There are 197,115 enrolled students in the School District of Philadelphia. 28% of their schools—63 buildings in total—currently don’t have adequate air conditioning. Reading and math proficiency scores vary greatly based on race and socioeconomic status, and teachers are bearing the brunt of these issues. Most of them are doing work far beyond the initial expectations of the job, and they’re overwhelmed.
Teacher shortages have always been an issue, especially in perpetually underfunded Philadelphia schools, but the pandemic exacerbated the issue. It impacted young people in a multitude of ways, and now their educators are on the front lines of dealing with the fallout.
“I’ve actually talked to quite a few teachers who are like, it’s not even the money. If you gave me 30k more a year, I still would not be able to do this job, because I am managing so many socio–emotional issues among my students that I just didn’t have pre–COVID,” says Julia McWilliams, an urban education anthropologist and co–director of Penn’s Urban Studies program.
Even though Philly teachers make up 20% of Pennsylvania’s educator population, they account for 30% of the state’s teacher attrition. And this is costly—it’s an estimated $27,000 to replace every teacher lost. As of last spring, there were more than 400 teaching vacancies in the city, a concerning amount of them in special education. This leaves thousands of students without permanent, properly certified instructors.
Kids are behind after online schooling, reading and math proficiency scores need improvement, and it seems like something drastic needs to be done.
From the desk of Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, there comes the “Extended Day, Extended Year” plan, which the City of Philadelphia’s website describes as “a high–priority initiative that is based on the needs of working parents, closing the opportunity gap, and expanding access to enrichment programs.” This academic year, the pilot program is running in 20 public and five charter K–8 schools.
However, it’s not a plan to extend the school to be year–round and have ten–hour school days. Rather, schools would maintain regular school hours, but their doors would remain open between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. and during six weeks of the summer for willing students and families. Many schools already offer before– and after–school care, which is relied on by many working families.
“It seems to be more about standardizing or establishing those wraparound services more consistently to more students, rather than necessarily the same type of learning happening,” says Stacy Carlough, a former teacher now at Penn’s Graduate School of Education, specializing in strategies to prevent teacher burnout.
In a country with a childcare system as broken as ours, these extended hours could be essential for working parents. The more time kids are at school, the less time they’re paying others to take care of them.
And the hope is also that kids are gaining something from this extra time. Rather than just keeping them out of parents’ hair, they, in theory, would be engaging in fun and educational activities. Cities like Boston and Los Angeles have successfully implemented after–school and summer programs, giving kids access to a plethora of activities from sports like wrestling and cycling to environmental education.
Penn students involved at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships might have firsthand experience working with West Philly students at after–school clubs, teaching dance, gardening, or facilitating learning about business and nutrition through fruit stands.
An issue arises, however, with who is staffing these programs. There aren’t enough student volunteers to staff before– and after–school care at every Philadelphia school.
The City of Philadelphia’s website explains that enrichment programs will be staffed by “trusted community partners with existing relationships with the 25 pilot schools,” and claims the initiative “will not require any changes to any collective bargaining agreements.”
But, presumably, teachers’ schedules would be affected if schools are open six more weeks into the summer, and potentially during breaks. And this would probably mean, at the very least, that new agreements regarding work hours would have to be reached.
Though Parker expressed intentions for year–round schooling during her campaign, it seems communication of the implementation of the pilot program was lagging. Indeed, schools involved were notified by an email from the school district on June 24 after they had closed down for the summer. Parents still hadn’t been emailed by the Board of Education action meeting on June 27, and many teachers were finding out through newspaper headlines.
“Educators are finding out this info from the news, same as everyone else,” says an experienced district teacher. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said to the Philadelphia Inquirer that they were “caught off guard” by the announcement of the program.
Lack of communication isn’t the only issue teachers are currently dealing with: According to Carlough, the three big issues teachers are facing right now are “the power dynamics, the lack of agency, and the overwhelm.”
“Teachers often feel that they are being asked to do too many things, or too different of a set of things than they started out wanting to do when they became a teacher,” she explains. Especially as their numbers dwindle, they’re asked to take on more and more responsibilities. Experienced teachers—who are increasingly hard to come by—who’ve taught a certain way for years are suddenly asked to teach differently or to do many more jobs than they originally signed up for. She also points out that much of the conversation surrounding these responsibilities and how jobs are done are getting cut off, leaving teachers in the dark or misunderstood.
It’s a school– and district–wide dilemma: “We as individuals cannot shoulder the burden of everything, right? We have to be working within a context that is supportive of our success. And that goes from the superintendent down to the kindergarten aid and to the students, too,” Carlough says.
So where do things go from here? It’s a definite possibility that the plan won’t go past a pilot program.
“There’s a saying in the school district: ‘The first time you hear about a new initiative, ignore it. The second time, ignore it. And only start paying attention the third time,’” says the district teacher. “This still feels like one of those situations. There’s a lot to get outraged about, but there’s still so little clarity it’s hard to know what to think, and so much could change.”
There are real potential benefits to a schedule amendment: Studies show that students, especially in low–income families, experience a “summer slide,” or a marked decline in academic and socio–emotional skills during summer break. SDP Superintendent Tony Watlington pointed to other year–round schooling models, like the Harlem Children’s Zone as inspiration.
In the meantime, though, critics point to the multitude of problems they think the school district should address before expecting schools to be open more. Even with Jalen Hurts’ recent $200,000 donation to outfit eight schools with air conditioners, there are so many more issues that need money and time to be addressed. Penn has also made recent contributions, but still refuses to make payments in lieu of the property taxes it’s exempt from due to its nonprofit status. Since Philly’s public schools are largely funded through property taxes, this lack of funding is critical.
“You’re going to have to invest a lot of money in paying [teachers] really well. … You’re gonna have to have really good curriculum and a lot of resources. … I think you’re gonna need buildings that are not gonna bake children and the teachers that teach them,” says McWilliams. “How do you invest in a teaching force and really acknowledge their lived experience and don’t put a Band–Aid on it? There’s so many interlocking systems here that we need to consider before we say, ‘Yeah, let’s send the kids to school all year.’”
