Hello. My name is Robin Dominick and I am a parent and Home and School President of Powel Elementary.

I am here tonight to talk about split classrooms and our counselor. First, I want to tell you a little about Powel. This year we have an SPI of 1, we have made AYP the past two years, and are ranked one of the top 10 elementary schools for educating African American students in Pennsylvania. 5h to be exact. We are a high performing school and one you want to emulate in the District. Beyond the numbers, Powel is truly a special place. Our phenomenal Principal, dedicated and creative teachers and staff work together to create an engaging and exciting learning environment for our students. Last year, Powel weathered the closure of Drew Elementary and an influx of 40 students, taking our total population to 260. We had growing pains. We didnt lose any staff that year, but the staff pulled together and by the end of the year, Powel was a cohesive learning environment again. It sounds like a school you want to send your child to, doesnt it? This year we already lost our counselor, who was instrumental in creating a respectful culture in our school last year, a support teacher, 3 teaching assistants and 2 noon time aids. Yesterday I found out that even though our enrollment is almost 300 and we have 105 2md and 3rd graders, we have been identified for a 2nd/3rd classroom split. This is equal to 3 classes of 35 students. This is my daughter, Leah. She is in 2nd grade and will likely be in the split class. Can you tell her what to do when the 3rd graders pick on her or bully her? There is nobody to go to. No counselor, no aids, no teaching assistants and the teacher has 35 students to take care of. Can you tell her why she will only get half the amount of instructional time as other 2nd graders in the District, the State? This is not what a functioning school looks like and you are destroying a high performing school. I just wanted to give you a picture of what one school looks like. In order for us to JUST FUNCTION, we need to have our teacher re-instated and a counselor. Powel is not alone. Parents have been calling, writing and emailing the Mayor, City council, state representatives and the Governor pleading for funding. It feels to no avail. You must be able to do something. As simply and eloquently as Dr. Suess said in the Lorax.. Unless. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. Its not. The 145,000 students of the Philadelphia School District and their families need you to stand up for them for adequate funding for the school district. You need to demand the $100 million from City Council, the $45 million from the state and further pursue the cigarette tax and other funding to provide an adequate education to the children of Philadelphia. By the way, the solution is not to further cut the teachers, because as far as I can tell, they are the only ones who do care, a whole awful lot. Thank you Robin Dominick