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February 26, 2016 News

Teaching Hope at Mitchell School

The tiny girl walked into the Mitchell Elementary School counselor’s office dressed only in pants and a tank top. Outside, it was 39 degrees.

“My teacher sent me to get a sweater,” she whispered. “I’m cold.”

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Nancy Hoover, the counselor at the school in Southwest Philadelphia, didn’t blink. She fished something warm from one of her beat-up filing cabinets. A few minutes before, she’d outfitted an older girl with pants and a shirt to replace the ill-fitting uniform the girl had worn to school.

Funding Philadelphia schools, for better or worse, is about much more than providing basic academic needs.

This month, Gov. Wolf made his 2017 budget proposal — whose outcome will have an enormous impact on Philadelphia schools. Mayor Kenney’s is due in a few weeks. Most days of the week, politicians have something to say about the state of the cash-poor Philadelphia School District.

Stephanie Andrewlevich, the first-year principal of a school some had given up on, would love a piece of the $200 million in new money Wolf has suggested for Pennsylvania schools, but that possibility feels far away from 55th Street and Kingsessing Avenue.

The needs and the promise of that shivering little girl, and her 700 classmates, drive educators on. But for those in the trenches at schools like Mitchell, keeping optimism afloat requires superhuman efforts some days.

Consider: Some teachers began the school year with no computers in their rooms, and there’s barely any budget for books. Until very recently, Andrewlevich conducted daily assemblies in an auditorium that had just a few working lightbulbs. Staff have had to call 911 an estimated 15 times so far this school year on days when there is no nurse in the building.

Every one of Mitchell’s students lives below the poverty line, and some are homeless. A significant number of children have behavioral or mental health issues, with many needs concentrated in the early grades, where classes are large.

Some students have never been outside Southwest Philadelphia. Some are raising themselves.

Mitchell ranks low on test scores, quality of school life, and growth measures, based on last year’s data.

Several years ago, the school fared fairly well academically, but as resources eroded districtwide, Mitchell also grew from a K-4 to a K-8 school, and conditions worsened.

And yet, hope prevails.

Read the full Philly.com article here.