Schools official: Tighten teacher hiring
The Philadelphia School District must strengthen and modernize its teacher-hiring process, its new human resources chief said yesterday. Estelle Matthews told the School Reform Commission that when she arrived from the corporate sector three months ago, she found a system that couldn't track data easily, had no accountability measures, and often lost qualified teacher candidates in a paperwork shuffle.
The Philadelphia School District must strengthen and modernize its teacher-hiring process, its new human resources chief said yesterday.
Estelle Matthews told the School Reform Commission that when she arrived from the corporate sector three months ago, she found a system that couldn't track data easily, had no accountability measures, and often lost qualified teacher candidates in a paperwork shuffle.
"We have processes in place that aren't effective," Matthews said.
The district has struggled with teacher vacancies this year; it had more than 100 unfilled jobs at midyear. Classrooms with vacancies are staffed by substitute teachers.
But steps have already begun to remedy the situation, Matthews said. The district has moved up its hiring timeline in an effort to compete better with suburban districts. Officials have begun attending more job fairs and holding their own hiring fairs and have built a model projecting how many teachers they will need in the fall.
More work must be done, Matthews said. The district needs better support for new and struggling teachers, more minority teachers, and a system to track applicants. It must also be choosier about applicants, and can no longer consider candidates simply because they have teaching credentials, Matthews said.
A five-year plan the commission is considering would take further steps to reform hiring, Matthews said.
The commission also held formal hearings on proposed closings of two North Philadelphia schools. If the plans are approved, Gillespie Middle School would close in June, William Penn High School in 2010.
The 167,000-student district has had a steady drop in enrollment and has more than 40,000 empty seats citywide, according to a recent report.
Gillespie would close, officials said, because of low enrollment and a shift away from middle schools in the district. The building, with space for 1,232, currently houses 173 students and has failed to meet state standards for several years.
Officials have proposed moving Gillespie seventh graders to nearby Simon Gratz High School for eighth grade.
William Penn should close, the district says, because the buildings are in poor condition and in need of extensive repairs. The school can house more than 2,000 students but has fewer than 600. Three of its five buildings are already closed.
And though its designation as one of the district's neediest schools means it has received extra support this year, it, too, has fallen short of state standards for many years.
William Penn students would be sent to Gratz and Benjamin Franklin High Schools.
State Rep. W. Curtis Thomas (D., Phila.), who has assembled a coalition of supporters to protest William Penn's closing, wants the district to convert the school to a K-12 building or use it as an academy for workforce development.
But if it is closed, "parents need some assurances that kids will not be moved from one failing school to another," Thomas said.
Other community members said the district had done a poor job of getting the word out about the proposed closings.
The public has 90 days to comment on the closings, and more meetings will be held, district officials said. The commission will vote on the closings in June.
Coming Tomorrow
In Home & Design, Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron says William Penn High School has moments of great beauty behind its prisonlike Broad Street facade.
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