Over the past several months there has (again) been turmoil in the School District of Philadelphia regarding the District budget. As has been the case in each of the previous four years, the tax income is not large enough to provide for all the expenses. With costs increasing year after year and the revenue remaining too low, the District, City Council, and Governor Corbett have finally agreed to a $2-per-carton tax on cigarettes purchased in Philadelphia. The new revenue is supposed to close the gap that has been growing over the past few years. While it is unfortunate that the city must perversely gain money from the use of a harmful substance, it is good that policies are being debated that will hopefully upset the system so much that change will take place.

Other upset that is currently in the mix includes a referendum to remove the School Reform Commission, currently in control of the District and its finances. City Council has approved it, and potential mayoral candidates are touting that the vote in November would guarantee its dissolution. 

The only problem with that theory is that according to law, the only one with the authority to disband the SRC is the PA secretary of education who can only do so if the majority of the SRC votes to do so. In essence, the SRC has to decide to disband itself.

This seems like a fairly ridiculous notion but might take place if a new Mayor and potentially a new Governor are able to install new members who would be keen on the idea. We'll see what happens if that takes place. 

School has begun in earnest and academic classes are in their full swing. Still, my school (Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies) places a large emphasis on developing social and emotional growth of our students so this past thursday we took our various Crews out of the building and into the city. The crew of 26 that I work with was split in two and my half was supposed to complete a scavenger hunt of Central Park. Every other crew had a scavenger hunt of their own and we would all meet back at school by around 3:00pm for dismissal.

The problems began as we entered the subway because my half-crew wanted to join up with another coworkers half-crew, leading to tension when the answer was a simple, "no." The intention behind the day was to have the half-crew bond more thoroughly and to get to talk to kids more one-on-one, something that is easier with smaller sizes. Unfortunately, my half-crew was not amenable to this.

When we started the scavenger hunt, a few students expressed some negativity, which eventually led to our group staying put on a bench near a pond for about 45 minutes. There was a lot of discussion about the trip being boring, more forced than enjoyable, and a waste of time. I found this interesting and tried to push a few of the students expressing these feelings about why they changed their views. Two days prior they all seemed excited to spend time together and even made a list of guidelines for the day (including participating actively). 

It became evident through the course of the day that there were two groups in the half-crew: one was more ambivalent and would go wherever the majority wanted; the other was very negative and decided to disconnect from the idea of crew. After analyzing with some coworkers, it really came down to two students who were leading the charge against completing the scavenger hunt - two young men with whom my relationship is pretty poor. 

My fiancee came joined us for the morning of the trip and all she had to say by the time she left was that she is impressed by my abundance of patience and how she would never have done what these kids did.

At the end of the day I discovered that of the eight groups that went out on scavenger hunts, mine was the only one that completed nothing. Every other group had at least found 4-5 clues and taken photos in a more relaxed fashion. 

This is going to be an uphill battle but I am going to try my hardest to make sure that I develop stronger relationships with these two young men so that we can work better together in the future.

I've been teaching classes with students for only four days and already I've made a major mistake. It's amazing how as you gain experience in the classroom how you think you are prepared for these things when really you are not. You can only acknowledge when they happen and try to restore balance to the offenders and victims.

Mine was a simple error - students fill out an annual free lunch application form in order to be guaranteed food at our school while we also benefit quite a lot by getting extra funding for other programs. I'm not certain of the specifics but overall it can be a win-win. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to get students to complete the form and bring it in.

This year I noticed that any student who lived in a house that qualified for food stamps or other support did not warrant getting or filling out one of these forms. Instead, they were automatically enrolled. 

With the exception of one new student - and this is where my mistake came in.

I have never received formal training on how to analyze and ensure that these forms are correctly filled out. I assumed that they were complete when the "gross income" line was input because that is what I had seen previously. In the case of one girl, it was not filled in and I asked her to bring it back home. 

That weekend her mother was furious and called a colleague in order to complain about this error. Since her family qualified for food stamps, she did not have to fill in that line, instead writing in a specific coded number that allowed the form to be considered complete. The student brought the form in yesterday and we politely accepted it and apologized profusely for the mistake. Having a stigma is not what I want for my students so I was very apologetic on a voicemail message to the mother as well.

I think it is important that teachers receive all the training they need and recognize that we will not remember everything. Now I have learned more about this form and I will likely keep a closer eye to a variety of other forms as well. I hope this will encourage other teachers and administrators to ensure that everyone knows what the correct policies are in each new year. We don't want any angry parents on our case!

Remember, remember, the first of September. Tomorrow, I return to the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies.

Another year has past and I am gearing up to go back to school. For the second time in my five-year career I will be at the same school as I was before. 

It is a wonderful feeling to be able to return somewhere and feel like more of a veteran. I recently attended the staff training for the NYC Outward Bound that my grade team is going to experience in April and met a few of my new colleagues. Some are veterans, some are fresh out of graduate school or in the NYC Teaching Fellows program. Regardless, it is a comfortable feeling when you are the one who gets to explain and describe school systems to someone else.

This year I will be focusing my efforts on Algebra 1 (a class I have taught for the past four years) and my new elective class I titled "Applied Math."

The Algebra 1 course shouldn't be too hard since I am teaching from the same College Prep Math curriculum with a co-worker I taught with last year. The one snag is that she is pregnant and will be gone from October - December. Her replacement will be joining us at school starting tomorrow, however, so the transition should be fairly seamless.

It is the Applied Math course that has me more on edge. The first half of the year is focusing on financial management and the second is on 3D modeling and printing. 

Granted, I have prepared quite a lot and will be using a lot of the High School Financial Planning Program lesson plans, but there is still something scary about teaching a new course. I am currently working out the details of the final project which will have some mix of presentation, paper, and budget crafting. 

The second semester will require more thinking but - luckily - I have a few maker-focused coworkers who are going to help me out. 

I very much look forward to this year and can't wait to begin!*

* except tomorrow is going to be 90+ degrees and the air conditioners are not that good in my classroom. Oh well!