Parents! Unite for Equitable Transportation
Two Letters from Concerned Parents
1.
Dear Michael,
I am a parent of 2 Philadelphia School District Public school students—no
big deal.
I attended a Home and School meeting last night to report on a school committee
that I am on—again—no big deal.
Until I learned more about the "Free Septa Pass" program and how
J.R. Masterman 5th and 6th grade students were not included. Have you heard
anything about this? I found it really disturbing (and thought you would
too) to learn that J.R. Masterman is one of the few schools in the State
of Pennsylvania that does not provide bus transportation for its 5th and
6th grade students!!!! What is up with that?
The school district buses most public (elementary and middle) school children,
including most magnet school children-Gamp (to name one) to and from areas
all over City. I understand the Philadelphia school district also provides
bus service for children attending private school as far as 10 miles outside
the City border. It's hard to believe that the Philadelphia school district provides
nothing for these particular 5th and 6th grade students. The school district
web site says it provides this transportation, and yet the J.R. Masterman
administration is not given any Septa Passes for it’s 5th and 6th grade
students. (Since when is bright, and motivated synonymous with wealthy?)
To think that there are children that deserve the challenge that this particular
school offers but because they are unable to afford cost of transportation
must choose, instead of “daring to be excellent”— to attend
a school closer to home—is completely insane—especially when
the same is provided to other 5th and 6th grade students attending other
schools in Philadelphia.
So how can you help?? Can you help us get to the bottom of this perplexing
situation by asking around—the important people you know?? I’m
interested in hearing what you think we can do to move forward.
In short, Masterman's 5th and 6th grade children should be eligible to receive
the same free transit pass that covers the whole septa system not just bus
and subway riders, as all the other Philadelphia school district 5th
and 6th grade children.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Lynn Norton Robins
2.
Dear Michael,
Recently a parent from Masterman Middle School (17th and Spring Garden),
Lynn Norton Robins, wrote to you concerning the unfair transportation
at Masterman Middle School (5th and 6th graders). In light of the
most recent study by US News and World Report which ranked Masterman High
School 53rd in the country out of 18,790 schools we would appreciate it
if you could lend some time to this issue. This urban school is fantastic;
a diamond in the rough, and it is easily five years behind in technology
and kids have to make their own way to school (10 year olds are taking
multiple buses, trains and or subway to get here). Many children
don't even apply due to the hardship caused on a family trying to get their
children to and from school. This high school was rated against some
of the top schools in the country and it is truly amazing what is being
done at Masterman by the students and faculty given that many of the other
top 100 schools have state of the art everything.
Thank you,
Noreen Buck
Phone 215-238-4015
Fax 215-238-4074
3.
We were delighted when our daughter was accepted to Masterman Middle School and were willing to meet the challenge of getting her to and from school each day (something that many can not do both financially and logistically) because we had little choice. As we all know, Masterman is probably the only middle school in the State of Pennsylvania that does not receive bus transportation. If we were not able get her there, she was not going to be able to attend a school that would meet her academic needs.
Once our 5th grader started school, free tokens were eliminated. This year discounted tokens were eliminated, fares have increased and are due to increase AGAIN. In addition, 7th -12th graders began receiving free transpasses excluding 5th/6th graders. Charter schools, private schools, Catholic schools and schools OUTSIDE the city receive a bus or a transpass. What do 5th and 6th graders at Masterman receive – NOTHING! We have been fighting this inequity for a year and a half. There are magnet schools that receive these services (exceptions to the rule). CAPA high school students receive a yellow bus (free) from school to Market East. They also receive FREE tokens. Conwell school students in Kensington (grades 5-12) receive transpasses.
The school district’s transportation department continues to state that Masterman does not receive bus transportation because of the deseg ruling from 1972, over 35 years ago. They further state that it was our choice to leave our neighborhood school. This is not much of a choice if the local school does not meet your child’s academic needs. That rhetoric is hard to swallow when we have kept our children in Philadelphia’s public school system, made sacrifices to do so and the school district and the district’s transportation department are providing services for so many who have left the public school system. Furthermore, the district establishes transportation policies and then makes exceptions to its own policies as it sees fit. For example, the district established a transpass policy that limited transpasses to children in 7th through 12th grade and then secretly allows 5th/6th grade students in select schools to also get these passes. Frank Gallard, a spokesman for the school district, recently stated that some of the exceptions were granted because “the parents got used to having transportation and when it was taken away, they got upset---so we grandfathered any student already receiving the transportation into the program.”
On back to school night I was able to collect 137 signatures from Masterman parents/caregivers who believe, like I do, that this is an unfair practice and it’s time for a change. Please support this effort by going to the district/parent meeting on Monday, October 22nd at 6:00 pm at 440 North Broad Street. Transportation is on the agenda for that meeting and there should be representatives from the district’s transportation department at the meeting. The parent advocate group, Parents United for Public Education has a blog where you can post your comments about various issues pertaining to the Philadelphia School District. Your voice will be heard. The Metro paper ran two stories the week of September 24th (one being a front page story) and it was based on information from the blog by Parents United. The address is: http://parentsunitedphila.blogspot.com
email: buck-noreen@aramark.com