The biology crisis at Overbrook High

REGINA MEDINA, Daily News Staff Writer medinar@phillynews.com, 215-854-5985 Posted: Friday, February 13, 2015, 12:16 AM

OVERBROOK HIGH School has not had a biology-certified teacher since September.

The 129 students enrolled in biology, instead, have seen their teachers reassigned, classes changed and little instruction in the biology lab since the fall for a course that is a state requirement for high school graduation.

And the biology-certified teacher set to begin today at Overbrook, according to a school district official who spoke earlier this week to Philadelphia magazine, has rejected an offer to teach at the school, the district confirmed yesterday.

"The candidate declined for personal reasons," said district spokeswoman Raven Hill. The district will continue to seek a biology-certified teacher for Overbrook, she said, adding "this issue highlights the difficulty of recruiting candidates midyear for traditionally hard-to-fill positions."

While the search continues, the class that the 10th-grade students initially enrolled in as biology had its title changed in the fall to "environmental science," Overbrook staffers say.

The reason behind the change was so the "children wouldn't be forced to take a test they didn't have the education for," said an Overbrook source, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution.

When report cards were issued yesterday, students in the course were given grades, but the class name was "mysteriously whited out," said teacher Bonnee Breese, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers building representative and an executive board member of the teachers union.

"Oh, God, it's almost as if they don't want anyone to know what the class is," said the staff source.

The school district did not respond to further questions from the Daily News.

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The biology crisis at Overbrook High