This is my sort of first post to the Young Philly Politics blog and I just wanted a chance to introduce myself.

I have actually never really blogged before. I did technically end up on a blog that claimed to be about radical Asian politics but actually found out I was talking most frequently with male college frat boys -- not exactly the demographic I was thinking of.

In any case, I'm looking forward to conversations about the public schools with a lot of folks on Young Philly Politics who have already taken up that banner. It seems to me that the time is ripe for folks concerned about the future of the city, about leadership, about economics, neighborhood development, jobs, crime, and the like, to take a new look at our schools and the activism and energy around them at this time.

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since the dramatic takeover of the public schools, when we had hundreds of people in the streets demanding that public education mattered to us, that the future of our kids mattered to us, and that private corporations and opportunistic politicians with a crass and obvious agenda of plundering public dollars for private gain had no business here.

Five years later, Philly schools are probably one of the most privatized large urban systems around. We've contracted out everything from curriculum and testing to food services, disciplinary services, as well as jobs. Far from making this system "leaner" or "more efficient" or any of the words we traditionally associate with the private sector, the District's $2.1 billion budget has ballooned to accomodate private companies' sense of entitlement to a guaranteed profit margin (see Aramark, Edison Schools, CEP, etc.). In fact, in one recent SRC meeting, the District showed how it could save one-third on a contract with Princeton Review by returning the work in house. The SRC nodded, and didn't vote to eliminate the contract(though it eventually reduced the contract the following year).

But in the past year, we've seen the rise of an active parent base, new and dynamic student leaders (shout out to Saeda at Youth United for Change, and others at YUC and PSU), and a phenomenal change in leadership at both the District and SRC.

With the departure of Vallas/Nevels, the SRC, District, City and State are poised for the first time in decades to work in harmony for the betterment of our schools. The window that we have with the Rendell administration isn't long. And no one is going to be doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They'll do it because the community, the parents, the students, the teachers and employees, and above all citizens, make it incumbent upon them to do so.

Now's the time. So I'm looking forward to helping move the conversation along to get that done.

For information on one of the organizing groups, Parents United for Public Education, check out their statements online at http://parentsunitedphila.googlepages.com/ or their newest tool in parent advocacy, a blog (that has already resulted in several media stories around class size) http://parentsunitedphila.blogspot.com/.