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Audenried teacher speaks out from 'rubber room'

Banished Audenried High School English teacher Hope Moffett chatted from inside "teacher jail" with Philly.com readers yesterday. Here's an excerpt:

Banished Audenried High School English teacher Hope Moffett chatted from inside "teacher jail" with Philly.com readers yesterday. Here's an excerpt:

Sam: What was the key issue at Audenried that they didn't want you talking about?

Moffett: The district labeled Audenried a "failing school" when they included it on the Renaissance Schools list. For a school that has never taken the PSSA and [has] no School Performance Index score, by the district's own procedures, Audenried High School should not be eligible for outside takeover.

Cat: What reaction do you think the [district] will have knowing you are chatting to the public from a school today?

Moffett: I am actually taking this time from my lunch and prep allowances, but given that they have assigned me no tasks, I am certainly not shirking any responsibilities.

Brad: What about the kids? If they have trouble with not granting First Amendment rights to teachers, how can the Bill of Rights be taught to them?

Moffett: I find it sad that the district, whose stated curriculum for the 11th grade includes an entire unit on civil disobedience, thinks that authentic community protest is a danger to the students.

Patrick: Hope, could you please explain what exactly "teacher jail" is and how the city has the authority to put someone there?

Moffett: I am still considered an employee, but they have removed me from my classroom so that I can sit in an empty basement room. The union's position is that they don't have the right to remove me because that is only done in cases where a teacher presents a danger to himself/herself or to the students.

Sam: Does this experience sour your opinion of the public-school system in Philadelphia? Would you look to return to that or try a suburban or private school?

Moffett: I teach in Philadelphia because I enjoy it, and as far as the actual teaching goes, I don't think I would enjoy it to a greater degree anywhere else.

Mike: How come you don't want it to become a charter school?

Moffett: The problem is that under the district's own guidelines, it makes no sense to turn around a school that is not failing, especially one that barely opened 2 1/2 years ago. The purpose of a turnaround is to shake things up and start fresh. At Audenried, that just happened.

SC: Obviously, the [district] does not have the data to back up Universal taking over Audenried. But it seems like it is a done deal. Rallies and newspaper articles don't seem to be enough to force the [district] to make their dealings transparent.

Moffett: The School Reform Commission does have to vote on the situation, and the chairman of the SRC had to recuse himself from the eventual vote because he is a boyhood friend of Kenny Gamble [who runs Universal Companies] and [is a ] former board member of Universal Companies. That means that if sustained public attention convinces even one SRC member to vote no, the deal will not go through.