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Dear Principal, On April 17, the School Reform Commission (SRC) announced its decision to engage outside education management organizations to partner with some of Philadelphia’s public schools. We are honored to have been chosen to work with your school, and eagerly look forward to the opportunity to work with you. We recognize how complicated and difficult the last few months have been, while you have patiently awaited district-wide decisions that could affect you in very real ways. We appreciate that despite the uncertainty, you have continued to work to meet the needs of your school, your staff, your students, and their families. And now, although a decision has been reached, we understand that this announcement creates just as many questions as it has answered. We understand that until those questions are answered, it is difficult for you to form a definitive opinion about what this decision means for you and your school. That is why, over the next few weeks and months we will be working hard to keep you up-to-date on very specific and important details regarding the changes ahead. You will learn about the additional resources Edison hopes to provide; our plans to purchase all new curriculum materials; and, perhaps most important, the professional development and support we will be providing to you and your staff. We also hope to learn and share more about the role community partner organizations will play in supporting your school. We will also be working hard to learn more about you and your experiences, your needs and your concerns for your school, your staff and your students. We respect the essential role that you play in the life of your school, and we appreciate the unique knowledge and perspective that you possess. We want to consider your thoughts, concerns, hopes and dreams as we plan for the future. Please be assured that despite the sometimes-difficult road that brought us here, we want to begin this journey together, working in partnership. Some of your questions can only be answered after we get more direction from the SRC and have had a chance to meet with leaders and representatives from all of the appropriate unions. We appreciate your patience while we work to secure the answers to those questions in partnership with the unions. In the meantime, we are committed to communicating as much information as we have, as soon as we have it. Specifically, we will be taking the following steps to continually provide you with updated information: We have set up a toll-free hotline at 1-800-518-5484. Please call for regularly updated information or to leave a message with your questions, concerns or ideas. We have set up this web-site to provide you with the most up-to-date information about Edison in Philadelphia. Please visit the site and don’t hesitate to send an email with any specific questions or concerns you may have as a principal and educator—we will do our best to answer them. We will regularly publish and distribute a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on a variety of relevant topics. These FAQ sheets will address the questions of greatest interest to you. They will be posted to the web-site as pdf documents. The first edition of the FAQ series is included with this letter. We are planning a series of Informational Sessions for you, teachers and school staff. This will give you the opportunity to meet, interact and ask specific questions of members of our Philadelphia team. Check Edison in Philadelphia web-site or 800-hotline for scheduling information. We are planning a conference call that will be geared especially to your concerns as a principal and leader of your school. We hope you will be able to join us. As we mentioned over the phone, we would also like to enlist your help in facilitating communication with your staff and students. We want to reach out to each and every teacher as well as each and every student and his/her family by sending a brief letter of introduction. Our goal is nothing less than to help provide additional resources and strong support to you and your school. We hope to earn your confidence and trust in the coming weeks and months, and thank you in advance for giving us the chance to do so. Sincerely, Richard Barth

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