CNBNews

The Bella Vista resident will likely lose her teaching position for speaking out against changes to a Grays Ferry high school.

By Joseph Myers

                   Posted Mar. 10, 2011

Hope Moffett, 25, may have incurred enough wrath to lead the School District of Philadelphia to part ways with her.

Photo by Greg Bezanis

Hope Moffett is not a politician but conducts herself with as much aplomb as an established officeholder.

The third-year English teacher at Charles Y. Audenried Sr. High School, 3301 Tasker St., has executed three weeks of civil disobedience opposing the School District of Philadelphia’s plan to allow Universal Companies, 800 S. 15th St., to convert her institution into a charter. Citing two elements, the district has enacted a course to terminate her employment.

A resident of the 1000 block of Christian Street, Moffett wonders why the district feels Audenried is a lackluster academic school in need of joining the Promise Neighborhood Partnership.

“I don’t like being put on a failing schools list; these students are not failing,” she said.

A look at testing figures, or the lack thereof, proves Moffett correct. Following the 2005 destruction of its old space, Audenried opened a $55-million facility in September ’08. Its 419 students in ninth through 11th grades, have not yet taken the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, a test for third through eighth and 11th graders.

Moffett, who next week would have begun to administer the tests to juniors, received a letter detailing the district’s decision to recommend her termination Monday. Yesterday, she learned that as early as today, the need for her services may evaporate although the School Reform Commission would need to approve the decision.

read via www.southphillyreview.com