An Appointed School Board

So now we have no SRC. No more state control. This is a major win for Philadelphia. But now it’s time for another leg of this journey. Who and what will decide what the new governing model should look like? City Council? The mayor? The community? Educators and Families?

The answer should be all the above. There was a recent interview featuring Bill Green and Donna Cooper. One represents the SRC and the other is the Excutive Director of PCCY. Neither represent the organizations that fought to make the SRC no longer be a reality and that is very telling. The one parent who was an active voice from Parents United had a sound byte. If there are going to be interviews or conversations about what should happen next, it should include the actual stakeholders.

We discovered in this interview that the city charter includes term limits for mayor, so unlike Chicago, the same person will not be in charge of the school district forever. So that’s good. I guess. Second, the push for mayoral control is due to the unsuccessful elected school board that Philadelphia previously had.  Everyone is seeking a sure bet. But, maybe we should be looking for something that actually works for everyone and not for the favored few.

Poverty is another topic that came up during the interview. And yes, it is a constant in Philadelphia communities and in turn our public schools. We finally have a robust funding formula that is not being fully funded. How can this be solved? Because this will also be a problem for the newly formed school board. How will Philadelphia fund a public entity that has been underfunded and mismanaged for many many years? This requires solutions that are not based on back room deals or political gain.

As a parent of a Philadelphia public school student, I need to see more equity and less segregation of resources. Our students and families need to be at the center of every decision being made especially because they have not been for a very long time. And my fear, which has been confirmed by interviews and media outlets is that we are already starting to silence their voices. And that is not the fresh start this school system so desperately needs.