Paul Socolar

Paul Socolar

Template:TOCnestleft Paul Socolar is a Philadelphia activist. His partner is Sukey Blanc.

Background

A titan of Philadelphia's independent journalism scene stepped down in 2015. Paul Socolar, editor, publisher and co-founder of the Philadelphia Public School Notebook will leave the influential publication in late in the year.

A former public school parent, Socolar helped launch the outlet as a free, independent quarterly newspaper in 1994. At the time, he was just shy of 40 years old, with two young daughters, 9 and 6.

"It struck me that a newspaper – and there were a couple of examples of this in other cities – could be a way of ramping up the ability of people like me, parents, concerned people across the city, to deal with the issues in the school system," said Socolar in an interview Friday at the Notebook's Center City headquarters.

Though his daughters were able to get "a pretty darn good education going through some of the better [district] schools in the city," Socolar became increasingly dismayed by the inequities of the system overall.

"We were really trying to address the fundamental issue of how a system like this can live out the promise of public education being a provider of equal opportunity across the board," he said.

But, 21 years later, Socolar said many of the problems that festered in 1994 still remain. "It's still, unfortunately, an inequitable system," he said. "Particularly for students of color."

He added, though, "There's much more of an understanding, I think, of the limitations, the challenges, and the struggles that the school system has."

"Socolar will leave the Notebook as a sustainable, highly respected organization with a strong, engaged board; an experienced seven-person staff of talented and committed individuals; robust partnerships with other media organizations; and a diverse revenue base of members, donors, sponsors, and advertisers – a model for successful community-based nonprofit journalism," said the Notebook's official release.

Socolar, 59, studied journalism in high school and college, but worked largely for nonprofits through his 20s and 30s. Socolar, who took the helm of the publication in 1999, believes the Notebook has raised the bar for education coverage citywide.

"We elevate each other's game by pursuing these stories," he said. "The Notebook has given the whole field of education news in the area a big boost."

As a content partner of WHYY/NewsWorks, the Notebook has bolstered the depth and breadth of our coverage of Philadelphia's public school parents, students, teachers, leaders and stakeholders.

A Notebook/NewsWorks story in 2011 uncovered Pennsylvania's widespread standardized test-cheating scandal, where adults changed students' answer sheets.

"He had an idea to do something useful that no one else was doing. He pursued it with amazing dedication and doggedness, and, in the end, he made his city better," said Chris Satullo, WHYY's vice president for news and civic dialogue. "I just admire the guy tremendously."

The announcement of Socolar's departure elicited reaction from many who follow Philadelphia's education scene closely.

"The Notebook is a great resource for those on the outside of the state-run school district looking in, including City Council members and staff," said City Council President Darrell Clarke.

"This is service journalism that holds teachers and staff to account while humanizing them, rather than provoking outsiders to quick judgment. Those of us who care deeply about our public schools, and the mission of giving every child equal opportunity to succeed, owe a great debt to Paul," Clarke continued.

Donna Cooper, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, called Socolar "an icon for transparency."

"Under his leadership, the Notebook grew to become what it is today -- a go-to source for news on issues facing our city's schools, and an independent voice for parents and students," she said.

City Council candidate Helen Gym was part of the group that helped Socolar found the publication.

"Paul has guided the Notebook through some of the most dramatic periods of education reform in Philadelphia," she said. "His commitment to quality journalism and investigative reporting into the realities and consequences of that reform movement is a major reason why the public in Philadelphia is so much better informed than other cities."

The School District of Philadelphia itself paid its respects.

"Paul is extremely knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the district," said spokesman Fernando Gallard, a 12-year district veteran. "He has a level of interest – a level of care – that goes beyond that of a beat reporter, centered in his experience as a father."

After he departs, Socolar hopes to stay involved in the field of public-interest investigative journalism. He also intends to spend more time with his parents, both in their 90s, who live in New York City, where he was raised.

Haverford

Paul Socolar was educated at Haverford, a Quaker influenced, liberal arts college near Philadelphia.

My years at Haverford reinforced my strong concern for issues of social justice, and helped me understand the historic importance of social movements in creating a more just society. Education is one important piece of that. Unfortunately, Haverford in the 1970s was not a very diverse place, and that played a role in my own deepening awareness of inequalities in education. I went to a selective public high school in New York City (Bronx Science) and the lack of diversity there was justified by the idea of meritocracy: “We only let in the best kids.” At Haverford, while studying sociology, I got to think about what are the forces really at play in this meritocracy. Who comes out ahead and who doesn’t in the education system? It’s definitely a system in which there are winners and losers, and it’s clearly more complicated than who has the most smarts.

New American Movement member

In 1980 Paul Socolar from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a New American Movement network coordinator during the negotiation phase leading up to the merger with the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee

Solidarity

Peter Drucker and Paul Socolar, were, at one point, leaders of Solidarity.

Education activism

In 1990, Paul Socolar became involved with his kindergarten-age daughter’s Philadelphia public school, and saw first-hand the devastating effects of inadequate funding on both the school and district levels. After a few years of involvement with parent groups, he floated an idea with some other parent activists, teachers and concerned members of the community, all of whom were committed to improving public education in the city.

The result was the Philadelphia Public School Notebook, a newspaper focused on issues related to the Philadelphia School District. First published in 1994, the paper, which Socolar now heads as editor-in-chief, has a print circulation of 57,000 copies and a website that draws more than 11,000 visitors monthly. A previous school superintendent has called the Notebook “the unofficial watchdog of the school district.” In January, the paper received a $200,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to revamp and expand its online presence. Socolar also offers internship opportunities for current Haverford students through the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship.

Notebook

In the early 1990s, Eric Joselyn worked with Paul Socolar, now the Philadelphia Public School Notebook’s editor and publisher, in an organization called E-Quality, a local parent-teacher alliance that sought systemwide student-centered reform. At that time, Socolar suggested starting an education publication.

“The content he envisioned really complemented the other work we’d been doing,” Joselyn said. “It made sense [given] the broad-based motion in the city.”

In addition to being a mainstay of the working group that launched the publication, Joselyn, who studied art at the University of Minnesota, also produced the logos and began creating the editorial cartoons that have graced every print edition since the debut issue in 1994.

Corbett protest

Asian Americans United May 12, 2012:

On Tuesday May 15th, Governor Corbett is coming to Prince Theater in Philadelphia to address the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. During his time as Governor, Corbett has made massive cuts to education, medical assistance, and social services while he is spending $685 million on new prison construction. His recent budget alone proposes $264 million in cuts to higher education, $319 millio... See More — with Lai Har Cheung, Xu Lin, Alice Vuong, Judy At Aau, Paul Socolar, Masaru Edmund Nakawatase, Erika Almiron Niz, Mica Root, Wei Chen, Nancy Dung Nguyen, Desi Burnette, Maxine Chang, Helen Gym, Betty Lui, Erika Funk, Ellen Somekawa, Joan May T. Cordova and Alix Mariko Webb.

Working for Gym

In May 2016, Councilwoman Helen Gym hired Paul Socolar.

We are proud to bring to our team Paul Socolar, former editor of the Notebook, an "icon of independent journalism" and an encyclopedia of knowledge and know-how when it comes to understanding school budgets. Paul joins us ths spring as an education policy analyst working on the School District budget.

References

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