Organizing Model
Each of our school based chapters meets once a week in our schools, after school or sometimes during the school day. This meeting is the place we come together to build relationships, undergo a process of political education, and learn how to be organizers. At the beginning of each year we recruit new members through classroom presentations that attract students who really want to make a change. Then we will conduct surveys or do listening campaigns to help us understand what the most important problems are for the students at our school. From there we develop an organizing campaign by choosing a problem and turning it into an issue by having a clear idea of what we want, and developing a strategy to build power to make it happen. During our chapter meetings there is a mix of workshops on organizing, leadership development, and political education.
Leadership Development
Leadership development is critical if we are to build the power that we want to make changes in our schools. Often as young people our experience is that adults don't listen to us. This even extends to other young people. Leadership is a state of mind and leaders in our organization assume many different roles. Our leadership development process allows each of us to determine what our strengths and challenges are, and we support each other to step outside of our comfort zones. We receive training in public speaking, inter-cultural communication, conflict resolution, and accomplishing challenges through group work.
:: Chapters in your Neighborhood ::
West Philadelphia
High School: 48th and Walnut St.
William L. Sayre High School: 59th and Walnut. St.
Julia R. Masterman High School: 17th and Spring
Garden St.
Bodine High School for International Affairs: 4th and George St.
High School for Creative and Performing Arts
:: Current Campaigns ::
West Philadelphia High School - Community Centered School Campaign
West was built in 1911, and has had no major renovations since that time. A new building will be built, and we are organizing to ensure that it provides us with the best possible education. We are working with community members to create a school that delivers a high quality education to students and is also accountable to the community. Our new school will have four themes that are still in development, but may include: Creative and Performing Arts, Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, Business and Technology, and Community/Public Health. Our vision is that the community organizations and individuals will partner with each of the academies so that we can have a culturally relevant, community and social change focused curriculum, where parents and community members have real decision-making power in the school.
We are currently participating in the process to design the new school along with parents, community members, and the architects. We are also working to build pressure to ensure that our school, like other new small schools in the district, receives funding for a year of advance planning time. We support a shared catchment area between West and Sayre, and we want to make sure that our new school is open to everyone who currently attends West.
William L. Sayre High School - Ninth grade support; Library; Student/Staff relationships.
We are working on three main issues for the 07-08 school year at Sayre.
1) Improving support for ninth graders. Surveys of ninth grade students, and conversations with 9th graders and teachers have shown that 9th graders are having a difficult time. Many are cutting class, and some are dropping out. PSU is in the process of designing a mentoring program that would pair 11th and 12th grade students with 9th graders to help them make the transition to high school and provide more support to help them feel ownership over their education.
2) Ensuring that renovations to the library are completed in a timely fashion. Our library has been under renovation since Spring 2006. We are happy that our library is being renovated, but frustrated that it is taking so long. Lack of access to the library is hurting our education. We are working to apply pressure to ensure that our library is completed in February 2008.
3) Building student/staff relationships. Students want to go to class and do their work when they trust their teachers. Teachers can function well when they like their students. Better student/staff relationships is the foundation for a more positive school climate as well as improved teaching and learning. We are working on building support for student/staff committee that can envision activities that students and staff can do together, as well as to engage in dialogue about teaching and learning at Sayre.
Additionally, PSU at Sayre supports the implementation of Schedule C, which would allow for additional planning time for our teachers. We are working to support Schedule C for Fall 2008.
We are working to open lines of communication between students and staff. We want to air concerns that both students and staff have about teaching and learning at our school. We are currently conducting a survey among both students and staff to address issues related to our learning environment. After those surveys have been tabulated we will be doing a presentation to the faculty, as well as in student classrooms to discuss survey results and next steps. Then smalls groups of students will meet with each of their teachers for a smaller discussion of what can be done to improve relationships between staff and students. We hope that this will create a model that we can use every year to improve trust and communication between students and staff.
At Bodine we are currently working on developing a student survey to gauge what issues may be most important to students. We hope to conclude our research soon and launch a campaign shortly therafter.
High School for Creative and Performing Arts
