Philadelphia school layoffs are endangering students' college prospects (Click on this heading to read more)
Rss@dailykos.com (laura Clawson)Tuesday, January 07, 2014, 10:13 pm
It's college application time for high school seniors around the country, and Philadelphia public school students are facing more than the usual "will I get in?" stresses. That's because last summer's massive layoffs in the Philadelphia schools left them understaffed and without enough counselors to guide students through the application process-in some cases without enough counselors to even write recommendation letters for every student who needs them:
Many students at Central High shoot for top-tier colleges, but counselor Tatiana Olmedo has had to warn college officials not every student will have a letter of recommendation.
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The math just doesn't add up, Olmedo said - 2,400 students, two counselors. Eight counselors used to work at the school. Students who want an appointment to see a counselor can count on a two-week wait.
"We don't know all the students, and we don't have a way of meeting them in a timely fashion," Olmedo said. Schools including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University indicated that might affect students' chances.
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