9486 in the collection
Beware of Edison Promising Gifts
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 14 — On the first day of school, back in September, Janice I. Solkov was the star principal for Edison, the private company hired by the state to manage the 20 lowest-performing schools here.
Fresh from the suburbs and brimming with idealism, Dr. Solkov was chosen by Edison to welcome reporters, television crews, politicians and officials to Morton McMichael Elementary School as the district began the experiment that everyone hoped would turn the troubled Philadelphia school system around.
"This is the model that will work," she told reporters, who were focused on her students' poverty and their dismal math and reading scores.
But last week she told her staff she was resigning.
Dr. Solkov, 50, who has a doctorate in education and 30 years of experience, said she had been exhausted, frustrated and finally defeated by the Philadelphia system's bureaucracy, which left her without enough teachers, and entrenched union rules, which kept her from even meeting with her teachers. There was also, she said, Edison's inability to put in place the model for which she had signed on and the continual problem of answering to two bosses — the Philadelphia school system and Edison, the New York company that is the nation's largest private manager of public schools.
Dr. Solkov's experience illustrates how the promises of politicians and pioneering companies like Edison often clash with the complex realities of classroom life, particularly in a system like Philadelphia's, where a majority of students have failed state tests in recent years. . . .
Dr. Solkov said she still believed in the Edison model described in the company's 23-page promotional brochure. "Maybe in some other real world it can work," she said. "I'm not sure it can work in the Philadelphia real world."
Dr. Solkov, who gave up a top suburban school administrative job to come to Philadelphia, was described by her Edison recruiter as "extraordinarily talented, with an outstanding track record for success." But three months into the school year, she had begun closing the door to her office and crying.
"I felt like I was drowning, and I did not see a way to stay afloat," she said. . . .
Of Dr. Solkov's resignation, Richard Barth, Edison's senior vice president for Philadelphia, said: "This is a bear of a job. It's not for everyone."
Dr. Solkov had been sold on Edison's testimonials about achievement gains and its promises, which included computers in the homes of every student in the third grade and above, and laptops for every teacher.
But those computers never materialized. Nor was Dr. Solkov given the helper she was promised to handle the extra accounting that Edison required, or the second school secretary so she would not have to type her own meeting minutes and letters. Edison would not paint the school's peeling walls. Nor was there money to open the library. . . .
On Nov. 17, after preliminary discussions, Dr. Solkov sent Edison's Richard Barth an e-mail message: She was resigning. Her last day will be Dec. 31.
— Sara Rimer
Philadelphia School's Woes Defeat Veteran Principal
New York Times
Dec. 15, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/education/15EDIS.html?pagewanted=print&position=bottom
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
