Tag: CASA

Board Members Double Down on Unfunded Facilities Plan

Board of Education Action Meeting: October 29, 2026

by Lisa Haver

Students from the 17 schools targeted for closure rally on the steps of 440. (Photo: Lisa Haver)

If we are the leaders of tomorrow, we deserve to be heard today.
Student, Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Justice

If you are not going to represent our interests, put your resignations in tonight.
CASA President Robin Cooper

Why do we need a local school board if you are going to do the same thing the School Reform Commission did?
City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier

Students, teachers, principals and parents from the 17 school communities under threat of closure rallied on the steps of 440 before the board action meeting. Student drum lines played, accompanied by Philly Elmo. Several elected officials spoke, vowing to fight the facilities plan. Ninety people had signed up to speak: 21 students, 63 adults, 2 union leaders and 4 elected officials. Yet the board set up only 165 seats in the auditorium, 75 fewer than capacity. APPS members demanded that more chairs be set up, promising to interrupt the meeting if people were detained in the atrium despite plenty of room in the auditorium. After initially saying it wasn’t possible, district staff brought in 40 more seats. When we fight we win.

Continue reading about the 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.

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.