
These are scary times for all of us who have been impacted by school closures due to the COVID-19 virus. Dealing with so many unknowns can sometimes seem overwhelming. It can cause us to fear our continued existence, create stress in our homes and add to the trauma that so many of our children and…
I know that the lives of every single person in the city changed abruptly on March 16 when schools were closed, and parents were left to figure out how to adjust. Every day I wake up thinking that so many of our parents are essential workers who are reporting to hospitals, grocery stores, shipping companies,…
Doha Ibrahim is a senior at Lincoln High School. She is also involved in Philadelphia’s Citywide Student Government, sits on the Superintendent Advisory Board and runs her own business, Doha Photography. Read Doha’s interview below to learn more about her and her interest in being a Student Board Representative for the 2019-2020 school year. Q:…