Title
Requesting that the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia suspend any action which establishes any new or increased fee schedule for the Parent Cooperative Nursery Program until a comprehensive review and analysis of all early childhood programs has been performed by the School District in conjunction with all stakeholders; and requesting that the comprehensive review be presented to the Council President in the form of a report which details the findings, methodology, cost/benefit analysis, collaborative process, and recommendations surrounding all early childhood programs provided by the School District; and further requesting that no fee increase be imposed until such report is presented to the Council President and until an opportunity for a review and discussion of the report with the City Council is provided.
Body
WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia provides three different pre-school programs -- Head Start, Comprehensive Day Care, and the Parent Cooperative Nursery Program; and
WHEREAS, All of these pre-school programs provide a critically important role in helping to insure that children are ready for school; and
WHEREAS, These programs have many similarities, but they also have several differences, such as the level and nature of parental participation, the fee structure, and teacher qualifications; and
WHEREAS, In the summer of 2000, the School District proposed a significantly increased fee for the Parent Cooperative Nursery Program ("PCN"); and
WHEREAS, Because of very limited notice about this fee increase and essentially no involvement with the parents in the derivation of the new fee structure, City Council raised serious objections to the implementation of this new fee structure; and
WHEREAS, On September 11, 2000, the Board of Education adopted Resolution B-1 which suspended the implementation of the proposed fee and directed the School District to "undertake a comprehensive review of t...
Click here for full text