The people in charge of the school district want to hear from us. Well, some of us. They said at last week’s meeting that they really want to know what parents, students, educators and community members think about their $3 billion Facilities Master Plan–the one they passed four months ago. True, district leaders didn’t listen when people told them that closing public schools would only make things worse. They must have had their reasons, although they never did say exactly what they were, for completely ignoring the wishes of their constituents.
Philadelphia’s Board of Education voted to close 17 schools. Now they want to know what the people at those schools think about what should happen at those schools. Unless they think they should stay open.
At last week’s action meeting, Board President Reginald Streater asked “everyone within the sound of my voice” to please sign up to be on one of the new transition committees. He wants “the village” to help the board to develop a thoughtful plan for their “unique aspirations”. Streater did hear from members of the Robeson village and the Lankenau village and the Stetson and Harding and Penn Treaty villages who testified for months about how devastating those school closures would be to their students and families. Streater voted to close them anyway, but that doesn’t mean he won’t start listening now.
Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. promised “white-glove, red-carpet” treatment for district “customers”–Watlington’s designation for parents and community members–at the doomed 17 schools. Watlington said that the new process would represent a position of “nothing about us without us”. That is, not like the process already in effect which will result in co-locations at 12 schools, grade band changes in 34 schools, and 16 catchment areas redrawn in 20 zip codes affecting over 30 schools. Watlington didn’t hold any meetings at any of those schools, whose parents and teachers found out about the changes after the final plan was released.
Maybe school board members didn’t fully understand what their constituents were saying at board meetings, community meetings and City Council hearings for almost two years–that they did not want any public schools closed. Maybe they didn’t get the students who described their distress at being forced to leave their teachers and friends. Or the parents, especially those with special needs children, who tried to explain how displacement would set their children back academically and emotionally. Or the teachers who stayed at struggling schools during charterizations, roof collapses, asbestos, and less than competent leadership.
Board members did look like they were listening to the Lankenau High teacher who came to this meeting, as she does every month, when she told them that the Lankenau community “has not given up” the fight to survive. She invited them to Lankenau’s open house next week so they could talk to the students and parents and see what will be lost if the district gives up on their school. None of the board members accepted her invitation or responded in any way. Maybe they would hear her better if she joined one of their committees.
Watlington and the board say they want people to sign up for one of their facilities committees. Not the same committees they appointed last year, the ones that were not open to the public and whose recommendations, if any, were never disclosed and apparently never considered by the board. APPS asked for committee reports but never got anything. Members of some committees complained that the district was ignoring them and changing meeting dates at the last minute. That doesn’t mean the board won’t listen to the people on their new committees.
Watlington and the board say they want people to come to meetings. Yes, there were meetings about the facilities plan in 2024 and 2025. Meetings where principals and staff told the district that their findings, including analyses of building capacity at their schools, were based on faulty data. Like Stetson Middle School, whose low Building Capacity Score was used as one justification for closing it. Stetson teachers explained that because the district failed to fix the roof for years, the 4th floor was not usable. The board definitely heard them that time because two months after they voted to close Stetson, they allocated funds to fix the roof.
The board voted in a private session to pass the facilities plan. They cut public speakers’ time from three minutes to two and now limit the number of speakers at public meetings. They rarely answer questions from the public. They removed one-third of the seats from the auditorium. They cancel and postpone meetings with the minimum legally required notice. They canceled the August and September Goals and Guardrails meetings without explanation, apparently to avoid answering questions from the public about withholding PSSA scores.
We may all feel like Charlie Brown running to kick the football Lucy is holding. But what choice do we have?
Lisa Haver is a former Philadelphia teacher. She is co-founder and coordinator of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools. appsphilly.net
Photo: District replaces benches with barriers in front of mural honoring Dr. Constance Clayton. (Photo: Lisa Haver)
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