Gov. Corbett to make first visit to a Philly public school
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Opponents of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett soon will no longer be able to say that he has never visited a Philadelphia public school.
This Friday, Corbett will visit Central High, a celebrated magnet. Philadelphia public schools have spun into deep fiscal crisis, thanks in part to deep cuts in state funding. Yet this is his first documented visit.
There will, of course, be protests — including, I'll wager, from deeply unhappy teachers and students. Demonstrators will gather at Broad and Olney at 9:45 a.m., and march to Central for a rally.
Last November, I reported that Corbett had never made a single documented visit to a Philly school. What does that mean? It means that no one we spoke to can recall any such visit being made, and the governor's office, after telling me they were "having the information gathered," never provided us with a single example.
[Addendum: As the comment below points out, Corbett has visited Philadelphia's Universal Audenried Charter High School. Charter schools are public in the sense that they are publicly funded, but they are privately managed. This Friday still appears to be the governor's first visit to a School District of Philadelphia-run school.]
