I haven't woken up this early since high school!

This morning we got up bright and early to leave for Bartram high school at 7 am. Although we got off to a late start we still got there in time. Our first task was to clean a closet in the 9^th grade academy wing. We were all expecting a small supplies closet but to our surprise it was a very long and narrow walk-in closet with floor to ceiling broken-down wood shelves. Upon closer inspection, the supply closet held history books from the 1960s, dental and orthopedic equipment from the 1970s, Italian and French 8-tracks, a head dummy, old computers, never used microscopes, thousands of pipettes, a glow-in-the-dark skeleton, and many other miscellaneous items dating back to at least the 1950s. After our initial shock we all dove in and cleaned out the entire closet and brought all the trash down to the dumpsters. By the end of the day we threw out 90% of the items in the closet.

Towards the end of the day we attended a common planning meeting with the 9^th grade academy teacher. Instead of being a planning meeting, the majority of the time was spent filling out paper for delinquent children. After talking to some of the teachers about the paper work we found out that before this year, the teachers had been able to fill out the paper work on students they felt needed help from the system. Unfortunately, this year, they were being forced by the school board to fill out a certain amount of paper work to meet the “quota” of students the school board thinks should be in the system. This entails writing up a good number of students whom the teachers feel are good kids and who do not need to be clogging the system taking attention away from the kids who need it. We also had the chance to speak with a first year teacher that taught five different classes including special education. She expressed that she was frustrated because at least 75% of her students failed the test that she had given earlier in the day. She said that she is not allowed to leave back students even if she knows that they are not at the level that they should be. She thought that she was a bad teacher and was contemplating not teaching anymore.

After debriefing with Jackie, our contact person at Bartram, we headed back to our hostel to wind down and get some dinner into our stomachs. Today was an exhausting day not just physically but mentally. We not only got to clean out a closet but we were able to experience the reality of the Philadelphia public school system. During reflection we had many different talking points but some of our common themes were the reality of the situation these students face day in and day out. It is apparent that the teachers are putting their souls into bettering the education of the students at Bartram but the bureaucracy and paperwork that the teachers must overcome daily can make the process of reform daunting and not worthwhile.

We also talked about how many of these students do not have the personal connections they need to want to succeed in school. For them, NFL and NBA stars are the idols they wish to become. We realized that our role this week would be to create the connections with the students that they lack. Our group has the opportunity to become a support for a student who feels the system has forgotten him/her. Jackie explained to us the importance of leaving not only thank you notes but emails and phone numbers where students can reach out periodically to our ASB group. Tomorrow we will be able to work with the ninth graders first hand in the classroom. We are not only excited but we are open to hear about the students and get to know them on an individual level.