Widener Magazine

Sara Ferguson, a 1984 Widener graduate who has taught in Chester Upland schools for more than 20 years, has been a guest with a national profile lately.  The Columbus Elementary math and literacy teacher sat with First Lady Michelle Obama during the President’s State of the Union Address last week, and will appear tomorrow with the First Lady on the Ellen Degeneres Show.  She also wrote an editorial, “My View: An education crisis that never should have happened” on Schools of Thought, a CNN blog.

Ferguson, as the White House web site described her, “is a third generation educator in Chester Upland, and a proud product of that district.  When the Chester Upland School District faced bankruptcy earlier this year in light of severe state budget cuts, Ms. Ferguson vowed to continue teaching even without being paid, saying ‘we are adults; we will make a way. The students don’t have any contingency plan. They need to be educated, so we intend to be on the job.’”

Widener on Friday hosted a Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee hearing to discuss the crisis in Chester Upland schools, and you can read more about that in this story from the Delaware County Daily Times.