The Home and School Association
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According to Ann, a leading member of Saul's HSA, there are six or seven regular parents who are consistently involved in the association. This includes a core group of four board members. Additionally, there are numerous parents who are involved but cannot commit to coming to meetings regularly.
Ann personally struggles with the lack of parental involvement. She understands that her close proximity to Saul allows her to be more easily involved with her daughter's education, while many families live up to an hour's public transit commute away and parents may have other work commitments. At the same time, she believes parents need to be involved in their child's education. She herself became active in the HSA because there was a board spot that needed to be filled to get official recognition. She firmly believes that "[forming the HSA] had to be done." The HSA at Saul faded away a number of years ago and was recently revived, Ann notes, thanks in large part to the President's (whose son is now a senior) efforts. Ann acknowledges growing pains of a fresh relationship between teachers and parents who, for a number of years, were operating separately. However, now both groups have the resources of the other to pull upon, and she remains optimistic that the HSA "can only go up from here." Ann points to a large freshmen class for the upcoming year as a catalyst for involving a few more parents, which in her opinion will make a world of difference. The HSA is involved with many aspects of the student experience at Saul. Through hard work (one board member's child has graduated but they are still volunteering their time), the HSA is able to organize events such as cleanup days, fundraisers, the Saul Fall Ball, senior gifts and academic awards, teacher supply gifts, and involvement in Harvest on Henry and the Country Fair Day. Last year, the HSA organized a design contest in which students voted on the design for a revamp of their famous mural. A new design was chosen and the HSA is working to have the work done this year. Ann and the HSA believe that their work in building a rich community to enhance student life is vital to the success of the school. They aim to increase the support that the sometimes exhausted teachers have through parent involvement, and in turn affect student happiness and success. |
Student Clubs
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Ann consistently praises the amount of "tremendous" before and after school clubs and activities that students have the opportunity to join while they are at Saul. She emphatically states that "the real magic of Saul happens [before and] after school."
Students are able to join clubs largely based on sports (baseball is big at Saul) or agriculture (Pre-Vet Club, multiple Horse and Dairy Clubs, Livestock Club, Meat Judging Club and more). Ann shows excitement at the student opportunities to learn horseback riding or to bottle feed a calf, asking, "What other high school does that?" There is also a Multimedia Club. A video created by this club is available to view on the Academics page of the Student Life section. Ann urges all students to be involved with something. She again returns to the travel issue, pointing out that the helpful Septa buses that take students directly from Saul to their neighborhoods leave too early to be involved in activities. She suggests parents be understanding of children coming home later, and asks them to organize carpools. She believes that "more students would want to go to Saul if they knew about it." |
Teaching and leadership at saul
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In regards to administration and leadership, Ann remarks that Saul in general as well as its principal try to instill in students a sense of school pride. Tamera Conaway and the teachers make an effort to tell students that they are lucky to be in a special school within the district. According to Ann, Principal Conaway doesn't want Saul to feel like a strictly Roxborough school, but rather first highlight all the different areas of the city that students come from. She also notes that since so many students come from a wide range of schools, most freshmen come to Saul not knowing many peers, and this shared relearning experience can be helpful. Ann remarks that the school wants to be able to reach all students and retain those who might not have an interest in agriculture by showing just how much they have to offer.
Ann also notes that the school has a very diverse population of learners (as highlighted in the school demographics section of this site.) She finds that students are accepted by their peers regardless of ability or needs, and praises the teachers for their passionate hard work with students who need extra help. She believes that Saul teachers care a lot about their students and are very talented, utilizing Differentiated Instruction and Assessment techniques. However, she also notices that teachers are tired and rundown over budget cuts and the need to play different roles, such as disciplinarians. She remarks that "they would rather just be teachers." These concerns and more are addressed in the following concluding section. |
parent concerns
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Several recurring themes popped up in conversations with Ann and the Saul parent. Ann voiced her disappointment stemming from her daughter's parent teacher conferences, which she described as "echoingly empty." She sees the ability to understand her daughter's education and interact with teachers as a great access opportunity that more parents should take advantage of (while again acknowledging possible reasons for lack of involvement).
The other involved Saul parent interview pointed to a divide between teachers who truly want to reach all students and teachers who lament the interest level of current students compared to the past. In the parent's mind this points to the tension between wanting to fill as many roster spots as possible with the specific curriculum of magnet schools like Saul. Additionally, the parent noted that all parents seemed to want a sense of consistency in the school, as well as more positive discipline methods. She recalled an episode towards the end of last year where a fight on a field trip bus between a few students led to the whole, large group being loudly reprimanded together. She calls this punishment "truly unfair disciplinary action" which is unacceptable and does nothing to address the actual problem or larger concerns. She recognizes that creating sound discipline methods is a tall order in general and is made more difficult by low staffing and budget cuts, but also a necessary step due to Saul's special admission status. She finds that Philadelphia public schools (while simultaneously acknowledging her non-native Philadelphian status) in general have a "guilty until proven innocent" attitude towards students, and that "we can't expect them to think hard about their life and career and then treat them like infants." Finally, she acknowledges that teachers must occasionally punish the whole group, but still disagrees with the incident last year. She again states that consistency and fairness from all school officials and workers are important. In regards to the recently changed dress code, for example, she wants all infractions of dress to either be a detention or a warning, not one action for some and a different one for others. |
Image of Mural: Saul Mural. (n.d.). Retrieved July 1, 2015, from http://upennschoolandsociety.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/2/5/37255985/2103330772_1f8f011400_b.jpg
Club information: Saul Clubs. (n.d.). Retrieved July 1, 2015, from http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/s/saul/for-parents/cde-club-descriptions
All other information on this page: Smith, A. (2015, July 1). Ann HSA [Telephone interview].
S. (2015, July 1). Parent [Telephone interview].
Club information: Saul Clubs. (n.d.). Retrieved July 1, 2015, from http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/s/saul/for-parents/cde-club-descriptions
All other information on this page: Smith, A. (2015, July 1). Ann HSA [Telephone interview].
S. (2015, July 1). Parent [Telephone interview].