A pair of Philadelphia public school principals

Hour 1

It has been a tumultuous year for the School District of Philadelphia — at the headquarters  as well as at the school level.  South Philadelphia High School was recovering from a series of racially-motivated violent events between African American and Asian students in 2009.  Principal OTIS HACKNEY was brought in in September to help the “Southern” community recover and get back to the business of educating its students.  In October, Principal EDWARD PENN took over at Roberto Clemente Middle School, a Promise Academy in which 88 percent of the teachers were new to the school and 48 percent were in their first year as educators.  A new curriculum requiring an extension of literacy and math classes threw the middle school’s schedule into disarray, as did teacher vacancies. Both  principals, longtime educators in the District, remain optimistic about their successes and their challenges.  In this hour of Radio Times we continue our series on the educational landscape in Philadelphia with public school principals Otis Hackney and Edward Penn.

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[audio: 082411_100630.mp3]