School District of Philadelphia Board of Education Action Meeting Testimony, April 21, 2022
by Ilene Poses
There always seems to be money for projects the Board wants. This time why not listen to the things that the principals, teachers and parents say they want to make better schools.
All these constituents call on the District to fund five key positions at every school: Special Ed Coordinator, Literacy and Math Resource Lead Specialists, Climate Manager and Ass’t Principal. I would add a sixth: a Certified Teacher Librarian. Will the Board again approve a budget that fails to fund these positions?
The Board continues the SRC practice of spending millions on outside counsel despite having its own Office of General Counsel staffed with over twenty attorneys and $9 million budget as of 2021.(Eyes March 2021). A Special Ed. coordinator will save the district millions since a good portion of the legal fees pay for non-compliance of special ed. issues. Vote no on Item #31!
Sung to Modern Major General from Pirates of Penzance
You are the very model of a modern Philly scho-ol board
You pay for extra lawyers over what you really can afford
You know the general counsel has a budget of $9 million
But that won’t stop you spending over $27 trillion.
You’ve hired Archer, Greiner, Paxson and the Baker Botts
The Ballard Spahrs, and Manko Gold, Eckert, -Seamans and Mellott
There’s also Dillworth, Paxson- Bazelon and Feldman
Wisler, Pearlstein, Moskowitz, Harris, Fineman, Edelman
(beginning tune)
King, Spry Herman, Freund and Paul
Still haven’t nearly named them all.
School buildings still a total mess
But still you think more counsel’s best.
Three years ago I attended community meetings at various schools. The facilitator would ask the parents what they wanted to make their schools better.
Parents asked for nurses, extra people to provide a safe corridor for their children to walk safely home. Sometimes they asked for people to watch the schoolyard during recess. Sometimes they would say the principal needed more help to run the school. The facilitator would sometimes ask, “Don’t you want more technology?” But they would say “no” we told you want we wanted. Never, never did they ask for more lawyers! Never, never should the Board waste millions on more lawyers while asking the schools to make do with less.
- Ahmad & Zaffarese, LLC
- Archer & Greiner, P.C.
- Assigned Counsel Incorporated
- The Axelrod Firm, PC
- Baker Botts LLP
- Ballard Spahr LLP
- Bazelon Less & Feldman, P.C.
- Bennett, Bricklin & Saltzburg, LLC
- Brustein & Manasevit, PLLC
- Charles F. Forer Alternative Dispute Resolution Services
- Company Counsel LLC
- Cozen O’Conner
- Dilworth Paxson LLP
- Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC
- Fineman, Krekstein and Harris, P.C.
- Fox Rothschild LLP
- Goldberg, Miller, & Rubin, P.C.
- Griesing Law, LLC
- Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller
- King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, LLC
- Kolber & Randazzo, P.C.
- Landau, Hess, Simon, & Choi
- Levin Legal Group, P.C.
- Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox LLP
- Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin
- McNichol, Byrne, & Matlawski., P.C.
- Montgomery, McCracken Walker & Rhoads, LLP
- Pepper Hamilton, LLP
- Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP
- Rudolph Garcia, Attorney at Law
- Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, LLP
- Sweet Stevens Katz & Williams, LLP
- The Law Office of Benjamin N. Gialloreto
- Turner Law. P.C.
- Welsh & Recker PC
- Wilson Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP
- Wisler Pearlstine, LLP
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 