The Future of Public Education in Erie: A Discussion of the Fourth Jefferson Essay
As Erie’s Public Schools embark upon a community-centered initiative to meet its mandate to provide equal and accessible quality education to the children of the City of Erie, this discussion of the fourth Jefferson Essay will reflect upon the history of free public education in Erie, as well as recurrent themes and challenges facing public education locally, while providing detailed analysis of the community schools strategy currently undertaken in Erie’s most challenged public schools. – Jim Wertz, Ph.D.
R. James Wertz, Ph.D.
Dr. Wertz serves as the Director of the Honors Program at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and is an Assistant Professor of journalism and digital media as well as the journalism program coordinator in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations. Dr. Wertz has also taught courses in U.S. and Latin American history in Edinboro University’s Department of History, Anthropology, and World Languages. A Reading, Pa. native, Wertz earned concurrent Bachelor Degrees in History and Speech Communication from Edinboro University, received a master’s degree from The American University in Washington, D.C., where he studied the history of American politics and culture in post-1945 America, and completed his Ph.D. in Communications Media and Instructional Technology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
