Especially the excess land, I agree with you totally, that either even close to or market value is not a good thing, not a good policy. It's not good public policy. And what I plan to do is -- I'm going to think it over a bit before I actually commit, but maybe do a resolution from Council to the Administration asking them to reconsider that position, because I think it puts a burden, a financial burden, that's unnecessary. Because, in my opinion, the students, parents in most cases pay -- in most all cases I think they pay taxes, and it seems like it's inappropriate to charge the dollar amounts that I've been hearing lately for some of the land that new schools especially are being built on. So I appreciate you reminding me again of that, and that I'm going to 161 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. consider a resolution and hopefully get a majority of my colleagues' support on that.
Thank you. I think that this Administration and the City and the School District has done a lot together, but right now they're acting as if they should be at arm's length. And that's a good term for lawyers, but it's not for those that are responsible for kids.
You're welcome. Thank you, Ms. Yanoff. MR. McPHERSON: The next witness is Anthony Ottobre.
It's been a long time. How have you been? 162 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
My name is Anthony Ottobre. President Verna, Councilmen Clarke and Rizzo, you may remember me as President of Local 1201 from the School District. I was President for years. 10 Today I'm not here in any 11 capacity with the union. I'm here as a 12 somewhat angry taxpayer over things that 13 have been going on at the School 14 District. And what I'm going to speak on 15 I'm going to say is mostly fact until someone proves me different, and I would hope that Council, maybe the newspapers or the television would do some investigating in some of these items. And my charge to Council is very simply maybe two statements. Did you know that these things were happening or don't you care? And I mean that very seriously. Did you know that Marge Adler, 163 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. who was former Personnel Director, I believe works in Florida now, was receiving paychecks months after she left there, a regular paycheck, pension contributions? Did you know that Charles Saragian, former Director of Facilities, who was terminated, took lawsuit, he was terminated with never being written up, no arguments or anything, but he settled for six months' salary?
Charles Saragian. To give you an idea of how Facilities is managed, Local 1201 has won some arbitrations that are pretty costly. They won one with -- it was called the Trap Gang, individuals who were hired to replace the steam traps, $125,000. That money is going to go to three individuals. They won one with the Rhoads fire a couple of years ago where the 164 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. District hired a contractor, I think, for three or four days' work. They paid a million and a half dollars. The union filed an arbitration. They received a $500,000 award. When we negotiated salary changes with the School District and there was implementation afterwards, there was violations there. The union won a million dollar settlement. There was another arbitration with locksmiths. The union won $99,000. Now, these are items of mismanagement that money could be spent elsewhere. There are other arbitrations, but not as significant. Waste Management, when they first had the program, I oversaw the operation of it, and during Christmas week, the District basically shuts down. So if they're closed for a week, there's a trash pick-up, say, on Friday and I cancelled the service for the rest of the week. When the bill came in, they 165 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. charged for every day. I refused to sign the bill for a period of three or four months. I was finally ordered, threatened to prove payment. How can you pay for service you're not getting? I would assume that practice is still going on. On the issue of privatization, the School District recently privatized, I believe, up to high schools, they 12 may have awarded 16, at a cost of $12 13 million. 14 I had done a study for then 15 Governor Ridge at the request of a 16 consultant for the School District on 17 time to task, which was every task that 18 the cleaning personnel do and a time to 19 it. It took me about almost four months. 20 The report showed at that time that the 21 man hours -- the workload exceeded the 22 man hours. And I didn't have all of the accurate information because there was little schoolhouses that wasn't -- they didn't have accurate footage on that. 166 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. The District privatized under the pretense -- I don't know if its monetary issue or they just wanted to privatize to try something different. My understanding is that the union did submit a proposal, I think, on one school and the union's proposal was cheaper than what the District would have paid. The District chose not to honor that. They contracted out. When you get hired at the School District as an employee, you have to go through a criminal check. I don't know if this company has the same criteria. I do know that on three different occasions --
Sadesco. I don't know the proper spelling. 167 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. At Ben Franklin High, two of their employees were observed smoking marijuana. It was reported to their supervisor. The supervisor came over the building, reassigned them to William Penn the next evening. There's an individual who works at William Penn High who has to leave early, that he has to go to a halfway house. There's another individual working at either West Philadelphia or Overbrook, wears as ankle bracelet. He's under house arrest. Now, if we're hiring these type of people and the people that the District hires has to go through different criteria, there's something wrong there. The District entered into an agreement with Elliot Lewis to manage their new building, two and a half million dollars.
What 168 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. building is this?
440. I believe the District entered into an agreement with some consultants in architect and design for $30 million for three years, and they may be done about six months. We're just starting to see maybe some of the projects they were hired for. I would like to know how many consultants that we do have and what are their functions. It's my understanding that the building engineers, they are allocated money to buy supplies and stuff. They allocate each building engineer, I believe, $500 for the year. That's not going to cover the cost of light bulbs. If they buy mercury vapor lights for the boiler room, they're $50 each. That division has been cut back so dramatically over the past two or three years. I believe this year they may have cut every vacancy they had. So you have a shortage in engineering positions. 169 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. And last year, there were some comments made, I believe, by Councilman Nutter questioning the District's intent with building engineers. The District's position is that they currently under the law do not need licensed personnel. I believe if you were to look at the ordinance, it currently reads boilers in excess of pounds and 30 horsepower. 11 Someone changed that today. It used to 12 read 15 pounds or 30 horsepower. 13 Now, as Councilpeople, do you 14 want them buildings to be monitored by 15 non-licensed personnel, with an average age of 70 years old, the buildings? And last year, there were comments made, I believe Councilman Mariano asked my good friend Jimmy Lewis who works for the District about the need for licenses, and Mr. Lewis responded they are just like your home heater. Now, if anybody in their right mind believes that a school boiler runs like your own boiler in a school, there's 170 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. something wrong. Maybe in principle, that they give heat. The District has no preventive maintenance program due to the shortage of personnel. So we spend money over there that you don't have to spend if you had a proper maintenance program. A couple of other items. There were comments made yesterday, I believe, by the Chief Financial Officer as to the cost that they wrote off in this year's budget of 5 million of the sale price of 21st Street. I believe last year Michael Harris, who was the then Chief Financial Officer, stated that they wrote off the whole 28 million for three buildings that they sold. So how can you write off 28 million last year and then charge off 5 million this year? These are pointed questions I think somebody has to answer.
And I totally agree with you. Somebody has to answer them. 171 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
I know the law, Act 83, gives Mr. Vallas -- and I'm going to categorize him as a carpet-bagger, because the Philadelphia School District no longer is known as that. It's known as Chicago East. Many of the employees over there have come from Chicago. Some of them worked on his political campaign. But the law gives them so much power to the extent of hiring people, they have to have no criteria. They hire who they want at the salary they want. There have been instances over there where people have been called in at the end of the workday and terminated, escorted out of the building. Within a week, you may see two or three people coming in to replace them at higher salaries than they were making. Nobody questions it.
But I 172 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. think I do recall reading in the paper something similar to what you're just testifying to --
-- and didn't the individuals go to court and they won?
Four individuals in purchasing won. Yeah, they got rehired, but there have been other individuals called in. You're there 30 years. You're called in tomorrow. You make $20,000 less or you don't have a job.
It depends if you're non-rep. Non-rep you have no 21 rights. There were other individuals hired over the past couple of years. I don't know the title of the job, but I believe there was ten of them, and their 173 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. purpose was to basically be a building manager to coordinate liaison between the principal and maintenance at $100,000 per. I would venture to say that if you would look at these ten individuals, they don't have no experience. And then I would question, Why do you need somebody for $100,000 to coordinate between the principal and maintenance for repairs or whatever when you have divisions that do that? So I'm just upset that what is perceived to be a functioning system that is making huge gains, if you were to look at the history of Chicago, you would see a much similar pattern of initial success, leveling off and then running out of town or being run out of town. So I just hope that somebody is listening. It would be nice if Councilmembers would attend the public hearings, because people may have something to say.
There 174 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. are Councilmembers in their offices who are listening to most of the testimony.
Mr. Ottobre, let me ask you a question, if I may. How many years did you work for the School District?
Now, I know that you mentioned people like Marge Adler and Charles Saragi, or whatever.
I do remember Ms. Adler. I don't know how far back you're going. I don't know what the circumstances of her getting a paycheck after she left would be, whether she was 175 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. entitled to in fact vacation time or accumulated time.
This was normal paycheck, every two weeks, for a period of months. I don't know what the agreement is or was. I know Mr. Saragian filed a lawsuit, and they settled for six months' salary. But I don't know what her circumstances were, but I do know that she was receiving checks while working in Florida.
Well, you don't know what the circumstances are and neither do we. However, I truly believe that you are really truly interested and you certainly don't want to see any of this waste. And I know that you're extremely aware that the School Reform Commission meets monthly, and these are issues that certainly should be brought to their attention. If you have all of this information, if you have the questions 176 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. and the data and the dates as to when this all occurred, I would suggest the School Reform Commission will be meeting on April the 19th at o'clock, and I am informed that if you were to call them on April the 18th before o'clock -- and their number is 215-400-4040 -- I think that you would be given the opportunity to address the Commission and have them investigate many of the issues that you are bringing up before us, if you're going directly to the people who can do something about it and have the information or can get the information within a minute's notice.
But why did they approve it? You're asking that question. Why did they approve Ms. Adler or this gentleman getting paid after they left? I know we have City employees who leave and if in fact they have vacation time, AL days -- 177 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
I'm aware of that. My understanding is, this was a regular normal paycheck.
-- they can get paid afterwards. So I don't know what the circumstances are here.
And neither do you, and the only people that can give you the information that you are seeking and they can do that within a moment's notice, and we have people from the School District that are here. Whoever is here representing Mr. Vallas, can you please raise your hand? Can you come to the table, please? Would you please identify yourself for the record?
Good afternoon. Claudia Averette, Chief of Staff, School District of Philadelphia. 178 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
And how long have you been with the School District?
I don't know that you could give us any answers off the top of your head.
What I'd like to ask, with your permission, is to be given the opportunity to investigate the allegations, and we'll get the responses back to you.
Do you have all of the allegations written down? 179 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
On the contractors, the privatized schools, now the three things that I stated are basically --
I'm sorry. You're going to have to speak into the microphone. We can't hear you.
The three things that I stated about the individuals with the smoking the pot and the halfway house and the bracelet, are the employees of that company mandated to the same thing that a District employee has to go through prior to be hiring?
180 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Please identify yourself for the record.
My name is James Lewis, Director of General Services. The answer to that question is yes. All the background checks and criminal and child abuse, all the requirements that our employees have were required under this contract.
Is it a practice to hire people who are under house arrest? I mean, we both know. We both come from the same division and we know what it's like when people have criminal records, and I just question that -- the worst one was the two people who reported smoking pot and the supervisor came over and reassigned them to William Penn. And that's common knowledge within your division.
I will respond if you're bringing to our attention that there are employees that are smoking marijuana, I'm sure that our Office of Climate and Security will investigate it. 181 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Okay. Mr. Ottobre, I want you to categorically make sure that the School District has all of the information you have brought before us today.
That would be fine. They could write it down to make sure that you have everything. I don't think that we can just sit here and listen to some of the accusations that have been made and just turn a deaf ear. I don't think that Mr. Vallas would sit here and turn a deaf ear. And I certainly hope that all that Mr. Ottobre has said today is also taken. And I think it behooves him, even after you have responded to his accusations, that he appear before the School Reform Commission on April the 14th.
I'm 182 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. sorry; 19th. I think it behooves you to do that. And I know that you said that you were with the School District for 31 years. I know that you've appeared before us many, many, many times wanting to make the school system better. Well, today I'm shocked to hear of some of the things that you have said. There is nothing that we can personally do about it today, but we are asking definitely for a full report on this. And in spite of the report being submitted to us, again, I'm going to reiterate, I do believe that you personally should appear before them on the 19th, and it would necessitate you to call them the day before before 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
Thank you so much for coming in, and please get together so that you have all of the info that you need.
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: The next witness is Jim Orr.
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Jim Orr, and I appreciate you letting me have this opportunity to speak. I know a lot more parents would like to have been here today, but given the public hours notice to respond to 17 the school budget is just wrong. To my 18 perspective, it shows the School Board 19 knows that they have a bad budget, but 20 they want to push it through before 21 anybody realizes it or has a chance to 22 respond to it. If I didn't know better, 23 I would think that I was on Capitol Hill. 24 I'm a parent of a Meredith student. Before I start to rant, I would 184 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. like to congratulate the principal of Meredith, Mr. Cooperstein, and his group of wonderful teachers and staff members, who have taught and nurtured their students. They all know that learning is not just about memorization, math and science formulas, but about building self-esteem and imagination through other curriculum such as dance, drama, music and art. And it's because of this well-rounded education that these students thrive. The William Meredith student constantly has some of the highest average test scores in the Philadelphia area. Meredith gives our neighborhood a sense of pride, because along with Mr. Cooperstein and faculty, all of us who have sent our children there over the years and who are active with the school have helped to make it what it is today, the gold standard. The Bella Vista/Queen Village area over the past decade has become, in 185 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. my opinion, one of the greatest areas to live in Philadelphia. Councilman DiCicco should be proud of the area that he helped build. It is a feather in his cap. But if you ask parents why they moved to this area, they will say, It's because Meredith is such a great school and Mr. Cooperstein is a wonderful principal. The school is the mortar that holds the community together and keeps it strong. If you break this school, the neighborhood will also break. You will hear the rumbling of moving trucks all through the neighborhoods. Mine will be right in front, because, honestly, like many other families in this neighborhood, I can't afford the proposed increased property tax, along with my business privilege tax and my resident income tax and send my child to private school. I will be forced to take my family and business out of Philadelphia, because education comes first. 186 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Now, you would think that a school like Meredith with such high rankings would be rewarded because they have proved themselves diligent to the quest for educational excellence while at the same time being frugal with every cent given to them by the School District. You would think that, but you would be wrong, dead wrong. Because not only are they not being rewarded, they are being penalized. Between this year and last year, the proposed budget has been cut $485,000. Operating expenses, which include disintegration, special ed, gifted support and Title 1, has lost $116,591. This does not include an additional $50,000 which will be cut from supportive services, assistant line item. That brings the total cuts to $166,591. Now, Mr. Vallas may argue, as he did in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer, that $50,000 won't be needed because college students will be placed 187 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. in the classroom, alleviating the need for the SSAs. These are college students, not seasoned teachers. If these students are such good teachers, why not replace all of Philadelphia's teachers with these kids? Why? Because it would be stupid. Just as replacing the SSA teachers with students is stupid. The idea is wrong. Mr. Vallas and the School Board are wrong. By the way, if you account for inflation, the stripping away of funds is even more severe. What does the other $116,591 from the operating budget represent? It represents the loss of one, possibly two teachers.
Now, the last time I checked, Meredith did not have an extra teacher hanging around. In fact, Meredith, like other schools, has already been forced to double up between grades. For example, groups of 6th graders are forced to take classes with 5th graders. How would you feel if your 6th grader was taking 188 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. classes with 5th graders? How do you think the child feels? Do you think it builds his or her self-esteem? It doesn't, and it's wrong. Let's see what else the School Board under the direction of Mr. Vallas has in store for one of Philadelphia's finest schools. How about increasing the class size to 30 students? Right now the classes have around pupils. 12 Some of the new students will 13 be bussed in from the lower-scoring 14 districts, because they get preference to 15 transfer to higher-ranking schools 16 because of No Child Left Behind. 17 So let's recap. Cut teachers, 18 add more students. This does not seem to 19 make a lot of sense. But that's not all. 20 Because of the teacher cuts, our gifted children will not have a teacher to facilitate their program, and this is at a time when the number of gifted children is growing in our school and the program requires more funds. 189 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. The gifted program is mandated by federal law. So cutting this program is actually illegal. So how is there going to be a gifted program if there's no money to fund it? We'll have to ask Mr. Vallas, is he willing to leave our gifted children behind? The proposed budget represents a train wreck for the Meredith School, a train wreck for a school that should be the gold standard for all the other school districts to strive towards. The result will be catastrophic for our community, a community that its people, along with Councilman DiCicco, have helped to build and maintain. The School Board should be embarrassed by this proposal. If they aren't, I'm sure they will be by the time the news media gets through with them. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Orr. Mr. Orr, I just want you to 190 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. know that it is the responsibility of City Council to reauthorize the school taxes. We really have no real input with the school's decisions. And you indicated that there were only two days' notice of the public hearing. I think we started advertising back in February regarding the public hearings. Also, I think your testimony is very good, very informative, and I do believe that the School Reform Commission will be having budget hearings, and I certainly would encourage you to at that time appear before them and testify. If you'll bear with me. When are the hearings scheduled? Does anybody from the School District know?
We meet on the 12th and the 19th. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I think it's going to be the 12th after the regular Board meeting. 191 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
So this gentleman would be able to call either the 11th -- what does the 11th fall on?
You meet on Wednesday. So the 11th would be a Tuesday, where you'd be able to call them on the 18th.
We 192 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. have pens. That's no problem. We will give you the number. I think you should definitely appear before them and make your feelings known.
And I want to thank you for coming in. We appreciate your testimony. Thank you very much. Our next witness is Judd Aaron. Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, President Verna, Councilwoman Blackwell, Councilman Rizzo. My name is Judd Aaron. I'm the father of a second grader at Meredith School, a K through 8 school at 5th and Fitzwater Streets. It's in Councilman DiCicco's district. A proposed budget cut of $165,000 in next year's Meredith School budget will have the following 193 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. devastating results on this school: One, we will lose a full-time teacher. Two, at the same time, Meredith School will lose each and every one of its classroom aides. Three, at the same time, the average classroom size at Meredith School, which is now approximately 9 students, will increase to 30 to 33 10 students. Four, the lower grades at the 11 same time will be combined. That's just 12 a polite way of saying they'll be merged. 13 The first and second graders will be 14 merged into one classroom and they will 15 be taught by the same teacher at the same 16 time in the same classroom, and the same 17 merger will happen with the third and 18 fourth graders. 19 And, five, and this is 20 important, there will be insufficient 21 gifted student funding for approximately 22 50 students; that is, insufficient 23 funding for almost half of the students 24 who have tested into the gifted program 25 at Meredith School. 194 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Now, I don't know what the Councilmembers know about Meredith School, but I can tell you that this is a school that works. This is the kind of school we aspire to.
And it's well deserved. It's an excellent school. This is a school with a safe learning environment, with some of the highest test scores in the state. It's amazing. Check out the test scores. Our principal who is unequaled in the school system, committed and engaged teachers, involved parents, enthusiastic and well-behaved children. This is a school that works, and that environment is seriously threatened by Mr. Vallas's proposed budget cuts for next year. Now, I read yesterday's Inquirer and Daily News in which Mr. Vallas was quoted as saying that this 195 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. proposed budget furthers the goals of school reform. Well, the parents of Meredith School children beg to differ, because for Meredith School and for schools like it, this proposed budget spells academic disaster. And I'd like to take just one minute just to summarize, to grade this proposed budget cut for next year, just as the schools grade our children on their work product. Because fair is fair, isn't it? Problem No. 1, this budget cut will result in an overnight and unacceptable increase in average class size. That's a failing grade on Issue No. 1. Issue No. 2, the merger of the lower school classes will result in the combined teaching of students whose social development and academic skills are so vastly different that under no 23 sound theory of education should they ever be taught together in the same classroom at the same time by the same 196 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. teacher. A failing grade. Issue No. 3, we'll have overburdened teachers who will be struggling to teach first graders the sum of, say, two plus two at the very same time in the same classroom that they're trying to teach second graders who have already moved on to their fractions. We'll have teachers trying to teach first graders their A-B-C's at the same time they're trying to teach second graders who are already reading chapter books. A one-room schoolhouse, a one-room schoolhouse is what our first through fourth graders will attend as a result of these budget cuts. That is unacceptable and that is a failing grade. Problem No. 4, there will be insufficient funds for students who have tested into the gifted program. It's funding to which they are entitled by law. That's a failing grade. And, finally, the fifth problem is that parents who have invested in this 197 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. City will throw in the towel and will leave the City or leave the City schools. And the parents of Meredith School are giving this proposed budget a failing grade. Now, I know we all want the same thing for our children. We want better schools. We all want better schools. But this proposed budget threatens our children's educations. It threatens the ability of parents to remain engaged in the City schools, and ultimately it threatens the future of our City. And I don't think that I am overstating our case. And so we're asking City Council, although we know you don't approve the budget, to support our children by voicing your opposition to these ill-conceived budget cuts. And I know that Mr. Vallas isn't here, but I believe his representatives are here.
I think his Chief of Staff is here. 198 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. I wish you would come further.
And I don't know, do you have any knowledge of what is being discussed here?
I wish you would come up to the table. I had asked Mr. Vallas to make certain that he had someone here when we have public testimony that would be able to answer any and all questions that may come up.
Now, I think you have heard the plea of two parents, and I think that they're going to have to let their voices be made loud and clear, because I think that they have genuine concerns, and I truly believe that this is probably one of the better schools that we have in the City. Now, if we start turning a deaf ear to parents who really care, we're headed in the 199 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. wrong direction. Now, if you can share with us any knowledge that you have and how this program as being proposed can be stopped, then I'd like to hear it.
What I'd like to know also, Madam President, is, is this targeted at one school? Are we learning that this might be consistent through various areas? I mean, I really need the School District to explain why such a substantial cut in one particular school budget. Thank you, Madam President.
200 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Identify yourself for the record.
Wayne Harris. I'm the School District's Budget Director. There's a series of different reasons for some of the issues. I can't confirm the numbers for what they said for Meredith, but there is a series of different reasons for what is happening here, and I can speak to them. First of all, as Mr. Vallas said repeatedly, there is going to be a hold harmless provision to help the hardest hit schools in the District. We always do that. We always have done that. And the key is that Meredith, as was the case with Powel, are both some of the smaller elementary schools in the District, and generally when we do hold harmlesses, they focus on the smallest elementary schools, because the smallest elementary schools are the schools that have the least give in their budgets and can have the most trouble from things like this. So they would be two of the 201 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. schools that would be most likely to be focused on. Another issue is the issue of the number of teachers. The School District does not level down teachers like we used to at the beginning of the year, and what that means is, when we reach the end of October, we provide -- I mean the end of September, we provide additional teachers where they are needed, but we do not take any teachers away from schools that have more than they would have been allotted if we had projected more accurately. So basically because we do that that way, we do a very, very careful and lean allocation of teachers at this time. So for a school to conclude that they are going to be short a teacher based on the teachers that have been allotted to them in April is jumping to quite a conclusion, because basically we have to be very careful on our allocation at this time of year and then we add and don't 202 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. take away any teachers when we reach the beginning of October. So there's going to be a hold harmless that will help with this school. There's going to be teachers added in October if they are needed. The third point is, a big chunk of the money that they lost was in Title 1. And Title 1, as Mr. Vallas said yesterday, has always had a $75,000 minimum. Meredith School, both because it's a small school and because it is a school that has a relatively low level of poverty -- it still has some serious poverty, but relative to the rest of the District schools has a low level of poverty -- in our Title 1 allocation, which is required to be based on the concentration of poverty, they generally will not receive a very large Title allocation. They would have been receiving $75,000 in the past. When we increased it to 250,000, they saw a big jump up to 203 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. 250,000. When we basically had to back down with a lawsuit gunned to our head, we negotiated with the people who were threatening us a percent a year 6 backdown so the schools could adjust, and 7 we also negotiated that we would only 8 have to go down to 100,000 instead of 9 75,000. 5 down to 140, which was last year, 11 and this year we're going down into the 12 $110,000 range. 13 We really have no choice under 14 the law but to do that. And under the 15 law of Title 1, which has a rule called 16 Comparability, we also cannot legally 17 make up the difference to the school, 18 because if you make up the difference in 19 Title funding so that there's no 20 difference between poverty schools, high 21 poverty schools and low poverty schools, 22 you are expressly breaking the Title 1 23 law and they have a test for that called 24 Comparability, in which case they fine 25 the District very heavily. 204 1 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. So there's only so much we can do in that situation. There was virtually -- there was an extremely small change in the gifted allocation, and there should not be any impact whatsoever on the gifted program at Meredith. I do not understand that issue.
In addition, Meredith, I believe, has one of the -- so, I mean, there's a lot of issues and it's complicated, but basically that the sum total is that concluding from what they're looking at their budget on April 5th is going to lead to disaster on September 3rd is not the way it's going to work out.
Thank you. First of all, I think that Mr. Vallas's representative -- I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name. 205 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
I think Mr. Harris has mischaracterized my testimony. I didn't say that Meredith School is going to be short a teacher. What I said is that Meredith School will lose a full-time teacher. That's a fact. That's an inarguable fact. And it's also a fact that when a school with 11 teachers loses one of its full-time 12 teachers, it is a weaker school as a 13 result. It is not a stronger school. 14 And these Center City schools are not 15 good schools because Mr. Vallas and his 16 representatives say it is so. They are 17 strong schools because they make it so 18 and we're asking that they make it so. You're not making that so by taking away a teacher. So I sort of resent the mischaracterization of my testimony. The other thing I wanted to respond to is, Mr. Harris says he has no 24 knowledge that the gifted allocation is short, and I'm sure he doesn't, but we're 206 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. capable of running the numbers, too, and we've done that, and the fact is that the allocation for gifted students is approximately $50,000 to $75,000 short. That is, there won't be gifted funding for about 50 students, almost half of the students who have already tested into the gifted program, not to even mention those students who are on the waiting list and may well test into the gifted program. So there is going to be a shortage of gifted funding. We've run those numbers.
Greg Thornton, Chief Academic Officer of the School District. I'd like to thank Mr. Orr for sharing his concerns. A couple things. It is an arguable fact with respect to this being April and the school opening in September with respect to the staff and appropriation. That's adjusted throughout the period between now and opening school. Our staff appropriations 207 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. are done on a per student enrollment, and throughout the school year, not only at the beginning of the school year, adjustments are made. So if the population designates an additional teacher, that teacher will be placed there. Issue No. 1 with respect to the law, the law says that you have to make accommodations for gifted youngsters, and that can be done in a number of ways. It can be done through a pull-out program or a differentiated program, and that accommodation is being done at Meredith. Issue No. 2, I hope I'm in the order that he talked about with respect to gifted education. It's absolutely correct, the appropriation is different this year, but what the appropriation doesn't take and entail, that we placed a program called Emerging Scholars at Meredith, and in that program, the appropriation was approximately $50,000 last year and approximately $50,000 this 208 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. year. In addition, what we've done, what we've attempted to do is to reach more gifted children. We don't want to leave gifted kids behind. We want to spring those youngsters forward. In an attempt, we have created extended learning opportunities in the afternoon where youngsters will have an opportunity to participate in, as well as Saturday programs. The issue that was talked about with respect to ability grouping, it is not best practice, but a very common practice in educational arenas for two grades to be combined. What we strive to do very clearly is not to have two combinations with respect to in a K-5 environment. But I don't think it resembles the one-room schoolhouse. I think it's a very sound educational practice if a very skilled teacher can differentiate to meet the challenges of youngsters. 209 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Issue No. 5 I believe was with respect to reduced class size. I think if you were to take a really good look at the research, what it says is that class size is very important, but they also speak to the fact of student-teacher ratio, and what we've attempted to do with the SSAs and with the student teaching initiative is to basically reduce class size. I would be less than honest if I sat here to say and wished -- we're very hopeful we could have all the funding that we needed, but I would like to also point out this was not a targeted Meredith effort. This is a formula that's gone across the City and every school in the City are receiving these particular cuts. But I would be more than glad to work with Mr. Orr and to talk and also as well as his principal, as well as his regional superintendent to take a look at how we can get the most mileage out of 210 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. his school budget.
And, Your Honor, I didn't mean to suggest that these cuts were targeted at Meredith School. It just happens that that's where my son goes to school and that's where these parents' children go to school, and that happens to be the numbers that we're familiar with. I guess the bottom line is this: I don't see when we increase class size, reduce the number of teachers, combine first, second grade classes and third, fourth grade classes and have a shortage of gifted funding how we can say that a school is as good as it used to be, because objectively it simply is not, and that's our point. President Verna, thank you very much for hearing us out.
Mr. Aaron, I want you to wait just a 211 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. minute. I'm really very impressed and very touched by your appearance today, as I am with Mr. Orr. It's been my contention with a number of problems that we face in the City that we don't have the parental interest that you and I probably had growing up, and I say that no matter what we do, if parents are not involved, nothing, nothing we do will ever be successful. I cannot see myself having both of you gentlemen walking out of this Chamber -- and I know that you've been sitting here for quite some time and I know that you deeply are concerned about the education of your children. I cannot sit here and allow you to walk out of here without having some commitment from the School District -- and I am sure that there are many parents at Meredith that are just as concerned and worried about what will happen in September. I want a commitment from the School District that before long they 212 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. will meet with the parents of the school and hopefully we could get whatever problems there are existing out there resolved. Can I have a commitment --
-- that Mr. Vallas, et al. will personally go to the school and meet with the parents?
And will that commitment be before we pass the budget?
I believe it's April the 5th. Well, ours is April 5th. We have to reauthorize the taxes by the end of the month.
So there's no reason why there can't be a meeting before the end of the month. 213 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
And we really appreciate your coming in. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the parents coming in and expressing their concern and their views. We understand your plight and we want to help you in whatever way we can, and I am sure that the School District wants to help you. They want you to remain in the City and they want your children to continue to go to their schools. So there is no problem that is so large that it cannot be resolved. So I am asking the School District to please, please, please -- I have your commitment --
-- that you will in fact meet with the -- and I want Mr. Vallas there. I want Mr. Vallas there. And I know that there is a holiday coming up. 214 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC.
Madam President, I want to echo exactly and go on record here to be absolutely in lockstep with you on this. What I heard today does not satisfy my -- there's just not satisfactory answers. And everything that you said, I totally agree with. And I thank you, sir, for coming here today, and I would do everything -- I will stick right with you, Madam President, because I wouldn't want to be part of an authorization of a tax that supports the school system when this issue is not resolved, and I would 215 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. appeal to my colleagues to be supportive of us. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. And it's my understanding that Councilman DiCicco is aware of the situation.
And he definitely wants to be included at the meeting that will be held at the school.
So it behooves you to let him know. I just don't know what his schedule is, but I think he would make himself available, but I think you owe him the courtesy also of giving him advanced time.
And we did call Mr. DiCicco's office. I understand he's at a zoning meeting today, but we spoke to Mr. Abernathy and he told us that Councilman DiCicco is aware of this.
Well, 216 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. you're very fortunate to have someone like Councilman DiCicco representing you.
And I know that he will do everything he can to be of assistance, as we will.
Thank you. And President Verna and Councilman Rizzo, your sentiments are very encouraging to a group of disheartened parents. Thank you very much.
Good luck. Thank you. And please just stay close by.
Helen Matthews. Good afternoon. Kindly identify yourself for the record and 217 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. proceed with your testimony.
My name is Helen Matthews. And a short continuation on the same topic, but directly more towards City Council. Thank you, City Council, for allowing me to express my concerns about the proposed school budget. I live in the Bella Vista neighborhood and this is the fifth year that my children have attended Meredith Elementary School. Having Meredith Elementary School as our neighborhood public school has enabled my family to continue living in Center City. Although the proposed budget reflects an overall increase in spending, my children's school faces deep budget cuts. Meredith Elementary School has already absorbed budget cuts year after year, and now we are being asked to do without an additional $165,000. This will result in the loss of at least one classroom teacher and two school staff assistants. For our children, this means 218 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. larger class sizes, split grades and limited contact with an instruction by our teachers. Through the combined efforts of our dedicated teachers and hard-working students, 47 percent of whom are from low-income families, Meredith Elementary has weathered previous budget cuts, but this time, it is simply too much to bear. This type of profound budget cut will result in lower achievement by our students, who have consistently posted top PSSA scores and fulfilled the requirements of No Child Left Behind. For families like mine who own homes in the City, work in the City, pay thousands of dollars every year in property and City wage taxes, these recurrent school budget shortfalls become not just a nuisance, but a threat to the welfare of our children. Our ability and willingness to remain in the City is threatened. Our children come first. I hope you feel the same and work to not 219 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. only restore it, but to actually increase the overall funding to our public schools. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Any questions? (No response.)
Thank you. Heidi Segal? Is there anyone else to testify after Ms. Segal? (No response.)
Thank you. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
Hi. My name is Heidi Segal and I'm the President of the Home and School Association.
I'm Heidi Segal. 220 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. I'm the President of the Home and School at Bache-Martin Elementary in Fairmount, and I'm actually just going to make a few points. One, I wanted to thank all the other parents who came out today, and I also want to thank the School District, because as a member organization of the School District of Philadelphia, they provided me, as the Home and School President, with a fair amount of information prior to these budget hearings that have enabled us at Bache-Martin to manage our budget, keep our gifted program, keep all of our teachers and continue to run our school the way we parents want it run. We have to be creative and look for these kinds of solutions, and I think that they equipped us this year with the information that we needed. So I want to thank them for that. Unfortunately, the only negative that I have today in my 221 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. testimony is geared towards the City of Philadelphia, which, unfortunately, doesn't seem to have its priorities in order when it comes to funding our education. If you think about a three-pronged approach where we have funding coming from the federal government, the state government and local government, the City of Philadelphia's funding seems to be awfully low in comparison to other municipalities. I mean, the easiest comparison is to look at school districts like Haddon Township, Cherry Hill and Lower Merion. And I think it's just our priorities, and I think that the City needs to rethink what it does when it thinks about education and whose life it doesn't touch when it makes education the number one priority. So I'm asking the City of Philadelphia to reconsider how it prioritizes its own budget when it considers the School District in its 222 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. funding. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? (No response.)
Is there anyone else who would like to testify? (No response.)
Seeing none, we will be recessed until 5:30, when we will have our evening testimony for the School District. So we'll see you all at 5:30. Sir, I called twice. You want to testify? Come forward. We will break our rules because we just recessed, but we welcome you to testify. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.
My name is Deacon Payne, and I came down here today because, yes, I think the teachers should 223 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. get more money for what they're doing, and at the same time, I think that schools shouldn't have to fight for an extra dime when there's plenty of money. And at the same time, I don't think that a school who has a CEO, or whatever-have-you, can continue to implement having -- enforcing rules for children to obey the laws and stuff like that and not at the same time enforce them themselves. And I say that because of a particular reason. Some teachers were moved from a school that I was a victim of police brutality in front of because I went to write down the officer's name and his badge number. And I have a problem with a school because they acted together, so it was a conspiracy that came together and took place for them. Two teachers were moved, and the teacher was upset. Because she typed a letter up for me because she saw everything that went on outside of that school. And I wanted to 224 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. get that officer's name because of his demeanor that day so I could go talk to this principal. But guess what? The principal has retired. I have three discs in my neck pushing on my nerves today. And my son asks me every day, Are you all right, Dad? And ya'll give the teachers so much of a hard time because they want to do right? I think that they should do right all the time. I have one at Masterman and I have one at the Science and Mathematics School across from the Board of Education, and they're both "A" students. And right now they send me down to a federal judge because they don't want me to go to court because I know too much. I got false police reports and everything from this incident, but they want to keep it under the cover. That's why I came down here today. Because I was fed up with these 225 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. things that are going on, and then we continue to pour more money in, pour more money in. You know what needs to be done? They need to reevaluate what's going on with the School District, because there's a lot of things going on that's not being talked about, and teachers are concerned. And I'm a man of God, and I'm concerned. I'm a parent. I'm concerned. I'm an action leader for Philadelphia Interfaith Action. I'm concerned. Thank you.
Deacon Payne, thank you. Was this a school police officer? Sir.
No. This was a Philadelphia Police officer, Badge No. 21 1592.
I already did. I came yesterday, gave some information 226 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. downstairs after I found out where it was at. I went to Blackwell's office, gave some information.
Okay. Then I went to your office. I never met you before, but how you doing?
Fine. Fine, Deacon Payne. All right. Well, then I'll check with my staff on it. Okay. Thank you. We were here yesterday. All right. Is there anyone else? (No response.)
Then we will recess until 5:30, where we have some individuals who are due to be here for a night session, about a half a dozen individuals. So we'll see you all then. Thank you. (Short recess.)
Good 227 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. evening, everyone. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole. Our first witnesses will be William Mackey, with several students. Good evening. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
William Mackey. I'm sorry. M-A-C-K-E-Y. And I want to say thanks to the Council and Council President and the Councilmembers for letting City Wide come for our tenth year 228 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. in a row to the public hearing on education. And I will turn the mike over to two young gentlemen. I'd also like to recognize the youth of City Wide, who are doing something positive. Would you please stand up.
If they will stand, we'll be happy to recognize you. Welcome. (Applause.)
Okay. Well, as I said, my name is Kashif, and I actually started the program about 11 years ago. I came through the middle school program when I was about 11 years old. And, you know, City Wide is a very good program and it kept me off the streets. You know, I come from not one of the good neighborhoods in the City, and, you know, I came home from City Wide on numerous occasions and found out something happened on the streets or anything, 229 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. where I know I probably would have been outside during that time. So basically I came through the program. I came through the YLTI program, the high school, and then I eventually became junior staff. And currently two years ago, I became a full-time staff member at City Wide Youth Leadership Agency, and I'm the Community Service Coordinator. And recently I've been working with young people, helping them get on the right track or stay on the right track, because a lot of the youth in our program are positive young people. And basically recently what me and my co-worker, Mr. Milton, have been working on is the Philadelphia Youth Crime Commission. I'm one of the co-founders of the program, and that's basically a program put together to have a different outlook or a different perspective of a lot of the violence, the violence epidemic that's going on in the City. 230 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. I know there's a lot of adult groups and a lot of older people who are talking about crime and the statistics and everything that's going on, but as far as the teen-on-teen violence, City Wide is a program that's geared towards youth leadership. So we have a group of young people, teenagers, 15, 16, 17, who are going out and talking to other youth in six different neighborhoods in the City to put together six different chapters of the Youth Crime Commission. And so that way, we're going to collaborate throughout the whole City, planning events to keep youth off the street, little block parties. And I myself, I'm working on the national part of it, and we're reaching out to ten cities all over the country who also have high crime rates, and that's cities as far as Atlanta, Georgia; Detroit, Michigan; Phoenix, Arizona; New York; San Antonio; San Diego; and Los Angeles and a few other cities. And they're actually 231 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. responding back, letting us know that they understand what we're doing, that they think it's a great idea. They're ready to go full speed on whatever we want to do. We're planning a national tour, where we're going to take our Crime Commission to all ten cities and have a tour and also do research on things that are going on in their cities, and at the end of the summer during our National Youth Week, we're going to have at least two youth from each city that we're talking to come here for a National Crime Convention. So we're trying to get all this off the ground. We're just trying to get funding for it right now. And we're also going to be doing a lot of the Philadelphia Youth Crime Commission work out of our new facility at 1100 West Girard, where we're also going to have our "Hip Hop, Not Violence" shop, and that's going to be like a little mecca 232 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. for youth to come, a state-of-the-art facility that we're putting together. There's going to be a little lounge. You can come do work on the Internet. We're going to have like a studio set up. It's just going to be sort of like a radio station type of environment. So that's a couple of things that we're working on right now with the Youth Crime Commission.
As I stated before, my name is Milton Kellam. I also came through the City Wide Youth Leadership Program. I started when I was in 9th grade. I was also in the summer camp, and I'm a full-time staff member. As he told you, we're working on the Philadelphia Youth Crime Commission. The purpose of the Commission is to basically engage youth in positive change. And with the Commission, we are also trying to get 18,000 internships, funded internships, across the City of Philadelphia to engage 233 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. youth in something positive. The internships will be based on their career goals.
Hi. My name is William Mackey again, and I'd just like to round up and say, we are located in the 15th Councilmanic District, and we are extremely proud of our Councilperson, Councilperson Darrell Clarke. City Wide, could we give our Councilperson a round of applause. (Applause.)
When we ride through North Philadelphia through the Fifth District, we see a lot of development, and when we ride through the City, we see a lot of development, and we are really proud. This Council is a lot different than other Councils, where we have access. This is a place where we really feel access and change. And I can just tell you right now that when you bring young people together to engage for themselves, I believe that's the way 234 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. we're going to have to combat this youth violent effort. We have to get the resources to young people and create new leadership. And my point to the School District tonight is, we have this new facility that's 85 percent completed. We need the School District's help. We know the School District right now is struggling for funding. We all are struggling for funding, and decisions have to be made. Last week, if you look in our Crime Commission brochure, you will see we met with leadership last week. We met with the Majority Leader office last week. And we understand about the funding. We understand that the $25 million is probably going to be restored that came out of the School District's budget yesterday, last night. However, we just don't think in this time of age when we're creating this 21st century facility, electronic mini university, a 235 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. state-of-the-art computer lab, a mini theatre where there's going to be a positive youth -- serve like a studio, we are creating a positive atmosphere. On the first floor, there's going to be six to eight stores. And for nine years, we came here asking for money for a youth mall, and I can tell you today we are 10 percent away from completion of this 11 youth mall. 12 I am so proud, but I am not 13 proud when we cannot have accessibility. 14 The School District is doing a good job. 15 They have helped City Wide with some other things. Mr. Bichner and his staff have been great. However, we need the School District to step up and make an investment interest in this project. There's no way, there's no way the School District cannot accept this and adopt this project as a model. This is a model. And we need the School District to make a decision. There's very few people in this 236 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. City who has not had someone to come through City Wide Youth Leadership. I don't know many people who have not come through City Wide and have not had a positive change. We are requesting tonight for Council President and this Council -- we had the pleasure of Councilman Rizzo spending a morning with us the other week at the facility. Everything in here is youth driven, with professional management. This place is different. It's a state-of-the-art facility, and this School District cannot say no to this project with these young people leading the effort. We have an agreement with Temple University to serve as contractors. This is not a Temple University project, but this is a state-of-the-art facility. It is in the Fifth Councilman District. We are proud of it, and we want to finish construction and have this facility ready. 237 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, it's about three months of construction to finish this project, three months. And there's no way this School District cannot go back and look at their budget and find some revenue to help us. Thank you, Council President Ann Verna.
Well, you're asking Mackey, so I want to be respectful. The reality of it is --
That's right. We have a request into the School District for $7,000 per student.
The first year it would be 120 students, and moving into the second students, 220 students. On of the letter to 238 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. Mr. Bichner, the outline is outlined on . Year is 1.4 million. Year is 2.2 million. And I don't think for $7,000 a cause per student, with graduate students from Temple University and my fine young colleagues here, with the other leaderships that -- young people that we have developed you're going to get a better $7,000 per cost. The facility is ready to go, and it's all that.
Okay. Any questions or comments from members of the Committee? The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I would be remiss after that rousing ovation that I got to not talk about the wonderful work that City Wide and all of the members of the City Wide Youth organization have done over the number of years, and I just 239 4/5/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060001, ETC. want to congratulate you for your continued and sustained presence in the community, not only working with young people but working with businesses and residents in the community. So I want to commend you, and keep on doing the good work.