Category: Ears on the Board of Education

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.

Board Violates Sunshine Act, Civil Rights of Constituents

Board of Education Action Meeting: October 24, 2024

by Lisa Haver

Board votes on official items after locking public out of meeting (Photo: 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.

Board Carries on Legacy of the SRC

Board of Education Meeting: September 19, 2024

by Lisa Haver

CASA President Dr. Robin Cooper testifies in defense of Philadelphia’s public schools. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

It was freezing in the auditorium during the September action meeting, so cold that they actually brought blankets out for board members. Was it an air conditioning malfunction–or the icy breath of the SRC past?

Board Begins Process of Closing Neighborhood  Schools
Following the legacy of the School Reform Commission, the Board of Education appointed by Mayor Cherelle Parker will be closing more neighborhood schools. No clear reasons were given by Superintendent Tony Watlington, Board President Reginald Streater, or any of the other board members, most of whom remained mute as they do in most meetings. Streater announced the board’s intention to close schools in an Inquirer story published the day before the meeting, but he avoided saying that directly in his remarks.  He used the euphemism “co-location” at one point, but people know that if you “combine” two schools that means you closed one of them.  We heard–from the president of the board that has enacted speaker suppression policies that keep people off of the speaker list and out of the auditorium–promises of meaningful community engagement. Streater said more than once that the board did not want to rely on outside consultants–just before passing a $4.5 million item to hire a consulting firm to begin the process.  We heard assurances that the board will be carrying on robust discussions about the Facilities Plan. Yet eight members had no questions for Watlington after his facilities plan presentation. Only one board member, ChouWing Lam, questioned the price tag of the $4.5 billion consulting contract (Lam later voted for the contract).  Any plan to close schools is a betrayal of the people of Philadelphia. The parents, students, educators, and community members who fought to end the rule of the state-controlled SRC believed that bringing back local control would change the spending priorities of the district and make education better for the city’s children. What we got is a board that protects the financial interests of charter investors and administrators, and now says we can’t afford to keep neighborhood schools open.

Continue reading about September 19, 2024 board action meeting here.

Board of Education Silent on Every Issue Raised by Constituents

Board of Education Action Meeting: August 22, 2024

by Lisa Haver

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Board renews three substandard charters. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

At its August action meeting, the Board of Education passed thirty-six agenda items totaling over $79 million. They also approved three 5-year charter renewals, whose projected costs–at least $85 million total, based on the current district budget –were not posted.  Board member Cheryl Harper was absent, as was Chou-Wing Lam, who has not attended a board meeting since April. At this point, Board Member Lam should have communicated to the public the reason for her third consecutive absence and whether she is able to continue to serve. If she is not able to carry out her duties, she should resign. Most notable about this meeting is what didn’t happen: none of the board members spoke about any of the agenda items or responded to any of the issues that parents, educators, and community members came to testify about. Not one question, not one comment. 

Continue reading about Board of Education August 22, 2024 action meeting here.