That 330 5/23/07 - WHOLE - BILL 070015, ETC. will be great. Thank you very much. Any questions for Mr. Jones? (No response.)
Carol Blum, parent at Meredith School. You folks at Meredith, you all are blessed. You all got a good school there.
Thank you for allowing me to address all of you this afternoon. I appreciate it. Before I forget, may I submit some petitions and also some testimony from other families at Meredith Elementary School?
Thank you very much. I remember when President Bush was preparing to send troops to Iraq for the first time. Michael Moore, the filmmaker and professional political 331 5/23/07 - WHOLE - BILL 070015, ETC. agitator, asked members of Congress who were voting to send troops to Iraq whether or not their children would be traveling overseas to Iraq. No one answered him affirmatively. Today, I ask a similar question to City Councilmembers. Will any of your children be affected by pending budget cuts in the Philadelphia School District? And I thank all of you who are here today. Whether your answer is yea or nay to this question, I ask yourself to place yourself in the position of a parent who has no choices but to educate their children in the Philadelphia School District. Do we want to send our children to a school where children are engaged in the process of learning, where they have a reasonable student-teacher ratio and adequate material resources? Do we want to set them up for success? Of course we all do, which is why we're here today. 332 5/23/07 - WHOLE - BILL 070015, ETC. I'm the parent of a child at Meredith Elementary School, a first-grader, and that school is in Queen Village. Thanks to the leadership of the principal and dedicated teachers who are chosen through site selection, Meredith Elementary has been a success story. I am asking today to request that Council vote to support the Public Education Reinvestment Act to maintain status quo funding and staffing at Meredith Elementary. I also ask that Councilmembers work with the School Reform Commission to advocate for financial stability for Meredith Elementary and all of the schools in the District. Thank you for your support of our children and also of your constituents.
Thank you very much and thank you for the 333 5/23/07 - WHOLE - BILL 070015, ETC. information and lovely photo.
Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? (No response.)
Thank you very much, and thank you all for your patience. MR. McPHERSON: We have a list of individuals who left testimony and I just would like to read their names very briefly. Shannon and Kelly Stirman, Michael and Deena Flanagan, Valerie Yoder, Tia Reinvald, Angela Camarote, Tract Preebrow, Frank and Carol Russo, Carol Blum, Elisa Forgey and Scott George, Dawn Davenport, Gerri DiCriscio, Carmen Hayman, Jeff Fadellin, Dawn 334 5/23/07 - WHOLE - BILL 070015, ETC. Klemash, Wendy and Ted Wolf, Darnell Thomas, James and Nary Rennie and the Chief Financial Officer from the School District, Folasade Lewis.
We have now concluded the public hearing and public meeting on Bill Nos. 070015, 070118 and 070119. Thank you all very much. (Committee of the Whole adjourned at 3:50 p.m.) - - - 335 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on May 23, 2007, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)