History of the notebook
A vision realized: The origins of the
Philadelphia Public School Notebook
This year we are observing the 20th annivergap that starkly separated those students from
sary of the Philadelphia Public School Notebook
their White counterparts.
– and also the 60th anniversary of the landmark
It was certainly no secret that funding for
school desegregaeducation in Penntion ruling Brown v.
sylvania was distribBoard of Education
uted unfairly. The
of Topeka. Brown
long-standing state
rocked the nation in
funding formula that
1954, but it was only
dispersed state funds
the beginning of a new phase in the struggle
to districts based on poverty levels, enrollment,
against racial segregation in Philadelphia and
local taxing capacity and other factors had just
around the nation. Forty years later, in 1994,
been abandoned. Inequity in educational opporthen-Commonwealth Judge Doris Smith looked
tunity was longstanding and getting worse. And
at the situation in Philadelphia’s public schools
that inequity was compounded by how resources
and issued a scathing ruling that had Brown at
were distributed among schools within the city.
its core.
The ruling by Judge Smith voiced our colThe judge, who in 1991 had been assigned a
lective outrage and gave the community hope
decades-old case brought by the Pennsylvania
that significant changes would be made. But
Human Rights
as attorney MiCommission chalchael Churchill,
20
Years
of
lenging segregaa participant in
Public School Notebook
tion in Philadelthe case, noted
Headlines
phia schools,
in a recent Public
denounced conSchool Notebook
Unfair State Funding for Schools Challenged
ditions in 134
article, “The day
May 1994 - 1st Print Edition
“racially isolated
the judge’s order
Racial
Equity
Lawsuit
Enters
new
Phase
schools” and decame down – that
clared that the
set the foundaSummer 2004 - 10th Anniversary Edition
School District
tion for change.
The Goal ... Has Not Yet Been Met
of Philadelphia
… And then we
Summer 2014 - 20th Anniversary Edition,
was violating the
began to learn how
article
by
former
Judge
Doris
A.
Smith-Ribner
educational rights
hard change was
of thousands of
to do.”
Philadelphia’s pubNevertheless,
lic school students. She ordered the District and Judge Smith’s mandate to the District and the
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide
Commonwealth spurred the development of
adequate resources to improve teaching and faeducation activism in Philadelphia, and a sense
cilities in schools that served mostly low-income of urgency about the city’s educational crisis. In
students of color, and to close the achievement
1993, I was among a small group of frustrated
6
TURNING THE PAGE FOR CHANGE
JUNE 10, 2014
History of the notebook
and angry parent and teacher activists who
group of volunteers that got the publication off
started meeting to talk about new ways to adthe ground, wrote in the Notebook’s 10th andress that crisis. One idea was to start a newspaniversary edition, “From the beginning, it was
per. We recognized that a court decree – even
clear the Notebook would be no ordinary paper.
one as stark and powerful as Judge Smith’s – was
Parent voices and a parent audience had to be
not enough to alter Philadelphia’s dismal edufundamental.” As Notebook co-founder and
cational picture. Change would only come if there
resident cartoonist Eric Joselyn noted, “You give
was a groundswell from the grassroots.
parents a voice – it’s radical.”
We also realized that parents, teachers, stuThe Notebook’s founding group worked
dents, activists and community members needed conscientiously to include diverse voices and
to know a lot more about
perspectives as it planned the
what was really happening in
new publication and defined
For 20 years,
the District, if they were to
its mission. We decided that
the
Notebook
become effective advocates.
the Notebook would highlight
Information was power, and we
the work of Philadelphia’s
has documented
didn’t have it.
education activists, include
the
struggle
for
equity
The District’s communicaarticles in Spanish, and report
tions with the public were
thoroughly and accurately
in school funding
inconsistent, scattered and
on issues like school funding
–a
struggle
that
opaque. Parents like myself
inequities and their impact
who wanted to understand
on students, teachers, and
continues today.
what was going on had to
families. Moreover, the paper
attend meeting after meeting to try and piece
would address social issues of class, race, and
together the full story—a time-consuming and
disability in a larger context, to make it clear
frustrating process
that problems in
that had little
the schools were
impact. There was
in fact connected
no way to get the
to broader, wideinformation out or
spread social
find out what other
injustices. As a
activists were dotrue grassroots efing…. And no way
fort, the Notebook
to use what activwould establish
ists learned from
itself as Philadeltheir efforts to crephia’s “indepenate an informed,
dent voice for
vigorous public
quality and equaldialogue on how
ity in our schools.”
to address PhilaThe first edition
delphia’s neverof the Notebook,
ending educational
published in May
crisis.
1994 under the headline Unfair state funding for
Thus was born the Philadelphia Public School
schools challenged, featured Judge Smith’s ruling.
Notebook. Helen Gym, who was part of the core
Under the name of the new publication were the
JUNE 1o, 2014
TURNING THE PAGE FOR CHANGE
7
History of the notebook
words, “Turning the Page for Change.”
The production and distribution of the paper
was a tribute to the passion and dedication of
its originators. Securing a small grant from the
Bread and Roses Community Fund and dozens of
donations from friends and relatives, we created
a 12-page edition in
June 1994 and printed
a run of 10,000 copies.
Then we had to
deliver the copies to
places where people
would see the Notebook, grab a copy, and
read it. It was exciting
to pick up and distribute piles of the paper, along
with other volunteers; we handed them out in
our schoolyards but also took them to any place
we could think of in neighborhoods around the
city where public school families would be —
libraries and supermarkets, laundromats and the
unemployment office. We focused our energies
in the neighborhoods most impacted by the
race and class inequities we wrote about. Our
first editions were welcomed and supported by a
growing movement of grassroots activists: emerging groups like the Alliance Organizing Project, Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project,
Philadelphia Student Union, and Youth United
for Change.
The Notebook began as an all-volunteer effort. But with a planned four editions a year,
the organization began slowly to build some
staff support, with the hiring of Chip Smith in
1995 as the first paid staffer. By mid-1996, the
Notebook had published eight issues and was on
a regular schedule of four issues a year, each one
16 pages long with a section in Spanish; press
runs of 22,000 distributed to more than 200
schools and 125 other organizations; a little cash
in the bank; and income streams from grants,
subscriptions, donations, and advertising—all
accomplished by one part-time paid coordinator,
a core editorial working group of nine volun-
8
teers, a 10-person advisory board, and a network
of more than 20 writers and dozens of additional
volunteers providing assistance as needed. In
1997, we hired Helen Gym, our first professional
journalist on the staff, as editor – then a parttime position. Two years later, I succeeded her
as the first full-time
editor and director.
The further story of
the Notebook’s organizational development
chronicles a remarkable steady persistence, despite many
challenges, to build
the staff and grow the organization; continually
raise journalistic standards to improve editorial
content; develop a sophisticated capacity for
investigative reporting; expand the Notebook’s
network of readers, members, advertisers, and
supporters; and extend the Notebook’s reach and
influence in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, and
beyond.
Looking back on 20 years, I think about many
nonprofit groups – although started by volunteers with great enthusiasm and energy – that
foundered after a few years, unable to maintain
motivation or make a transition to a staffed
organization model with gradually increasing capacity. What is different about the Notebook? Why
has the Notebook “made it” to this 20th anniversary
milestone?
A big piece of the answer is determination:
We refuse to give up on the city’s children. They
need and deserve to get a good, free public
education, and Philadelphia will not flourish as
a city until they do. I no longer have children in
the public schools—they are grown and off on
their own—but I can’t let it go. My friends and
colleagues who have been involved in the Notebook over the years can’t let it go. Philadelphia
can’t let it go. Superintendents and their reform
plans come and go, but we are still here, and
we—and you—don’t give up.
TURNING THE PAGE FOR CHANGE
JUNE 10, 2014
History of the notebook
JUNE 1o, 2014
S
Notebook, but we remain true to our mission and editorial roots. We cover the real story behind the education
story you might see in the general press….We provide
readers with vital information that the District is not
making easily accessible….
We tell success stories of
activists and educators….
We monitor the daily churn
of public decision-making….
We take on major investigative reporting projects….We
hold the District and public
officials accountable. … We
are a watchdog for educational equity.
Anniversaries require a
certain amount of looking back, and milestones warrant
true celebration. The real opportunity of an anniversary,
however, is to look forward. The future of the Philadelphia public school system is in doubt—we do not yet see
an end to the current disinvestment in the future of our
children and of our community, though efforts to turn
the tide continue.
Here is what is not
2014
in doubt: The Note• 32 pages
book’s commitment
• 60,000 copies
to fair and excellent
• 6 issues a year
reporting that accu• $800K annual budget
rately and honestly
• 560 members
portrays the public
• 50+ advertisers
education situation in
• New offices
Philadelphia, backed
• 7 staff
up with well-sourced
• 24/7 website, 48,000
facts, and a mission
visitors/month
and editorial perspective focused on empowering people who
depend on the public schools. In 1994, we had nothing
but our anger, frustration, and determination. In 2014,
we have the Philadelphia Public School Notebook.
Here is what we still believe: Information is power. …
With your continued support for our work, information will
lead to the change we have long sought.
– Paul Socolar, Editor and Publisher
WITH IM
CT
PA
NEW
The critical fact is that our persistence reflects your
persistence. The Notebook is held up by an engaged community, members, donors, readers, advertisers, sponsors,
writers, bloggers, teachers, principals, education activists,
parents, students who need
and depend on this kind of
information and dialogue.
And that community has
steadily grown. We have seen
a second, and even a third
generation of participants and
supporters stepping up – one
of our current board members was just entering middle
school when the Notebook
started, and her own children
are entering the Philadelphia public schools.
Without this kind of engaged community the Notebook wouldn’t make sense; it would just be a newspaper
and a website. Only grassroots communities can engineer the kind of change in Philadelphia public education for which we have all struggled over the last 20
years. The Notebook is
the community’s in1994
strument for change,
• No staff
and that instrument
• 12 pages
is better and stronger
• 10,000 copies
than ever.
• 4 issues a year
In the decade since
• $4,200 annual budget
our 10th anniver• 0 members
sary, the Notebook has
• 0 advertisers
taken a major leap
• No office
to a new level as a
• No website
professional, nonprofit
journalism enterprise
with the capacity to function in the
intense 24/7 media environment of the 21st century.
Six print editions a year, partnerships with WHYY and
Education Week for content and distribution, and the
round-the-clock rhythm of online news and discussion
at thenotebook.org is a far cry from the “home-made”
Notebook of 1994.
Most importantly, we may have transformed the
TURNING THE PAGE FOR CHANGE
9