The "perfect storm" hits Philly

In mid afternoon, more than 1,000 protesters, many in red T-shirts and carrying signs and banners, marched from the Comcast Center at 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard to the district's offices on North Broad Street.

Philadelphia streets were a sea of red yesterday as red-shirted teachers, parents, students and community activists marched to save the city's public school system from the "perfect storm" that is massive budget cuts, school closings, teacher firings and corporate-style ed "reform."

In today's Washington Post, Valerie Strauss interviews parent and schools activist Helen Gym about the impending storm threatening the very existence of public education -- and not just in Philadelphia. 

Strauss writes: 

...there is no question that the system is in agony, having been starved for funding by the state for years and used as a playground by school reformers who imposed one experiment after another, each which served to undermine the traditional public schools.

 Says Gym:

We’ve burned through countless dollars chasing after the obsessions and frivolities of this so called “education reform” movement – expensive consultancies, high stakes testing, new standards and curricula, Renaissance schools. We’ve become so obsessed with the structure and management of education that we’ve completely forgotten about the substance and practice of it. 

Buckle up Chicago, Detroit, NYC, L.A...