Tag: Keziah Ridgeway

Board Denies Applications for Two New Charters

Board of Education Action Meeting: February 27, 2025

by Lisa Haver

Students, educators and community members demand safety for immigrant students. Photo: Lisa Haver

The Board of Education that implemented unprecedented speaker suppression policies, that now issues ID badges for admission to a public meeting, that forbids people to stand in solidarity behind their allies and has threatened those who do with arrest,  that meets in secret with district vendors, that approves contracts worth tens of millions at every monthly meeting with no explanation or deliberation–that board now exhorts you to exercise your civil rights. They want you to speak to those who hold office in Washington, to demand that Congress stop cuts to education. But they expect you to sit in your seat and behave yourself if you have an issue with them. The board that conducts all charter business in secret, that remains silent about charter CEOs paying themselves hundreds of thousands annually–wants their constituents to stand up and speak out. The board that shuts the public out of meetings in which the closing of an indeterminate number of public schools is being discussed now wants your voice to be heard. Somewhere else.

Continue reading about February 2025 action 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.