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Categories: Parents and Community · Change Process · Coaching School Leaders · Communication · Partnerships · High Stakes Testing · Leadership · Making the Tough Decisions · Improving Student Performance · Trends in Education · Urban Education · ARCHIVE
Description
In this insightful and engaging interview, Ms. Sandra Dungee Glenn discusses her experiences through her life as first a community organizer and then a member of the Philadelphia school board, highlighting the differences between seeking change from the administration and then becoming part of the administration itself. In her interview she discusses the importance of public accountability, the necessity to letting parents know what’s going on in their schools, and the general state of public education throughout both her own state and the nation as a whole.
Sandra Dungee Glenn has been actively involved in public education for nearly a decade. In September 2007, Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell appointed Ms. Dungee Glenn to the position of Chairwoman of the School Reform Commission (SRC), the governing body of the School District of Philadelphia. As the nation’s eighth largest public school system, the District commands a $2 billion dollar operating budget, manages 20,000 employees, and currently has 167,600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The SRC was formed in December 2001 through an unprecedented partnership involving the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which sought to address what was at that time a school system in financial and academic distress. Since then, under the SRC’s leadership, the District has experienced five straight years of test score gains and continues to be engaged in America’s most sweeping and innovative public school reform initiative.
Thanks to initiatives that flowed from the task force’s recommendations, the District has seen a significant decrease in the number of teacher vacancies; there were 38 vacant positions at the start of the 2007-2008 school year, compared to 51 at the start of 2006-2007 and 112 at the beginning of 2005-2006.
Biographical Background
Ms. Dungee Glenn graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Since then, she has had a career spanning more than 20 years in public policy, electoral politics and community organizing. She served as Associate Director with the Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health and Regional Director of Pennsylvania Citizen Action, receiving an outstanding service award from both organizations. From 1991 to 1994 she served as Chief of Staff to State Senator Chaka Fattah.
Ms. Dungee Glenn’s electoral and political experience is extensive. In 1983, she developed and implemented a voter registration drive for farm workers in South Jersey. Ms. Dungee Glenn served as: Field Director for the Hughes for State Representative campaign in 1986; Voter Registration Director for Goode for Mayor campaign in 1987; Campaign Manager for Fattah for State Senate in 1988; Philadelphia Voter Registration/GOTV Coordinator for Dukakis for President in 1988; Campaign Manager for Fattah for Congress in 1994 and 1996; and was Campaign Manager for Blondell Reynolds Brown’s campaign for Philadelphia City Council in 1999.
In 1988, Ms. Dungee Glenn was elected Delegate to the Democratic Convention from the Second Congressional District in Pennsylvania, and served as Director of the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee from 1996 to 1997. She was appointed to the Platform Committee of the Democratic National Convention in 1996 and to the Credentials Committee in 2000. Ms. Dungee Glenn also served as Pennsylvania State Director with the NAACP National Voter Fund from August 2000 until June 2001 and led a successful non-partisan statewide voter mobilization campaign.
Ms. Dungee Glenn currently serves as President of the American Cities Foundation, an organization committed to the development and implementation of a national urban policy and to defining a new relationship between cities and the federal government. She is the recipient of various awards including: the 2003 Leon J. Obermayer Distinguished Graduate Award; the Arts & Entertainment Network 2002 Biography Community Heroes Award; Women Making a Difference Award, 2001; and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., Pennsylvania Chapter Women of the Year Award. In 2002, Ms. Dungee Glenn was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Urban Health Initiative Fellow and by the Philadelphia Tribune as one of 2007 Most Influential African-Americans.
An alumna of the Philadelphia public schools, Ms. Dungee Glenn graduated from the School District’s Philadelphia High School for Girls. This native of West Philadelphia now plays an active role in the SRC’s initiatives to build schools and renovate others, including plans for a new West Philadelphia High School.
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