Category: School Board transparancy

Philadelphia Needs An Elected School Board

Reprinted for the July 22, s026 edition of the Hall Monitor By Lisa Haver

Community members urge Board of Education to vote No on facilities plan at April 30 meeting. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

This year, Philadelphia hosts the nation’s 250th birthday party. We celebrate our rights and freedoms as Americans, none of which are possible without the right to choose our leaders in free and fair elections. 

Here in the birthplace of democracy, however, Philadelphians remain disenfranchised when those who make decisions that affect the daily lives and future of the city’s children are chosen: the Board of Education. 

Unlike every other district in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia has never had an elected school board. The city’s Home Rule Charter empowers one person, the mayor, to choose all nine members of the board, through a process that shuts out the public completely. The mayor first appoints the thirteen members of the Nominating Panel, which, in secret meetings, reviews applications and selects a number of candidates from which the mayor chooses nine finalists. Nominees’ names are announced at the Panel’s final meeting, after public testimony is heard. Not until the board members give their opening speeches do we know what their positions may be on any issue.

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Board Votes in Private Meeting to Approve Facilities Plan

Board of Education Action Meeting: April 23 and April 30, 2026

by Lisa Haver

APPS members protest at April 30 Board of Education meeting. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

At the April 30 action meeting, board members finally addressed their constituents on the district’s proposed Facilities Master Plan. Some had attended the public meetings held over the past 18 months  as observers. They did not respond to  testimony given by students, parents, educators and community members at board meetings and town halls over the past 3 months. Not until this meeting, continued from April 23, did board members disclose their positions on the plan. Board President Reginald Streater, on the other hand, had made his position clear early in the process, before public meetings had ended, in City Council hearings and in an Inquirer op-ed.The district brought in heavy police protection, including bike cops who lined up outside the board’s first floor office. An additional metal detector was set up outside the auditorium. Philadelphia police blocked some elected officials from entering the auditorium. Some on the speaker list were able to access microphones, others were not. In the end, most board members betrayed their constituents, voting to pass a plan that had close to 100% opposition. The board of education is unelected and unaccountable. If the plan fails, there is no mechanism by which they can be held responsible.

Continue reading about April 30 board meeting here.

Board Members Silent on Facilities Plan, School Closings

Board of Education Action Meeting: January 29, 2026

by Lisa Haver

Board Member Crystal Cubbage the only Board Member visible and present during public testimony of APPS Member Kristin Luebbert. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

The students showed up. So did the parents, teachers, principals, and community members who packed the auditorium at 440. Who didn’t show up? Most of the members of the Board of Education. Only President Reginald Streater and Vice-president Sarah-Ashley Andrews attended in person. Board Members Wanda Novales, Whitney Jones and Joan Stern were absent. Joyce Wilkerson, Crystal Cubbage and Chou-Wing Lam could be seen intermittently on the screen but were not fully present even virtually; Lam was visible for less than 15 minutes throughout.. Cheryl Harper never appeared; her voice could be heard occasionally. Board of Education Policy 006.1, Meetings, clearly states that members may attend remotely if they “participate in the entire meeting”. Board members “must be visible on the screen”; if they step away “they must notify the Board’s Chief of Staff or their designee.” The board violated all of these provisions. The board did not have a quorum as only the two members in the auditorium were fully present. The board must re-vote on all of the action items at a subsequent meeting. The board’s disrespect for the public, especially after the release of a potentially devastating facilities plan, is unacceptable. 

Continue to read about January 29, 2026 Action Meeting here.


Board Must Be Honest with Constituents

November 20, 2025: Board Action Meeting

by Lisa Haver

APPS member Deborah Grill testifies at November board meeting. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

The members of the Board of Education, as the governing body of the School District of Philadelphia, must be honest with their constituents. They must direct security staff at 440 not to let some people into the auditorium before others, then lie about whether they are going to bar people who are not on the speaker list. Board President Reginald Streater must stop announcing that people “blocking” the center aisle are in violation of the fire code. APPS challenged him months ago to cite the relevant provision in the city fire code; he could not,  because there is none. The board should replace the almost 100 seats they removed from the auditorium, then they could no longer have their security claim that the room is “at capacity”. The board should stop holding long recesses during the meeting and   “tech” issues. Most important: don’t promise the public for over a year that the facilities plan will be released in November, then go back on it when that time comes. Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. should not write in district presentations in 2024 that closing schools is not because of budget issues, then the next year imply that long-term underfunding of the district is the reason. The stakeholders of the district deserve the truth.

Continue reading here about November 20, 2025 Board of Education Meeting.