Category: education

bookmark_borderOccupy Philadelphia Events for the Week

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PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Occupy Philly movement posts their calender for November 2 – 9, 2012:

Sunday December 2nd, 3pm – Strike Debt Philly! Meeting – Wooden Shoe Books – 704 South St – Strike Debt Philly is a local chapter of a growing movement to confront and resist all forms of debt. For more information on Strike Debt and to download a copy of the Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual, visit: StrikeDebt.org You can join our email list at https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/strikedebtphilly-announce and our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StrikeDebtPhilly. Please join us at one of our weekly meetings, and be on the lookout for upcoming teach-ins, debtors assemblies and other street actions!

Please join us for our second, monthly Interfaith Working Group support group and potluck supper in West Philly (191434) from 6-8 PM. Contact Amy at aokietzman@aol.com for full details. Please bring some good, simple vegetarian food to share. We will be meeting regularly on the first Sunday of the month to share a simple meal, to share whats on our hearts, as well as any projects we are doing. Prayers, songs and short scripture readings may also be shared as the spirit moves. We remain open to the possibility that projects may arise in the future that we may all want to collaborate on.

Monday December 3rd, 6:30pm – Friends Center – 1501 Cherry St – Movie Mondays hosted by the Envision Peace Museum. Movies will the first Monday of Each month from October – December. The last film in the series will the short film “The Story of Stuff”, followed by the feature film “Affluenza”. This feature length documentary explores the high social costs of materialism and overconsumption

It’s on! The DEBATE is on! Mon., 12/3, 6 pm Temple University Gladfelter Hall (11th & Berks), Room 107. Free Admission to a debate between Dr. Anthony Monteiro and Attorney Michael Coard on the topics of “President Obama: Sell-Out, Savior, Neither, or Both?” and “Real Social Change: Through Revolution or Reform?” Check out the Radio Courtroom show on Wednesday AND Sunday at noon on WURD 900-AM for details. www.900amwurd.com. (Sponsored by ATAC 215-552-8751)

Tuesday, December 4th: Tools and Analytics for Understanding Usage of Your Website – As 2012 comes to a close, why not take stock of who’s visiting your website, and learn to track — and respond to — your website usage in 2013? Our next Philly Net Tuesday will focus on helping you do just that. We’ll gather at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, on Net Tuesday, December 4. Join us for light refreshments and networking at 6:00P, and the program will begin at 6:20. Can’t make it to downtown Philly? Watch the live Internet stream at http://phillynetsquared.org/live, and share your comments and questions via Twitter with the hashtag #phlnet2. Your website and Google are the first stop your stakeholders make to find out about, contribute to, or get involved with your organization or cause. Learn how to understand what drives visitors to your website, what keeps them there, how much you’re drawing from social media, and what inspires them to transform their involvement from “passive bystander” to volunteer, donor, or outspoken advocate.
Nathan Gasser and Andrew Sather will lead a discussion and hands-on demonstration of Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools — two free, complimentary services that help organizations learn more about their visitors, boost their online visibility, and gain insights about how they can improve the user experience. We’ll dig into what both tools have to offer your nonprofit, how you can start using them right away, and what to do with the data once you’ve collected it. (We’ll also touch upon some tools from non-Google sources.) This session will respond to the needs of the group. Whether you’re coming from a marketing/outreach angle or a technical perspective, and whether you’ve never heard of these tools before or have been using them for years. Important: We’re looking for websites for special attention. If you have a website with Google Analytics installed for more than a year, we want your help (and to help you!). We’re seeking a volunteer willing to open up their Google Analytics account to the crowd and to our presenters during Net Tuesday. We’ll analyze how visitors use your site and suggest ideas to improve usability, accomplish your online goals, and get to know your users a little better. If interested, please fill in this form. RSVP’s via Meetup or Facebook are appreciated for planning purposes, but not required. Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee for sponsorship.

Thursday December 6th, 7pm – Wooden Shoe Books – 704 South St – At its core, Spit and Passion is about the transformative moment when music crashes into a stifling adolescent bedroom and saves you. Suddenly, you belong. At twelve years old, Cristy C. Road is struggling to balance tradition in a Cuban Catholic family with her newfound queer identity, and begins a chronic obsession with the punk band Green Day. In this stunning graphic biography, Road renders the clash between her rich inner world of fantasy and the numbing suburban conformity she is surrounded by. She finds solace in the closet—where she lets her deep excitement about punk rock foment, and finds in that angst and euphoria a path to self-acceptance. -Cristy C. Road is a young Cuban American artist and writer from Miami; she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. She has reached cult status for work that captures the beauty of the imperfect.

Friday December 7th, 7pm – Wooden Shoe Books – 704 South St – How do we develop and evaluate effective tactics and sound strategies? Effective tactics are essential to any organizing effort. As part of sound strategies, they make goals attainable. During this presentation, we’ll explore how effectics tactics and sound strategies are formed systematically. We’ll also explore the importance of context in forming theories and plans. The presentation will conclude with the introduction of a project that is likely to change the way organizing is done in Philly and perhaps beyond. Presented by local autonomist organizer Lucid Strike.

Events listed here include Occupy Philly related events as well as other social justice events. For more updates be sure to check the Occupy Philadelphia Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OccupyPhiladelphia. Your support is greatly appreciated!

bookmark_borderPhiladelphia Schools Winter Recreation

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Mayor Michael A. Nutter announced an agreement with the Philadelphia School District to preserve winter season recreational programming and activities for more than 16,000 children in the City of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia School District will continue to pay for indoor facilities at some schools to remain open on week nights. The City of Philadelphia will pay for indoor facilities at other schools to remain open for an additional hour on week nights beginning November 5th and all day on Saturdays beginning on December 5th for the 2012-2013 winter activities season at a cost of $338,000 for the 5 month season.

Working together, the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia School District were able to lower the cost to the City by about half with strategic changes in staff schedules to reduce overtime costs and changes to practice/rehearsal times and game/performance schedules for organizations using the facilities.

“This is a smart, collaborative approach to provide high-quality services to young Philadelphians using limited public resources,” said Mayor Nutter. “In addition to strong academic programs, extra-curricular activities are vital to the health and development of well-rounded students. I am mindful of the serious fiscal issues facing the School District and the City of Philadelphia, and I am very grateful that we were able to come together to find a solution in the best interest of our youth.”

In light of the serious financial issues facing the School District, the City will change its Recreation Department programming in 105 schools, 80 of which will be open from 6:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on weekday evenings, the cost of which will be covered by the School District. The remaining 25 larger schools with multiple facilities will be open longer to accommodate more programs – from 6:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. on weekday evenings and from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Those additional hours will be covered by the City (for a list of those facilities, please see below).

“We appreciate this partnership with the City of Philadelphia to expand access for youths involved in athletic and cultural programs,” said Dr. William R. Hite Jr., Superintendent of The School District of Philadelphia. “After-school programs add immense value to the lives of our students and the community. I would like to thank the Mayor and our city leaders for supporting our students, families and community organizations.”

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation administers recreational programming that serves more than 42,000 children and youth every winter season. About 16,000 of those slots operate in Philadelphia School District facilities in areas of the city that don’t have enough City-owned facilities.

The City of Philadelphia and Philadelphia School District announced a similar agreement in February 2012 to complete the 2011-2012 winter activities season, which ends in March. The cost to the City for February and March 2012 was $189,000.

bookmark_borderFormer Penn State President Charged

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Former Penn State President Graham Spanier charged in “conspiracy of silence;” Gary Schultz & Tim Curley face additional charges

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (USA) — Attorney General Linda Kelly and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan announced that criminal charges have been filed against former Penn State University President Graham Spanier, who is accused of conspiring with other top university officials to conceal information about suspected child abuse involving Jerry Sandusky, along with obstructing the criminal investigation into this case, perjury before a grand jury, endangering the welfare of children and other related crimes.

New criminal charges have also been filed against former University Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz and former Penn State Athletic Director Timothy Curley.

Spanier, Schultz and Curley are accused of concealing information about suspected child abuse involving Jerry Sandusky, including on-campus incidents from 1998 and 2001 that were reported and discussed in great detail by those three men. The three are also accused of obstructing the criminal investigation into the case, making false statements before a grand jury, endangering the welfare of children and other related crimes.

“This is not a mistake, an oversight or a misjudgment.  This was a conspiracy of silence by top officials at Penn State, working to actively conceal the truth, with total disregard to the suffering of children,” Kelly said.

“I hope the attention this case received will change people’s perceptions concerning child sexual abuse,” said Noonan. “If you are aware of a complaint by a child or if you know that a child is being abused, it is imperative that you report it immediately to law enforcement.”

The grand jury presentment shows in great detail the ways in which the three men conspired to conceal and cover up the truth, according to Kelly.

“The grand jury issued a subpoena in December 2010,” said Kelly, “but pertinent emails and other key evidence were never turned over until April 2012, after these men had left their jobs.”

Notes and documents about the 1998 and 2001 crimes were allegedly kept by Schultz in a file drawer in his campus office. Schultz told staff members that they were never to look in that “Sandusky” file.  On November 5, 2011 – the day that original criminal charges were announced against Sandusky, Schultz and Curley – that file was removed from Schultz’s office and delivered to his home.

The existence of Schultz’s file about Sandusky, along with an extensive amount of additional information from Penn State that was beneficial to the investigation, was not disclosed until after Spanier was terminated as President of the University by the Board of Trustees, which then directed university personnel to cooperate fully with the investigation.

Kelly said it is important to remember what was at stake in this case. Spanier, Schultz and Curley failed to do what was legally required of them when the matter first came to their attention. As a result, at least four boys were attacked between 2001 and 2008, including Victim 1, Victim 3, Victim 5 and Victim 9.

Graham B. Spanier, 64, 425 Windmere Drive, State College, is charged with one count perjury and two counts of endangering the welfare of children and two counts of criminal conspiracy, all third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.

Additionally, Spanier is charged with one count of obstructing the administration of law or other governmental function and one count of criminal conspiracy, both second-degree misdemeanors punishable by up to two years in prison and $5,000 fines, along with one count of failure to report suspected child abuse, a summary offense punishable by up to 90 days in prison and a $300 fine.

Gary Charles Schultz, 63, 636 Rosslyn road, Boalsburg, and Timothy Mark Curley, 58, 201 Meadowlark Lane, Boalsburg, are each charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children and two counts of criminal conspiracy, third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.  Schultz and Curley are also each charged with one count of obstructing the administration of law or other governmental function and one count of criminal conspiracy, second-degree misdemeanors which are each punishable by up to two years in prison and $5,000 fines.

Kelly noted that Curley and Schultz are currently awaiting trial in Dauphin County court on charges of perjury (one count each) and failure to report under the Child Protective Services Law (one count each).  At this time that trial is scheduled to begin in January 2013.

Preliminary arraignments for all three will be scheduled before Harrisburg Magisterial District Judge William C. Wenner.

Kelly and Noonan noted that this remains an active and ongoing criminal investigation and thanked the agents, troopers, investigators and support staff from both the Office of Attorney General and the Pennsylvania State Police for their dedication and professionalism during this extensive effort.

(A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty.)

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Editors’ Note: Click here for a copy of the criminal complaint. Potos of the defendants are attached. If you have difficulty viewing the attachments contact the Attorney General’s Press Office at 717-787-5211.