Category: APPS Reports on the Board of Ed

Board of Education Must Actively Defend Public Education

Board of Education Action Meeting: March 27,  2025

by Lisa Haver

Ilene Poses testifies at March Board of Education Meeting (Photo: Lisa Haver)

As far as the Board of Education is concerned, there is no “good trouble”.  In fact, anything that makes them… uncomfortable…seems to be bad trouble. Just standing in the aisle to show solidarity with public speakers–as people have done at board meetings for years–is verboten. Board President Reginald Streater repeated his erroneous statement that people standing in the aisle violate the fire code. Actually, it is the board’s making the aisle narrower, and its blocking one of the two fire exits, that compromise the safety of the people in the auditorium. APPS members distributed flyers reminding people of their first amendment rights: you don’t have to wear a badge to enter a public meeting and you can stand with signs. We showed people that when we fight we win: APPS members stood in the aisle in solidarity with students, educators, parents and community members who came to defend public education. We will stand at every board meeting.

Continue reading about March 27, 2025 action meeting here.

Board Unresponsive to Concerns of Parents and Students

Board of Education Action Meeting:  January 30, 2025

by Lisa Haver

Photo: Lisa Haver

Members of the Board of Education, at their January action meeting, spent more time congratulating  themselves and the administration than they did deliberating on action items or responding to public speakers. Board members offered no questions or comments on any of the 27 action items before passing them unanimously. Several board members praised Superintendent Tony Watlington for his data-centered report on the state of the district, but none inquired as to the inconsistencies in that data. Not one board member answered questions from any of the 38 students, parents, educators, or community members about what the board intends to do about bringing back school librarians, protecting students from ICE raids, repairing dangerous facilities at a district high school, or voting on two new charter applications. Every year, they bask in self-congratulation just for showing up. Have they lowered class size? Brought back school librarians?  Taken steps to rein in rampant charter corruption? 

Continue reading full APPS report of Board of Education January meeting.

Board Calls Police on Silent Protesters

Board of Education Action Meeting: December 5, 2024

by Lisa Haver

Do Not Obey in Advance.
Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny

Which side are you on?
Pete Seeger

Several APPS members, in their testimony, asked the members of the Board of Education, in essence: Which side are you on? They pointed out that the board sided with billionaire developers in October when they voted to extend their Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) tax abatements and again in November when they approved tax breaks for developers that paved the way for building an arena on Chinatown’s doorstep. Almost every month the board sides with charter investors and their highly paid CEOs when, in secret voting, and with no public hearing, they vote for 5-year extensions for substandard charter schools.  Many Philadelpians are expressing real fears that under the next president, they and their loved ones may be deported, unfairly prosecuted, or targeted and profiled–some possibly  removed from public schools by law enforcement and ICE. They have already asked Mayor Cherelle Parker to strengthen Philadelphia’s  sanctuary city status. The next action will be held in the first month of the next Trump administration. What will the Board of Education do to protect students, families and educators?

The board gave its answer: they called in police to threaten silent protesters with arrest.

Continue reading here

President Streater, Tear Down This Wall!

Board of Education Action Meeting: November 21, 2024

by Lisa Haver

Community members protest Board’s vote on Sixers arena TIF (Photo: Lisa Haver)

Parents, students, educators and community members came to November’s board meeting to be heard on many issues: student censorship, funding to save extra-curricular activities, school closings, renewal of substandard charter schools, restoring school librarians, and the board’s vote on tax breaks for developers of the proposed arena at Chinatown’s door. They hoped to find a board that would be open to their concerns and respond to them. They found, instead, a board that had built a wall around itself, ramped up security measures, and attempted to intimidate public speakers. Outside the auditorium they encountered a table for people to sign in and be issued an identification sticker to be worn during the meeting. Inside had been erected a barrier between the audience and the board, with security staff positioned on both sides of public speakers. Board members now enter and exit through a door on their side of the barrier. There was no opportunity for any contact between board members and their constituents. All of this was an apparent reaction by the board to the protest at the October meeting, during which the board left the meeting and re-convened in a locked room. The board’s bunker-like mentality violates its own Guardrail 2: “Every parent and guardian will be welcomed and encouraged to be partners in their child’s school community.”

Continue reading about the November board meeting here.