September 9, 2013
Today is my daughter's first day of high school. The last school she attended she had attended for 10 years, and she graduated as one of 17 kids. My husband and I let her choose which high school she wanted to attend and she chose Central High School, a Philadelphia public magnet school. I was both elated and concerned about her choice. I was proud of her for choosing a wonderful free school with an incredibly rich history and record of high academic achievement, but I was concerned about the size of the school (2400), the amount of homework (which is legendary), and more recently, the state of the school given the debilitating budget cuts to the Philadelphia School District. My daughter, to her credit, was unwavering about her choice. She had picked the school by no small margin and she was up to the challenge, despite the cut in counselors, support staff, sports and music, and who knows what else.
Meanwhile, I am on a listserve from the Home and School Association that says the school will need money, volunteers (maybe to answer phones, maybe with the library, maybe to help seniors with college applications) and a lot of supplies including copy paper. For months the listserve has kept me up to date on the protest marches, the meetings with the mayor and governor, the letter and newspaper campaigns, all to get more money for this floundering school district. Yesterday there was a candlelight vigil that some said was to mourn the death of Philadelphia schools.
My daughter is lucky that if she needs to go to a private school, she has the grades and scores to get in and we probably have the means to send her. But what of everyone without the means? What of all the other families, many of whom are talking about selling their houses and moving out of the city? Isn't the death of Philly schools really the death of Philadelphia as a city for families?
I am looking forward to seeing my daughter after school today. I hope she still has the light in her eyes that she had this morning.
