Board of Education Budget Hearing, Board of Education Action Meeting: April 24, 2025
by Lisa Haver
“I am not just a statistic, and neither are my peers.”
Academy at Palumbo student to Board of Education
Parents, students, educators and community members came before the board to testify on the many issues facing our children and our schools: mental health supports for struggling students, filthy bathrooms, outdated textbooks, restoring school librarians, the need for air filters in classrooms. President Reginald Streater assured speakers, as he does at every meeting, that the board is listening. As one APPS member said in her testimony, “Students will know you are listening when they see that their bathrooms are finally clean.”
Ilene Poses contributed to this report.
Board Meetings Must Be Fully Public
Because APPS members have attended Board of Education meetings for years, we knew that the board would be holding two meetings on April 24: the monthly action meeting and the hearing on the next annual budget. But anyone who may have been attending or testifying for the first time would have seen only one meeting for 4 pm posted on the board’s website calendar. Two agendas were posted, but both gave 4 pm as the starting time. At the beginning of the meeting, President Streater said that the board would hold a 15-minute recess after the conclusion of the hearing…”perhaps”. But just after the final speaker on the budget was heard, Streater said “we are going into the action meeting” and began to narrate a slide presentation. It was unclear what was happening as the board did not vote to adjourn, nor did Streater declare the hearing adjourned. General Counsel Lynn Rauch, who serves as the board’s parliamentarian under the board’s by-laws, did not call the roll for the action meeting. When Streater took office, he promised that the board would be following Robert’s Rules of Order. After her testimony, Lisa Haver filed a formal objection to the board’s violation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. The board did not give proper notification of the proceedings on the website or at the meeting itself. Haver pointed out that these are not legal technicalities, that the public has a right to know what the board is doing. People who are just leaving work or school often text APPS members to ask where the board is on the agenda and whether they can make it in time to testify. The board must honor the rule of law.
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 