School Budget! (Philadelphia: school district, taxes, civil lawsuit)

[tintin19119]

300 million short. They are asking for 120 million from the state, that is not going to happen. The mayor wants to raise taxes on cigarettes and liquor ,even if the State let`s this happen.We are talking about 20 to 40 million. Where is the rest of the money going to come from?

Philadelphia Public School Notebook

[frankgn87]

Been telling everyone the school district is in BAD shape.. and I meant it.

[Jerseykids2011]

It's just going to get worse, too. And all the children are walking out of school mid-day to demonstrate. Excuse me, isn't that truancy???

[maf763]

It's also civil disobedience, and it is a response to the systematic dismantling of public education as we know it that is taking place across the country. While it is currently urban districts that are impacted, the privatization of education will likely spread. A generation from now we'll look back and wonder what the hell happened.

[ElijahAstin]

Corbett is playing a very sick game of chicken. At Central, this would require cutting 30 teachers; all administrative staff safe for a single principle; and every music, art, athletic, and other extracurricular program; not to mention it would lead to 45-student classrooms. Obviously this isn't going to survive in its present form, but it could very well still end up debilitating. Just another part of his bass-ackwards educational platform...

Originally Posted by Jerseykids2011

It's just going to get worse, too. And all the children are walking out of school mid-day to demonstrate. Excuse me, isn't that truancy???

Many teachers/administrators sympathize with the students; they don't like what's going on either. So they're basically turning a blind eye to it.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by Jerseykids2011

It's just going to get worse, too. And all the children are walking out of school mid-day to demonstrate. Excuse me, isn't that truancy???

Yes. And at least it's for a good reason.

[Jerseykids2011]

Originally Posted by rotodome

Yes. And at least it's for a good reason.

Using students to protest the school budget crisis , off campus and during school hours is not wrong? (You approve of the selective disregard of laws by minors...?)
If the teachers and administrators in a school, who have the responsibility for the child's safety and welfare during school hours, turn a blind eye to a student or group of students walking off school property and a child gets hit by a car or bus or is somehow injured, who is legally responsible?
Would you support this "permission to be truant" to be given for your child by school staff, especially if your child was hurt or maimed, when he/she was supposed to be in school???

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Jerseykids2011

Using students to protest the school budget crisis , off campus and during school hours is not wrong? (You approve of the selective disregard of laws by minors...?)
If the teachers and administrators in a school, who have the responsibility for the child's safety and welfare during school hours, turn a blind eye to a student or group of students walking off school property and a child gets hit by a car or bus or is somehow injured, who is legally responsible?
Would you support this "permission to be truant" to be given for your child by school staff, especially if your child was hurt or maimed, when he/she was supposed to be in school???

They didn't "recruit" the students to walk out. The students themselves banded together and made the decision to engage in civil disobedience; they know exactly what's at stake and walk-outs are the most effective non-violent, non-criminally illegal means of drawing attention to their cause.

If your worst-case scenario hypothetical did take place (which it almost certainly won't), the school district gets sued. The individual teachers may be initially named as parties to the case, but a teacher making in the upper-mid five figures has a lot less money to pay out in a civil lawsuit than does the largest school district in the state (however mismanaged). It's a matter of vicarious liability/respondeat superior. Besides, since this is being done with a wink-and-a-nod, how would it be proven that they willfully turned a blind eye? This message board reply posted by a non-insider who heard about this third-hand? I could very well be wrong about teacher/administrator laxness.

[Angus215]

Originally Posted by maf763

It's also civil disobedience, and it is a response to the systematic dismantling of public education as we know it that is taking place across the country. While it is currently urban districts that are impacted, the privatization of education will likely spread. A generation from now we'll look back and wonder what the hell happened.

And we can thank the teachers unions for their legacy.

[maf763]

Originally Posted by Angus215

And we can thank the teachers unions for their legacy.

Plenty of blame to go around. Just be careful of what you wish for.