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Evening update: A huge crowd turned out at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church on Cheltenham Avenue this evening for a forum about the District budget and transformation plan. Three top officials - Pedro Ramos, Thomas Knudsen, and Penny Nixon - responded to pointed questions and concerns and heard speeches criticizing the plan. More details Wednesday.

Late afternoon update: School Reform Commission Chairman Pedro Ramos, under persistent questioning from City Councilman Bill Green on whether Ramos specifically asked the Corbett administration for more revenue, said that both the state and local systems for funding education are "broken." 

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by Oscar Wang
 

The committee charged with hiring a new permanent superintendent has 87 names under consideration, the Notebook has learned. Each of them either applied or was nominated by others.

Search committee chair Wendell Pritchett said that the District still hopes to have someone in place by the beginning of the school year.

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Michael Masch, the District's former chief financial officer, will leave the District at the end of May.

At a budget hearing in West Philadelphia Tuesday night, School Reform Commission chairman Pedro Ramos disclosed that Masch's last day would be May 31, according to several people who were present.

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Thomas Knudsen says critics who talk about privatization have it wrong. Speaking at the School Reform Commission community budget hearing at Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School last week, the chief recovery officer said, “For-profit businesses will not be running schools. This is not about privatizing schools.”

SRC Chair Pedro Ramos chimed in, disputing that accelerating the growth of charters represents privatization, because charter schools are, according to the law, public schools.

As someone who has characterized the SRC’s policy as privatization, let me say that Knudsen and Ramos miss the point.

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Please join us for a happy hour on May 18 to celebrate the release of our Summer edition and to welcome colleagues from across the country who will be in town for the Education Writers Association's national conference.

It has been quite a year for public schools in Philadelphia! And in the midst of everything that's going on, seniors will be celebrating their last days of high school and getting ready to graduate. But where will they go? Will having a college education really give them a boost in the current economy? These and many more questions are raised and addressed in the upcoming Summer 2012 print edition of the Notebook.  

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Advocates urge Council to approve money, but reject reorganization plan The Notebook blog
After District officials testified before City Council on Tuesday, members of the public shared their thoughts about the plan on Wednesday.

See also: Parents speak out about Philadelphia school budget WHYY/NewsWorks
Unions, parents blast school austerity plans The Inquirer
Teacher’s Union President Slams School Reorganization Plan CBS Philly
Taxpayers talk school cash in Council Daily News

Corbett willing to negotiate on Pa. Senate plan to spend more on higher ed WHYY/NewsWorks
The state Senate is considering a plan to use additional revenue to stem higher education, accountability block grant, and general assistance cuts.

Enon meeting draws upwards of 2,000 people The Notebook blog
On Tuesday evening, Enon Tabernacle church hosted a meeting to discuss the budget and the transformation plan.

See also: Passionate Crowd Discusses School District's Money Woes Chestnut Hill Patch

Barred for LIfe City Paper
A new law made the regulations about what types of criminal offenses bar someone from working in schools more stringent.

Budget woes can’t stop city’s best young musicians Daily News
The All Philadelphia Middle School Festival takes place tonight.

Turning pavement into green spaces around Philly Daily News (opinion)
The School District is announcing plans to make school yards much greener.

See also: EPA grant to make Nebinger greener South Philly Review

Chester Upland pleads case in federal court The Inquirer

Rookie Roxborough Students Dazzle Greenfield Film Festival Roxborough-Manayunk Patch

Philly Community Mobilizes Against School Privatization Open Salon blog

Jackson School tries Goldilocks South Philly Review

One Letter Per Day: Over/under capacity Making the Grade blog

State news roundup Keystone State Education Coalition

Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.

Click here to get Notes from the news in your inbox every day.

Notes from the news

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After a long day at City Council, Pedro Ramos, Thomas Knudsen, and Penny Nixon sped to Northwest Philadelphia on Tuesday night to face about 2,500 people at the city's largest African American religious congregation, Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.

In the vast sanctuary, their faces projected on TV screens, the three officials faced dozens of pointed questions regarding plans for the future of education in Philadelphia that made Council's questions look easy.

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Council, SRC grapple with ‘tsunami’ The Inquirer
School District officials testified before City Council yesterday about the budget and transformation plan. Today the public will testify before Council.

See also: Ramos: Reorganization proposal not a 'done deal' The Notebook blog
City Council Tests SRC on Budget Questions NBC Philadelphia
Philadelphia City Council grills school officials pleading for more money WHYY/NewsWorks
Philadelphia Schools Say $94M More From Property Taxes Next Year Won’t Be Enough CBS Philly
Turnaround plan for schools needs assent from administrators Philadelphia Business Journal
Kristen Graham tweets council hearing on schools' budget Philly School Files blog

Philly School District goes to Supreme Court in charter case The Inquirer
The District seeks to overturn a lower court's ruling that it can only impose caps on charter school enrollment that have been agreed to in writing.

Greatness on the ground The Notebook blog
Coming out of the Teacher Action Group/OneVoice curriculum fair is a unified campaign for an educator-led reform effort in Philly schools.

Lawmakers want casino money sent to schools Daily News
Two state representatives suggested the plan say it could bring $88 million to the Philly schools, temporarily.

See also: Rep. Youngblood backs bill to use gaming revenue for School District funding WHYY/NewsWorks

Pennsylvania Senate plan reverses education cuts The Morning Call
The state Senate wants to apply additional revenue that was collected to offset cuts to higher education and Accountability Block Grants for public schools.

See also: Senate budget plan floor-bound after unanimous committee vote WITF

May 10 Meeting. Come Out. Speak Up. OnBlast
Philadelphia Student Union members will be at the community budget hearing tomorrow evening at West Philly High.

Boy accused of raping fellow Germantown High freshman Daily News

Autistic Child Disappears From Philadelphia School Fox 29

High schoolers, mentors make perfect match The Philadelphia Tribune

School District Honors NW Philly High School Teachers Mt. Airy Patch

City To Convert Blacktop Into Parkland At Philadelphia Schools CBS Philly

The Jackie Robinson of Public School Teachers Forbes

One Letter Per Day: The "Heavy Lift" Making the Grade blog

State news roundup Keystone State Education Coalition

Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.

Click here to get Notes from the news in your inbox every day.

Notes from the news

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Our "Object of the Day" feature has recently become a "Most Loved Object" feature--meaning you get to have a say in what gets top billing on our homepage.

Among the Museum's many period rooms, there's a 1923 drawing room that was bequeathed in 1938 by Eleanore Elkins Widener Rice. She was not only one of the Museum’s esteemed donors, but also a survivor of the shipwreck that took the lives of both her first husband and one of her sons one hundred years ago—the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

Van Gogh Up Close tickets are selling fast, sometimes faster than we can predict. Which means that reservations are becoming more than a suggestion--they’re a must.

Think of it as a salon of sorts--where you can join collectors, artists, curators, and other enthusiasts to delve into photography’s history and help shape its future.

Celebrate van Gogh's love of Japanese art and culture by sharing your impressions of select paintings in the exhibition through the medium of haiku.

There’s no better time of year to celebrate the magic of childhood, and at the Museum Library, there’s no better place to celebrate the magic of children’s book illustration.

It’s the perfect time to announce ART 24/7--a recent initiative that will keep growing, enhancing, and giving users new and interesting ways to interact with the Museum’s outstanding works of art…24/7.

Marc Newson's "Wood" Chair was just installed in Collab's 40th anniversary show--thanks to you!

All things merry and bright are coming to the Museum this holiday season, beginning this week and continuing until it’s time to ring in 2012!

Baby, it’s getting cold outside. So while you’re unpacking last year’s woolies and taking stock of what you might need before it snows again, why not check out some truly Great Coats at the PMA?

Celebrate the art of India, this weekend and beyond! Begin with Exhibiting India’s Art in the 21st Century, the Third Annual Anne d’Harnoncourt Symposium. Some tickets are still available...

This exhibition emphasizes the continuous nature of Zaha Hadid's work, reinventing the balance between objects and space in an interior landscape.

In “Rembrandt and Printmaking”, a new video just posted online, you’ll go behind the scenes into the age old, multi-step technique that Rembrandt perfected.

Relax in the Main Building’s cafeteria with a coffee, a sandwich, and some extraordinary photos. Now on view, a selection of black and white images from the PMA archives that offer visitors a whole new kind of art appreciation.

Let your online Museum experience enhance your in-person Museum experience in an all-new way now that general admission tickets can be purchased online.

Now online, a new video celebrates the Associates with a glimpse not only into all that they do, but also how you can be a part of it.

Next American City’s Storefront for Urban Innovation at 2816 W Girard Ave in Brewerytown has some upcoming events planned. First up, on the evening of March 27th, is a reading and discussion with author Tracie McMillian. She will be reading from her book The American Way of Eating. As an undercover reporter, Tracie [...]