Board of Education Action Meeting: October 24, 2024
by Lisa Haver
After all of the public speakers had testified, and before the voting on action items, about twenty-five members of the audience went to the front of the room, held up signs and demanded the reinstatement of Keziah Ridgeway to her teaching position at Northeast High School. Less than a minute after the protestors stood, board members and Superintendent Tony Watlington left the room without comment or explanation. During this time, Lisa Haver went down to the board’s office on the first floor, knowing that they would do what they did five years ago when students protested their vote on metal detectors: scurry down to their committee room, accompanied by security, and lock the door.APPS members demanded entry to the meeting then, and we demanded it this time. Haver knocked on the door as the board members entered the committee room; she continued to knock for the entirety of the secret meeting. Several district security and Philadelphia police officers ordered her to move, even threatening arrest, but she refused to move. Eventually they backed off. Board members could be heard on hot mics over the livestream commenting about Haver: “Why is she knocking?” and “Is she taking pictures?” In their barricaded room, with no public allowed, the board voted to approve over $94 million in contracts to various vendors. They also voted unanimously to grant the KOZ (Keystone Opportunity Zone) tax abatement extensions to developers of properties at the Navy Yard and the massive Hilco/Bellwether site. APPS had intended to state a formal objection to the KOZ votes under the state’s Sunshine Act as the board did not disclose in its item how much the KOZs would be costing the district. None of the votes taken in that private meeting is legitimate. Ilene Poses contributed to this report.
Continue reading about the board’s secret meeting here.
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 