‘WE SAY NO’
Protesters target privatization of Chester Upland schools:
MEDIA » State Sen. Anthony Williams, D-8 of Philadelphia, whose district includes Delco towns, stood in front of the county courthouse Saturday and led a crowd of 50 in chanting, “Chester profiteers, we’re coming for you!”
On Saturday, the parents and teachers of the Chester Upland School District and Delco Resists held an Educational Equity Rally outside the Media Courthouse on the heels of bids being submitted to the Delaware County Common Pleas Court for the private takeover of the district’s schools. In addition to Williams, state Sens. Tim Kearney, D-26 of Swarthmore and John Kane, D-9 of Birmingham who has an office in Chester, also attended.
The participants were calling for equitable distribution of education funds and a meaningful adherence to the Fair Funding Formula, rather than carving the Chester Upland schools out to private companies. The Pennsylvania Legislature passed the Fair Funding Formula in 2016; however, it only applied to new funds.
“It is the dumbest, I mean absolute dumb and dumber, to think that selling a public school entity would improve the quality of public education,” Williams said. “The dumbest ... Public education is not just a tool, it is a survival kit and if it is not properly run - or funded - it fails everybody ... So, if somebody tells you there’s not enough money to fund something, then how do you sell a used car and think it’s going to run better on less money?
“Where does the logic ever exist in a space that you privatize as something as sacred as public education in this country?” the senator asked, citing the national value of public education. “Now, we’ve decided to turn our back from that commitment as a nation and as a state and clearly turn our back on that in Chester.”
Williams warned that this was an issue for all communities.
“It’s about any child, anywhere in Pennsylvania,” he said. “The same thing will happen to them. That means if it happens in Chester, look over your shoulder for a privatized school, for profit, coming to your community. That’s what this means ... We say no. You will not sell my children.”
The senator spoke to historical context of putting a dollar amount on people.
“When you decide that you are going to sell a system which is driven by the individual child’s value, that reminds people like me who grew up in the ‘60s and knew a lot about what slavery meant ... this is not a bridge,” Williams said, “this is a direct correlation
about we’re still looking at people in an inferior way. We’re still allowing for the perception that if you’re poor in this country, if you’re Black and brown in this country, if you’re white and poor in this country, you are less than and therefore, we can do what we want to you when we want to do it.”
Up to seven potential bidders may have submitted bids to the court after Common Pleas Judge Barry Dozor approved a process that allowed the district schools to be opened to outsourced management as part of a recovery plan associated with the district’s Financial Recovery Status under Act 141 of 2012.
The Chester Community Charter School is of the bidders that submitted a proposal that includes a plan to convert Main Street Elementary School to the “Main Street Academy for Entrepreneurship at Chester Community Charter School,” and to convert the Chester Upland School for the Arts to the “Performing and Visual Arts Academy at Chester Community Charter School.” CCCS already educates about 4,300 pupils in the district and more than half the elementary students in CUSD,
Receiver Juan Baughn Saturday declined comment.
Chester activist A. Jean Arnold said the Chester Upland School District has been plagued for many years with inadequate funding and low academic achievement.
“In my heart,” she said, “(I) do not believe that the current solution that the school district is facing in Chester is the dissection of our district and the distribution of our components to a variety of bidders. In your heart, I believe you know that this solution will not result in a transformation of our district where our students thrive and are ready for the 21st century.”
Toby Farms eighthgrade teacher Theresa Ebersole said those in attendance want a voice in decisions made for the students and for accountable systems that do right for the students.
“Our kids deserve careful planning, not to be sold out to the lowest bidder,” she said. “Our kids deserve to benefit from a Fair Funding Formula and giving locally controlled schools a fair shot at making it work and being accountable to students and families.”
Chester High student Elaijah Stevenson had a letter read at the rally as she was taking tests at Delaware County Community College.
A STEM student who is in AP and honors classes, she said, “Our schools do what they can with the little funding they do receive ... We need more funding. If our district had the money to pay for everything it needs, there would be no academic failure.”
Kendell Simmons of Delco Resists talked about what it’s like for Chester Upland students.
“The systems that prepare our students, our teachers, our families for the future are failing in ways that are very, very present and visible now,” he said. “You have students that are sitting in schools wearing their jackets in the winter. You have students who don’t have an air-conditioning in the summer so they’re sitting there sweating and they don’t really have any options.”
He said people need systems that support their success.
“We are living, breathing people telling you that our students, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters matter and they need education that will put them into a position where they can change the world they live in, instead of becoming another statistic just to be sold away like another investment,” he said. “How many kids are never going to get their shot to become a doctor at all because their system didn’t work for them? You can say, ‘They need to work as hard as they can to get through it’ but if you need to jump more hurdles than the people around you, more hurdles that the people that are two blocks away in a different school district ... you’re not going to have the fair shot that they have.”
In the past seven years, the school district has had four receivers and three chief recovery officers and there have been four recovery plans since 2012. The district has experienced significant turnover of executive leadership, principals, teachers and students.
In June, Dozor ordered the district Receiver to submit a revised Financial Recovery Plan to assess the district’s current financial situation, identify challenges and provide a plan to achieve financial viability. Part of that plan included opening up the Chester Upland Schools to outsourcing.
The proposals submitted this week will be distributed to a task force for evaluation, which could take about a month and would include public presentations.