In a letter sent this morning, the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools has called on the Board of Education to ask for the resignation of Superintendent William Hite.
“In light of the many revelations contained in the Inspector General’s report of the Hite administration’s failure to protect the health and safety of the students and staff of Benjamin Franklin and SLA high schools, the members of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools call on the Board of Education to ask for the resignation of Superintendent William Hite”, APPS co-founders Lisa Haver and Karel Kilimnik told the Board.
“Dr. Hite and his team, for over a year, endangered the health and safety of the students and staff of two high schools,” said Haver. “They ignored repeated warnings from parents, principals and teachers. They pushed forward even after the emergency hospitalization of teachers after daily exposure to toxins. The Board of Education should ask for Dr. Hite’s resignation today.”
The IG report contains an important observation: The consultant-based patchwork the District frequently relies on for so many positions has short-term financial savings, but it does not benefit the District’s long-term welfare. APPS, a grass-roots organization of District teachers, retired teachers, staff, parents, and community members, has testified for years about the financial and institutional cost of this practice of hiring consultants rather than rely on, and invest in, the professionals who work for the District. In fact, the August agenda proposes a $700,000 contract with KJR consultants for non-essential work.
“We have heard speeches from the Administration and from Board members that Black lives matter to them. But the lives of the mostly Black students at Ben Franklin did not matter for an entire year when they were forced to breathe in toxins and to try to learn amid the constant din of construction noise,” Haver and Kilimnik said in the letter to the Board.
“If the Board values the health and safety of the students and staff of the District, and resolve that this will never happen again, they will call on Dr. Hite to resign, along with members of his administration who ignored the warnings from parents, principals and teachers about the dangerous conditions. Then the Board must explain its own role in this shameful episode.”
Letter sent to Board at 11 AM Thursday August 20, 2020:
Dear President Wilkerson and Members of the Board,
In light of the many revelations contained in the Inspector General’s report of the Hite administration’s failure to protect the health and safety of the students and staff of Benjamin Franklin and SLA high schools, the members of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools call on the Board to ask for the resignation of Superintendent William Hite.
The Inspector General’s report told of a project whose costs increased fivefold. Any competent administration would have seen that this project could not have been completed in time for the SLA students to relocate in Fall 2019. Any caring administration would never have allowed students and staff to be exposed to asbestos and construction dust.
We have heard speeches from the Administration and from Board members that Black lives matter to them. But the lives of the mostly Black students at Ben Franklin did not matter for an entire year when they were forced to breathe in toxins and to try to learn amid the constant din of construction noise.
If the Board values the health and safety of the students and staff of the District, and resolve that this will never happen again, they will call on Dr. Hite to resign, along with members of his administration who ignored the warnings from parents, principals and teachers about the dangerous conditions. Then the Board must explain its own role in this shameful episode.
Sincerely,
Lisa Haver
Karel Kilimnik
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 