City of Philadelphia - File #: 010104

• File #: 010104
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: LAPSED
• File created: 2/15/2001
• In control: Committee on Education
• Final action: 12/31/2003
• Title: Authorizing the City Council Committee on Education to hold hearings on methods and practices of teacher retention and attraction that are used by the Philadelphia School District and school districts across the country.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Longstreth, Council President Verna, Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Krajewski
• Indexes: SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
2/15/2001	0	CITY COUNCIL	Referred
2/15/2001	0	CITY COUNCIL	Referred
2/15/2001	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass
2/15/2001	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass

Title
Authorizing the City Council Committee on Education to hold hearings on methods and practices of teacher retention and attraction that are used by the Philadelphia School District and school districts across the country.
Body
WHEREAS, High quality teachers are an essential component in the education and development of the 210,000 students in the Philadelphia School District; and

WHEREAS, 826 prospective teachers between September 2000 to January 2001 applied to the Philadelphia School District as compared to 2,875 prospective teachers during the same time period the previous year, a 71% decrease; and

WHEREAS, Despite the best efforts of the Philadelphia School District, at the end of January the number of vacancies throughout the system continued to hover around one hundred; and

WHEREAS, The literacy intern program is an innovative project that the School District has implemented to combat the problem of teacher retention and attraction, yet despite its success the need still exists to fill positions with highly qualified teachers; and

WHEREAS, Far sighted leaders such as Representative Dwight Evans and Representative James Roebuck have put forward proposals in the State House of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to combat the problem of teacher shortage; and

WHEREAS, While there are initiatives on the state level being discussed to attack the teacher shortage, there is a need to explore whether more can be done on the City and School District level so as to implement a strategic partnership with our friends in Harrisburg in an effort to solve this problem; and

WHEREAS, The difficulties in retaining and attracting teachers is not limited to Philadelphia or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania but is a national problem; and

WHEREAS, Other municipalities may offer examples that Philadelphia can emulate in an effort to do whatever can be done to ensure that the students of the Philadelphia School District obtain a quality education; now the...