A Series of Faculty Senate Roundtable Discussions Taking a Stand for Local Engagement

Monday, April 24, 2023
4:00-6:00 p.m. EDT
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Featured Guests:

• Cynthia Figueroa, President and CEO, JEVS Human Services
• Vanessa Garrett Harley, Deputy Mayor for the Office of Children and Families, City of Philadelphia
• Stacey Kallem, Director, Division of Maternal, Child, & Family Health at Philadelphia Department of Public Health

Panelists:

• Stephen Avery, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
• Dennis Culhane, Professor and Dana and Andrew Stone Chair in Public Policy
• Charlotte Gillum-Maddox, Principal, Lewis Elkin School, Philadelphia
• Rosaida Iraola, Early Childhood Program Director, KenCrest, Philadelphia
• David Rubin, Mary Ames Endowed Chair in Child Advocacy and Professor of Pediatrics
• Reginald Streater, President, Board of Education, School District of Philadelphia

Moderator: Antonia Villarruel, Professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania

The issues addressed in the education-focused roundtable co-exist with problems faced in and by other systems that serve children and families. As a recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts denotes, child welfare, family health, and community wellness are inextricably linked to children’s ability to engage fully in schooling, to take advantage of educational opportunities, and to achieve in school.

For example, over half of young children in Philadelphia are experiencing two or more risks to their well-being. Although there are clear examples of coordination within and across systems in the city, the overburden faced by each persists as the well-being of children and families hang in the balance.

How do we promote the health, well-being, and the accompanying innovation needed to support these communities of children, youth, and families, especially among historically racialized and economically marginalized as well as immigrant populations? Well-coordinated, systems-focused approaches have the potential to create and refine opportunity structures needed to see change.

This roundtable is aimed at addressing the need and potential responses to address this need.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023
4:00-6:00 p.m. EST
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Featured Guests:

• Pam Grossman, Dean, Penn Graduate School of Education
• Tony Watlington, Superintendent, School District of Philadelphia

Panelists:

• Donna Cooper, Executive Director, Children First PA
• Jeffrey Cooper, Vice President for Government and Community Affairs
• Karen Detlefsen, Penn Vice Provost for Education
• Claire Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy
• Joann Mitchell, Senior Vice President for Institutional Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer
• Akira Drake Rodriguez, Penn Assistant Professor of Design
• ShaVon Savage, Deputy Superintendent for Academic Services, School District of Philadelphia

Moderator:  Michael Delli Carpini, Oscar H. Gandy Emeritus Professor of Communication & Democracy

Urban settings present a special and particularly pressing set of concerns for our public schools, school districts, and the children, families and communities who rely on them.

Large school districts such as Philadelphia, Chicago, and others exemplify the ways in which a range of factors converge to create a “perfect storm”: e.g., public funding, parent engagement and community support, student achievement, and the politics of schooling, to name a few.

The indictments of these districts raise important questions about our assumptions regarding the role of schools in shaping the futures of children and their families and about the mandates, imperatives, and practices that perpetuate the status quo.

They also raise questions about the role of institutions of higher education such as Penn to prepare Philadelphia’s children and youth; to defend and support public education; and to ensure schools as high-quality and equitable sites of learning and support, of equal access to opportunity, and as safe spaces for students and families to achieve their goals.