04 - Philadelphia Schools Crisis.jpg
Third-grade teacher Carol Pearson packs up her classroom at Smith Elementary School for the final time on June 24, 2013. Pearson, who graduated from Smith in the 1960's and whose parents graduated from Smith in the 1940's, is retiring after 38 1/2 years teaching in the School District of Philadelphia. "I'd hoped to make it to 40," Pearson said, "but the school closing changed that."