What's the nature of our relationship with the various nursing schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties similar to, I think -- of course, many of our schools have college teachers.
College students who are finishing up their education and then they, I guess, either do internships or rotations. They get some --
We have student nurses in our schools now who are working with our nurses on a rotating basis, and we've also been in conversation with Community College with their nurse training program as well.
We've reached out 83 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. and we've been reaching out to really all the colleges of nursing; in fact, all of the universities that have medical colleges, whether it's the College of Dentistry, College of Nursing, et cetera, to in fact get student nurses, get dental students, get physicians who need to do their internships or apprenticeships in our schools. We've been, likewise, reaching out to the university hospitals, because a lot of times the hospitals will have physicians doing their residencies in those hospitals and try to get the individual School District itself, the individual schools, included in those residencies. So we're trying to do the same thing with the medical colleges, the nursing colleges, the dental colleges. We are trying to do the same thing with them that we're trying to do with the student teacher program; in other words, subsidize them to come in, work in our schools and, in effect, expand our ranks. 84 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. We're doing the same thing with musicians. You have a number of colleges and universities here with schools of music, to get the musicians in and to do their apprenticeships or to do their internships with us. So the relationship is improving. I'm not saying we have a relationship with everyone yet, but our goal this year is to dramatically expand the relationships so we can get -- we'd like to have a nurse in our schools. You do run into liability problems when you have -- a student nurse is not like a student teacher, although one would argue that you might have liability problems with a student teacher who is not competent. But you do have liability problems when you bring nurses in and physicians in. They always have to be operating under a supervising nurse. But in a big --
I understand that. I don't think we're 85 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. going to ask them to perform open heart surgery or something, but at least certainly at probably the junior, if not the senior, level. I mean --
They can do a lot of work. They can do a lot of small things.
They probably know enough that they're not going to hurt anybody.
And they'll also be smart enough not to go beyond their own level of competency.
So with all of these partnerships between the people on the payroll and the student support or college students, will you get to the point of being able to put together, for lack of a better term, a roster that allows you to have coverage at each school virtually every day? 86 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
When you look at a student nurse, you're looking at a person who needs to be supervised. So when you have that person, that person can provide screenings, can man certain health initiatives, but that person needs the back-up of a certified school nurse. So you may have a student nurse at a facility, but that person needs the supervision and the oversight of one of our nurses.
I think one goal that is possible that is not unrealistic is to at least have a full-time nurse or a student nurse on duty just, if for no 21 other reason, coordination purposes, because as Brenda pointed out, there are a lot of basic things that student nurses can do. If the type of intervention is of a more critical nature, you can always 87 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. then contact that fully certified nurse at that neighborhood school. But I think there's enough colleges and universities and medical institutions to at least put the School District in the position where maybe some day in the very near future, within the next couple years, we will have someone in that building five days a week, either a nurse or an apprentice nurse working in that building. I think that's well within the possibility. And in some of the bigger schools where we have a full-time nurse, having a nurse apprentice working under that full-time nurse.
Lastly on this, could you provide to the Chair a list of all of the charter schools and, to the best of your knowledge and information, whether or not a particular school has a nurse as a part of their school health plan. It is a little disturbing, 88 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. notwithstanding whatever the law is and whatever you're allowed to do or not do in accordance with the statute, it seems a little strange that we would allow schools to operate possibly with no plan and -- I mean, I guess at a minimum, as schools go through the charter process -- and I certainly don't mean to tell the SRC how to improve charters or not, but maybe that would just be one of the questions --
-- up front or upon renewal of the charter, Do you have a nurse, yes or no. 18
It's something we can -- we could add it to the rating, because we grade the charters.
If the answer is no, then tell me why, and how do you plan to provide that kind of service.
We can incorporate 89 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. that into the rating. When we approve charters, the charters are valued by an independent review board and we give them points for the quality of their charter. We can certainly -- and I don't know. It may be in there already. I don't think the nursing thing is. We can have a healthcare component and we can require certain minimal things. I think that's an excellent suggestion.
They're required to provide health services. That's part of the mandate.
That would mean a nurse, but not necessarily on a full-time basis.
I guess in the same area, we've talked in the past 90 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. and any number of members here have had concerns about issues of attrition. The District has taken many steps, from the great controversy about sodas to improvements in the food offerings. There have been stories in the paper, and I get infrequent reports about the food offerings from time to time at home. What I want to ask you about now is the issue of either exercise or physical education. How often do students have what any of us -- Mr. Vallas?
Your folks are operating at a very high level. They know what they're doing. Even though you can't see them, they are moving around, trying to provide you all of the support services that you might need.
Well, you know, we like to get those answers right away. We 91 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. don't like to say, We'll get back to you tomorrow, because sometimes tomorrow never comes.
Good morning, President Verna, Councilman Nutter. Albert Bichner, Deputy Chief Academic Officer.
He hasn't asked a question yet. Go ahead. We are anticipating the question.
That's a first. Maybe he was looking over my shoulder. He's got the questions already. That's that Al Bichner. For whatever it might be called, whether it's exercise, physical or PE, but commonly referred to as gym, how often do students have gym?
Councilman, health and physical education is a 1.5 credit requirement in the State of 92 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Pennsylvania. Currently at high school levels, students take health and physical education in 9th grade. It is then in other years offered as an elective.
And at the elementary school level, I think they're required to have it one day a week.
Many of the schools are as many as three, depending on staffings there, but a minimum of one in all K-to-8's.
Minimum as many as three in some buildings. 93 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Are there any circumstances or situations that you might be aware of that the students may have gym once a week for a certain number of months at a time and then no gym for a while and then it possibly comes back at a later point in time?
I've been made aware of two, and corrective action has been taken on both of those instances where what the particular principal was doing, for example, first market period was gym, it was twice a week. Second marking period, it was nothing. Third marking period was nothing. Come back with two days a week. At the end, the tally came out the same. However, we thought it was important to have that part of the youngster's weekly routine, and it's been corrected in the two instances that I've been made aware of.
Notwithstanding the state requirement, I think we're all aware of a rather 94 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. national phenomenon of childhood obesity. And I know they keep changing these things, but my recollection is, the most recent USDA chart, which I guess used to be a pyramid and might be some other shape by now, seemed to indicate that young people and teenagers should have 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity a day. How does our health and physical education program match up with what the experts are telling us kids should be getting?
It doesn't. I think most schools offer gym about one hour a week. It was interesting, in Illinois, a lot of school superintendents used to complain because PE was required every single day. In fact, PE was required in high school 9 through 12, and Illinois was one of, I think, three or four states that had that mandate. Most states have the one day a week or one period a week or in the high schools have the 9th through maybe the 10th grade 95 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. mandate. So we don't stack up. Now, that begs the question, What would it take for you to stack up? It would take us negotiating a longer school day, because the question is -- we now are spending two hours a day on reading at the primary grade level, 90 minutes on math and 45 minutes on science, and at the middle grade levels, it's an hour and a half reading -- 90 reading, 90 math, 45 minutes in science. And with our curriculum offerings at the high school level, imposing another four-year mandate obviously crowds out some of the other courses. So about the only way to address that issue would be to, in effect, lengthen the day so you could add more instructional time, and that really becomes a collective bargaining issue. What we've tried to do is, we've tried to address that issue through our after-school and extended-day 96 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. program, as we're doing on so many things. We've tried to put gifted and accelerated into all of our schools by doing gifted and accelerated extended day. We've tried to address the issue of English language immersion by doing after-school and extended-day English language immersion to help our ESL population. Most of our after-school programs have one hour of academics, strict academics, and then one hour of enrichment, and sometimes it's recreational, sometimes it's intellectually recreational, like the Odyssey of the Mind Program. So that is about the only way we can address this issue. That, and our Saturday programs. But trying to fit PE in every single day would force us to sacrifice some of our time devoted to the core curriculum mandates.
I understand that, and for the moment, I'm 97 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. certainly not suggesting, notwithstanding what the USDA recommends, that we should have gym every day, but I guess we're now in a situation where somewhere between none after 9th grade and every day, on the other extreme, and I guess I don't really understand if the student is performing at age and on grade, at the age of when students, I think, if I'm 11 remembering biology and physiology, 12 physiology in any way, shape or form -- I 13 mean, they're about to go through 14 probably the greatest physical, mental, physiological changes in their lives. Why we would only require gym or some physical education? Some activity that might help to calm some of the other stuff that's raging through various parts of their bodies just for 9th grade seems a little strange to me, even if it were just for once a week. How many young people are signing up for gym after 9th grade?
I can certainly 98 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. give you those numbers.
You'll get no 6 argument from me, but my response is the same. At the elementary school level, you're restricted by -- your day goes to 3:15, 3:30, depending on the school --
-- which is why we're doing extended day. We have extended-day sports and recreation, which is why we're expanding our athletic programs in our middle school, so that there are more extracurricular athletic activities for kids to be involved in. Just, for example, with middle schools alone, we've gone from 152 sport teams in the middle schools to 336 sport teams, and by next year, we'll be at 461. So we're expanding the number of extracurricular athletic activities in the schools. We're doing the same thing with high school athletics. We've gone 99 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. from 473 to 664. Next year, we'll be at 773. So we're trying to address that issue by, in effect, lengthening our day in the form of after-school and extended-day. But I'd love to have a stronger PE mandate, but financial constraints and contractual time constraints force us to provide those services in an extended-day format. So it's a case where I agree with you 100 percent, but the contract and obviously the financial restrictions and the unwillingness to trade off, to do the trade-offs which we would have to do, without any additional resources or, for that matter, without more radical changes to the contract, which would cost us obviously, precludes us from doing it. So we're going to continue to focus on our after-school, extended-day programs and our summer school programs as a way to provide more extracurricular athletic activities. 100 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
It's always been a mandate. It's always been an elective mandate at the state level.
In general, Councilman Nutter, even with experience in the suburban districts, it's very, very difficult with all the No Child Left Behind mandates and credits and demands on AYP to have electives. It has to be strongly encouraged. And, in general, most school districts run their health and physical education credits in the 9th grade year and, once again, are heavily dependent on electives, and, once again, you have to carve out scheduling time to provide meaningful electives and attractive electives for young people. So, for example, health and weight training, aerobic exercise are some of the electives that you can develop to attract young people to take meaningful courses. 101 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Well, okay. I mean, it sounds like a bit of the age-old dilemma here of the difference between what's in the kid's interest versus what's in the adult's interest. And I thought for the most part we were trying to do things that were more in the kids' interest.
Let me respond by that's -- we are doing things that are in the kids' interest.
That's not a criticism of you or what you're trying to get done. I'm saying you got time, money, contracts. I mean, these are -- so I put all of those -- those are all the adult issues.
It's about money. It's about time. It's about how 102 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. I'm going to spend what I do. And you and I have had discussions about the issue of is the tail wagging the dog. I thought this was a system that was set up to educate young people --
And a lot of the mandates are dictated for reasons other than what's in the best interest of the children. There are a lot of mandates that probably should be changed.
Okay. I'd like to have a fuller discussion. This was already in my notes. But has any independent evaluation been done of comparison over time between the performance of public schools versus charter schools?
Yeah. Every year when we issue our report, our accountability report, we look at the performance of the public schools, the 103 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. privately managed schools and the charter schools, and we actually do comparisons. In fact, the media always asks when we release our test scores and when we release -- and when the state releases its PSSA scores and its AYP schools, they always ask us to actually give them that specific comparison. So, yeah. We've done three-year comparisons on how the District traditional public schools stand up to the privately managed schools and the charter schools, and that is very detailed. There's no mandate. That's where we have a strong mandate over the charters.
Absolutely. Well, it's actually -- on the PSSA, it's the state information. We lay it out for comparative purposes, but the state on the PSSA test scores, it's really their analysis. It's their information. 104 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. On the TerraNovas, we do our own in-house analysis. TerraNova actually puts it out, the TerraNova testing company. We display it in a way so that you can look at comparisons. One other thing is the ARC, which is the Accountability Review Council, independent council, created by the legislature to oversee the School District's performance to look at the School District results and to determine whether or not what the School District is putting out is legitimate. They've now done a two-year analysis of the School District. They are actually gearing up to do a comprehensive analysis of EMO schools and the charter schools, an analysis that they're going to complete in the coming year. So that will be the first, what I call, forensic analysis of how charters are doing vis-a-vis the public -- they'll go beyond the test scores. This is an examination of charter school and privately managed 105 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. school performance beyond the test scores. And then, finally, there have been some independent studies that have been done on the performance of these so-called EMOs by Research for Action and by the Rand Corporation, et cetera, where they've looked at the EMOs and they've looked at the EMO performance. Rand, I think, was actually financed by Edison. So you can make your determination as to whether or not that's an analysis you want to be making referral to, although Rand does have a very, very good reputation. But Research for Action has done their own analysis or they've done their own study into EMOs.
By and large, I do. I do. And if I can characterize their analysis -- well, even the analysis done by Rand, which is a more intensive, 106 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. deeper analysis, I think the EMOs have -- they have not performed as well as District schools as a whole, but their test scores have not been far below that of the District's. I'll also point out that the charters have done well in aggregate both on the PSSAs and the TerraNovas, and while the charters have not performed as well as District schools, there are many individual charters that have performed as well and, in some cases, better than District schools, while there's many charters that have performed far worse than District schools. I will tell you this, though: All the EMO schools, Councilman, and all the charter schools have outperformed the state in terms of the overall growth. So the growth among public schools, charter schools, privately managed schools, it's close. The public schools have performed the best in aggregate, the EMOs second, the charter schools first. But the 107 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. aggregate growth in test scores on PSSA and TerraNova in all three categories has been very, very solid, and in all three categories, we have outperformed the state. So, by and large, I'm generally satisfied with the progress that has been made on the part of most of the EMO-run schools. And I'm a supporter of charters, and there are clearly a large number of charters that are doing very well. There's a significant number of charters that are not doing so well either, and obviously that day of reckoning will come when the charters come before the School Reform Commission for renewal.
Okay. Madam Chair, what I'd like to do is, I have four questions, which I'd like to put on the record, to which I do not need an answer at this moment. But between our own record-keeping and the tremendous resources of Mr. Vallas and 108 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. his team, what I'd like to ask is if they could just get back to me, forward the answers back to the Chair. This will be very painful for you, Mr. Vallas, but I'm going to ask these questions, and if I could rely on Ms. Lewis next to you to restrain you, I do not want you to attempt to respond. Okay. The first is regarding the high school reform agenda. I'd like to get a better sense of what the plan is for our overall high school reform. In specifics, I'd like to get better information about issues of safety, the relevance of the current high school curriculum to what's going on in the workforce, where the job growth is or where we anticipate it to be. School culture issues, just how are students functioning in the school environment. You have plans for smaller high schools. I'd like to know how that's going, as well as promotion policies. Have there been any changes in promotion policy and 109 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. what are we doing with students who are reaching plus and are still in school. 4 Second, how is the high school 5 reform agenda in line with the Governor's 6 commission on college and career success 7 and, of course, the 720 project and the 8 like, college and career preparedness and 9 awareness opportunities for going to 10 college or being ready for the workforce. 11 The third question is around 12 the budget for high schools specifically. 13 How is your funding in concert with the 14 kinds of reforms that you're trying to 15 make, where do you have the dollars to do 16 what you need to do and where there are 17 shortfalls. 18 You have an Office of College and Career Awareness. I'd like to know specifically what their budget is, how many people, and what the impact is in relationship to the high school reform agenda. There's a section in this book tabbed 5, the extended learning 110 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. opportunities. I'd like to know what the costs or funding levels are for each of those items for this year and anything that you know you're expecting to get for the future, as well as your funding for the smaller high school initiative. Lastly, facilities and capital improvements. I've had a briefing with you about schools in my Councilmanic District, but I'm particularly interested in the science area. I'd like to know about the condition of laboratories. It is my understanding that some of the schools may not have fully functioning labs. I'd like to get an update on what's going on with those. And your evaluation of when you're able to implement fully the capital improvement program, what the status of our infrastructure will be. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
You're welcome. 111 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. I know that Councilman Rizzo has been anxiously awaiting his turn, but I do have, Councilman, just two questions I would like to ask. I haven't had my turn yet today. Mr. Vallas, on the budget detail, , the graph on employee benefits jumps from 30.4 percent in FY05 to 42.9 percent in FY06. Can you explain how this increase by 12.5 percent is -- how could that be in one year?
Wayne Harris, Budget Director. There's three things happening that drive that jump. The first one is that we, unlike the City of Philadelphia, we do not run our own pension plan. We're part of the Piecers Plan through the state. They tell us what the rate must be, and we pay in the employer's share directly to them. That jumps from 4.69 percent to 6.46 percent in one year, and that's a fairly significant jump. The other two things that are 112 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. driving the jump is that our salaries are basically growing at three percent. We have annual three percent raises, but our healthcare costs are jumping at 6 percent, because we have a 12 percent 7 Independence Blue Cross cap on our 8 contract. And as part of our contracts 9 with almost all of our unions, we have an 10 11 or an 11 and a half percent increase 11 for dental, optical and prescription. 12 So those are those costs. Plus, in FY05, we had sort of a slightly one-time benefit of suppression of the costs, because as part of the contract negotiations with the PFT, we received a six percent pre-payment discount with Independence Blue Cross that lowered our healthcare costs radically, and we also -- actually, they rolled back the cost of the healthcare when the contract was signed in late October or early November. So it's something of a combination of an artificially low number 113 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. in '05 and then a return to usual in '06.
But according to the information presented, it would appear that the largest increase is because of workers' comp.
Yes. That's another point. The workers' comp number is the result of a bond issue that we issued. We issued a $20 million bond issue in Fiscal Year '05. That is not for normal workers' comp costs, but it has to flow through our budget. That's what the accountants make us do. So $5.7 million was paid out --
Right -- (continued) in '05 and 14.3 million will be paid out in '06 in order to settle with people who have been on workers' comp for a very long time. I believe we refer to them as aged accounts. And so what that does is, it lowers our ongoing workers' comp costs by more than two and 114 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. a half million dollars a year, which is significantly more than the cost of the bonds, which is why we did it, but it creates a slightly artificial look.
It's over $29 million estimated. I think if you look at .
No, but that $29 million is made up of two pieces. It's made up of a 14.3 million of extraordinary payouts from the bond and then the remainder, which would be in the neighborhood of 15.2 million, is the regular workers' comp that we're paying out to people who are on workers' compensation on a regular basis.
See, what we did was, we issued a bond to, in effect, get people to have settlements, to get people off our workmen's comp roll. We're doing about $14 million in payouts in settlements. The cost of the $14 million bond is -- I don't know. What is it, 2 million a year or something like that? 115 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
It's less than that. The annual debt service of that bond is, I don't know, a million and a half, 2 million a year, but in return, we're knocking significant numbers of people off our workmen's comp rolls. I think the average annualized savings is about 5.5 million a year and growing. Overall, we've been able to reduce our workmen's comp expenditures actually by about, in terms of getting people off the rolls, by about $7 million. Our goal is to reduce our expenditures by about 10 million. In the meantime, though, at least during the initial years of this, we are paying off people -- we're paying off people, that's the wrong word to say. We are basically paying -- we're doing settlements. Some of these settlements are sometimes $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, sometimes more. But the bottom line here is -- and I can submit to the Chair or I can submit 116 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. to the Council President's office the analysis of our workmen's comp claim settlements, and I think you'll see that we're realizing significant savings. We're almost where we've projected, but this big jump in that line is due specifically to these settlements.
Thank you. Also, can you summarize the stadium agreement revenues you received, and why are the funds doubling in FY07? And I am looking at . Apparently in FY06, it was 1.1 million. In FY07, it would be 2.9 million.
Right. There are, I believe, three different stadiums that are involved in the agreement through -- it was obviously through City Council getting this for us, and I think that what happened is that the first one to come online was the Wachovia Center, and that's the 1.1 million. And the Lincoln Financial Field and the Citizens Bank 117 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Park agreements just kick in, and that's why the jump in the amount happened. So you go from having one stadium agreement to three.
Why would it be just this year? Hasn't Citizens Park been open for three years now?
It's the way the agreements were structured, is my understanding, that each one -- each of the agreements had a year specific in which we would receive the portion of the pilot payment to the School District. They did not all kick in on the same year, according to the way the agreements were structured.
It is. It is. And it's indefinite because we did -- it's part of the agreement. And that's why we were able to successfully bond offer, because it is an indefinite 118 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. agreement. Last year, we issued a $30 million bond, for which the proceeds we used went to all of athletic supplies.
Athletic, music, our supersites, our gyms. It was the reference that I made to Councilwoman Brown's Council-wide initiative.
I was questioning the increase, because it's quite a bit of money. Councilman Rizzo, I thank you for giving me the opportunity.
Mr. Vallas, I'm not suggesting that this is your responsibility, but occasionally I talk to people, especially in the business community, that people come from high school and they don't have some of the basic skills. I'm not talking about the 119 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. arithmetic, the writing and all the other academics, but some of the basic stuff. Years ago, I understand there was a program, there was a relationship with a bank that bankers came into the school -- and I understand there may be something with Wachovia in this area -- where young people are disciplined and they get a checking account, they learn how to write a check, they learn how to do some of the things that prepare them for the work world. A few years ago, we discussed and had some banks interested in and gave it to the School District. And I ran into one of those people, and they said to me they never had heard a word back from the School District. Because they wanted to come in and even possibly open accounts for some of the students, match the deposits that they make into the accounts. I'm wondering if you could brief me or one of your staff tell me, do we have something that resembles what 120 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. I've just described in the School District, and, if not, couldn't we do something in the District to again prepare some of our graduates for the real world and the very basic thing? I know we're getting away from check-writing. We're doing a lot of things electronically, but even if it's electronics, if it's the computer programs that teach them how to manage money online or write a check. Because I know that there are many banking institutions in this region that would love to partner with you and be able to come to the various schools, especially when young people, maybe in their freshman year, by the time they graduate with a program, they'd have a few bucks in their pocket and the ability to manage that money. Maybe you can tell me, is there something going on? Does Wachovia have some relationship?
I remember meeting 121 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. with Wachovia on this initiative. Let me point out that the new high school graduation requirements not only require obviously meeting the state standards for graduation, but we also now require that students have a technology certification. It could be like Microsoft Office or the International Driver's License. We are also requiring what we call our version of a financial literacy certification, which means that when students graduate, they have to have gone through a financial literacy program. For example, the stock market game. All the 12th graders right now, in social studies, they go through the stock market game. And it's just not to teach the stock market, it's to teach financial literacy. Merrill Lynch has been pushing the stock market game nationally. It's generated a lot of publicity. So what we're trying to do with our high school kids is, when they graduate, we want them to have the 122 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. following things: We want them to have a state-recognized diploma, meaning all the state standards, hopefully quality AP courses, things like that, so when the university looks at the transcript, they go, Oh, yeah, that's college AP, that's not some local invented gift program. Number two, we want all the students to have a technology certification, preferably the International Driver's License, which is recognized everywhere, ICDL. Third, we want them to have a financial literacy certification; in other words, have been through a financial literacy program so they know about savings, investments, mortgages, things like that. There's a specific comprehensive curriculum for that. Fourth, we want them to have their driver's license, which is why we've dramatically expanded driver's ed. We haven't brought driver's ed to all the schools, but all the kids can participate 123 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. in a driver's ed program. We have Saturday driver's ed throughout the year at a growing number of sites. And, fifth, we want them if they're years old to be registered to 7 vote, which is why we have our voter 8 registration campaign, where the 9 objective is to register every 10 18-year-old. 11 Those are the five things. 12 Does that mean every single student this 13 year is going to have all five things? 14 No. Does this mean every single incoming 15 freshman and sophomore by the time they 16 graduate in three years and in two years 17 will have that? The answer is yes. 18 Because we began to impose these mandates -- we've imposed these mandates over the last two years for the incoming freshmen. So we're doing the very things we're talking about. I'm particularly obsessed with the financial literacy thing, because I think the financial -- our children don't 124 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. know how to save. They have no sense of basic finances. So you're right on target. It is a critical thing. I remember when I met with the Wachovia people, I actually hooked them up with, prior to Al's arrival, with Craig Williams, and I encouraged Craig to include them with the Merrill Lynch stock market program. And there's actually two other programs we're working at in the schools. So we're looking at doing that. At the middle grade level, we're looking at doing something at the middle grades level. There are some models out there for middle grade instruction. It's kind of a take-off of the whole micro society model. So we're not there yet, but we'd like to do something similar to middle grades.
I assure you that the banking community in this City would love to support a program that would at the -- the educational 125 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. professionals are the ones that would have to decide. At what point, like you just said, the middle school -- which we're not going to have soon, right?
Exactly. Can you imagine an institution -- and one of the interesting things, why they have such appeal, one of the things that people don't change a lot in their lifetime is their banking relationship. So if they get them young and they match some of the deposits that they make, those young people will have a loyalty to that institution. And, again, the statistics show -- and, I mean, I look at myself. I haven't changed my bank since I think my first account, I was 13, and I still have it. So I would love to --
-- revisit 126 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. this issue.
Talk to the Bank of America, talk to again Wachovia, because I believe -- I'm trying to think of the gentleman's name with Wachovia that does this.
Don Scott, with the business relationship with the City. So I'd like to get that back on track, because I think it would be good for our local banks and also for a young person. Because I was just talking about this yesterday, and believe it or not, I went back and I found my passbook that I still have. I never tossed it as a young person when I first opened it, and then they went away. The other issue -- and I'll get with whoever you think is the appropriate person on getting that.
We'll follow through on the banking issue. There's a 127 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. program out of New York that I just read about in the New York Times -- or New York Post the other day where these banks will open accounts for children as small as $5, $10, and then the parents actually give them the first $10, they give them a couple dollars a month. There's some very good models out there. So we'll move beyond the financial literacy thing and we'll approach the banks again, and I'll give you a status report. And we certainly can do more with the financial institutions in town.
Terrific. The last thing that I would like to -- and I stick to my ten minutes. Could you bring us current on GAMP? I know that recently I've gotten some communications that there were some budget -- and since this is what we're here about, the budget. Is everything back on track with GAMP?
What happened at 128 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. GAMP, because the Council President asked me the very same question yesterday --
No, no. Very quickly, the answer to GAMP is, we went out to bid on GAMP and the bid came in about $6 million, $7 million higher than had been projected. We've made a slight adjustment in that bid that I don't think really undermines the project, but there was one provider -- it was the case of the steel. You had to be a certified steel erector to, in effect -- this was not a mandate. This was in the RFP. You had to be a certified steel erector as part of the RFP compliance. Well, apparently we discovered there's only one like certified steel erector, I don't know, in the metropolitan area or in the state. So he figured, I've got a monopoly, I'm going to charge the District whatever the heck I want to charge the District. 129 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. We went back and we changed that, and believe me, it's not in any way jeopardizing the quality of the project, and we removed that certified steel erector provision. And that, in itself, will save us how much? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Roughly a million is the estimate.
So there were little items like that where we went in and we modified the bid somewhat. I don't believe that the -- we're not going to change the substance of the project. And when are we supposed to get the bids back? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We're supposed to advertise in May.
Well, I'll read the transcript. I apologize. Rarely I duck out of here, but I must have ducked out yesterday when that question was asked. So I apologize for 130 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. having --
We are getting some -- because there's so much construction going on in the City, it's kind of a sellers' market now, and so we are experiencing some cases where the bids are coming in higher than we had projected. If they come in too high, we'll go out and we'll rebid. We think GAMP was too high. We think some of the responses were not serious responses. We know we're probably going to still pay more, but we're not going to undermine the substance of the addition.
Well, if we are able to break ground on GAMP before the end of the summer, we will have GAMP -- it will take how many years construction? Two years? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It will take roughly 20 months for construction.
So we're talking 131 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. about '08, September of '08.
That's terrific. And in the event I don't have an opportunity to discuss issues with you, the one really from yesterday that I really want to stay on track with is the fact that -- I thought about this all night. The City trying to charge you the market value for the buildings, the land for where you want to build schools, I think is not an appropriate thing, and I'd like us to stay on that. And whatever we can do -- I'm sure I can speak for my colleagues, Council, myself -- to help resolve this issue, because I think it puts a burden on you that's unnecessary.
We'll give you the details on all those outstanding issues. We'll submit it to you. We'll submit it 132 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. to the Council President for distribution.
Great. I appreciate that. Thank you, Madam President. Eight minutes and ten seconds.
We're timing you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I'm aware and support all our transitional programs. Would you repeat to me what you said about -- because truancy is not a simple issue anymore. I guess it's tied to the attendance model. How do you determine it? And certainly truancy and drop-out rates, I was just reading through a student notebook from '05 where they talked about students who are not in school and who haven't formally dropped out. But how do we deal with the 133 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. term "truancy" in schools today? I'm sure it's tied to public school, and how do we deal with that outreach?
I've been neglectful on this. We were supposed to have a breakdown of what the process is for determining -- my truancy person isn't here. She should have been here. I'll give you --
Let me get back to you on that. Again, someone isn't declared truant unless they have, I believe, been absent from school for something like six consecutive days, or it's six days unexcused, then they become truant. But let me give you the sequence. In fact, I'll try to get you the sequence before the close of questioning today, and then we can certainly read it into the record.
And 134 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. truancy versus drop-out rates, how we know when it starts.
Okay. Because that question was asked, I think, twice yesterday, and I should have had an answer on that.
That's all right. As the President says, if we have them and if we do, how many and how they're distributed.
We do. Just for my team, we need to, number one, get the steps by which -- in other words, when is a parent called at home, when is the home visited and when is someone declared a truant and when do we go to Family Court. And then we'll also get you the statistics, because someone else asked us about the percentage increase or decrease in the truancy rate. We'll get you the 135 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. attendance over the last three or four years and we'll get you truancy rates. I'll try to get them to you before the afternoon.
Thank you. And that ties into the whole issue of community court. We know we have community court, and I don't know your relationship to that, if you all participate in that or if it's just the court process, and just where all that stuff starts and stops when it comes to attendance.
We deal with Family Court, and Family Court has a roving court that holds truancy hearings in the individual community, and I believe we're still subsidizing that.
So we work obviously very closely with Family Court. We actually have an office over in Family Court so that we could coordinate our efforts. And then, of course, we have 136 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. this roving court that goes into the communities and holds truancy hearings, and I think --
That's probably community court. They had a meeting on a Friday, but they invited me to it. I know Judge Panepinto. Panepinto used to be involved. I know Judge Dougherty and Dumas are involved in a lot of these youth issues. So maybe you can direct us.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, 137 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Madam President. A couple remaining items. If you do not have it today, please forward to the Chair the progress that's been made with regards to the provision of art and music teachers and what's outstanding, particularly in the elementary school level.
Again, looking at research where it says if you capture their attention early in those areas, it just helps in so many other ways later on down the line. Secondly, a number of questions were posed to the Streets Commissioner regarding the proposed allocation from Congressman Fattah for installation of school traffic lights, and from what I understand, because those dollars are not in hand, either the School District or the Streets Department cannot proceed with the installation of lights with the next schools that are on the list. 138 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
We provided a million dollars in capital dollars for those traffic lights, I believe, last year. So we at least put some money. And they're done. Can we give her a status report now on the traffic lights?
And then, finally, we are scheduled to have another hearing on Wireless Philadelphia and EarthLink come April 20th.
So we 139 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. don't want to miss the opportunity for the School District to provide to the Chair specifics about how --
Exactly. So if you could provide the details, that helps us going forward.
Absolutely. We'll be prepared, if you'd like, we'll be prepared to make a very brief presentation on the classroom modernization and show you a physical model of what the classroom will look like.
We'll get that to you ahead of time, and then you can decide whether or not you want us just to submit it to the group or make a formal presentation on April 20th. We have April 20th? Okay. Pat Renzulli, our Director of Technology. 140 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Finally, we know that the School District has been a leader with regards to MBE/WBE participation. My question is, what are the call-back provisions for prime contractors of professional firms who don't get it and don't honor up to the agreements they make with the subs?
I'm going to ask Kim Sangster from Contracts and Procurement. I will tell you this: Just very quickly, if they don't honor those provisions, they're barred from future business. So that can be a disqualification for future business, not to mention the fact that we're just not going to allow them to complete the project without pressing them to respond. So it's a zero tolerance policy. It's the same thing with -- as you know, we're very aggressive about hiring firms, and we have a Small Contractors Program. Likewise, if 141 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. someone comes in and they're not paying prevailing wage, they can be barred from getting future work, too. But if you indulge us a few minutes, I'll ask Kim to give you an update.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman. In terms of the MBE program at the School District of Philadelphia, we consistently over the past three years have had over percent participation in 18 our contracts. 19 In terms of contract 20 compliance, that is one of our highest priorities right now, and we have implemented various tools to assist us in contract compliance. We have asked our contractors to report on a monthly basis the levels of participation and dollar 142 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. values that have been awarded to the contractors. We also have implemented a mechanism for us to evaluate by contacting our contractors on a regular basis to see if the performance levels of those contracts have been satisfactory. We do have sanctions in our policies and procedures in the event that contractors don't comply. We can de-bar the vendors from participating further in contracts. We can also withhold payment from those vendors until they comply with the contract provisions, as they have made commitments to the District. We can also issue warning letters to them. So we have different tools that we've been using so far, but with any effort, there are some challenges that we've encountered with some of our contractors. So we have to use an extra effort on occasion to get our contractors to comply and understand the responsibilities that they have for our 143 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. program. In terms of our construction program, that's going very well. We're over 30 percent participation right now with our contracts. Part of that was a result of the Small Contractors Program that was initiated this past summer in conjunction with the Finance Office, Design and Construction, Risk Management and Procurement, where we were able to award 55 contracts to various small minority and women-owned businesses in the tune of over $3 million for maintenance and repair of our schools. That project was on time and under budget and really is serving as a model for continued progress in terms of participation of our small and minority and women-owned contractors in the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you very much for your testimony. That also serves as a model that is possible for other City agencies sometimes, where we 144 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. get a different kind of feedback on the results. So I thank you for your testimony. Mr. Vallas, I thank you and your team of professionals for all that you're doing on behalf of our City's children. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. Thank you. Any other questions? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Committee will stand in recess until 1:45, at which time we will have public testimony. And, Mr. Vallas, if you are personally unable to be here, I would ask that someone from your office be here so that questions could be answered.
We will be well staffed. We will have a number of people here.
Thank 145 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. you so much. See you then. (Short recess.)
Good afternoon, everyone. The Committee of the Whole is now reconvened. Our first witness will be Shelly Yanoff. Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. I'm Shelly Yanoff and I am Executive Director of the region's major child advocacy organization, Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, and I've been testifying on behalf of the region's children to you and to the leadership of the School District for a very long time.
I am pleased to note the many improvements that the School District has discussed with you earlier. For the fourth year in a row, 146 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. the budget, if the state does what it should do, is balanced and student test scores are showing improvements. For the first time in decades, there is actually a capital program that promises to replace some buildings that should have been replaced long ago and to fix up others that have been crying out to be repaired. For the first time in years, we have few vacancies and many more certified and qualified faculty members throughout the District. We celebrate these and other advances. Beginning at the beginning, our schools have more effective early childhood programs and are embarking on important connections with parents of young children. The District has been providing after-school and summer school supports for many students and has established, in collaboration with the City, a variety of behavioral health programs for young as well as middle and high school students who need them. We 147 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. are pleased to learn of the promise of new climate managers and teacher coachers in high schools and believe they can help create improved learning environments and new possibilities for students. We commend the expanded educational options for young people at risk of dropping out, but here, as elsewhere in the budget, we need to do much more. There's a waiting list for these programs, and the City's future depends on our being better able to respond to the needs of thousands of these young people. We urge the City and the School District to share your resources and work together on this critical issue. We applaud many of the new programs, starting real partnerships between colleges and high schools, creating international baccalaureate and other spectacular high schools, breaking up the large high schools that were unsuccessful and developing smaller ones 148 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. in their places, conducting home visits to parents and offering interventions when students start to fall behind. But there are ongoing needs that are not new, like lowering the counselor-to-student ratio, like providing more art and music and drama, like increasing the number and quality of substitute teachers, like smaller class size. We need to do these things as well. If Philadelphia is truly to be "the next great city," we have to do much more and much more quickly about many of our schools. We should not be taking away programs from schools that are working. Rather, we should be supporting them and expanding what has worked for them, whether it's an extra teacher, an extra counselor or a school newspaper. We should be moving even more quickly to do something for those schools that by most measures are not working at all. There are several steps that Council can take to strengthen the 149 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. collaboration and the City's future. The children at Willard School should not have to wait while grown-ups who would never send their children to a school in that condition continue to debate. We urge City Council to pass a resolution or to otherwise use your strength to see that the land for Willard is turned over to the School District at no cost so long as the work is begun immediately. Too many children have waited too long. The School Administration and the City have undertaken many joint initiatives, but we believe the City must now assist more. These are, after all, our children, and the success and failure of our schools impact significantly on the future of the City. We recently finished surveying most of the neighborhood high school principals, asking about the schools' needs and strengths. These are the schools that have been left behind. Many 150 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. are struggling mightily under difficult conditions.
Many of the facilities are severely wanting, with inadequate ventilation, poorly equipped libraries, questionable water supplies, leaking roofs. Many of the students have mental and behavioral health needs. Some are grieving with lives that have been scarred by violence. Their behaviors often reflect the turmoil in their lives. We avoid dealing with these behaviors at serious costs to our schools, the students and our society. The City must support more behavioral health programs in schools. In the middle of almost every one of these schools with great poverty and with pupils with deep familial problems, there is some magic happening. There is a choir or an exceptional after-school program or someone on the staff that talks to and is listened to by many kids. We urge the City to help this magic grow -- should I stop? 151 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
In the middle of almost every one of these troubled schools with great poverty and with pupils with deep familial problems, there is some magic happening. There is a choir or an exceptional after-school program or someone on the staff that talks to and is listened to by many kids. We urge the City to help this magic grow, to support some extra people in those schools, to support more counselors, more social workers, more behavioral health programs. We have a core curriculum. We need to help schools provide more core support. The City has done this with some programs. We need to do it more. In a City that is a cultural center, we have little art and music in many of our schools. In a City with a 152 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. growing immigrant population, we need more bilingual books, as well as adequately equipped other resources. In a City that is about to be wireless, we have school buildings that cannot handle technology and do not have enough computers. In one school, for example, we found that kids were learning tax preparation skills, but the computers were too old or out of date to use the required program. In a City that has built a great downtown, this city of neighborhoods needs more support from you, particularly for neighborhood schools. They are where the workforce of the future will or will not be developed. It makes sense for you to invest in them. In the last several years, the City has offered a host of property tax incentives and tax abatements to stimulate more real estate development. While eventually the schools will be able to secure some additional revenue from 153 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. this added development, eventually is a long time coming for these kids. Our schools and our children need much more help from the City and the State, and they need it now. We ask Council to hold the schools totally harmless from any present or future tax abatement or incentive consideration and to seek ways to have the schools secure lost support from those that are in place. In testimony earlier, one Councilman asked, What would it take to provide all of our young children with a good early childhood program? At another time, another Councilperson has asked, What would it take to provide a good arts program in all our schools? We have wondered, What would it take to be able to have enough counselors and social workers, teachers, parent support and behavioral health programs for all our kids to assist them, to help them stay in school and learn enough to grow up ready to be who we need them to 154 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. be? We can make our schools safe places where teaching and learning take place, where our kids and staff have the technology to become a part of and leaders in this new information age, where our people and our buildings get the supports and resources they need to make sure that each and every school in every region of the City makes AYP and each of its students graduates tomorrow's leaders and citizens, but only if the City actually does provide more support. Thank you. I also have, I think --
It looks very interesting. Thank you very much. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? 155 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. (No response.)
Seeing none, again, I thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Councilman Clarke. Your light is not on.
This is not necessarily a question. It's a statement. I just want to commend you and your organization for continuing to do the wonderful work for our young people. One of the issues that I know you were working with us on was violence, school violence, and I just want to say that we had a very fruitful conversation with Mr. Vallas and his team about possibly merging some of our activities on video surveillance around some of our schools. He expressed some real support for the potential of being able to do 156 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. that in a way that ensured the perimeters of the school would, at a minimum, be secure as it related to some of the violence that has been taking place. He also indicated that a substantial amount of the school violence is really on the exterior of the school, and there's been a reduction, reasonable reduction, on the interior. So as we move forward through this process of working on our surveillance systems -- and I know you've expressed an interest on that and then also the gun issue. And by the way, you'll be hearing something very interesting on the gun issue in about another week. We look forward to having you a part of that process as we move towards implementation of that particular program.
Thank you, Councilman Clarke, and thank you for all you're doing in terms of the gun piece, and we certainly want to work with you on 157 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. it. I do want to underscore that there have been -- and I think you all got a copy of it. There have been some programs that the City has supported that work inside the schools to provide behavioral health programs. Those are good programs, but there are not near enough of them. We are at a point where we can really reduce violence if we can treat these kids, not lock them up, not another -- in all due respect, we can't arrest our way out of this problem.
These kids need more support and more help. You all have some control that you can exercise in terms of the City budget to get more mental health programs in schools. It's really important. It would make a big difference. There are fewer grown-ups in schools that can help talk down kids than we used to have. We need them back. 158 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. So I hope with your leadership we can really understand that the things that happen inside the schools are the City's purview as well.
I agree. I think the preventive measures are probably the most important aspects of what we try to do as we reduce violence, and we mentor our children in a way that will cause them to be the most productive citizens in our City. So I agree with you that it's more important on the front end as opposed to the back end to make the appropriate resources available.
Yes. Thank you. I just do want to, take another minute since there aren't many people, to note that even in -- I mentioned it earlier in the testimony. I don't know if you heard it, but even in some of the schools that you really struggle with, that when you read about them it's almost always bad news, there are fabulous things happening in those corners. What can we do to make 159 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. sure that all kids have an opportunity for music and art, that all kids can go and win a debating team, that we can really all kind of figure out what makes sense for kids, what makes it likable. It's not -- what makes school exciting and interesting is not all passing the test. That's important. But there's a whole lot of other ways to get to educating kids, and we strip it down and get rid of them at our peril.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo. Just a moment, please.
There might only be a few of us, but... The issue that you mentioned 160 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. about the price of the land that --