School Closings Tool Kitdramatic cuts in services and resources for children and deplorable conditions in our ... Step 1 meeting ... editorials), are longer form opinion pieces written

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School Closings Tool Kit: Table of Contents

Why is your school closing……………………………….3

5 Steps to Fighting School Closure……………………..4

o Organize A School Wide Meeting………………….5

o Reach Out to the Community …..………………….6

o Get Media Attention………………………………..7-9

o Plan an Event to Raise Awareness………………..10

o Attend Community Hearings on Closings……..11-12

Talking Points …………………………………………….13-14

Petition For Supporters ……………………..……………15

Additional Support……………………………………..…..16

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School Closings Tool Kit

Background on School Closings

The School Reform Commission (SRC), 5 appointed representatives by Governor

Corbett & Mayor Nutter, hired an outside consulting firm for $4.4 million known as the

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to develop a plan for the future of Philadelphia public

schools. There were various recommendations outlined in this report. Some of these

included closing up to 64 schools across Philadelphia, privatizing the public school

system as we know it, and expanding charter schools.

At the same time, some of the wealthiest people and organizations in and outside of

Philadelphia are making the case that money should not go to schools in our

neighborhoods. Instead they would like to privatize the school system despite failed

attempts to improve student achievement with similar models. This is a business deal

not an education reform model.

Our schools have been forced to operate under severe budget cuts, which have caused

dramatic cuts in services and resources for children and deplorable conditions in our

schools.

For these reasons your school has been slated to close at the end of this school year.

Who is fighting back to invest in our schools?

The Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS) is comprised of

students, parents and teachers with an unwavering commitment to improving

Philadelphia’s school system.

At its heart, this discussion about the future of our schools is a discussion about

fairness. We want all Philadelphia schools – whether public or charter – to be

adequately funded based on their need. We believe that all schools should be held to

the same standard.

PCAPS believes this is an opportunity for everyone with a stake in Philadelphia’s public

education system – students, parents, teachers and other school staff members,

advocates, elected officials, the SRC and others – to refocus on a single goal: improving

every school.

Contact PCAPS to have an organizer from our coalition come to your school to

help.

Email Us at [email protected] or call 267.908.4201

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School Closings Tool Kit: 5 Steps to Fighting School Closing

BEFORE YOU BEGIN ORGANZING THE FIGHT TO KEEP YOUR SCHOOL OPEN,

CONTACT PCAPS TO HAVE AN ORGANIZER ASSIST YOU.

PCAPS Contact: [email protected] or call 267.908.4201

• Organize a school wide meeting Step 1

• Reach out to parents, school staff, students, community (BUILD A LIST)

Step 2

• Write a Letter to the Editor

• Write an Opinion Editorial Step 3

• Plan an event to raise awareness Step 4

• Attend ALL community hearings on school closings Step 5

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School Closings Tool Kit: 5 Steps to Fighting School Closing

STEP 1: Organizing A School Wide Meeting

Set a date and time

Decide and reserve a location that is good for everyone (try

to host it at your school if possible)

Develop an agenda for the meeting

Outreach to a broad range of people (see page 7)

Publicize the meeting and the purpose

o Pass out flyers

o Make signs

o Email the information to other parents, teachers,

students you have contact information for

Get a list of names and phone numbers of everyone who

plans to attend the meeting

Make reminder phone calls to everyone on the list the day

before the meeting

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School Closings Tool Kit: 5 Steps to Fighting School Closing

Step 2: Reach Out to the School & Surrounding Community

Types of Organizations for Outreach

Name of

Group or

Leader

Invited to

School

Meeting?

Are They

Confirmed

to Attend?

Community Organizations

What community organizations are important in our area (e.g., service clubs, senior citizen groups, non-profits, low-income advocacy groups)?

Parent Organizations

What active parent organizations operate in our school or community?

Issue or Advocacy Groups

What organizations advocate for specific issues (e.g., healthcare, public services, voting rights)?

Churches, Religious Groups, Religious Leaders

What are the main religious organizations and individual leaders in the community?

Do parents or school staff attend a nearby church? Could they invite their congregation?

Civil Rights Groups

What civil rights groups (e.g., NAACP, Urban League, Latino organizations) are active and influential?

Student Organizations

What active student organizations operate on campus or afterschool?

Businesses Groups/For-Profit Companies

What are the small businesses near our school that should know about this? Who has supported the school in the past?

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School Closings Tool Kit: 5 Steps to Fighting School Closing

Step 3: Write an Opinion Editorial or Letter to the Editor

Op-Eds vs. Letters-to-the-Editor (LTEs)

Guest Op-Eds (so named because they are often placed “opposite” of the newspapers’ editorials), are longer form opinion pieces written by members of the public with expertise in a given field. They usually run between 500 and 700 words.

Letters-to-the-editor are shorter commentaries on a subject that has been in the news in the previous days or weeks. In most cases, LTEs are crafted as a response or comment related to a specific article that ran in the paper. They usually run approximately 200 words.

Advice for submitting an op-ed piece or LTE:

Get the Facts. Successful op-eds cannot rely on emotion or generalizations – they

must also include a series of provable facts as the foundation for the author’s argument.

Be Provocative. Expressing an opinion and backing it up with a series of well-thought-

out facts is only one – albeit, an important one – part of submitting a guest opinion piece. Successful op-eds will also introduce readers to a new way of thinking about a topic that has been in the news (and in many cases, has already been widely discussed).

The Importance of Copy-Editing. Those submitting op-eds should have someone else

– preferably someone with writing experience – copyedit the piece once it is drafted. In addition to judging guest pieces on the strength of the argument and uniqueness of the writer’s perspective, newspaper editors will also take into consideration the skill with which the piece is written. Typos and spelling errors can quickly eliminate a piece from consideration.

Prove Your Expertise. The op-eds and LTEs that carry the most weight are those

written by “experts” – people with extensive experience (through work, study or service) with the subject matter of the piece. Make sure that the paper to which you’re submitting the piece knows why you are an expert in a given field. If you’re a student, you simply

need to state where you go to school and why you have a stake in public education.

Tailor Your Piece to Your Audience. Always consider your chosen publication’s audience. If you’re writing predominantly about South Philadelphia, for instance, your piece is probably better suited for the South Philly Review than the Philadelphia Inquirer. However, if what you’re writing has relevance to the City of Philadelphia as a whole, the Inquirer or Daily News may be the best option for you. And never submit your piece to

more than one publication at a time. (Continued onto next page)

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School Closings Tool Kit: 5 Steps to Fighting School Closing

For any submission, you must include your full name, mailing address, telephone number and email address (if you have one). Newspapers will want to verify that you are the author of the submitted piece.

If you do not receive a response to your submission after three days, follow-up with the publication via phone call to ensure that they received your piece and would consider it for publication.

For assistance writing, editing or fact-checking your op-ed or letter-to-the-editor, please contact Kirk Dorn ([email protected]), Laura Frank ([email protected]) or John McDonald ([email protected]) at Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy, the communications firm assisting PCAPS. You can also reach them by phone at (215) 735-6760.

Philadelphia Inquirer Guest op-eds: Yes Word Count: 500-800 Send to: [email protected] Deadline: Daily paper, no deadlines. Letters to the Editor: Yes Word Count: 200 words or less Send to: [email protected] Philadelphia Daily News Guest op-eds: Yes Word Count: Approximately 500 words Send to: [email protected] Deadline: Daily paper, no deadlines. Letters to the Editor: Yes Word Count: 200 words or less Send to: [email protected] Philadelphia Tribune Guest op-eds: Yes Word Counts: 500-700 Send to: [email protected] Deadline: No deadlines. Letters to the Editor: Yes Word Count: None (but plan to limit the LTE to 200-300 words) Send to: [email protected]

South Philadelphia Review (215) 336-2500 Letters to the Editor: Yes Word Count: None Send to: [email protected] Southwest Globe Times (215) 727-7777 Guest op-eds: Yes Word Count: 400-500 max Send to: [email protected] Deadline: Tuesday 5pm Germantown Chronicle (215) 438-4000 Guest op-eds: Yes Word Count: 500-700 words Send to: Scott Alloway, Managing Editor [email protected] Deadline: Friday Letters to the Editor: Yes Word Count: 200 Send to: Scott Alloway, Managing Editor [email protected]

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Spirit Newspapers (215) 423-6246 Covers Fishtown, Kensington, Port Richmond, Northern Liberties, Old City, Spring Garden, Fairmount, Brewerytown Guest op-eds: Yes Word Count: None Send to: [email protected] Deadline: Friday Letters to the Editor: Yes Word Count: None Send to: [email protected] Deadline: Friday Al Dia (215) 569 4666 Guest op-eds: Yes – Preferably in Spanish Word Count: 500-520 Send to: Editor Sabrina Vourvoulias, [email protected] Deadline: Tuesday Letters to the Editor: Yes – Preferably in Spanish Word Count: None Send to: Editor Sabrina Vourvoulias, [email protected]

El Sol 215-424-1200 Guest op-eds: Yes – Preferably in Spanish Word Count: None Send to: Editor Sanni Gutierrez, [email protected] Deadlines: None Letters to the Editor: Yes – Preferably in Spanish Word Count: None Send to: Editor Sanni Gutierrez, [email protected] El Hispano Guest op-eds: Yes – Preferably in Spanish Word Count None: Send to: Executive Editor Aaron Lopez, [email protected] Deadlines: Tuesday morning Letters to the Editor: Yes – Preferably in Spanish Word Count None: Send to: Executive Editor Aaron Lopez, [email protected]

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School Closings Tool Kit: 5 Steps to Fighting School Closing

Step 4: Raise Awareness Candle Light Vigil A candlelight vigil is an event where people gather, light candles, and show their support. Invite as many people as you can who care about saving our schools to show up at a specific place and time. Remind everyone to bring a candle with them. If you are organizing this event you should bring extra candles, lighters and paper cups to hold the candles and catch dripping wax. This is a good event to invite the media to. Informational Leafleting

Leafleting is a great strategy for outreach and education. One person can hand out hundreds of leaflets in a short amount of time, it doesn't require a lot of planning, it can be mobile, and having friendly outgoing people in the streets for our schools is great for our image. You can do this before or after school or at events across the city. Call In Day A call-in day is a simple and effective thing to pull off. All it really requires is tabling with a cell phone to get students, parents and school staff to place phone calls to their elected officials. Tabling refers to talking about the school closings in any location where crowds pass by: bus stops, parking lots, restaurants, neighborhood hangouts, etc. You usually want to use a table for signs and materials, but you should encourage everyone to walk around and approach people with cell phones ready – not just sit behind the table. Then ask them to make a short phone call to their elected official to demand keeping our schools open. Lobby Your Elected Official Meeting with your city council member, state representative, or state senator is one of the best ways to communicate your message. It is important to make sure that you are well prepared whether you meet with the actual member or a member of their staff. Someone should contact their office to make an appointment. A group of parents, school staff and community members should attend the meeting (5-10 people if possible). Decide roles ahead of time and make an agenda for the meeting so you cover all of your points. Politicians are paid by all of us and need to hear what you think they should do to represent you. Letter Writing Campaign This consists of getting teachers, students, parents and community leaders to write hand written letters demanding funding and support for our schools, not closing them. The more letters you can collect from a single school the more powerful this will be. Make copies of each letter and send one to your city council member, the mayor, state representative, state senator, the superintendent, and the School Reform Commission.

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School Closings Tool Kit: Attend School Closing Hearings

Register to speak

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School Closings Tool Kit: Attend School Closing Hearings

Stand up and speak out

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School Closings Tool Kit: Talking Points

Why We Are Against Closing So Many Public Schools

We have been shortchanging our schools and students.

For years, our state and local education budgets have been slashed, and classes and programs

have been eliminated. We are giving students a less well-rounded education, and putting more

and more focus on preparation for standardized tests.

This approach has placed our children at a disadvantage. We are not giving our kids the kind of

education that will prepare them for college or careers. Instead, we’re creating a high-stakes,

low-reward “test environment.”

Meanwhile, our city’s students are being made to feel like failures—worse, for many, school is

becoming a waste of time. In addition, students are not being engaged as stakeholders in their

own education.

This is what happens when you leave teachers, students and parents out of the discussion about

the future of our public schools and leave all decisions about public education in the hands of

those who have spent little—if any—time in the classroom.

The School Reform Commission has been advocating for an education reform agenda that has

been tried unsuccessfully in city after city.

Token invitations to meetings and progress reports on consultants’ activities does not equal real

community involvement. Because the School Reform Commission has failed to meaningfully

engage the citizens of Philadelphia, then the community must develop their own school

improvement agenda.

The PCAPS coalition of teachers, parents and students has been formed to cooperatively

develop a vision and plan for Philadelphia’s public schools that addresses the needs of every

child.

Our schools and students are not mere units to be categorized and experimented on. The only

way to give them what they need is to talk with them, and work with them and their parents to

ensure they’re getting the most out of their education.

Until meaningful steps to engage and empower the Philadelphia public school community are

taken, we oppose massive school closings.

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School Closings Tool Kit: Talking Points

The Big Lie “There is no money for our schools”

The school closers say we have no choice because there is no money. We can’t be fooled by this argument.

The money is there. The lack of funding for public education represents a political choice made by those in power, a choice that puts the needs of corporations and the rich over the needs of working people and our families.

A fair tax policy, a funding formula that recognizes the extra burdens faced by poor Districts and changing spending priorities could deliver the money to improve schools. That money can be used for reducing class size, restoring cuts in arts and music instruction, restoring full time librarians in every school, restoring Non-Teaching assistants and school support services. Improved neighborhood schools would attract families and increase enrollment.

Here are some specific measures that the District could fight for in conjunction with other impacted Districts across the state that, taken together, could raise over a billion dollars for public schools.

o Close the tax loopholes that enrich corporations. Pennsylvania next year will spend $2.4

billion on business tax breaks, a figure that has tripled in the last ten years. Because of the so called Delaware loophole, 70% of corporations that do business in Pennsylvania pay no corporate income taxes at all, costing the state an estimated 500 million dollars a year. Halting the phasing out of the capital stock and franchise tax could bring in an estimated $275 million a year.

o A Fair Tax on Natural Gas Production. The impact fee on natural gas producers is the lowest in the nation. A tax modeled on neighboring West Virginia could double the current $205 million in revenue.

o Put a Hold on Prison Construction Expanding prisons, a priority of the Corbett administration, is a costly and foolish policy. In this year’s budget the administration sought twice as much money for prisons as for higher education. Developing community based alternatives to expensive, dehumanizing incarceration for non-violent offenders could free up millions for investment in education and human services.

o Renegotiate Bad Bank Deals Interest rate swap deals with banks that have cost the city and school district an estimated $331 million and have helped the bottom line of Goldman

Sachs, Wells Fargo and other bailed out banks. The city and school district could potentially lose more than $240 million in additional net interest payments from still active swaps between the city agencies and the same financial institutions if interest rates continue to remain low.

o Restore the Rendell school funding formula Adopted in July 2008, as the result of a long, state wide organizing campaign, this formula, by taking into account each district’s needs, wealth, and tax effort, made for fairer school funding. The Corbett administration immediately scrapped it, costing Districts with large special needs populations millions of dollars.

o Tax Big Non-Profits In Philadelphia much of the property in the city goes untaxed because it is held by non-profits. The University of Pennsylvania, for example, with an endowment of billions of dollars pays no taxes but consumes city services. These non profits can be taxed for economic activity that is not charitable.

The SRC and the Mayor choose to rely on corporate charity rather than challenge these interests to pay their fair share. They say cutback, we say fight back.

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Petition to Stop School Closings

We the undersigned oppose closing ________________________ School. We believe

that our school is a staple in our community and has been neglected by politicians and

the school district administration for too long. We believe that more resources and

supports should be invested in our community and in our school before closing our

school, forcing our families and youth to scatter across the city.

Name Email Phone Address

1._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 2._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 3._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 4._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 5._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 6._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 7._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 8._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 9._____________________________________________________________________________________________ 10.____________________________________________________________________________________________ 11.____________________________________________________________________________________________ 12.____________________________________________________________________________________________

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School Closings Tool Kit: Additional Resources

NEED SUPPORT IN FIGHTING FOR YOUR SCHOOL?

Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS) - 267.908.4201

The Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS) is comprised of students, parents and teachers with an unwavering commitment to improving Philadelphia’s school system. At its heart, this discussion about the future of our schools is a discussion about fairness. We want all Philadelphia schools – whether public or charter – to be adequately funded based on their need. PCAPS believes this is an opportunity for everyone with a stake in Philadelphia’s public education system – students, parents, teachers, advocates, charter operators, elected officials, the SRC and others – to refocus on a single goal: improving every school. Action United- 215-839-3390

Action United is a membership organization of low and moderate income Pennsylvanians working to build power through organizing communities to win changes on the issues that are important to them. Parents across the city have been organizing town hall forums and going neighborhood by neighborhood to stop school closings and fight for the schools our students deserve. Youth United for Change- 215-423-9588

Youth United for Change is a place for young people to act on their own behalf to improve the quality of public education. Students in YUC's six chapters identify and take action on the issues they see as most important to improving schools. Students attend weekly meetings, where they work together to develop platforms and strategies for their campaigns. Philadelphia Student Union- 215-253-4586

The Philadelphia Student Union (PSU) is a community based organization on the frontlines of school reform locally, statewide, and nationally. Founded in 1995 by young people PSU continues to be youth-led with adult support. PSU boasts 250 active members from 8 school-based chapters in West, South, and North Philadelphia and 50 active citywide members from 17 additional high schools and middle schools throughout the city. Philadelphia Federation of Teachers- 215-587-6738

The PFT represents more than 16,000 dedicated women and men working in Philadelphia public schools today. PFT members include teachers, librarians, school nurses, counselors, psychologists and social workers, secretaries, paraprofessionals, classroom assistants, non-teaching assistants, supportive services assistants, Head Start/Comprehensive Early Learning Center and Bright Futures teachers and staff, food service managers and professional and technical employees. We are leading the fight to reduce class sizes, expand early childhood education, use proven education programs, make schools safe and orderly and offer resources and support for teachers, staff and students. Home & School Council- 215.400.4080 The Umbrella Organization for Home and School Associations in The Philadelphia Public Schools. We are the leadership body for the formation and re-establishment of Member Associations in the public schools that assist site-based parent groups to organize and carry out activities important to the education and welfare of public school students.

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Service Employees Internal Union District 1201/32BJ- 215-9235488 District 1201 represents 3,500 Pennsylvania public school workers and just won an agreement that saves 2,700 jobs in Philadelphia. They also represent workers in Upper Morland Township, Schuykill County, Scranton and Bellwood Antis as building engineers, cleaners and maintenance workers, school bus drivers and attendants, school aides and environmental and pest control workers. Unite HERE District Local 634 & 274- 215-9235488 Unite HERE is the union that represents 2,200 public sector school cafeteria employees and noon-time aides working for the Philadelphia school district. They also represent 4,000 private sector hotel and food service workers who are the parents of many Philadelphia school children.