Rumor: Oprah (Or Designated Oprettes) In North Philly Today?
We’re hearing that either The Oprah or The Producers That Do The Bidding Of The Oprah are in North Philly today at Mastery Charter Schools‘ Pickett Campus? Anybody know what they’re doing?
4 Responses to “Rumor: Oprah (Or Designated Oprettes) In North Philly Today?”
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September 2nd, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Sniffing in the dirt, truffle hunting?
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:06 pm
My girlfriend is a teacher at the Shoemaker campus (53rd & Media) and she said that Oprah’s people were shooting some stuff in her school.
The charter headquarters are in the Pickett Campus and I think Oprah is interviewing the CEO Scott Gordon, in person. The stuff at other schools is being shot by her staff.
This is all about how Obama feels Mastery is a model for the country and I get Oprah wants to get the word out.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Right in the heart of Germantown (NW Philly my friends).
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:59 pm
NW Philly & the heart of Germantown for sure… Right near me! Anyway, Obama happened to highlight Mastery Charter and the Pickett Campus in a speech earlier in the summer. The school’s been getting some buzz.
Full speech text: http://thepage.time.com/remarks-obama-on-education-at-the-national-urban-league-centennial-conference/
“So, no, I don’t support all charter schools, but I do support good charter schools. I’ll give you an example. There’s a charter school called Mastery in Philadelphia. And in just two years, three of the schools that Mastery has taken over have seen reading and math levels nearly double –- in some cases, triple. Chaka Fattah is here, so he knows what I’m talking about. One school called Pickett went from just 14 percent of students being proficient in math to almost 70 percent. (Applause.) Now — and here’s the kicker — at the same time academic performance improved, violence dropped by 80 percent -– 80 percent. And that’s no coincidence. (Applause.)
Now, if a school like Mastery can do it, if Pickett can do it, every troubled school can do it. But that means we’re going to have to shake some things up. Setting high standards, common standards, empowering students to meet them; partnering with our teachers to achieve excellence in the classroom; educating our children — all of them — to graduate ready for college, ready for a career, ready to make most of their lives — none of this should be controversial. There should be a fuss if we weren’t doing these things. There should be a fuss if Arne Duncan wasn’t trying to shake things up.”