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Mayor Parker’s beloved English teacher weighed in after her E-L-G-S-E-S chant fail

"I am 53 years old, and my English teacher from high school still calls me and gives me instructions,” Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said. Jeanette Jimenez corrected the mayor's E-L-G-S-E-S cheer.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, with school board president Reginald Streater and Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., applauds at the Philadelphia School District's State of the Schools event at High School of the Future Thursday.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, with school board president Reginald Streater and Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., applauds at the Philadelphia School District's State of the Schools event at High School of the Future Thursday.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker got plenty of blowback when she botched an Eagles chant before the Birds advanced to the NFC championship.

“Let me hear you all say, ‘E-L-G-S-E-S, Eagles!’ Let’s go Birds,” Parker said at a Jan. 19 news conference on emergency preparedness for an advancing snowstorm.

But perhaps the most important feedback came from Parker’s beloved former English teacher.

» READ MORE: This Philly teacher helped Cherelle Parker ‘turn pain into power.’ Meet Jeanette Jimenez.

“I am 53 years old, and my English teacher from high school still calls me and gives me instructions,” Parker said Thursday at the Philadelphia School District’s State of the Schools event. “Her name is Jeanette Jimenez.”

After the E-L-G-S-E-S chant, which went viral and inspired T-shirts and memes, Jimenez sent Parker a message.

“The most recent text that I received from her said, ‘E-A-G-L-E-S!’” Parker said. “And I said, ‘Jeannette, I am never too old to learn.’”

A former English teacher herself, Parker has often mentioned Jimenez, who lives in South Philadelphia, as key to her accomplishments.

Teachers matter, Parker said.

“Few things are more important to children than having quality educators who stayed with them and helped them grow and develop,” the mayor said.

» READ MORE: How are Philadelphia schools doing? Takeaways from Watlington’s ‘State of the schools’ address