COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEETING - - - Caucus Room, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Friday, 11/16/01 10:45 a.m. - - - SCHEDULED MEETING WITH EDISON PRESENT: Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, Education Committee Chair Councilman Darrell L. Clarke Pedro Ramos, President School Board School Board Member Martin Bednarek Reverend Ralph Blanks, School Board Member State Rep. Louise Williams Bishop State Rep. John Myers Matt Quigley, Representing Councilman Goode - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING
Good morning, everyone. This is actually a public meeting -- or a meeting of City Council's Education Committee, the Pennsylvania Delegation, the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus for the School District, and the Board of the School District of Philadelphia with Edison project. Edison will not be in attendance. Yesterday, they called and said, you know, they couldn't -- they didn't believe they were going to be able to make it today. Unbeknownst to some of the Edison staff, two weeks ago, someone from one of their divisions or units of their corporation invited the Philadelphia media to New York today to give them a comprehensive briefing of Edison. So I said, well, you know, that's exactly what we wanted; you need to be down here in Philadelphia briefing us. Then last night, I got a couple of calls that said that Edison was going to try very hard to send someone here this morning, and that's why we were waiting around a bit, just to see if someone from Edison was going to show up. And I just want to give you some information right Now I'm just going to recognize who else 3 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING is here. We do have State Representative Louise Bishop here, who is co-chair of the Philadelphia Delegation; Pedro Ramos, School Board President; Councilman Darrell Clarke; Reverend Ralph Blanks; Representative John Myers; Marty Bednarek; and we have a representative from Councilman Wilson Goode's office and I believe someone may be here from Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds' office and from Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell's office. Councilwoman Blackwell could not be here today because of a prior commitment; she's out doing a tour with senior citizens in her district. We're disappointed that Edison is not here this morning. This is going to be ongoing, and they can't expect to just come into Philadelphia and answer some questions for an hour and a half and that's the end of it. We have scheduled another meeting with them on this Wednesday, the 21st of November, at 2:00 p.m. in Council chambers. And I'm going to pass the mike. I notice some of my colleagues have some remarks, and this just doesn't sit well with us. You know, we're not just representatives of the people, but many of us are also parents of public school children. This is 4 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING such a critical issue we're faced with right now here in Philadelphia, and this is going to be ongoing, so they might as well get used to coming back to Philadelphia and answering questions to us. STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Thank you very much, Councilwoman Miller. I am Representative Louise Williams Bishop, and I too am very disappointed that Edison did not show up today, especially since it was them who had wanted and asked for a second time to come and appear before City Council and others who were here in conjunction with this meeting. I think we get a good look at the kind of company that we will be dealing with whenever they don't show the responsibility to come before the people and talk to the people, the representatives and the Congress people as well as the Council people, the Senate, the House of Representatives. It shows their blatant disregard for what we need and for what Philadelphia needs. They are not interested, it appears, in our concern, and they're not interested in being questioned by us because if they were, the large entourage they had they could have had at least one person here to respond to 5 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING questions. And when they have invited the Philadelphia press conveniently to New York City so that they can brief the press, they could have very well briefed the press right here in Council chambers, or certainly we would have prepared another place for them to brief the press if that was really their intention. So to me, it's blatant disregard for our concerns, it's disregard for our children, and it shows what kind of hands our schools fall should they take over. Thank you.
Good morning. Chairwoman Miller. First of all, I want to thank the committee again for holding these hearings and insisting upon a dialog and information. As you know, the Board has also been unsuccessful in getting details out of Edison or the Governor on their report and the plan. I just want to observe, I guess, as somebody who's been on the Board now for almost six years -- two of them as president and three as vice president -- that the nine members of the Board of Education are all volunteers, and most of us -- still most of us are 6 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING not retired, and those that are retired are probably even busier with other obligations. And despite the fact that serving on the board is a voluntary commitment, we understand, and have always understood, that when City Council calls us, even when it's inconvenient, even when we don't want to be here -- although those are very few occasions -- we understand that part of the responsibility that we undertook when we agreed to have the responsibility for public schools was to be at the call of those elected officials representing the taxpayers of the City of Philadelphia. And we recognize and respect that. And I think you would agree, you know, that we have always been respectful of that authority of Council and that prerogative of elected officials. So I think one thing -- and I believe that City Council and other elected officials that have been involved in these hearings have shown extraordinary courtesy towards the representatives of the Edison company, and I know firsthand that the chairwoman has gone out of her way. I was actually pretty jealous at how accommodating you were being to them compared to my volunteer board members in 7 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING the past, but I want to recognize that I know that you tried to be extra fair and extra courteous, and I'm really surprised that the Edison Company would consider entertaining media in New York a priority over responding to elected officials, particularly not just a question of board members here, but questions of elected officials when they're -- when they're advocating spending, you know, taking responsibility for over $10 billion over the next five years, being entrusted with $10 billion. And that's nothing compared to what else they're being entrusted to, and that's the future of our children, yours and mine, and the children and many other people around the State who are in Philadelphia public schools. So I think that, you know, one thing that seems evident about this company that I hope that they learn is you can't run the school system from New York. You've got to be here on the ground. And, you know, if they can't bring themselves to the table, even in these preliminary questions and discussions, I don't know how they think they could possibly imagine that they could survive in this city as a part of a hostile takeover. 8 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING So I'm just really baffled that Edison has not taken the call to be here more seriously.
I want to also make the point that I just want to underscore again: For a company that says it has the capacity to run a system of over 200,000 children, to not have a person to spare is also remarkable.
Good morning, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I too would like to also thank you for calling for these hearings and conducting these hearings. They have been informative in that it informed us that we are continuing to seek information from that entity who has been requested to possibly take charge of the school system. As a result of their unwillingness in my mind to share adequate appropriate information to we, as members of Council and members of the board and ultimately members of the public, it is increasingly leading me to be very concerned that we're definitely not going in the right direction. I can recall in my short tenure here as a 9 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING Councilperson having a traffic engineer from the Streets Department and grilling that individual for more than an hour and a half about a stop sign. And to think that somehow something as important as the children of the City of Philadelphia and the school system, with hundreds of millions of dollars, that somehow that entity thinks that they can give us less time than Charlie Trainer from the Streets Department about a stop sign is, frankly speaking, pretty amazing to me. So I think that whatever happens, people need to understand, you know, we're simply not going to stand by idly and allow individuals to come in based on some contract, based on some deals that was made, and to take charge of our school system and not be in a position adequately inform the public as to what their plan is and answer the questions not only of this body but answer the questions from the public. 'Cause ultimately, we are all responsible to them, and I think that people need to understand both from the State, both from this particular organization, that, you know, it's going to be a long road if they continue to act in this manner. But again, Madam Chair, I just want to 10 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING thank you for doing what you're doing and keeping our nose to the grindstone, and I will continue to be supportive of you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Who do these people think they are? I mean, here they are in New York today. You can't run a district using fax machines, e-mails, telephone calls, and ask for meetings and not show up. You know, I resent it personally and I feel bad for this committee that they're not here today, and I think it's a disgrace that they showed this disrespect to this committee and to the citizens of Philadelphia. Is this what we're going to have to get used to? Is this what we're going to have to get used to? I think the citizens better wake up and see what's happening here. And we got to get our heads from out of the sand and get out into the streets and let these people how we feel. And I just want to express that e-mails do not work. I heard them talking about e-mails at the last hearing. To contact people, you got to press 11 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING the flesh. These are our kids very importantly, and I'm very disappointed they're not here today.
Thank you. Rick Myers? STATE REPRESENTATIVE MYERS: Good morning,
Good morning. STATE REPRESENTATIVE MYERS: You know better than to put a microphone in front of a politician. (Laughter.) STATE REPRESENTATIVE MYERS: One thing that comes to mind is I think it's wonderful and great that you're not going to let up and continue to put the pressure on. Somebody has to lead this charge and somebody has to lead this charge in a serious matter, and their feet have to be held to the fire. They have to be held accountable, they have to be asked to be here every day, every day. When they don't show up, we need to expose them for the disrespect and disregard for the citizens of Philadelphia. I was thinking about colonial Pennsylvania and the British and how the British were running the colonial government from outside of the 12 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING Commonwealth, and this is sort of a microcosm or a megalocosm of history kind of repeating itself again. Clearly in my mind, on a national level, a war has been declared with regards to who's going to take responsibility and figure out public school systems. The colonialists -- I was thinking capitalists. The colonialists have once again in American history have decided that they want to, in fact, take charge of the government. A very interesting point in my view is that Edison is in this town today. Somebody from Edison is in this town today because they're meeting with community groups and stuff. They're meeting with elements in the community that they are going to use as their commandos to wage a street war. This is going to, you know, develop into a street war. And I think that the other salient point is that that (inaudible) is the governor. If the Governor told Edison to be here, they would be here
That's right. STATE REPRESENTATIVE MYERS: It's not just, Well, we're not going to meet with City 13 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING Council. They're getting marching instructions from somewhere. I think we need to put fire under the people handing out marching instructions. Also, we got to expose them too. If you work for me to, you go where I tell you to go when I tell you to go. $2.7 million to write a report so that I can offer -- what was it, $37,000 a page? After spending $37,000 a page, then I can offer you a plan? So I think that one of the issues that needs to be addressed, in addition to putting the focus on Edison, I think we need to rally behind the Councilwoman, the Mayor, and the School Board, and we need to have Governor Schweiker call Edison in the room and chastise them on our behalf.
Thank you. That's great. I think that we do need to bring Governor Schweiker in this. Governor Schweiker's here in Philadelphia today too. I know two groups in particular that he's meeting with today, and it may be other groups too, but I do know of two groups that he'll be meeting with out in the neighborhoods in Philadelphia. 14 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING And, you know, one of the questions that I have is, there are many Councilmembers and many School District members and many State reps that have not -- or were not able to ask Edison questions. We have to get 'em back here. Governor Schweiker, I agree, Representative Meyers, we need to call him. We need to say, Governor Schweiker, we want you to be accountable to us and deal with this whole issue of this Edison problem and the fact that they need to come back and get back here to Philadelphia. The accountability is the issue, and that's one of the questions that keeps coming up, keeps coming up with privatization -- where is accountability and who are they accountable to? Are they accountable to our children, are they accountable to parents, are they going to be accountable to us, or are they just accountable to stockholders? Or how do they prioritize who they're going to be accountable to? And I know that's one of my questions I've been asking all along. Some of us have met with Edison prior to last Thursday when they were here in September and in August, and accountability, the issue of 15 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING accountability keeps coming up. And public education allows for public debate about education, and we need to have it. I don't care who's running our schools. Edison needs to get used to it. We're certainly not the first city that they've tried to come into or tried to come into and, I know that they have -- must have had other hearings across the country. People have not just sat back and just opened their arms and said, Come on in, you know, we're waiting for you. And the same thing is not going to happen here in Philadelphia. I just want to thank everybody for their interests. We're sticking together on this issue as unified people, and I've enjoyed having more of a dialogue with many people from the State level and also from the School District level. And, of course, City Councilmembers, we always talk, but this has really made all of us talk more on a regular basis, 'cause sometimes we may not talk for a whole month, but this is really good, and we're going to call on the Mayor and we may invite Edison back on Monday and take it up on State representative Meyers' suggestion that we need to 16 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING invite them back every day. And we may just perhaps invite them back on Monday, but they definitely are scheduled to come back on Wednesday. And I want to thank everyone for coming here this morning. We don't want to prolong things, but we thought it was important, you know, to talk about what's going on, and I just want to continue to thank people for their support and for their efforts to fight privatizing Philadelphia's public schools. Thank you.
If I may. I would be remiss if I would not take advantage of the opportunity to express my gratitude and appreciation with you and other members of Council as well as members of the State legislators and Black Caucus as well as our president, Pedro Ramos, for his leadership in this matter. And I think beyond that, I concur with all of the sentiments that have been expressed here this morning and just feel further that this is the biggest farce that has been presented in this new millennium. If we allow this to happen without these kind of hearings and requests for information and understanding, then we are copartners to the 17 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING biggest farce in the new millennium. Thank you.
My name is Sam Burwell from the Philadelphia Home and School Council. I chair public relations and special education. I have one concern that I would like to address the body here because you can help the Philadelphia Home and School Council and our parents. We've taken on the goals of trying to educate our parents, but we don't seem to be getting any support from other organizations that are here that can really back the parents. If there's any way that the School District -- and I know you have limitations. I wonder if there's any way that individuals here can support the Philadelphia Home and School Council and give us some guidelines and ammunition that we can educate the parents with because they really do not know what the Edison Corporation is all about. They don't have the information. We have some but it's limited. We'd like to try to educate these parents, and maybe we can rally them. That's number one Number two, we also have a special needs 18 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING radio talk show which we deal with special needs on the radio. This program is live on the Internet. I am willing to take this special needs program and concentrate on the Edison Corporation from now until we have some support. If this is live on the Internet, it sends a message to the Governor if he'll tune in on the Internet to hear what Philadelphia's going to say. In order to do this, we need support, we need you to appear on the show. We also need parents that are educated that can make statements that the Governor needs to hear and that Edison Corporation needs to hear. We can rally the parents but we need you to support us and give us some guidance and real help.
Just for clarity, when you said you need us to support you, who do you mean? I know you did mention the School District but what other --
I believe, Councilwoman Miller, you chair the Education Committee, Councilwoman Miller?
Well, we definitely could 19 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING use your input and guidance, you know, on the facts and the figures. You probably know what parents need to know in order to move them in some direction. Even the potential schools that have been targeted, we don't know which schools have actually been targeted. If we can figure out which schools have been targeted, we can try to get these parents and let them know what's going to happen per se when the Edison Corporation is going to take over. But we also need to know what we're going to lose when it comes to special ed. I've been talking to special ed. parents who are in an uproar because they feel they're going to lose special ed. if the schools becomes privatized. Where does the State come in?
One suggestion as far as the radio show goes, Alexis is coordinating and we're getting a lot of requests for radio and all of that, so that's the route to go there. But specifically to how do parents learn about it, we're working on some things in communications in the District which would be helpful. I think too that the people that are on this committee should get some questions from you 20 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING directly from parents, because we may all have a particular perspective. I'm a parent and I will ask questions from my own perspective as well as from the perspective of the Board but. It would be helpful for you and I think we would welcome, you know, those direct questions that you're getting from parents. It should start with what questions do parents have and let's get folks in here. Maybe we can get them to show up and answer questions that parents have directly. I think if we even had a list in here, the committee would welcome going down the list and reading the questions from parents and having the representatives from Edison answer them on the record. I don't know if that works for the chairwoman.
It works for us. We would love to have that kind of list from you. I think what we could do probably is meet, you know, as a small group to figure out some strategies and how we can work, best work with each other on what we're trying to do.
We're just as concerned and we want to fight, but we can't fight a battle 21 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING without the right ammunition.
But part of what's missing here is information, which is what this committee and the Board is trying to get, and not a lot of it is coming. I think we still have responsibility to ask the questions, and I would ask you to, through the Home and School Council and the vehicles that you have available like the radio show and the Internet and your other communication vehicles, to collect what questions parents have about this so that we can put them directly to Edison on the record and try to get answers to the questions because that, you know, is a part of what's missing, information. We're having an important debate because information's being monopolized the way the proposal itself monopolizes the management of the schools.
Yes. Give us a date and we'll have them for you. 22 11/16/01 EDUCATION MEETING
Very good. Plus it's important to -- you know people assume that we have all of this information. As Pedro said, we don't have lots of information but we would welcome additional questions and will continue to seek information. We want to end this session now. If people want to talk, we can talk after this is over. I'm very conscious of people's time and other schedules. I want to thank everyone for coming, and don't forget that we do have a scheduled hearing. We have a meeting scheduled, a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m. in Room 400 across the hall. And Edison said they'll also be there. Hopefully, we'll see them on Wednesday. Thank you for coming. (Meeting ends at 11 a.m.) - - - 23 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia's meeting of the Council Committee on Education of Friday, 11/16/01, 2001, are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. _______________________________, Josephine Cardillo Registered Professional Reporter and 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.)