News

Teachers Wait Patiently For Court Decision

December 11, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

William Derry

Staff Writer

Image Courtesy of philly.com

On Tuesday, October 28, Common Pleas Court Judge Nina Wright Padilla made an order to hold up the changes that the School Reform Commission (SRC) announced on Oct. 6. The SRC attempted to cancel the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) contract, saying it would save millions of dollars for the district annually. The Teachers Union responded by filing several legal motions in response to the SRC’s decision. The School District of Philadelphia appealed Judge Padilla’s ruling and now the ruling will be heard in Commonwealth court.

Both parties feel as though the ruling was beneficial for their respective side. PFT members were going to have to start paying a part of their health care expenses on December 15. The school district had planned to save $54 million dollars from the contract being cancelled but that is being called into question as well.

The School District knows that this ruling will get them one step closer to a final decision, that could possibly affect schools and students this year. PFT paused their unfair labor practices complaint and requested an accelerated arbitration process.

Scheduling a date for oral arguments in the case, is next for the Commonwealth court but this is not expected to happen for a few months.

Lunch Line: “What the hell happened?”

November 20, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By: Alhaji Koita

The 2014-2015 school year has blossomed and is far on its way, the exciting news of free lunch shook the SLA hallways with an almighty roar. Could you ever believe it? Lunch is free. No gimmicks, no hidden payments. Just type that 7-digit student I.D number and wallah, your own school provided lunch.

Sounds amazing right? You’re probably saying to yourself as an SLA student, “You’re giving this thing a little too much credit” or “ What are you talking about? By the time I get to the front, lunch is over”. The fact of the matter is that there are numerous unexpected dilemmas to lunch being free. One of them being that the lunch line wraps around the school.

SLA Media went around to ask students about their experiences in the endless line.

From what SLA Media picked up its hard to ignore the issues. This once exciting success for the school, now is a wave of uncontrollable lines, students jumping past each other. Pushing and bumping is what awaits students at SLA if you want a school lunch.

Solutions to stop this lunch line frenzy are already in place and has steadily helped change the lunch line culture.The new intern for Principal Lehmann now patrols the daunting line. Now this may sound childish and a little silly, but this precaution was necessary.

So is this free lunch worth it or is this luxury a bittersweet opportunity for students

One Page On…Ebola.

November 14, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Nikki Adeli

Staff Writer

As the color of the trees change from summer’s green to autumn’s gold, the school work of SLA students begin to pile up. One of the essential tasks students must take on to complete their work, while fulfilling one of the school’s core values, is research. Whether it’s reading about a philosopher’s interpretation of the US constitution or the Ebola outbreak in the United States, the articles, as interesting as they might be, become heavy on the eyes. As a way to solve this predicament that many SLA students might face, SLA Media has decided to launch a feature series called “One Page On…”.
The SLA Media Team knows the importance of students understanding current events. Understanding current events not only show how well informed students can be, but also show the potential they have to be social citizens who can form detailed opinions on any topic. On behalf of the entire SLA Media team, we hope that this series is helpful during benchmark season and serve as a reliable source for your bi-weekly 2fers!

SLA Faces Building Decision

October 29, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

William Derry

Staff Writer

Image Courtesy of http://www.whyy.org/img/slides/jyw_socialmedia5.jpg

“I don’t like the idea of us moving at all. Our current locations helps SLA thrive and if we leave the chances of us getting another location anywhere near as convenient as 22nd and Arch are next to nothing. Overall I think there is no winning in this scenario.” says junior Rafi Hares.

For anybody unfamiliar with the story of SLA and the potential move, there are a few essential facts. For one, the School District of Philadelphia does not own SLA’s current home at 55 N. 22nd Street. They lease it for about $1.4 million a year. Second, SLA’s location is in a prime real estate area in Center City. SLA is also located at it’s current home because of it’s partnership with The Franklin Institute (TFI) and it being in walking distance for students to get there for programming.

On September 17, of this current school year, a “Future of SLA Meeting” was held at SLA’s current home. School District officials announced their scenarios for the future of the school and the SLA community had a chance to have their voices heard, as well.

“For me it was about listening to parents talk to the district, and get their voices heard.” says Chris Lehmann principal of SLA.

Two serious options that were presented at the meeting were Peirce Elementary, which is located on the 2300 block of W. Cambria St and the central office of the School District of Philadelphia, which is located at 440 N Broad street.

A significant strike against the Pierce site is its lack of access to public transportation. The site is not close to the Broad Street, Market Frankford, or West Philadelphia Trolley Lines. Many students who use services could see their commutes double or triple in time. By contrast, Lehmann notes that 440 is “as easy to get to as our current location.”

“The SLA community would consider 440 as an option, but only if they offer the school better space than they did at the September meeting.” says Lehmann. Lehmann also stated “They were giving us bad space, on the first floor with no natural light.”

The School District of Philadelphia would probably spend twelve to fifteen million dollars to retrofit the central office to accommodate SLA as a school site. As the district does not own SLA’s current site, they will not make capital improvements to that building.

SLA expects to know “soon” if the school is moving, because the move would have to happen in time for the Fall of 2016.

Memorial Park for Building Collapse.

October 27, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

by Dylan McKeon

The concept idea for the memorial park. — **The concept idea for the building collapse memorial . Each window is for each victim with the seventh for those injured.**

Many juniors and seniors remember how two years ago the Salvation Army Thrift store a block away from SLA, collapsed after the adjacent building under demolition fell onto the thrift store.

“It was in history when we heard a loud sound and we learned that the Salvation Army building collapsed.” Alexander Wroblewski a junior at SLA recounts.

The collapse which killed six people and injured fourteen others has lead to many changes in safety requirements for other construction sites. Now the site of this accident is to be the site of a small park in memorial to the lives lost in the tragic building collapse. However while the park is to many a nice effort to improve the area, others debate it’s true worth.

The park was the idea of Nancy Winkler the city’s treasurer who lost her 24 year old daughter in the collapse. The idea gained more than six thousand supporters on change.org and raised more than $220,000 for the project.

The memorial’s design will be shaped like a house with seven windows, six of which will represent each person who had died and one for everyone who was injured. The windows will be for the families to personalize and the names of the lives that were lost will be etched in the granite.

Many SLA students agree with the park believing it can help the area.

“It’s a great idea it’s a good place to plant tree and the memorial looks nice.” Senior Marshall Woodruff said.

However, while the park seems like a great way to remember those who were lost, it has also gain much criticisms.

“Is there a memorial park at the site of the MOVE bombing? Is there a leafy glen where seven died in the Lex Street Massacre? What about memorial parks for the firefighters who perished in the Gulf Oil refinery fire? Or those lost in the Pier 34 collapse?” Liz Spikol of phillymag.com said.

Also placing the memorial in the middle of the business area can take a lot of money away from the city as opposed to placing another store there. Additionally the area isn’t the best for a park as many feel it will most likely gather a lot of trash from both the subway stop and 7-11 nearby.

That being said, many feel that placing the park would be a nice gesture but can only last so long before it becomes irrelevant to most of the city.

The cost to create the park is $600,000 and $220,000 has been raised so far. The park is estimated to be finished funding and begin construction by next year.