News

Maddi Etxebeste

Staff Writer

Students at Science Leadership Academy have always known that the building in Center City would not be their permanent home. Since the building is not owned by the district, the School Reform Commission has to approve the renewal of the contract every couple years since the original lease ran out.

In the past couple years the school has been thinking of finding a new home, a permanent home, this time. The options would be moving to an empty school or even into the School District Headquarters at 440 N. Broad Street.

Last month, April 2017, a flyer of the Student Union was passed around the students at SLA. It was stated that the school was “officially” moving, and there were rumors at the school about being moving to the empty Vaux High School building in Lower North Philadelphia.

In late April, the district informed SLA that they would like to do a last renewal before moving to a permanent location. They said it would be a 2-year-lease, it would expire in June 2020.

The vote meeting was scheduled for last week, but it was re-scheduled and planned for May 25th. Then, a few hours before the meeting, the district communicated to SLA that they only would be voting for a 1 year lease, contradicting their words from a few weeks ago. Finally, that is what they got. The SRC gave SLA the 1 year extension for the lease of the building.

Last year, at the meeting where SRC and SLA discussed about the future of the school, the SRC said they would give the school enough time to find a new home, but with the duration of the lease being shortened, the time to find a new building is shortened to.

Finally, on Thursday, May 25th, the vote meeting which decided the future of the location of Science Leadership Academy took place. Some students left with the teachers from school around 4:00 PM to go together to the meeting place, at the School District of Philadelphia (440 N. Broad Street).

Junior Tamir Harper, who was at the meeting, said “The meeting was long, it was hard, and it also upsetted me, it went as expected.”

Co-Principal Chris Lehmann explained: “SLA kids made their feelings known. It was important that students were there. They always support me with a degree of passion and energy they have for the school that is amazing. The students there took the opportunity they had to speak out about how important it’s the school for them.”

Lehmann acknowledged that the vote is a complicated issue, and remains hopeful for the future.

“Even if the results were not what we expected, we understand it, because the SDP is in a difficult financial crisis, and our lease is very expensive. Though, I have a lot of faith in the community to make sure that no matter where we end up we will remain the same and we will keep SLA as the transformative place it is.”

Harper also said: “It was tragic, because didn’t get the outcome we expected, but they did what they believed it was right. Even if the results were not what we wanted, we are not going to give up, we will continue fighting.”

Harper was happy with how SLA showed up to the vote.

“There was a lot of support from students who went to the SDP, of course Lehmann went too, and so did many teachers like Hull, Pahomov, and Kamal. After the meeting, SRC stated that they would work with us.”

Junior Kaamil Jones was one of the students who attended the meeting, and was inspired to speak before the SRC and give testimony as to why the vote should have been postponed.

“I think the amount of students that were there could have been more but we were also told last minute and it was benchmark season. It was a great turnout. I was kind of upset because of the results, but I feel like everything we fought for and said they didn’t care at all about that.”

Deja Harrison

Staff Writer

The popular Netflix series 13 Reasons Why is about a young girl named Hannah Baker who commits suicide and leaves 13 cassette tapes addressed to people who she believed contributed to her life-ending choice.

Recently, the show has been stirring up a lot of drama in both the media and in Philadelphia schools.

A letter addressing the show’s content was sent out a few weeks ago the SLA community from co-principal Aaron Gerwer. The letter sought to make both students and parents more aware of the serious issues being addressed on the show. The letter included a list of suggestions about how to engage with the series, including thinking “ carefully about whether or not you want to watch the show ” and to  “ consider watching it with others and take breaks between episodes instead of binge watching.”

So why not address the show when it first came out?

“ We heard about the show a while ago and at first we just wanted advisors to talk about it with students so they could be more aware. That’s why i didn’t send a letter out sooner because it was just supposed to be talked about. ” Mr. Gerwer explained.

“A student at Penny Parker Middle School committed suicide recently so we thought we should talk about it now. “

The letter seemed to turn a few students off and made them question the structure of the school;s support system.

“ I feel like the school tried to make it as though we aren’t mature enough to handle the content of the show,” said Junior Madison Harrison. “It just feels like they are trying to little kid us, I mean monitoring us while watching the show really.” She believes that the school shouldn’t have sent it to students at all.

Other students were upset because they feel as though the school should have addressed this issue earlier rather than waiting for an incident like the actual suicide of a student in order the send the letter out.

“ I don’t understand the delay in talking about the show,” said Junior Imani Williams. “It obviously raised a lot of awareness and made people feel a certain way so why not discuss it.”

Williams believes that the schools disorganization and delay with writing the letter drew less attention and awareness to it as a result. “ It is a serious issue and should have been addressed properly.”

The letter definitely drew controversy towards the organization of the school. But to clear things up, the letter was not initially for students.

“It was targeted more at parents so that they know what’s going on and so they can discuss and guide kids who might be feeling the way.”  Mr. Gerwer explained.

Shortly after Mr. Gerwer sent the letter, the school district also sent a letter to teachers with a similar message. So however late SLA’s response might be, the district response was even slower.

 

By Meymey Seng

Staff Writer

What better way to start off spring break than to go on a trip to Cuba? Hosted by Spanish Teacher Melanie Manuel, Science Teacher Stephanie Sessa, History Teacher Pearl Jonas, and Secretary Diane LoGiudice, this field trip took ten female students to the long-embargoed country. This was a nine day trip from March 29th to April 6th.

Cuba and the United States have not been on very good terms because of the 60-year-long embargo. Recently, parts of the embargo have been lifted due to the efforts of previous president Barack Obama, which made SLA’s trip possible.

“It’s such a different country and there’s not another place like it that we could actually access,” said Ms. Sessa. “It’s one of the very few communist/socialist countries left”.

The trip’s focus varied, including elements of science, history, and of course, Spanish. Other than that, some of the focuses were agriculture, medicine, business, and education. Going to Cuba, the girls had the opportunity to interview and talk to people of different professions. After gathering information, they would be able to compare and contrast how things worked between the different countries.

Cuba was very different from Philadelphia. Ms. Sessa’s pointed out the differences in architecture as her favorite thing. “They have a lot of these bright buildings but then these bright buildings would be next to buildings that are falling down and decrepit, and that comes from a variety of different things,” she said. “So even though everyone’s supposed to make the same amount of money, because it’s a communist society, there is still some discrepancy in that.”

Cuba also made a strong impression on the students.

“I enjoyed watching the Cuban people going about their day. How their life is so different from ours yet the same. I also enjoyed the first street food and we had churros. Also just being able to explore, having that freedom and trust from the teachers, and to really immerse myself into the Cuban culture,” said Senior Chhievling Seng. “I also really enjoyed asking questions, whatever it was I was curious about. Really being able to connect and have them share things about their life was my favorite part.”

“My favorite memory was when we went to this farm in the more rural part of Havana. The owner started a farm where he grows his own plants and raised his own animals. He was giving most of his products to restaurants in the city. The goal of it was to show that farming and agriculture is important and that more people should start their own farm to provide for themselves,” said Sophomore Lily Rivera. “He wanted to start a program where he would bring kids to his farm to teach them, starting from teaching children to adults. We can’t rely on chemicals, we need to be able to farm for ourselves and I think that he is taking the steps into the right direction to do that well.”

The trip was the initial idea of  Ms. Manuel, who has been to over thirty spanish speaking countries, including every Spanish speaking country in Central America and South America (except for Paraguay).

For Manuel, the trip holds a special place in her heart.

“My favorite moments were when our SLA girls were laughing, smiling, asking questions, and experiencing the joy of travel in a place as special as Cuba. We danced, we sang, we learned together, we had great conversations. I had an incredible time,” Ms. Manuel. “This trip was probably the highlight of my 9 years at SLA. I had wanted to organize a trip to Cuba for my own students since my first visit to the island in 2003. 14 years later, it was a teacher dream realized.”

This trip was such a success, it has inspired the teachers to create a course called International Cultures. The class will be tied to a trip that allows juniors and seniors to have similar experiences. The destination is still to go to a Spanish speaking country and they will be looking for a program that best fits the different topics they want to learn about.

by Tamir Harper

Staff Writer

Which teachers are leaving SLA at the end of the year?

When asked, students at SLA predicted all kinds of teachers as moving on, from veterans like English Teacher Matt Kay to newcomers like History Teacher Dan Symonds. (In fact, both of those teachers are sticking around for next year.)

While many students don’t know which teachers are going,  Principal Chris Lehmann and staff have begun interviewing for four vacancies that need to be filled. Three will fill the positions of teachers leaving and one new position is opening up to assist the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department.

Since not all teachers are public about their resignations yet, Mr.  Lehmann could not release all of the information in order to respect of the teachers and because the teachers have not yet notified their respective advisories. But for those who have already told their advisories, we wanted to find out more information on why.

After eight years, Digital Video and Photography teacher Douglas Herman is moving on from SLA . Mr. Herman is leaving to “give 100 percent to Rough Cut Media endeavors”, according to Technology Coordinator Marcie Hull. But Herman will still be part of the SLA community, Hull shared that Herman will continue to work with the school so that “the school continues to have one of the number one student led production sites in the district.”

Herman shared details about his departure to SLA Media. Herman received a big offer in November to work at a school in Los Angeles as a Director for their Digital Video program, but decided to not accept that position because “developing a program there wouldn’t change the inequity we see in our society in terms of access to media creation tools. The only reason I am leaving SLA is to attack this inequity by expanding the reach Rough Cut currently has in Philly.”

Spanish Teacher, Melanie Manuel will be leaving after being at SLA for 9 years.

One teacher that is not public is stated that he/she is “moving to another state.”

For filling the vacancies, Technology Teacher and Hiring Committee Member, Marice Hull stated that interviews are going smooth but stated that once someone accepts they will stop interviewing for the vacancies. When asked about when the new hire will be announced she stated “when Lehmann want’s to announce who’s been hired.”
*SLA Media will keep you updated with the latest news of the new hires as soon as we find out.