Manor College invites the community to attend our Social Justice Symposium on October 25, 2018, from 9:30am-12:30pm in the Library Presentation Space in Basileiad Manor. Ronnie Polaneczky, Philadelphia Inquirer journalist; Tina Kelley, co-author of Almost Home, and Curry Bailey, a student disciplinary hearing officer for the Philadelphia School District will all present. Opening remarks will be provided by Manor faculty member, Tom Verni.

All donations of clothing and accessories will be taken to the Career Wardrobe. Food and beverages provided by the Justice Studies Association, Student Engagement, and others in the Manor community.

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Schedule

9:30 – 9:45: Opening Remarks regarding Saint Basil, Tom Verni

9:45 – 10:30: Curry Bailey, Student Disciplinary Hearing Officer, Philadelphia School District

10:30 – 11:15: Tina Kelley, Co-author of the book, Almost Home

11:15 – 11:45: Simulation on Homelessness (spent.org)

11:45 – 12:30: Ronnie Polaneczky, Inquirer Journalist

12:30: Lunch

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About the Presenters

Thomas Verni has been a teacher in the World Languages Department at Saint Basil Academy for 20 years. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in the Humanities and a Master’s Degree in Theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. In addition, he completed the Philosophical Biennium at the Pontifical University “Antonianum” Rome, Italy. He is a Basilian Associate and Instructor of Religious Studies at Manor College. Verni is also the Vice-Chair of the “Chaplain’s Voice of Mission and Ministry” committee at Manor College. He also serves on the Basilian Legacy Committee of the Sisters of the Order of Saint Basil the Great.

Curry Bailey is a Student Disciplinary Hearing Officer for the School District of Philadelphia. Prior to this position he worked as a Social Worker in a Therapeutic Foster Care program. Curry worked for 10 years in the Office of School Climate and Safety for the School District of Philadelphia implementing programs such as peer mediation, bullying prevention and drug and alcohol awareness. His desire to dismantle the school to prison pipeline is what motivates him to stay involved with programs that can change the lives of many students.

Tina Kelley was a reporter at The New York Times for a decade, where she was part of the Metro section team that won a 2002 Pulitzer Prize in the Public Service category for coverage of the September 11 attacks. She wrote 121 “Portraits of Grief,” short descriptions of the victims. At the Times, she also wrote many stories involving powerless or voiceless people, or those whose struggles went against the grain of popular opinion: the health problems of a Native American tribe living near a Superfund site, a high school student who challenged a proselytizing public school teacher and who received a death threat for his stance, a transgender vocational school principal in a rural town, and the lives of children waiting to be adopted out of foster care.

Ronnie Polaneczky has been a journalist for 30 years and is a Metro columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, where she has won numerous journalism awards for listening to the city she loves and telling its stories in ways that get to the heart of who we are. She is the 2015 winner of the Eugene C. Pulliam Journalism Fellowship for her coverage of elderly parents who are still responsible for the care of their intellectually disabled, aging children.