The way forward

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

The Notebook is able to celebrate a 20th anniversary this year thanks to lots of hard work and generous financial supporters – and thanks to you, our readers.

Philadelphia has a vast community of people – not just parents, educators, and students but many others – who are deeply committed to quality public education and to improving opportunities for all students. Without this highly engaged community, we would have fewer meaningful stories to tell. More important, we would have little hope of overcoming the serious problems facing city schools.

As it turns 20, the Notebook remains committed to its original ideals: providing useful information to a broad audience, highlighting community voices, exposing inequities, and holding public officials and institutions accountable – all with the goal of building momentum for improved schools across Philadelphia.

We are taking time this year to figure out ways to do this work better. We encourage you to send us your feedback: Please fill out our survey (you could win an iPad Mini).

We continue to view connections between schools and communities as vital to educational improvement, and so a focus of our planning is on how to engage more parents as readers and active participants in conversations and coalitions.

If you share our commitment to quality journalism, community engagement, and school improvement from the bottom up, we hope you will contribute to the Notebook by becoming a member. Philadelphia is fortunate to have a publication playing this role.

The past year has been agonizing for those close to the city’s financially strapped schools. The Notebook hopes to play an important part in helping concerned Philadelphians find a positive way forward.