Philadelphia district to bring back laid-off secretaries and music teachers

The Philadelphia School District will use $33 million in savings and new funding to recall laid-off music teachers and school secretaries and restore fall sports programs that were axed. The Philadelphia Inquirer says the School Reform Commission has voted to expand two successful schools, open a new high school and turn over a trio of chronic low-performing schools to charter operators. The district's goal is to return at least 220 secretaries to the schools where they were employed in June and to bring back all 76 itinerant music teachers. Several parents and teachers said they were outraged by the expansions and new charters, in light of the district's other glaring needs. The $33 million comes from district savings initiatives, an increase in the state's basic education funding and increased city tax collections.