Kids’ edition

In this issue, the Chestnut Hill Local is publishing its annual Kids’ Edition.

First started in 1979, the purpose of the four-page supplement in the front section is to give the community’s children an opportunity to contribute an article or drawing to their local newspaper, as well as a chance to practice writing and drawing. This year’s contributions show that kids today have imagination, an interest in reading, and the ability to draw pictures and write prose and poetry about the world around them. If these are any example, tomorrow’s world will be in good hands. Pick up a copy today. Call 215-248-8800 to find an outlet near you.

Katie Worrall

Opinion: Newspapers are not designed to
please people they cover

by CLARK GROOME

The proposal to revoke the Lentz Policy on which Katie Worrall reported in her editorial last week should trouble the Local’s readers. It troubles me.

While the Lentz Policy specifically deals with the right of everyone in the community, including those who edit and write for the Local, to express their opinions on matters concerning the community and the Community Association, in reality it goes much further than that.

This policy, which has been in place for decades, really confirms the role of the CHCA-owned Local to be a newspaper, not a house organ.

This means that as a paper it is free to report on events that take place in the community, even those events that make some uncomfortable or, perhaps, angry. If a member of the community, no matter how important or influential, is under fire, the local newspaper should not only have the right to report on it, it would be irresponsible not to.

Newspapers do not live in our society to please the people they cover. They exist to inform their readers. Publishers have the responsibility to hire the best editor they can find and then to support that person. If the editor goes off on a tangent that the publisher finds inappropriate, the publisher, in this case the CHCA, has the right to find someone who will do their bidding.

This is where it gets complicated, and difficult.

In Chestnut Hill, I could only see the CHCA firing an editor if that journalist was either biased in reporting the local news or ignored that news altogether in order to pursue some personal journalistic agenda.

Angering a member of the community, whether a bigwig or not, should not be, so long as the reporting meets journalistic standards, cause for termination, even if that person threatens to sue. That threat of lawsuits is what CHCA president Maxine Dornemann has said raised the issue of possibly revoking Lentz.

The reality is that newspapers, protected as they are by the First Amendment and piles of legislation and court rulings, generally win any lawsuits they face. The exceptions have to do with malice on the part of the reporter or publication, something that, regardless of what those who disagree with the press think, is extremely rare. If that is the case, it would be cause for termination, as would the kinds of phony reporting that have recently rocked, among others, the New York Times.

What the CHCA should do now is to assure that the editor they hire on Thursday night demonstrates the journalistic ability, integrity, perspective and common sense needed to report on those stories and events that are of interest to the community. If that person is handcuffed by being required to print only those stories that are non-controversial or don’t make somewhat angry, then it might as well print a newsletter, because the Local will no longer be a newspaper.

For all of that, be assured that a huge percentage of the reporting in all newspapers is non-controversial. Some of it is even about good news, positive things that are happening. That is especially true of a good local newspaper, which the one you’ve got in your hands right now has been over most of its existence.

The Local must continue to be free to report on all that happens within and without the community that affects the lives of those who live here and who read their local paper.

The reporting must be factual and unbiased and the opinion pieces responsible. Reporters and newspapers should not worry about popularity or about lawsuits. They should only worry about the truth.

Imagine, if you will, how different the world would be today if the New York Times’ publisher had ordered the editors not to print the Pentagon Papers or if Katharine Graham had caved to the pressure she felt when the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, under the direction of their editor, Ben Bradlee, were reporting on Watergate.

The Local, its editors, reporters and columnists need to be free to do their jobs. The Lentz Policy helps assure that freedom.

Clark Groome has been a writer for the Chestnut Hill Local since 1980. He has written about theater, the arts, religion, sports, politics and education.

Opinion: School Reform Commission issues 'Declaration of Education'

by James E. Nevels

No one seriously disputes the fact that far too many of our public schools are failing in their mission to provide a quality education to Philadelphia's children. Test scores, while improving, are still below the national average. Dropout and truancy rates, meanwhile, are staggeringly high. Community involvement in school activities is far less than it should be, as is parental involvement. In years past, the parents, teachers, administrators, unions and School District officials have pointed fingers at each other; each eager to assign blame while the schools, and our children's chances of getting that quality education, continue to deteriorate.

That isn't to diminish the valiant efforts of district CEO Paul Vallas and his staff to bring about real education reform. Since the formation of the School Reform Commission, commission members have worked tirelessly, and in full cooperation with Vallas, to re-invent the realities and perceptions of life in our public schools. We've formed partnerships with political, business and community leaders, purchased books and supplies and re-vamped the curricula, but still, the sweeping reforms in public education we sought were so slow in coming that those reforms often seemed like far-off pipe dreams.

That's why this summer the School Reform Commission has undertaken what is surely the most ambitious public education improvement plan in Philadelphia's history. In addition to the usual back-to-school pep rallies, this year the SRC intends to bring children back to school in September under a new mandate that would completely transform Philadelphia public schools in the next few years.

The Declaration of Education, as we're calling it, is a bold manifesto — a pledge to commit every resource to vastly improving the quality of public education. What makes this pledge different is its targeted goals and strict deadlines. Under the Declaration of Education, by June 2008, 80 percent of all Philadelphia public school third-graders will read at or above grade level, a far cry from the current 45 percent. The declaration also promises that 85 percent of high school students will graduate, up from today's level of 60 percent, and that every single public school will have an active Home and School Association. Right now, only about half have active Home and School Associations.

There are five core tenets to the Declaration of Education: The beliefs that all children can learn at high levels; that all children can reach their learning potential; that schools have enormous impact on children's lives; that all children should be educated in a safe and orderly environment; and finally, that the school district itself can become a high-performing organization. This last component is interesting for two reasons: first, rarely does a massive bureaucracy, like the School District of Philadelphia, acknowledge its own shortcomings publicly and vow to do more, better and faster.

Second, we promise that all district activities will be measured solely by their ability to significantly increase student achievement, and any program that falls short of that criteria will be scrapped. No sacred cows, no "grandfathered" programs that can't be touched, no free rides. Success, the declaration reads, is the only option.

The official kickoff of the Declaration of Education takes place the last week in August, when a series of events are planned to highlight the new initiative, culminating in an August 30 festival and rally from the School District administration building to Eakins Oval. Parents, teachers, administrators, students and community leaders will sign the declaration, adding their voices to the cry for reform and pledging their efforts to the cause.

Four years is all the SRC is giving itself to achieve what today looks like the impossible: turning the troubled Philadelphia school system into a national model of academic achievement and efficiency; a shining beacon of critical thought and learning that produces daring leaders and deep thinkers. The promise of a thorough and efficient education means that every child must be given every tool to achieve their highest potential — no exceptions and no excuses. We urge you to join us.

James E. Nevels is chairman of the School Reform Commission