Where Philly teachers go after they quit | Morning Newsletter
And burn-away cakes for Eagles-less Super Bowl
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The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
This is Sunday. It’s a mostly cloudy day, with a high near 51.
Pennsylvania recently recorded its lowest-ever number of teaching certificates issued. In Philly, teachers are leaving the profession at significant rates. Our lead story focuses on new research out of Penn State on the rates of attrition and where city educators are going after they quit.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Researchers out of Penn State’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis looked at teachers employed by any traditional public or charter school in Philadelphia for the school years from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
Here are some key takeaways:
✏️ Nationwide, teachers are generally more likely to leave the profession in the first five years of their career.
✏️ In Philly, the number of educators quitting is larger than the number of graduates of local teacher-preparation programs.
✏️ More teachers quit here in 2022, with 13% of district teachers and 23% of charter teachers having left. Compare that to 2018, when 16% of charter teachers and 7% of district teachers quit.
✏️ Overall, nearly 1 in 3 Philly teachers, or 28.6% district and charter teachers, left the profession in the 2021-22 school year. The previous cohort saw 16.7% leave.
✏️ Most charter teachers who quit their jobs left education altogether.
Keep reading to dig deeper into the research and learn the impact of attrition in Philly and to the state’s educational bottom line.
What you should know today
As law enforcement pulled the final remains of a young family from the ashes of their home on Friday morning, the weight of what was lost began to set in across a tight-knit Delaware County community. Law enforcement said it’s still not clear what triggered Canh V. Le to commit what District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer described as “a horrible evil.”
Police in Rockledge, Montgomery County, are investigating State Rep. Kevin Boyle’s recorded outburst at a bar there early Thursday morning, including alleged threats to “hit female employees.”
With stats stacked against them, students are getting help from soon-to-close Cabrini University to enroll elsewhere.
A Philadelphia man pleaded guilty to felony theft for stealing more than $1.1 million from dozens of ATMs in the region while working for a company that services the machines.
Leroy Brahm III was convicted by a Chester County jury on Friday of first-degree murder in the beating death of 21-year-old Annabel Rose Meenan, who was the victim of repeated domestic violence prior to her killing.
Some employees feel betrayed after Independence Blue Cross announced a new hybrid work policy. They’re posting reviews and polishing their resumes.
The shooting that left a man dead in the 24th-floor hallway of Society Hill Towers last month was in self-defense, authorities said Friday, and the resident who fired the fatal shots will not be charged.
A new kind of community center is opening its doors in Delco this weekend, with hopes to offer a space for LGBTQ, youth, and BIPOC communities.
The beloved Oscar Mayer Wienermobile rolled into South Philly to serve up smiles on Saturday. The original Wienermobile first hit the road in 1936.
How does the “Puppy Bowl” get all those puppies to behave? Doylestown resident Victoria Schade has been the secret weapon for 18 years.
Where to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Philly: 10 sports bars to watch the Super Bowl.
“There’s only one Kelce I’m watching this Super Bowl for.”
Kaylyn Kahana, owner of Kay Kay’s bakery, is baking and decorating about 100 cakes ahead of the Eagles-less Super Bowl, and the majority of them will bear those words on the top.
How it works: Customers touch a flame to the middle of the cake to ignite the top layer of wafer paper, which will burn away and reveal an image below.
The South Philly baker recently went viral when she posted four burn-away cakes on her Instagram. One of them revealed a shirtless Jason Kelce celebrating his brother, Kansas City Chiefs’ star tight end Travis Kelce, at a recent playoff game in Buffalo.
Another had red icing that reads “Karma is the guy in the Chiefs coming straight home to me,” alluding to a concert moment when Taylor Swift confirmed her relationship with Travis.
Thousands of people were liking, commenting, and sharing the cakes. Then came the orders.
Kahana, 34, said burn-away cakes — and specifically Jason Kelce burn-away cakes — are the biggest thing ever to happen to Kay Kay’s.
Read on for more on how the social media craze started and other creative ways people are using burn-away cakes.
❓Pop quiz
A certain marine animal, believed to be 4 to 6 weeks old, survived quite an odyssey this week after getting stranded in the middle of a residential area in Ocean City. (The adventurer was unharmed and rescued by authorities.)
What was it?
A) baby shark
B) baby alligator
C) baby seal
C) baby otter
Think you know? Check your answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: This Philly-based sitcom just got renewed for a fourth season
BATTERY METAL BONE
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Mary Beth Pratt who correctly guessed Friday’s answer, Terence Blanchard, and noted that Blanchard also composed the “beautiful and heartbreaking Fire Shut Up In My Bones.” Check out David Patrick Stearns’ 2021 overview of that opera for The Inquirer.
Photo of the day
🎶 Today’s Sunday track goes like this: “Until I met this girl who turned the tables around / She caught me by surprise.” I hope that’s on Usher’s halftime show setlist!
👋🏽 Thanks for starting your day with me. Take care.