Tamir Harper

Jeremiah Butler

Staff Writer

 

Now that the School Reform Commission has approved SLA’s move to the Ben Franklin High School building, the process of designing the renovation has begun.

Members of the Ben Franklin and SLA communities, as well as the School District of Philadelphia, have been meeting with an architecture firm to provide input on the new design.

There have

been three meetings so far, on October 12th, October 25th, and November 30th.

Timeline For The Move

The current meetings are reviewing the Schematic Design which is the “what we want” in a building and brainstorming. Feedback will be taken after the final decision is made by The Office of Capital Programs at the district, and the final decision should be done before the end of 2018.

Followed by Schematic Designs and Final Decisions comes to Design Development until mid-January, which is getting the architects and designers involved.  

Then Construction Documents happening until mid-March entails the blueprints of the building and scheduling of the actual construction and other school-related information that needs to be taken care of.

Lastly come the Building and Permits taking place until mid-June, which is the legal and the money aspects of the move to Ben Franklin. Construction for the move is planned to take place from July 2018 to July 2019, so that the building is theoretically ready for SLA to move in before Fall 2019.

The Meetings

With a new building comes, a lot of opportunities for both schools. In the meetings, representatives went over gains such as common areas, CTE programs, expansion of labs and more space. In terms of square footage, there do not seem to be any hard-hitting losses, besides SLA losing its original home. The floor plan has generally 12 classrooms per floor, and 4 medium-sized rooms that are too small to be full classrooms, but could be used for collaborative spaces.

For Ben Franklin, students this change has been a lot to take in as well. The Navy JROTC program of Ben Franklin takes place on the 6th floor, and they will most likely have to move floors or at least location on that floor.

Representatives from each group also went over what could be losses if we go about this the wrong way such as create conflict, miss the opportunity to produce positive change and exclude input.

“There was a Franklin parent who said she notices that sometimes adults project their fears on to kids and that resonated with me,”  said English Teacher Larissa Pahomov, who has been attending the meetings.. “I have a lot of faith in the students both at Franklin and SLA, coming together and building a community together in one building,” said English Teacher Larissa Pahomov.

Options, Options, Options  

In October, the groups were presented with three options that the building design can look like. The first being the “Meet In The Middle” option, where SLA is on one side of the building and Ben Franklin takes another side and in the middle is where common areas would go. The first and sixth floor would be shared Dining and Media Centers as well as a terrace.

The second option, “Common Foundations”, idea consists of Ben Franklin taking the 2nd and 3rd floor and SLA takes the 4th and 5th floors. Leaving the first floor as the “collaboration commons” area. With administrative spaces and the Art and Engineering spaces co-located on the first floor and in the “oddball spaces” of the second and third floor.

The last options, is similar to option one, with school’s on opposite sides. But common areas are mainly on the first floor along with each school’s administrative spaces. Then going farther up the school is common areas in the middle just in smaller sizes. The first floor was described as a “living room” or “front door” in this case.

At the second October meeting, A non-final vote was taken after every option was discussed just to see where everyone’s preference was. Option 3 was the favorite and Option 2 leading behind that as the second favorite. At the meeting on November 30th, an expanded and updated “Living Room” design was presented to the groups.  

SLA Meet Ben Franklin, Ben Franklin Meet SLA   

Plans for the two co-locating schools to meet each other are also in the works. SLA teacher Ms.Martin is working with Spirit Committee and Team Love’em Up: to host a catered day party at Ben Franklin High School, that would invite both school’s class of 2021, aka the current freshmen.

The event is being planned to happen on a Saturday, possibly in February. For that to happen there needs to be an approval to have the event at Ben Franklin and funding from the School District.  

The first hour is being planned to be almost like an icebreaker and get to know you session for the two schools.

“My hope is that the students from both campuses will show up and that they will have an amazing time and that they will be able to show people through their actions, their desires, and energy that this is going to work out well and that they will get to bond that way,” said Ms.Martin.

A smaller version of this exchange happened on November 30, when sixteen students from Franklin came to SLA for a design workshop before the meeting with the architects.

Lehmann thinks that all this effort is paying off.

“I think overall people are really responding well to the change, currently if you look at our interview numbers. Families are still choosing SLA in very high numbers as far as the admissions process is concerned. Families are on board with sticking through this and seeing it through as far as our current student population,” said Lehmann.

Autumn Lor

Staff Writer

Starting in the 2018-2019 school year, Science Leadership Academy at Beeber is expanding to include middle school grades 5 through 8.

Expanding to the middle grades has been a longtime dream of SLA Beeber Principal Chris Johnson. When SLA Beeber started, they were co-occupying the building with the original Beeber middle school, but as each year went on, the high school student body grew, decreasing the number of middle schoolers. Now they want to open the doors back to middle schools letting students being a part of the SLA community.

Their first open house was on Thursday, October 12 where they allowed students and parents to see what SLA Beeber campus looked like. Students got to know about the core values that all of the SLA community uses; inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection. Johnson says that students will have one-on-one laptop time so they can understand the core values a bit more when it comes to research and presentation.

Science Leadership Academy Beeber Middle School will host 60 students per grade. Like the two SLA high schools, this middle school will also be selective admission, so students will be required to attend an interview, which took place on Saturday morning, October 21st and Sunday afternoon, November 5th.

Some requirements Beeber Middle School are looking for are advanced or proficient PSSA scores, good attendance, and their interview.

During the interviews, teachers are looking at students and comparing their process with the core values.

Teaching Process

Along with looking for students to go to this school, Project Coordinator Caitlin Thompson and other faculty members are already accepting resumes and will be doing the teacher hiring process in Spring 2018. They are looking for about 3-4 teachers for the first year. They do not have elective classes as of now, but will soon be created after they knew what the teachers can do.

The teachers are required to go to a Summer Institute to be taught how they should teach in the Project Based Learning (PBL). The event is hosted by Thompson and Former SLA Teacher Diana Laufenberg  

On Wednesday, November 29, 2017, there was also a  design meeting discussing better ideas of how the school will run.

Student Life

In contrast to the busy schedule of a high school student, these middle school students will have about 3-4 classes a day but they will have to process of teaming and looping so that when they would have the same teacher every two years and students will be moving from class to class.

The high school allows the 10th and 11th graders to have ILPs, while freshmen have mini-courses. Johnson plans on having the 5th-grade students to also have mini-courses that will on their Wednesday on after school. The high school students have a chance to doing their ILPs with the middle schoolers.

Applications have already been accepted for the incoming 5th-grade class, and decisions will go out in the spring.  

Tamir Harper

Editor in Chief

 

Rapper Meek Mill was sentenced November 4th by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley for a probation violation. Judge Brinkley sentenced Meek Mill 2-4 years in state prison. But many call that sentence a harsh sentence for a simple probation violation even after the District Attorney stated that jail time was necessary and his probation officer reported that Meek Mill was doing well on probation.

Meek Mill and his attorney are officially demanding his release from prison and the people of Philadelphia and around the nation are demanding the reform of the criminal justice system.

Since the rapper’s sentencing, there have been multiple buses with illuminated with a slew of things including; “Stand with Meek Mill,” “#Justice4Meek,” “#FreeMeekMill” driving around Philly. The buses were even seen from the journalism studio in Room 505, which sparked a conversation throughout Science Leadership Academy.

Many students support the movement to reform the criminal justice system, and think it makes sense to use Meek Mill as the poster child. However, many teachers are not on board with the movement to free the Philadelphia rapper.

When SLA students were asked about their take on the situation, it took some people over ten minutes to explain their opinions.

Junior Imani Murray is not on board with the Free Meek Mill movement. She believes Philadelphia has other things to worry about. Murray pointed out that Philadelphia did not protest for the “sugar tax” or “school shut down.” She doesn’t believe that the protests are for the reform of the criminal justice because “they should have been protesting for Kalief Browder.”

But Science Leadership Academy Senior Opoku Kwateng countered Murray’s argument. Kwateng believes that Meek Mill is “ being imprisoned for an action that he has already been cleared for.” He also believes that “those who are educated are protesting for the reform of the criminal justice system.”

Junior Avi Cantor is a fan of the free Meek Mill movement because he likes Mill as an artist and thinks that “the trial was unfair I think there were lots of personal issues.” He continued, “he was given to much time for a petty offense.”

Teachers around the office table are not fans of the Free Meek Mill movement but one of the youngest teachers in the building is on board with the Free Meek Mill movement.

But Jay-Z, millennials, and many Generation Z’ers are in favor of freeing Meek Mill and reforming the criminal justice system including the young Pennsylvania State Representative Black Caucus Chairman Jordan Harris and Rev. Al Sharpton.

Do you stand with Meek Mill? Leave your perspective in the comments!

Sanaa Scott-Wheeler

Staff Writer

On November 16, 2017, The School Reform Commission, also known as the SRC,

voted to disband. They voted to dissolve with a 3-1 while one member abstained from voting. The decision will be in effect starting June 30th.

The SRC is a state-appointed board responsible for the management of schools in the district and was created in 2001. In its seventeen years, the commission has closed 37 schools in the 2012-2013 school year and opened many charter schools, which advocates protest for draining resources from the district.

Countless people in the city have criticized the SRC for never fully advocating for students. Some of the complaints with the SRC have included that members of the Commission lived outside of the city, they did not have children in Philadelphia’s district schools, they did not have a background in education, and no one had any idea of what the students in Philadelphia needed.

With this level of criticism, it’s no surprise that many people were pleased with the decision to disband.

¨I am anti-SRC,” said Senior Tamir Harper, who is an education advocate, co-founder of the organization called UrbEd, (created with former student Luke Risher) and has been attending SRC meetings for years. “The disbandment will positively affect the students of Philadelphia because we will have a voice in our system.¨

Harper attended Tilden Middle School in Southwest Philadelphia which at one point was rated one of the worst middle schools in the district. He has watched the SRC fail the school system first hand by not allocating money properly, and not meeting the needs of students, caused by the lack of insight. UrbEd continues to work to bring power back to the students.

History Teacher, Daniel Symonds has appeared at 30 SRC meetings and even spoken at a few.

¨The SRC disbanding is proof that when we organize together as groups of students, educators, parents, and allies we can get things done,” he said.

“I want to see this SRC disbandment as one of a series of dominoes until we as people who live in this city demand the existence of the things we deserve, better health care, fully funded transportation, fully funded neighborhood public schools,15 dollars an hour minimum wage and an end to abusive policing. Every win that we get is another reason for people to get involved.¨  

Symonds has worked in schools around the city where the SRC has promised to improve, but instead many teachers were fired and only some were allowed to get their jobs back.

So now that the SRC is gone, what happens next?

¨I am interested in seeing a hybrid school board, which is a fifty-fifty percent split with some appointed and some elected by the mayor´s office and confirmed by city council,¨ Said Harper.

However, that’s not the current plan.

The SRC will be replaced with a nine member board of people appointed by the mayor, there is also a position open on the for a student. Our City Our Schools, a group of organizations and people, think it would be best to have a people’s school board where each member must meet all three constraints, members should live in Philadelphia, they should support racial and economic justice, none should have financial states or other conflicts of interest in our public or charter schools.

Overall the absence of an SRC and presence of a mayor/people appointed board will benefit the students in Philadelphia because the members will know what issues are affecting the community.