School Reform Commission holds special meeting, flash mobs stir up summer concerns

Good morning, Feeders, and happy Monday! The School Reform Commission is holding a special meeting today, and rumors are circulating about Arlene Ackerman stepping away from her superintendent position at the School District of Philadelphia. Tom MacDonald is heading to the meeting.

Tom is also keeping an eye out on the school funding coming out of Harrisburg. If there are any updates there, we’ll have them.

Lizz Fiedler is already headed to Camden where a judge is set to weigh in on an agreement reached over police’s surveillance of people in custody while in the bathroom.

It was a bloody weekend in Philadelphia. Mara Zepeda will take a look at the city’s homicide numbers, which are up from this time last year and this time in 2009.

Our interns are following up on the weekend flash mobs in Upper Darby and North Philadelphia, and taking a look at plans for the Schuylkill River Park. Some folks are angry about the improvements that will eliminate some trees and part of a dog park.

The annual Manayunk Arts Festival had a surprising first this year: a work of public art. Amid the private vendors, a Mural Arts Program piece was unveiled in the neighborhood as part of the program’s “Look Long & Look Good” roving gallery.

Students from Anna L. Lingelbach School are getting acquainted with museums. As part of an ongoing partnership, third- and fourth-graders have been visiting the Woodmere Art Museum to learn more about art and the connections it creates.