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Count on the
Comcast copout
I have been a Triple Play Comcast customer for some time. I’m also an unemployed cardiac patient. For three days I was without phone service. Countless calls and e-mails by me and a friend, even with a medical alert posted on my record, was bringing me no resolution.
Navigating Comcast’s customer service was almost as bad as trying to reach them via e-mail. Their looped and circuitous outgoing voice mail messages combined with an e-mail system that will only accept specific-comments text, made contacting them almost impossible. And, when you do make a connection on the phone, waiting times on hold can exceed 20 minutes!
But the best was yet to come. In an online conversation with one of Comcast’s agents, I once again explained the continuous phone problems and I needed the ability to call 911 if necessary. His response was “…I would suggest getting a cell phone in that situation.”
I guess even Comcast’s employees know not to depend upon their service!
Morris Holender
Rhawnhurst
Get rid
of Anna Verna
I’m outraged by the appointment of Edgar Howard as director of the city’s advisory commission for veterans. Everyone who read the article knows that Mr. Politz deserved the position.
It’s more of City Hall’s corrupt politics: Never give it to the qualified person, just hand it over to your political friends. I think Council President Anna Verna should be removed from office.
Sara T. Gillespie
Fox Chase
Heaven adds an angel
to its team: Al Angelo
I remember long before I attended Frankford High School, I heard about Coach Angelo. I had heard all the stories about how great a coach he was and how he gained the love and respect from everyone who met him. He was a great teacher, a great football coach but an even greater man. All you had to do was ask anyone he taught or knew him and you’d walk away with a smile on your face.
As I look back on my four years at Frankford, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t hear coach’s name. There wasn’t a week that went by that I didn’t hear about another student coach helped in some way. We all looked forward to football season and adding another trophy to our already crowded showcase. I know the name said Frankford, but for everyone that attended it could’ve easily read Angelo High and that would’ve meant more sense to us all.
Coach Angelo was Frankford and Frankford was Coach Angelo. I’ve never seen any teacher love his job as much as he did or love his students like he has over all those wonderful years. It was a perfect fit and everyone that passed through those proud halls knew it.
I had the privilege of saying goodbye to a great man and to thank his beautiful family for sharing him with us all. I saw the pictures and read the stories that were on display at the church and I smiled. I thanked God for the chance to share four years of my life with a legend and a truly remarkable man. I also asked God to tell coach to save a spot on the bleachers up in heaven for us all. Coach Al, we’ll miss you and may God bless you.
John J. Ruppert
Frankford High School Class of ’82
• • •
What is the measure of a man? Does the answer lie in how many people’s lives he impacts? How many people actually love him? Or, is it the amount of people who would do just about anything for him? If these are some of the answers, then Al Angelo certainly measured up well.
The former Frankford High football coach and longtime friend to the Philadelphia community lost a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer on April 19. He was at his home in Seaville, N.J., when he succumbed to the disease.
Although the battle was long and tough, it never got to Angelo’s spirit. Al Angelo, known for his quiet demeanor, gave so much to so many. As a father, teacher and coach, he lived his life with great honesty, integrity and ambition and taught all those same values to his children, students and players as well.
While going through the day-to-day rigor of cancer treatments, Angelo always made time for his family, friends and former players and students. Whether it was a quick e-mail, phone call or one of the many luncheons honoring him, he always made time for you. He even made you feel comfortable talking about a disease so horrible that it seemed as if it were no big deal.
In a recent e-mail attempting to find out how he was feeling, Angelo (Mr. Angelo to me) referenced one of the things he knows best: football. He initially thanked me for e-mailing him to see how he was doing and then responded simply by stating, “it’s the fourth quarter but there’s still some time left.”
As a former player and student, I was able to see firsthand why Mr. Angelo was and always will be considered a legend. He always made the best of things, lived life to the fullest, and always accepted everyone into his world, not only as a coach and a teacher, but more importantly as a human being. He taught everyone the right way to do things.
Mr. Angelo was a humble man. When he talked about his successes, he talked about his partners. When he was honored and given awards, he talked about the other people that made it happen. That’s just who he was. He always made you feel important no matter what role you played in the grand scheme of things, and he always had a smile for you.
We can only hope that in our own lives we can impact another person’s life as he has done for so many of us. I am personally a better person for having known him and I will miss him dearly.
One final note: I was always amazed and impressed that no matter where people were in their lives or how long it was since Mr. Angelo had seen a person last, he always knew where they lived, what they were up to and could even tell you when he saw them last. That to me was really amazing. He definitely loved people and it certainly showed through his personality and the way he lived his life.
Mark Dooling
Willow Grove
Despite its current woes,
PACS has a bright future
Good people built Philadelphia Academy Charter School and good people will be responsible and successful in keeping the school as it is — an exemplary charter school. Most know what needs to be done.
I am confident that the superstructure of the school, its first-class teachers and involved, caring parents will continue to keep the school on the path of excellence.
Yes, a good scrubbing of the administrative decks will restore the shine. But a conversion of selfish hearts and a reversal of errant deeds will easily allay present anxiousness and help to set a more favorable course. In the end, goodness prevails.
There are lessons to be learned. Administrators should never come even close to overpowering parents, teachers and students through the use of anger, threats and intimidation. Tranquility thrives with justice. Respect must be fought for. Order will return when the blustering wolves are neutralized and/or we learn to build stronger houses (schools).
Good people will do the right thing. Philadelphia Academy will not close, because good people who are not afraid to speak will help to get it right. And those who have made mistakes can correct them and themselves by getting out of the way and letting a new generation of leaders help to protect and defend the dreams and ideals we had when we planned and built the Philadelphia Academy Charter School.
Recent events at PACS have uncovered a close-knit clique, who forget why we created PACS. Never was it said by any of the original founders that personal financial enrichment was a goal. Conversely, what was evident was a tireless and selfless demonstration of working together without remuneration to build an exemplary school. That mission was accomplished. Now there is another mission: To keep PACS on track in the pursuit of excellence by returning to the spirit and energy on which it was founded.
What happened to Philadelphia Academy recently has been a good thing, because of the courage and right of parents to question the goings-on at their school, parents who believed they were excluded from the process to have their grievances heard.
Reasons why this all has happened may never be clear. Ultimately however, good trumps bad. In choosing sides, who would ever pick the bad side? But some do. At a parents’ meeting last week, many asked, “What do we tell our children”? The larger question is “What do we tell each other”?
The answer is often found in the truth. PACS is still an excellent school. PACS most probably will have its charter renewed because PACS, in spite of these unsettling events, remains a first-rate school. The school does not need to be replaced. The school had nothing to do with excessive salaries and administrative deafness. And complaining parents had nothing to do with either of the above.
Perhaps since its inception there has been an undercurrent of tension and stress at Philadelphia Academy and now there are opportunities for relief. Many parents at Thursday’s public meeting spoke to opportunity. They and the free press do not want to reward negative behavior. Their opposition to the status quo and questioning unusual practices is proof of that. They and the new leadership structure will have the opportunity and the challenge to move forward.
Teachers at PACS need to find reward in speaking out for their children as well as their profession. In this country we all have a right to speak, and teachers at PACS have been curiously and disturbingly silent. Their silent behavior, I believe, has in part allowed autocratic behaviors to bloat — “Remember class, if you want to repeat a behavior, reward it.”
Silence was a reward for those who do not allow or accept challenge. There are good lessons to be learned. How do we teach and expect our children to face these most challenging and troubling times if we are too timid or fearful to take on these challenges ourselves? Silence is golden but not when the train railguard is coming down.
Highly paid executives and impressive board members have little to do with successful educational outcomes. Their care and desire to enhance the mission and support those who bring it about does. Political, administrative circles too often are closed to hear the squeaking wheel or appreciate the sounds of encouraged silence.
It is when that happens that we must knock long and loud enough so that we may not only be heard, but listened to as well.
Finally, there is nothing final or fatalistic about a dream being dashed. The dashed dream is simply clearing a way for the better dream that lies just ahead. The Philadelphia Academy Charter School is a star still on the rise.
Richard J. Junod, Ed.D.
PACS co-founder and former board member
Fired up by PGW, she cooled
off, thanks to Councilman O’Neill
Dear Councilman O’Neill,
A few weeks ago, I contacted your office regarding difficulties encountered with the “customer service” representatives of the Philadelphia Gas Works. My call was prompted by the outrageously disrespectful attitudes I encountered on the telephone while trying to assist my mother, who has dementia, with paying her gas bill.
It is difficult enough trying to make sure that all of my mother’s needs are taken care of without being harassed by those supposedly providing a public service to her residence. One of their far-from-helpful “representatives” even went so far as to suggest that I could have randomly “guessed” at mom’s nine-digit Social Security number! If I could do that, I’d have a career in Monte Carlo, or at least have hit the lottery a time or two!
I am grateful to say that despite the fact that I called late on a Friday afternoon, by Tuesday morning your very helpful staff person had solved the problem and gave me the name of the person to contact at PGW who simply acted upon my request; no further hoops to jump through.
My experience makes me wonder what those struggling elderly with no college-educated, spunky daughter to rely on might have to go through?
Back in the fall, I had to take my mother in person to the “local” office, which is down below Margaret and Orthodox on Frankford Avenue, to verify that she was still living and a senior citizen. That’s when her Social Security number was transposed, which led to most of the present difficulties. We were not the only ones there for the same purpose, and one man told us he had gotten up at 7 a.m. that morning to begin making the trek. We were there around 1:30 in the afternoon. I would imagine that there are some people who just forget about their senior citizen discount because it is too difficult to go through the hassle each and every year.
Again, thank you for hiring people who truly understand what customer service is and for the faithful and dedicated service you continuously provide to the people of Philadelphia, especially the Northeast.
Maryellen Glackin
Bustleton
Three ways to put a dent
in the soaring cost of oil
Just in case anyone is interested in being logical and fair in view of $114/per barrel oil, how about the following?
(1) End or significantly reduce tax credits for oil companies currently enjoying multibillion dollar-a-year profits.
(2) Use the reduction to pay the 50-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax now paid by the consumer. This will, in effect, give the average consumer about $50 to $100 per month more in-pocket money to spend, and that will help to stimulate other segments of the economy.
(3) Add a per-gallon premium to the price of gasoline for vehicles that are gas-guzzlers and which consequently increase the demand and price of gasoline. If you’re driving a Hummer by choice, presumably you don’t worry about the cost of filling it.
Arthur Gurmankin
Bustleton
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