Philly parents’ complaints not about curriculum, argues Pa. education chief

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

With resources stripped to bare-bones levels, parents in the Philadelphia School District filed more than 800 complaints last year with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The office has not investigated the claims, and last month the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court on behalf of seven parents and the advocacy group Parents United for Public Education in an attempt to compel action.

On Friday, acting Pennsylvania Education Secretary Carolyn Dumaresq petitioned the court to dismiss the case.

Dumaresq reasons that the complaints are not curricular, and thus don’t legally demand a state investigation.

Ben Geffen, an attorney with the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, says Dumaresq’s logic is wanting. Many of the complaints, he says, were about insufficient offerings in state mandates such as foreign language and physical education coursework, as well as programs for gifted students.

Parent plaintiffs also decried the School District’s lack of guidance counselors and classroom overcrowding.

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