Category: Ears on the Board of Education

by Diane Payne

The Office of the Inspector General, a purportedly independent office within the District, issued its final report on the botched construction project at Benjamin Franklin High School undertaken for the purpose of co-locating Science Leadership Academy (SLA).  

The OIG report paints a picture of the incompetence of Superintendent Hite and his staff from the planning of the project to its completion. It reveals the shocking disregard for the health and safety of the students and staff at Ben Franklin. It shows how the Hite administration ignored the fears of parents and educators. The Board’s response to the scandal?  Expressions of concern and disappointment, but not one word about accountability. 

Continue reading here.

by Diane Payne

When we organize and fight, we win. The students, parents, teachers, principals and community members told the Board on July 23 that Dr. Hite’s hybrid reopening plan would put children and adults in harm’s way. Hite and his staff presented an all-virtual plan to the Board one week later.

The Board reconvened the Action Meeting that they had recessed, after eight hours, on July 23.  All eight Board members were present.  [This meeting can be viewed on the Board website. Visit the APPS website to read our summary. Meeting materials can be viewed here]

Wilkerson Reiterates Plea for Fair Funding

Board President Joyce Wilkerson opened the meeting with another plea for funding advocacy.  Wilkerson noted that the state’s inequitable formula results in Philadelphia receiving the lowest per-pupil funding. The District webpage displays detailed information about how the public can engage their elected officials in demanding full and fair funding.  

Wilkerson then asked Superintendent Hite to present his revised reopening plan. She noted that there were working committees that assisted in this plan’s development, but she expressed no objection to the fact that the committees included administrators, principals, and parents–but no teachers.  

Click here to read the rest of the report.

By Diane Payne

In the first week of July, the Board placed a notice of an Action Meeting in its online calendar. The Board placed no banner on the District homepage, and the agenda was not posted until 72 hours before the meeting.  The obvious reason to add a special meeting was to discuss the District’s fall reopening plan, but the Agenda contained twenty-six Items.  All eight Board members were present.  Mayor Kenney has taken no steps to fill the ninth seat, vacant since Chris McGinley resigned in April. The Mayor’s Nominating Panel, which met earlier this year to fill Wayne Walker’s seat, could easily be reconvened to fill this one, and the Mayor could choose from the list of candidates already compiled. In both 2018 and 2020, the Mayor ordered the Panel to meet only in Executive Session, thus violating the state’s Sunshine Act and shutting out the public from the entire process.  The abolition of the state-controlled SRC did not result in true local control but in mayoral control.  

Continue reading here.

by Diane Payne

The 8-member Board held its 7th remote Action Meeting on June 25th as the Covid-19 crisis continues to necessitate quarantine. Mayor Kenney has not yet replaced Chris McGinley, who resigned at the end of April, nor given any indication when he will.   Kenney has said that his Nominating Panel must reconvene, even though the Panel submitted names of 27 candidates just months ago.  Concerns about current Board members’ appearance of conflict of interest (See Possible Conflicts below),  coupled with alarm over support of anti-public education measures, amplifies APPS’ call for an elected school board. Until Philadelphia ends the disenfranchisement of its people when choosing school board representatives, it is imperative that Mayor Kenney institute an open and transparent nominating process with full public participation. 

Why are Philadelphians the only voters in the state barred from choosing their school board members? The answer points to the systemic racism people have taken to the streets to demand an end to.

Read more here.