Getting to the heart of the matter in the public schools' crisis
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.
Editor's Letter about a new column called "Teachers Anonymous."
Sometimes an idea comes bubbling up that is so good you just stop and say, "Yes, let's do that."
Such was the case about six weeks ago when senior staff writer Emily Guendelsberger suggested that we invite city school teachers (and nurses, and counselors, and janitors, and principals) to write in anonymously about what they are facing as they lead their classrooms and teach our children.
Like others, we have been reporting extensively for the last few years on the financial calamity facing city public schools, the lack of basic supplies and the impact of the massive layoffs of teachers, administrators, nurses, counselors and aides. But this series of personal essays, the first of which is posted today in a "Teachers Anonymous" column, is our way of taking a more direct path to the heart of the matter.
We are asking teachers to tell the public the stories they tell each other in faculty lounges and at happy hours, where they meet to laugh at the absurdity, share joys and seek strength from each other — the stories that might help our readers better understand what the crisis looks like on the ground. Since teachers wouldn't be able to write candidly out of fear for their jobs, we offered to let them hide their names and the schools where they work in exchange for getting their unvarnished views. You can be sure that we know who is writing, and have been in touch with them personally.
Good newspapers don't normally allow people to speak anonymously on their pages, especially if the remarks are critical. We know that smart readers question the credibility of anonymous stories, and that it leaves the paper more open than we'd like to the possibility of a hoax. But in this case, we decided it was worth the risk to get the unfettered truth.
We intend to publish this column regularly in the hope that these stories will paint the most compete picture yet of the city school crisis. If you are a school employee and have a story — good or bad — you think would help people better understand the parts of your job that nobody seems to see, tell us about it.
Rest assured, we are listening.
