2928 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA CAPITAL PROGRAM & BUDGET HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, March 17, 1999 1:25 p.m. - - - Bill No. 990026 - Amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code entitled "School Tax Authorization". . . Bill No. 990027 - Amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code entitled "School Tax Authorization". . . Bill No. 990028 - Amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code entitled "School Tax Authorization". . . PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA, Chair COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILWOMAN JOAN KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO CHARLES MCPHERSON, Chief Financial Officer - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2929 3/1/99 WHOLE COMM./BUDGET/SCHOOL DIST. I N D E X David Hornbeck, Superintendent of Schools . . 2930 Thomas Doyle, President . . . . . . . . . . . 2980 Local 1201 School Employees Bonnie Brooks, School Aide I. . . . . . . . . 3029 Philadelphia School Board 2930 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET P R O C E E D I N G S
This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No.'s 990026, 990027, and 990028. Mr. Hornbeck, do you have remarks that you want to present to us before --
Yes, thank you very much. Madam President and members of Council, first let me say that I understand and share your frustration about the book issue. It's a top priority for the District, and we intend take strong action to resolve this problem. I would like to take this opportunity to make a few comments regarding the issue of books as it arises from the data that we supplied to you in the last few days. First, there is good news in the numbers as well as in our mutual experience. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET weeks ago, there has been a huge drop-off in the number of letters and phone calls to you noting book shortages. In that instance, the Councilman reported that the last one he received was last September. That corresponds with our experience with the hotline and the other normal channels through which we have heard concerns in the past. While there was no baseline data four years ago because neither you nor the District had put the issue under a microscope in the past, there is no doubt that your leadership and ours have resulted in large improvement. That's reflected in the fact that only percent of the 15 schools reported present shortages in one or more 16 classes in one or more subjects. 17 By way of comparison, a survey taken 18 not four years ago but in 1996 showed that 172 schools, or 67 percent, reported having insufficient books. The dollar estimates of what it would take to provide adequate books ranged from $1,000 to $2,000 in some schools to over $200,000 in others. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET including almost $5 million, to address the immediate needs of the schools reporting book deficiencies. In 1997-'98, we spent more than $22 million on books and instructional materials. And this year, we added at least $1 million to last year's allocation. However, we are not satisfied. Further improvement is required. The following action have been taken: A working group has been established by the Chief of Staff's Office. It will convene during the week of April the 5th to generate a set of recommendations to take to the Board of Education for policy changes and to establish a set of system-wide guidelines about book inventory management. The group consists of five high school principals -- four from middle school, eight from elementary schools, and three cluster leaders. By the end of April, they will have a set of recommendations to present to the Board in May. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET what their needs are, what steps have already been taken, and what supports and oversights are necessary. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET Six, inclusion of responsibility for books in the family-teacher-student compact agreement being developed now for each student. It arises out of the new graduation and promotion requirement, and Board Member Mr. Lurie is chairing that effort; Seven, collection by SEPTA of books left on buses and the subway for regular District pickup; The possibility of employing "workfare" individuals to help with book inventories during the summer reorganization period; Reemphasis of the book hotline through media and other channels; And the utility and effectiveness of on-site spot book inspections by me and Ms. Ingram and others. Your frustration around this issue is surpassed only by our own. I assure you of our continued aggressive efforts to resolve our continuing problems. Solving more of this puzzle is an important piece of continuing our dramatic improvement in student achievement. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you. I certainly want to thank you for sending information Council requested on the status of textbooks in the schools. I was more than a little surprised at your report. It raised more questions than it answered. For instance, a week ago last Friday night, I attended the Crime Commission dinner, and at one point in time, I used the wash room, and a mother came in and said to me, My child goes to X-school and I want you to know that I've been reading the newspapers, and the reports are accurate. My daughter does not have books. She does not have textbooks to take home for any of her work. Last Saturday, I was at a function, and a teacher approached me, who indicated to me that they did not have English books in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th grades. And yet, I look at your reports, and both schools would indicate that they have sufficient books. Now, what do you consider sufficient books? Is it one per child, one for every four or 2936 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET five children? Two children have to share a book? I don't know what "sufficient books" would designated to you because, as I said, in just meeting people who are very involved with the School District, it would indicate to me that they do not have what you've referred to as "sufficient books."
Well, my definition of "sufficient books" comes primarily from the teachers and through the principal, and that is whatever textbooks are required in a given class for each student -- not one for two or one for five -- that permits them to have class during the course of a year, and to have kids know and be able to do what is required during that school year that will in fact contribute to kids being able to read and do math and do science better. So it's really a teacher definition in that way, coming through the principal, that constitutes my definition.
But in your report in the attached, you also say that it is necessary for the principal to stress to staff the requirement that textbooks be permitted to go home 2937 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET with students. I don't think that is the case, as I'm hearing it from parents. They do not have textbooks to take home to do homework.
Well, I was trying to respond to what I considered to be the right action in a school. And the right action, in my judgment, is for every child to have the books that are required in the definition of that teacher and be able to take them home.
Can you tell me when that determination is made?
Does anybody in the District require that each school be monitored as to the status of the textbooks throughout the year and update central administration as to the sufficiency?
We have done the kind of survey that we've given you the data from this year and that we had in 1996. We have not yet done the kind of book management control or inventory control that would give us that kind of data on a routine and regular basis, and it's that 2938 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET to which I refer in the comments that I made in opening the -- in my opening comments. Because I have concluded that even though we have gone from 38 percent of the schools reporting adequate books to 82 percent of the schools reporting adequate books in a two-year period, asking the same people in each instance, I still think that we've got to continue to improve. And the kinds of things you're suggesting or you're implying in your question I think are right on target, and I think we need to go ahead and do that, and that's what will be presented to the Board in May.
Can you verify for me, the Ethan Allen School, apparently they have insufficient books in English. It would appear that many of the schools have insufficient books in English, social studies, science, and it's four grades that have the shortage. And the action taken indicates that it went to the Book Bank. Can you tell us what the Book Bank is and where is that located, or give us some explanation of that.
I think that what 2939 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET they're referring to there -- though I cannot answer the question of why they would go to the Book Bank for --
The Book Bank is at Fifth and Luzerne. It is the old Roberto Clemente School -- or a long time ago, it was the Advancement School. And it has been turned into a book bank in which there are now more than a million books available. But those books are not designed to be, you know, frontline books; there ought not to be a single classroom, a single school in this whole district that depends upon the Book Bank for its basic book supply. The Book Bank is extremely valuable in a supplemental way, and lots of teachers find it very valuable. But one of the things, as I said in my comments, by March the 25th, we will have circled back to each of those 46 or 47 schools that said they had shortages and burrow a whole lot deeper into it. And that's the kind of question that we would -- 2940 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET
That's fine, and I commend you for that, but what bothers me is the fact that, as I said, I speak to a parent and I speak to a teacher, and your survey indicates that there are sufficient books in both of those schools. And yet, we're being told otherwise. So how do you correct that? Now, you say it's the principal's responsibility? Well, somebody's not being very honest here as far as I'm concerned.
And those are the reasons that we believe to go from where we are to where we all want to be does in fact require a combination of those actions that I laid out in my opening testimony. I don't believe we are going to get to the point approaching 100 percent that you and I and all of us want to achieve absent taking -- basically two kinds of action is what it amounts to. One is a much more aggressive centralized 2941 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET book inventory or management control approach that you were just going to on the one hand; and secondly, being a lot more, I guess rigorous is what it would amount to in enforcing student responsibility for their piece of this. And both of those things, both the school, the School District responsibility and the student responsibility needs to be addressed a lot more aggressively.
What is the District's procedure for allowing a school to use school book funds for other purposes?
The procedure is that the principal, the home school president, and the building representative needs to certify that there are adequate books before they are permitted to spend the money on other things.
Now, when the District receives such a request, do they do any verification before they go through the approval process?
No. We think that parents and teachers and principals, until they demonstrate to the contrary, should be trusted. 2942 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET
I don't want to dominate the hearing. I understand that Councilwoman Blackwell has to leave shortly, so at this point in time, I will recognize Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. It is obviously an emergency or I would not step out of a hearing as important as this and on an issue that we've worked so long and hard on. I only have three questions to ask, and I'll ask them all at once. First, with regard to your statement, I believe that many of the things -- in fact, I specifically asked a question about reemphasis of the hotline when the numbers went down from 200-and-some to some 16 or or something like 18 that. Those things are important. You mentioned development of management guidelines and all of these other positive initiatives. But I absolutely think the first one is the wrong way to go. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET initiated a system to get books back. Part of the upset today is because the media's reporting that the School District didn't spend money on books. So how can we penalize students when we don't penalize ourselves for what we don't do and then -- or for what has not happened, but initially, the first point begins to penalize student when you don't have a system. , etc. -- that all of these initiatives certainly begin before we begin to penalize students when we don't know what the leaderships of their schools are. And I think it's very, very important that we do that. And certainly, I would make the request that we hold up on your first point until the others are done. Number two, I want to -- my second point is that on March -- I wanted to make that number third. On May 29, 1997, on June 12, 1997, on March 25, 1998, on April 21, 1998, and on May 7, 1998, we had hearings on the School District's response to emergencies. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET a kid who died like Kylan Tyler, the child who died at McMichael of meningitis and who lived across the street from a public housing high-rise, and the upset that cost. Or an emergency can be a shooting in a school other in the school yard. A health emergency can involve any of those things and everything in between. Certainly, we have been asking all this time last for the last few years for a system. Just as in fire emergencies, every principal knows what to do and has it posted, that we know what to do for emergencies. I am happy to say that we met on March 15th, and I would like to commend Vernard Trent, Gwen Porter, under the direction of Bill Epstein, for coming up with a draft of a poster that can be used. What I would like to do is pass it around for Councilmembers to see and certainly ask them if they want to make any changes. I think it's great that we finally have a form that we can use that can be posted so that everybody knows what happens in emergencies. /SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET return it when you're finished. My last question is, we just received a call -- I didn't check it 'cause it's not in my District -- from a parent whose child goes to William Penn High School. She said it took her child from September till the end of February to get a science book, and she still has no English book. I would ask you to check on that. And I would also note, as I was asked by reporters yesterday, since there are many schools in the West Philadelphia cluster listed where books were requested and where students don't have books, where books are requested or ordered, how long will that take? Are we talking about that we -- that if the books are ordered, will they receive them now? Or are you talking about a September date? I know I mentioned four or five different things, but I wanted to get them in and then let you respond.
Thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell. First of all, I agree that we should never put in place initiatives that impact simply 2946 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET on students and in a sense hold them accountable or responsible where other things are not moving forward before or simultaneously. It would be my own view that those things are not listed in the order of implementation; that, in fact, on both counts, the school/School District responsibility and the student responsibility, that those things need to move forward at the same time.
I disagree. Excuse me, Dr. Hornbeck. I would hope that after the other issues are initiated, then if you would even come back and let us know and keep us updated, then you start after that to penalize folks. I mean, to take kids' proms from them and class trips and sports activities before you get a system in place is unfair.
I think after that system has had -- you need a school year for that system to be worked out, to initiate a program, unless you're going to do it over the summer and have it ready for September, and then maybe this time next year, we can talk about penalties like proms and class trips. 2947 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET
Well, I expect a system, the new system to go into place for the closing of school this year. I don't want to wait till next year or when school opens. We need to have the new pieces of the book management system in place for school closing. It needs to apply to the activities that go on during the course of the summer because those are the moments when we need to make sure that before staff arrive back at school and before students arrive at school in September, that the books have been sorted out so that we can get on with it immediately. And then the distribution of the book system come September needs to be in place, when everybody arrives. The real impact of any issues related to students under that sequence of events is not going to take place until the '99-2000 school year, but I don't expect it to wait until June of 2000. I expect the management system to have already moved into place at the end of this year and that the students be advised of the new rules in effect as they come to school and receive the books. And it's not even just the students; 2948 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET it's also an interest in having the families engaged in that process too because I think all of us have had the experience at one time or another of having been told by our mother or our father that we're to pay attention to things like that. So, you know, it's kind of a three-way set of responsibilities. On the issue of medical emergencies, we're pleased with where we are with that. We certainly would welcome any further suggestions that you may have or as other Councilmembers review what you're passing around that they may have. And we will continue to work with you on that because, as you say, there are a whole variety of possible emergencies that can and do arise as a matter of fact, and we share your intense interest in being on top of those as they do. On the several clusters and the parent at William Penn, if you would just give us some of those particulars, we will follow up on those immediately and specifically and get back to you on each one.
Thank you. 2949 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, if there is a vote before I return --
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Superintendent.
When you were here on March 3rd when this issue arose, although I think I may not have necessarily been in the room 18 at that time, the briefing book that we received, which, I think, has a cover letter of February 26th, in Section 7 on textbooks reads that from September 1998 until the present, the textbook hotline has received only 16 calls. Thirteen separate schools were named, and all but four of the calls dealt with grade 7 and above. Once again, each call was thoroughly investigated and 2950 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET the caller was responded to within our five-day window. Should I take from that that back on March 3rd when there was discussion about this, or as early as March 1st when the hearing started, that the District was under the belief that only schools possibly had book problems at that 9 time? 10
No. We were under the 11 impression -- that, in fact, continues to be so -- 12 that there had been huge progress made in the last 13 two years, and we were reporting to you simply one of the avenues for receiving information that we have. If somebody had come up to me and said, "No, there are not 13, there are 17," I wouldn't have been surprised. I frankly was surprised that there were 46.
I was particularly pleased because I went back and I said, How does that compare to anything? because nobody seems to have picked that up. And that's the reason that I was pleased that just two years ago, 67 percent 2951 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET (not just percent) and 172 schools (not just 46 schools) said they didn't have books. So it's whether you want to look at the world through the glass half-full or half-empty. And whichever way you do it, as I've suggested in my testimony, I think we've still got things to do. We certainly haven't solved the entire problem.
Well, you're right. 11 But I have to say that whether based on our 12 discussion prior to budget hearings and then 13 certainly receiving the book and reading through 14 the book, I don't think, either based on our 15 discussion or reading the materials, that an 16 unreasonable person or a reasonable person would 17 be led to believe that there was really not much 18 of any kind of book problem at all. And if I read this document and took the document seriously, 16 calls, 13 schools, I mean that would be incredible progress. It would be -- you would be in a position of having virtually solved the problem. And quite honestly, I thought on March 1st and I thought on March 2nd that based on the 2952 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET materials and the discussion that this was a non-issue. And it was only on the afternoon of the 3rd that it became more of an issue. And quite honestly, after getting the report, I guess Friday, it seems that it was even more of an issue than certainly I thought and maybe either you thought or communicated at that time. So, I mean, I guess I would -- I would ask then: When did you realize that this problem was, in fact, greater than anyone believed it to be?
Yeah. What I was reading in effect up until that time is exactly what you read --
-- up until that time. And that is that from the variety of channels that for years had impacted almost on a daily, certainly a weekly basis, whether phone calls from members of Council or letters from parents or the hotline source, that there was a very -- a very 2953 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET large improvement that I couldn't quantify. And we reported that.
And if the survey had come back saying there were, you know, places 7 that had classes out of 259, that would have 8 corresponded a lot more closely to where my 9 impression was that things were. 10
It came back as it did. 12 And, as I say, despite the really quite 13 extraordinary improvement that's measurable, and I 14 confess to you that I do celebrate that. And it 15 was because of Council and it was because of us 16 and it was because we put more money in and it was 17 because we put a lot more emphasis on it, there's 18 this gigantic improvement, but we're not there 19 yet. 20 And I think that, again, as we continue 21 to try to solve this problem entirely that we will get there.
Well, why don't we just stipulate and agree that there has been improvement, because I don't want to discount it, 2954 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET I don't want to ignore it, I don't want to negate it.
Yeah, but I think we ought to stipulate and agree that there's both been improvement and we have a long way to go.
And where you are, you have to measure where you came from.
I understand that. My concern and I guess my problem is, is that I was actually under the impression that we were even farther beyond 82. And so to hear that we then, at least for me, are only at 82, thinking that the number was probably in the high 90s, a non-issue.
So 13 calls, 16 schools is a disappoint at least for me.
And I think my concern now is absent the March 3rd exchange and literally putting Miss Ingram and Miss Sparkman in somewhat of a difficult position at about 9 o'clock that night and requesting that this survey 2955 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET be done, we might not be having this discussion, and you and I would continue on in our lives with what we have now agreed on the record is a misimpression. And I guess what I don't understand is how did we get so far in the school year without you or the other parties knowing that? That's what I'm concerned about at this point.
Because then I have to ask you, What goes on in the course of the school year in the current system? I appreciated your testimony, and I'm going to read it a couple more times. You have a lot of things in there most of which I probably agree with. But what I need to better understand is, how did we get to the March 3rd situation and then the survey that we received over the weekend and absent our request, no one knew about it?
Well, as I tried to suggest in my testimony, the system-wide management controls that we will identify for the Board by the end of April and put in front of them in May didn't exist. And so you have to have 2956 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET those in order for that to happen.
I understand. Well, who is responsible for books and the instructional materials in their inventorying -- if that's a real word -- and accountability at 21st and the Parkway? Whose job is it to be in charge to be in charge of books and supplies and instructional materials?
Well, the inventory of books, as it has been practiced over the years, has been kept at the school level. There is a kind of purchasing responsibility in the Managing Director's Office, but there has not been the existence of --
That's just based on requests coming in, when "X-Y-Z School" says, I need to buy books, or somebody else says, I need to buy books, they just buy the books?
What I'm saying is that what I think you are correctly asking for is the kind of centralized management controls as it relates to books that would permit you to track at any given moment or at least at appropriate times during the year who has how many books and how 2957 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET many aren't there and how much money hasn't been spent and when the last order went out and so on.
And as far as I know, at least for a great many years, that just hasn't existed.
And that represents, as I suggest here, in both Council's and our continuing quest to make this be a hundred percent or as near as we can get there, one of the two major next things that need to be done and not sometime way in the feature but before the end of this school year.
All right. So for the moment, the answer is, is until you go through the process at the 21st and the Parkway level, there really is no one essentially responsible for that, and that responsibility is primarily at the school level.
Now, who at the school level is responsible for making sure that every school student has what they need in his or 2958 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET her hands?
Basically, the principal; although at a high school that's got 3,000 kids in it, that will get dispersed at some extent both to assistant principals and to department chairs. But it is basically the principal's responsibility.
And when we say that they're responsible for that, what does that actually mean? Do they have to fill out a report on a monthly or quarterly basis, semiannual basis, end-of-the-year basis? How, in fact, are they responsible?
Basically over the years, a principal has exercised that responsibility in a way that he or she designs. That's what I'm saying, that there is not a centralized way in which that has taken place. And until Council and the District and others gave principals money, then they didn't -- that was one of the big problems, but that's no 23 longer a problem. The problem is the absence of the kinds of management controls that we're talking about. 2959 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET
Well, I don't know how many ways there are that you can actually do this, but I guess at least in theory, your testimony is that there are virtually 259 different ways of keeping track and accounting for what's going on because there are 259 schools and there are 259 principals, and each one of them can do it any way they want.
They are -- in effect, the answer to that -- what I'm trying to say, and I don't know how to say it more clearly is that that's right.
That the schools have that decision-making authority up until this time, but it is clear that something different is necessary.
Okay. What are the core subjects for which students either must or should have books?
Well, I think that at a minimum, there should be English, math, science, and social studies.
English, math, 2960 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET science, social studies. And by way of the report, at least, it seems for most -- it might be most, it seems that most of the schools that didn't have the X in the sufficient block seemed to report deficiencies in most of those four areas.
Right. Councilwoman Blackwell and I had the same question, and I think I commented about this earlier. Of the 47 schools, although the report says 46, but of the 47 that are actually in the report, 13 of them are split between the West Philadelphia Cluster and the Overbrook Cluster -- 6 in Overbrook, 7 in West Philadelphia. Is there anything unusual about that level of concentration of insufficiency versus a broader spread throughout the system that would have -- I mean, there are many clusters that none of the schools are reporting deficiencies, and with those two at least, it is 50 and 51 percent. Any insight on that?
There's no apparent 2961 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET reason for that discrepancy.
Can you state for the record whether the District knows -- because this is the other side, and I think it is appropriate and fair to recognize that there is another side to this discussion, because one of two things happens, I assume, in the first two or three weeks of school. First, hopefully students show up, they get rostered. You have, as best I can tell, solved the leveling problem, which was another problem when you got here, and I don't hear anybody talking about leveling much anymore. Let's say Student Michael Nutter is in 10th grade at "X-Y-Z High School." It's now three weeks into the school year. Do you know for a fact that I have received every book that I'm supposed to receive for the six classes that I'm registered for? Does the District know and can you tell me that on September 17, 1998, virtually 100 percent of the students got the books that they were supposed to get?
There is no report under the present procedures that specifically affirms that, no. 2962 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET
They do not at the present time as a matter of system-wide --
So you just go to wherever you go and say, I'm taking chemistry this year, or I'm taking social studies or English 208 -- or whatever the course number is, and I need X-Y-Z book, and they just get it?
I'm sure it doesn't happen like that. There's no system like that.
The teachers, in fact, are the ones who say to the student, You need this book.
So when I come to my English class somewhere in the first couple days of school, the English teacher says, This year, we are using this book for this course, passes out 30-some-odd books, everybody gets one, 2963 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET but they don't have to sign for it.
No, I didn't say that you didn't have to sign for it; I said that there is no system-wide affirmation of that coming back to the system.
The missing ingredient here is not that lots of kids don't have to sign for their books; lots of kids do have to sign for their books. But until we put into place what I said in my opening needs to be a testimony a system-wide management control feature that will include features like that, it doesn't exist at the moment.
Okay. Last question. On the numbers, in the February 26th book, I think the testimony or the documentation or possibly in the report, it indicated that in the current year, $17 million has been spent on books and that schools, individual schools, have a total of $10 million still unspent for books, and that the current allocation this school year was $22 million for books. Somewhere in that, even with some 2964 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET difficulties I had in college with some of my math courses, those numbers don't necessarily add up. Are there roll-over dollars from the previous school year that have been rolled into this year? Why is there $10 million left over if you had 7 to start and you spent 17? 8
I can't answer that 9 question, Mr. Nutter. Let me see if there's. . . 10
It's in the 11 report. Thus far this year, schools have spent a 12 total of $17 million on textbooks, instructional 13 aids, and materials. In addition, 36 schools have 14 requested and received supplemental textbook 15 allocations. These schools received a total of 16 526,000 in additional monies. Furthermore, more 17 than $10 million is still available in individual 18 school budgets for the purchase of books and 19 instructional materials during the remainder of 20 this school year. 21 When I flip to Section 7 on textbooks 22 in the February 26th document, the Historical 8 Perspective Section says that during the current school year, schools have available to them a total of over $23 million for the purchase of 2965 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET textbooks and instructional support materials. Last year, the number was $22 million. All I'm asking is if you have -- I was off by a million -- if you have $23 million allocated for books, you spent 17, how do you have left over? 8
A piece of that may be 9 because there are expenditures from Title 1 in 10 there as well.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In his inimitable way, Councilman Nutter touched about on every area or question I wanted to ask. I think that's probably 'cause we 2966 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET went to the same high school; we somewhat think alike. But there's a couple of areas that I would like to talk about. First of all, there's two questions and a request that I have, and then a statement. I don't necessarily agree with Councilmember Blackwell in regards to the immediate and prompt requirement that students be held responsible. And I think part of the issue is the word we get on the penalties maybe is what I think makes Councilwoman Blackwell concerned about the use of the word "penalties." But I do believe that if we use the word "responsibility," I think we may get a better result. The book issue for me and the book itself I believe is symbolic of both the educational process and what's wrong with it in these days. My experience, as a 40-year-old, a lifelong Philadelphian, is that when I was in school, the books, their conditions, their return, and their use was basically sacrosanct. The book had meaning, it had value. And I think what has happened over the 2967 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET years perhaps in the public school system is the loss of that requirement of responsibility, and the loss of the solemnity of the book is symptomatic of a lot of problems that we face in the school system. It's the reason why kids don't come to school, 'cause there's no responsibility, there's no penalty generally, until recently, for not coming to school. Why children come to school and then leave when they feel they have a need to get up and walk out the door is another symptom of what I think revolves around this issue of books. And it's not just on a student level; it's also on the principal, administrative, and perhaps even teaching level. And that's why I agree with Councilmember Blackwell. If we're going to hold children responsible in some punitive way, potentially by elimination of extracurricular activities or proms or whatever it is, then I think we need to hold administrators responsible for failure to follow through with the appropriate distribution and collection of these important books. Because they should pay some financial price for not having those books returned in an 2968 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET appropriate condition. As they said when I was a kid, edges clean, books covered, pencil marks removed from the book. Because the issue surrounding the book was one of responsibility. And I don't think you disagree with me in this, and I sense from your testimony that there's going to be a renewed effort to try to bring that issue of responsibility to both the students and to the teachers and to the principals and to the administrators. And I think if we do that, I think in the long run, we're going to have a better system, not just a better inventory of books. The 82 percent, I guess, is a B-minus and I don't anybody in this room's parent ever accepted a B-minus from any of their children, and that's probably why we've been successful. And I think that's what we need to work on. That's my statement. The question I have is, I need to know if it's possible from the textbook survey, the dates that where it's listed action taken, it says "books ordered." If there's some way that we could be provided on each of those lines that says 2969 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET "ordered books," "books ordered," "ordered materials," "ordered books," as to the date that those actions were taken. Because I want to get an idea as to whether or not -- and I'm not supposing this, I want to see and eliminate from my mind whether or not some of these actions took place over the last three weeks.
The answer to that is yes, and it would be one of the things -- in my statement, I mentioned this intensive look in the next several days, and a piece of that can be just that.
Fine, thank you very much. Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, could I just say that once in a while, Councilman Kenney and I disagree or don't see eye to eye on things, but I do want to say that on this issue of standards and the issue of responsibility, I think we really are on the same page, and I think it's extremely important. And my own view is that it is the 2970 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET reemphasis of standards more than any other single thing and the accountability that has accompanied it that has resulted in the improvement in achievement. And I think what we're talking about here, I think the way you put it, that this isn't just about books; this is about taking next steps for the notions of accepting responsibility and meeting standards.
Well, I think we can thank St. Patrick for our agreement today.
And I would certainly agree with that statement because I think it's absolutely outrageous that we spend over a million dollars every year for lost or unreturned books. And to me, that indicates a lack of responsibility. May I just ask a couple more questions. What are emergency textbook allocations, and how does the school qualify for these additional funds?
We have kept in the -- an allocation goes out to a school in the way that 2971 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET the process has worked historically. And in most places, that proves to be adequate for the books for that year. But we have kept an amount of money at the central office so that if there is some set of circumstances -- I don't know what it says, but for example, if Prince Hall happened to have been one of those, and I don't know that it was, they had a fire there that burned up a whole bunch of books. They may very well have spent their ordinary allocation, and they would make a request of our office for extra money in effect to replenish that. Or if you have a situation in which unusual or increased enrollment takes place, where you just didn't expect that extra 30 kids or whatever, and thus, that wasn't a part of that, you could make a request, and for those kinds of specific reasons, receive an extra allocation.
Your statement says that since September 1998, 30 schools have received $412,000. It is anticipated that additional schools will receive these emergency allocations during the remainder of the 2972 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET year. Now, is that for more students than anticipated? I don't understand what the emergency --
Well, for example, we didn't know that Prince Hall was going to burn.
Well, that's one school. I mean, you're talking about 30 schools.
Well, we could, in fact, put together identification of the reasons in those 30 schools, if that would be helpful to you.
What would be helpful to me is, I would like you to make it eminently clear for this record and for me what the District's textbook take-home policy is.
Every student should have the books the teacher determines is necessary to teach that course, and that student has the right to take that book home.
Well, why are some of the schools simply saying home a mimeographed piece of paper for homework?
Well, there -- I think 2973 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET -- I don't agree with these two comments I'm about to make when I'm answering question of why does that happen.
Well, we're asked those questions, and I would like you to give us answers to them.
The reasons are primarily twofold. A week ago, I would have told you that there was one primary one, and it is a very, very longtime practice, a culture in Philadelphia that kids are going to lose their books or destroy 'em or whatever, and the only way that gets prevented is to prevent them from taking them home. Now, the reason I said what I said is that I don't agree that that ought to be done, and the policy is to contrary, but you ask why, and that's why. I heard a fascinating story from one of my senior staff the other day who was in a high school on a routine visit and was being escorted by a student and because of the focus on books, asked the student, "Do you have enough books?" And the student said yes. 2974 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET And then the second question always is, "Do you take them home?" And the student said no. And the question was "Why not?" And the expectation was that the student was going to say "'Cause we're not allowed to" -- for the reasons I just gave you. But in this particular instance, the answer was that the -- in that particular high school, students had been told that there would be repayment or restitution required, and the student made the decision that she might lose the book if she took it home, and so she left it in her locker because she didn't want to pay. So I'm simply saying to you that neither reason is a legitimate reason. Both reasons are contrary to policy of the School District, but both reasons reflect the answer to your question. And it grows out of this very longtime both practice and experience before there was enough. I mean, frankly now, if a kid loses his book, the policy is the kid gets a new book. Now, we need to address this other issue of incentives and payback and all of that.
There has to be some accountability. 2975 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET
But another piece of it is that the kid needs a book. But there was a time before you all exercised leadership and we exercised leadership that if a kid lost his book, it was gone, there was no way that anybody was going to replace it. There was a time before this administration and the leadership of this Council that the money was -- the money was insufficient to have more than one set of books in a school; and thus, you couldn't let one class take 'em home because you wouldn't have another class. All of those things are still mindsets. And what we are, I think successfully, beginning to do -- because it shows up in the achievement of kids but we're not there yet -- is breaking through that mindset of changing a pattern of practice that goes back years. 23 And all the things we talked about 24 today and needing to do responsibility on the side 25 of adults, the responsibility on the side of kids 2976 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET is in effect the next step of penetrating that decades-long culture that arises from lots of ways because it is a wrong practice. And I share your view on that 100 percent. Ms. Ingram was just reminding me that, unfortunately, the experience of Philadelphia has also extended to lots of other school districts across the United States. And as a consequence, there are actually publishers who, with the books, create what are referred as "ditto masters," which is a way of duplicating what is in the book so that the book, in fact, does get left at school. And what that is is a market response to a common practice. Now, I happen to still think that kids ought to have book bags and they ought to carry their books home. But I just share that with you to say to you that we are in one sense not only dealing with a Philadelphia phenomenon, but even as, in a sense Councilman Kenney's comments about standards and deterioration of a sense of responsibility and so on, that's not a Philadelphia phenomenon either. Frankly, I think that what is happening 2977 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET here in Philadelphia with the various accountability systems, in fact, is in a leadership role, and this is just another example where we need to, you know, we need press that. But I agree with you, I have no quarrel with that position at all.
Mr. Hornbeck, it's my understanding that in past years, schools have had the ability to roll over all leftover money to do purchasing for the following year. Is that policy still in existence, or has that changed?
That is true for book and materials monies; it is basically not true for other monies. And the reasoning behind that is that books have become extremely expensive, a 50-bucks-a-book kind of thing is not at all unusual. And there will be schools who will anticipate, knowing that they're going to need to replace their whole math series or their whole reading series or whatever, not this year but next year, and they know that that book allocation won't cover all of that. And so they, in effect, 2978 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET bank the money for those two years or sometimes even three years so that they will have enough to buy the books for all the kids at the moment that it's time to replace that series.
But it would appear that there's a loss of like 50 percent of money for which there is a no-carry-forward request?
In one of the books or materials that we saw, there was never an indication that there was a carry-over request for new books.
Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No questions at this time.)
Mr. Hornbeck, I will ask you to stay if you will. I think there are some other witnesses. 2979 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET We had heard at one of our meetings that a principal had to make a choice between books or uniforms, and I think we have someone here that can talk about the uniforms.
Yeah, I apologize for getting here late today. In the material handed out today, it had a textbook survey and it indicates the name of the school and if in fact the school or classes that needed books were ordered. Do we happen to know when these books may have been ordered? And that may be too difficult for you to answer on every school, but I'm just curious. Were books that were ordered at the beginning of the school year or have they just been ordered because of the fact that we have just been informed as of about two weeks ago that some certain schools did not have enough books?
I can't answer it now but Mr. Kenney asked me the same question, and we will be getting you the dates on which these 2980 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET orders.
Thank you. We have with us today Thomas Doyle, President of Local 1201. Mr. Doyle, would you mind taking the witness table. (Mr. Doyle comes forward.)
My name's Thomas Doyle, I'm the President of Local 1201 School Employees.
Mr. Doyle, you apparently heard a child testifying at one of our public hearings that his teacher had to make a choice of either buying books or sports uniforms. Can you address that issue for us, please.
Yes. In reality, the school -- the uniforms for sports programs in the City of Philadelphia --
I'm sorry, 2981 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET you're going to have to pull the microphone closer to you; my colleagues can't hear you.
I'm sorry. The uniforms for junior varsity sports program in the School District of Philadelphia is paid for solely by Local 1201. We've been paying for these uniforms since the 1993-'94 school year. I dropped some paperwork off to your office yesterday, and I don't know if it has been --
Thank you, I appreciate that. And if you go through them for the last five or six years, you will see schools listed -- Central, Dobbins, Edison, Lincoln, Northeast, Olney -- and then you go to, for example, 1994 officials fees, we pay not only for the uniforms, but we pay for the coaches, assistant coaches, the athletic trainers, referees, the umpires. All of that comes out in lieu of contractual increases for Local 1201. So we ask that it be made very clear to City Council and to the people of Philadelphia 2982 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET that 1201 pays for this. If it wasn't for Local 1201, there would be no junior variety sport program. If there's no JV sports program, I doubt very much if there's a senior program; and, therefore, a lot of children who are in college today on sports scholarships can thank Local 1201 for that. And we wanted to make that perfectly clear that we've been doing this since the 1993-'94 school year.
Well, I don't think any of us had knowledge of that, and I certainly want to applaud you and your local for your generosity to the school children. I think that's absolutely wonderful. Tell me, what does your local do?
We are the school aides and bus attendants who ride the buses every day and work in the classrooms with students. We are the bus drivers who safely transport the children to and from school every day. We're the maintenance mechanics that do the repairs in the School District of Philadelphia. We're the building engineers, the licensed building engineers in every school in the District of Philadelphia. And 2983 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET we're the cleaning force in the School District of Philadelphia in every school. And also warehouse personnel and design and construction inspectors.
There has been a decrease, has there not, for bus attendants?
Yes, there has. And thank you for bringing it up; it's a major issue with us. I also distributed some information yesterday. And the School District over the past years has been issuing information about the amount of incidents on school buses.
Now, who are they referred to? When there's an incident on the school bus, is that referred to the cluster leader, is it referred to the principal? Who receives those reports?
Initially, it's supposed to be referred to the principal or a principal's designee who would handle that at the school location. An incident report can consist of something as minor as a child, a student chewing gum on the bus -- which is against the law basically, 'cause if there's an accident, there's a choking problem -- to assaults, and not only 2984 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET physical assaults but sexual assaults.
Well, this stack I have here in front of me today, it's approximately 400 to 500 incidents. This has been primarily since the beginning of this present school year. And the overwhelming majority of these incidents that are written up here are just from the North Cluster, primarily the schools that are up in the Northeast. These are primarily La Brum, Rush, Fitzpatrick, Loesche, Mann, Fox Chase, Franklin Elementary, J.H. Moore. And there's others in there, but that's only from that North Cluster. These types of incidents occur every day in the West Cluster, the South Cluster, the East Cluster, and area X. We have a thousand buses that are driven by our personnel and 2985 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET contract employees, a thousand buses on the street every day. Now, these incidents occur over and over and over and over. And the School District's position is that they can no longer afford school aides and bus attendants. It is our position that it's not a monetary issue any longer; it's a safety issue. Children are being assaulted, employees are being assaulted, people are being hurt. These incidents occur over and over and over. And the parents of the school children in the City of Philadelphia have to come to the realization that they cannot allow this to continue to happen.
Now, do we presently have bus aides or this very all been removed?
No, we have bus aides currently in the system. Some of information I handed out yesterday indicates there will be cuts, further cuts. Another 42 cuts will be made in the upcoming school year. And if I can read this letter to you --
Well, before 2986 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET you do that, how many aides do we actually have on how many buses?
Right now, there's approximately 400 to 450. And there's over 1,000 routes, 1,000 buses.
And how many were there two years ago, let's say?
When the cuts originally started being made in the '94 school year, there was 600 or more.
You know, in reviewing the documents, it shows that in 1995 through 1996, when there were 182 behavioral problems referred for action, 1997 through 1998, there were 477 referrals.
This is an increase -- it's increased by 162 percent.
How can we justify decreasing 102 positions or 101 positions and allowing children not to be safe on the buses? I'd like you to tell me what -- if you know, what happens when there is an incident on a 2987 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET bus and it's referred to the principal?
If an incident occurs on the bus, either the bus attendant, the aide or the driver is supposed to write up an incident report, something like this. And then they turn it over to the principal or the principal's designee. At that point, the principal is supposed to look into the situation, hopefully resolve it one way or the other, and refer that incident report to the Transportation Division. It is our understanding that they are not reporting these incidents to the Transportation Division. Every incident report that I have here today came from our employees. They made duplicates of the incident reports and got them back to us. And as I said, there's only 10 or 12 schools in here. You have 259, and every one of them has buses going to it every day. So either it's not being followed through on the administrative end or they're being squashed at some level. And when that happens, I believe that the parents and the students of the City of Philadelphia are being misled. It's a dangerous situation, and, as I said, it's not a 2988 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET monetary issue; it's a safety issue. This particular one I have here, and as you can see, there's a large black blot in the corner of it, that is the clump of hair that was ripped out of a bus attendant's head by a student. They actually put it in a Xerox copy, and when they got it to us, that's her hair.
I have a report here, but it doesn't have a final determination.
This particular case happened 11/23/98. (Reading from report.) And it took at least five minutes for four of us to get him off of the right side of my head. He then grabbed my hair on the left side, went from one side to the other. It goes on and on and on. We have a case here. (Reading.) Older student tricked younger student to follow her to the back of the bus. Two male students were in the back seat. 2989 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET The youngest male had his pants opened. As the two female students approached the older male --
How old are the children that you're referring to?
I don't have ages on this particular incident report, but I would venture to say, if I remember correctly, they were between the ages of and 15. 10 There's six students listed on here. 11 And it goes further. (Reading.) The female 12 students began -- the younger male student pulled down his pants, thus exposing himself to the female students. When the youngest of the female students began to protest and try to return to her seat in the front, the older female student grabbed her hand and tried to make her touch the male's penis. When we arrived at Front and Godfrey and the three students were exiting the bus, the youngest female student called them all "a-holes." I asked them what had gone on. . . And it goes on and describes what happened. But these --
And what action was taken on the youngsters that were on 2990 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET the bus that day? Does your report indicate that?
Would your report indicate what action was taken?
We don't know we don't what the final outcome was, no. And that's the case -- most of the time, as far as the union's concerned, we do get reports when our members get them to us 'cause we don't receive 'em from the administration or the Transportation Department on the outcome. We do get reports from some of our members when they were able to get a final result where a student was taken off of a bus maybe for a week, two weeks, the remainder of the school year. I mean, it does happen. The problem is, it doesn't happen often enough. And, as I said, this is an example of one north region -- and this is 2991 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET not all of 'em; these are just the ones that we were able to get our hands on. I have films in the office that we have to review of incidents on buses -- assaults, fights. And we're going to do that, and if necessary, we'll make copies and get them to Council. This has to stop, it cannot continue to go on. If the ladies and gentlemen present here today remember, not too long, there was a bus driver that took a couple dozen children on a ride through hell from the Chestnut Hill area all the way down to the airport with running stop signs, red lights. There was no bus attendant on his bus that day; there was one scheduled to be but there wasn't one that day 'cause she had a death in the family. Finally, the kids were literally jumping out the windows till the police finally pulled him over, and that gentleman was arrested. It was all over the newspapers and the news. I will say that he was not a 1201 driver; he was a contracted driver. And they bring in contractor drivers at 5.15 an hour. They show 'em a CDL and they put 'em to work. 2992 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET The School District keeps telling us that it's a monetary issue, they don't have the funds, they don't have the funds. And yet from last June's board meeting (reading), resolved that the School District of Philadelphia exercise its option to use additional bus attendants supplied by City Cab Company for the school year '97-'98 to the tune of $447,199. Attendants -- the District required Robinson Bus Service $75,000 to $73,000. Robinson Bus Service, $29,000, $29,000. School District -- Robinson Bus Service, they got $29,186. They're telling us that we don't need bus attendants on our bus routes that our folks are on, and yet they're allocating more money for contracted buses to have bus attendants. For the life of me, I don't understand it. And our position is, you can't talk out of both sides of your mouth. You can't say we're going to cut the bus attendants that are members of Local 1201 but we're going to allocate more money for bus attendants with contractor drivers. We think it's unfair, we think these people do not receive the training. 2993 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET
It isn't safe, and that's the issue. And as I said, there's a thousand buses on the street every day, every day. And these incidents occur every day, day after day after day, and someone's going to wind up getting killed sooner or later. We've had accidents in the past, not since we've been on, but there have been accidents in the past where drivers have been hit in the back of the head with a book, okay? When the change of the season, the acorns fall, they bring the acorns on the bus, throw 'em at the back of their heads as the guy's driving, you know. And this is what happens when you don't have an attendant on the bus. And they not only ride on the bus, but as a letter from Mr. Lombardi, who's the Transportation Administrator, to all the principals, it says (reading): Unfortunately, school aides and bus attendants also spend part of their working days assisting in schools. They will no longer be 2994 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET available to serve in this capacity. Please advise parents of these changes for next year. A detailed list of the affected routes is attached. So it's not only just on the school buses; they physically go into the buildings and help in the classrooms. Our bus attendants literally, actually, every year, they have an opportunity to bid for a route. And in the bid process, they try to get routes over the years closer to home so they don't have to travel so far. In that way, they get to know the children very well. A lot of our bus attendants work out of their own neighborhoods, and they know the situations that a lot of these students come from. And, unfortunately, a lot of our students in the School District comes from situations that are not very healthy. Our attendants and drivers and school aides literally get on the bus in the morning in many cases and feed these children before they get to school; they take food out of their own homes, money out of their own pocket to buy for these children so they could have something to eat when they get on the bus in the 2995 3/17/99 WHOLE COMM./SCHOOL DIST. BUDGET morning because of the terrible situations that they come from. And we just feel it's completely unfair to the students, it's totally unfair to the parents, and they don't even know about it, that this goes on, and it should be rectified by reducing -- by eliminating the cuts and eliminating contract buses.