View of an education apocalypse

By Eileen M. DiFranco

Around Memorial Day, as the end of the school year approached, kids used to start singing: "No more pencils, no more books ..." Come September, this children's chant could become a reality in Philadelphia.

Come September, not only will there be no pencils and no books. Under the district's current budget and layoff plan, there will be no secretaries, no counselors, and no aides watching the children in the cafeterias. There will be no counselors and no librarians. There will be fewer school nurses meeting the health-care needs of our children. There will be no art, no music, and no sports. There will be no support staff in crowded classrooms.

The School District will be losing even more institutional memory and expertise, with experienced principals and teachers jumping the sinking ship in record numbers. The stage has been set for what pundits are correctly calling a "doomsday."

As a recent Nightline report on Strawberry Mansion High School showed, our children face very significant challenges in their lives outside school. These problems are not wiped away by a few hours spent in school, even with the best teachers. Contrary to the views of former Washington Superintendent Michelle Rhee and other self-declared "reformers" who glibly dismiss the role of poverty in schools' failure, those of us who have worked in education for a long time are acutely aware of its noxious and long-lasting effects on children.

The expected condition of the district's schools next year will exacerbate this problem. From where I sit as a school nurse with 23 years of experience, it looks like an unmitigated disaster.

Those who are responsible for this need to be thinking about the children who will be affected by these cutbacks, rather than political infighting, unproven economic theories, and dubious educational experiments. We are talking about innocent young people who have no control over the circumstances they were born into. The children of Philadelphia have not created this educational apocalypse. The adults, who should know better, have nurtured it and brought it to fruition.

These children are Philadelphia's future. Yet many who gladly pay large sums every month for their cellphone, cable, and air-conditioning hesitate when it comes to paying a little more to educate children - especially poor children.

Come September, the School District of Philadelphia will be unable to provide our children with an adequate education. It will be reduced to warehousing them in unsafe buildings without the basic amenities and calling it education. It will promise the politicians who talk of children as "seats" that they will focus on "academics." And even the children will know that this is a fairy tale without a happy ending.