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Troubling behavior from parents in schools | Morning Newsletter

And an interesting lesser-known story.

School Safety Chief Kevin Bethels talks about school safety efforts at Philadelphia School District Headquarters in October 2021.
School Safety Chief Kevin Bethels talks about school safety efforts at Philadelphia School District Headquarters in October 2021.Read moreJESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer
    by Ashley Hoffman
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Looks like rain today.

In today’s newsletter:

⚠️ Concerning: Schools are seeing seriously concerning issues coming from an unlikely source: parents.

💼 Interesting: You may have heard of Bridget Cambria, who has fought for immigrants held at the Berks County detention center, suing the federal government dozens of times to try to stop asylum-seekers from being deported. But the lesser-known story is her history working there.

If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Misbehavior from parents is on the rise in Philly schools and officials are concerned

🎤 And now I’m handing over the microphone to education reporter Kristen Graham:

For the past few years, I have had more Philadelphia school staff reach out to me and tell me that either they or their colleagues were being threatened or worse — by an unlikely source: parents. My colleagues on the education team and I recently worked on a story about the pandemic’s effect on student behavior and social-emotional needs, but it seems that effect — as well as Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis — is also carrying over to their family members, in some cases. To be clear, parents harassing or even assaulting staff is not an everyday occurrence, but it’s happening with more regularity.

What you should know today

  1. It’s not popping anymore at the Kimmel Center where they kicked out Philly Pops.

  2. Jim’s Steaks, rebuilding after fire, will expand into Eye’s Gallery next door on South Street.

  3. The impact of Jerry Blavat: dapper South Philadelphia-style icon.

  4. Let’s talk about the concerts of the week.

  5. Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro is packing his executive staff with political veterans.

  6. Reported COVID cases have declined since the holidays, but hundreds remain hospitalized in Philadelphia.

❓Pop Quiz❓

According to polls in a recent story that Taylor featured about the Eagles’ shiny new top dog status, what percentage of athletes would rather be considered underdogs than favorites?

A) 25%

B) 50%

C) 75%

D) 60%

Find out if you remember the answer.

🧩 Unscramble the Anagram 🧩

Where Swoop crash-landed on his very first big reveal night.

AHEADPHILLIP AVERNST AUDIMTS

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to Deirdre O’Leary who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: CENTRAL JERSEY.

Photo of the Day

🎶 For today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to “come away with me in the night.” 🎶

👋🏽 Enjoy your day! Taylor’s back tomorrow.