Category: Philadelphia School Board

Charter Operators Must Disavow Threats and Calls for Violence

Board of Education Action Meeting:  October 19, 2023

by Lisa Haver and Deborah Grill

For the second time in a week, charter operators held a rally in front of school district headquarters. At the first, State Senator Anthony Williams, speaking on behalf of the African American Charter School Coalition, targeted a district employee, disparaged Board President Reginald Streater, and called for violence at the next board meeting. Williams, a frequent beneficiary of charter supporter Jeffrey Yass,  accused Streater of harming children while acting “like he’s Mr. Black Man of America”. Williams also issued a veiled threat to Charter Schools Office Director Peng Chao, calling for his removal. He then incited violence against board members, district staff, and community members when he told charter supporters that he wanted to see “chairs flying around” at the next board meeting. 

No member of the Coalition disavowed Sen. Williams remarks when they returned to the steps of 440 just before Thursday’s action meeting. In her testimony, Lisa Haver reminded board members that this was not the first time that the charter operators had made unfounded accusations against Charter Schools Office staff and that the board failed then, as it does now, to defend them. She urged board members to have the “decency” to stand up for their own employees against these attacks. None of the board members responded. 

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Board Bars Public from Attending and Testifying, Then Hires Communications Consultants

Board of Education Action and Budget Meetings:   April 20, 2023

by Lisa Haver and Deborah Grill

With every meeting, the Board of Education finds new ways to enforce its mission of speaker suppression. Several APPS members who tried to sign up to speak at the action meeting found the window closed after just two hours.  APPS member Ilene Poses was not only barred from speaking but was barred from entering the auditorium when she arrived. Security told her that there was no more room in the auditorium. When she called those of us who had made it in, we counted over ten empty seats. Ilene was finally admitted along with several other people.    

The board pushes the public away both literally and figuratively. The staff tables in the front of the room set up an ever-expanding barrier between the board and the public. In an auditorium with an official capacity of 240, the board had only set up 82 seats. Lisa Haver asked the board to explain that when she testified; she got no answer.

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Board Blurs Line between Governance and Administration

by Lisa Haver

The Philadelphia Board of Education’s first action at its January 26, 2023 action meeting was to exalt itself. The second was to curb its own power.

The meeting opened with a multi-part ceremony in honor of “Board Appreciation Month”. District administration staffers presented student artwork made for the occasion. Students from several schools appeared on the large screen in the front of the auditorium, literally singing the board’s praises. Finally, a member of Superintendent Tony Watlington’s cabinet read a statement expressing the administration’s appreciation for the board’s dedication and great work.

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Board Must Change Its Spending Priorities

Budget Hearing: April 21, 2022

by Lynda Rubin

The Board of Education scheduled its annual budget hearing just one hour before its April action meeting. With a lengthy presentation from Chief Financial Officer Uri Monson on the agenda, followed by questions from the Board and testimony from nine public speakers, there was not much time for careful deliberation about the Board’s own spending priorities. It seemed at times that the tail once again was wagging the dog, with Board members’ comments and questions reflecting Board compliance rather than Board leadership.

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