All right. I'm Inella Raquel Ray. So good morning, City Council. I live in the 3rd Councilmanic District so I'm very disappointed not to see my Councilperson here currently. I am the Director of Parent Advocacy and Engagement at Children First. I am also a founding Board member and current Co-chair of Lift Every Voice Philly and a proud graduate of Philadelphia public schools. I'm here today to urge you to direct an additional $25 million to our students by increasing the millage reimbursement that goes to schools. This isn't about numbers. This is about our values. It's about making sure our schools are places where young people can experience joy, where their potential is nurtured and where they can have what they need to grow and thrive. Yesterday during the School District's budget hearing the topic of swimming came up. And like many of you shared, I believe that swimming is important but it's also a powerful metaphor of what's happening to many of our kids right now. Our children are drowning, not in water but in schools that don't have enough staff, enough resources or enough support to hold them. They are doing the best to stay afloat and systems that were not built to keep them safe or help them succeed. I know this because I was a student that was drowning. I went to Academy at Palumbo High School, which is a magnet school. We didn't have a full-time nurse or librarian. Music and art only appeared when the budget allowed. We had to share sports teams with nearby schools because we didn't have our own, and we only went on one school trip, our senior trip, and we had to fundraise that for ourselves. That was nearly years ago. And yet the families I speak with every day are still navigating the same conditions. And I would argue they're more egregious. You all heard on April 4th at the Joy hearing how egregious things are and you all need to act. So I want to ask you all directly, if you had the power to keep a child from drowning, would you? Because that's the situation we're in, not just with one child but with 198,000 children in this city. And right now you have the power to keep them afloat. You can throw them a lifeline while we wait for Harrisburg to do their job. The conditions in our schools are urgent. Our schools are not failing. They are being failed. And just like with swimming, we cannot keep telling them to try harder if we're not willing to provide the tools, the instruction and the care they need. This $25 million investment is one way you can act now to keep our kids up, to help them breathe, to show them and all of us that this city is willing to fight for them. (Applause.)
Hi, everyone. Can everyone hear me? Okay, yeah. Hi. My name is Elena Brunner. I'm a long-time Philly resident from the Kalmyk Mongolian community and I am here to give testimony in support of the $1.9 million for three newcomer programs and reinstating the multicultural assessment centers in the School District led by Juntos. Our community originally came to Philly about 70 years ago as refugees struggling like many other communities to settle and survive day-to-day. We are an endangered indigenous Northern Mongolian people of Siberia and the (inaudible). Today there are only 270,000 left of us across the world, significantly less than the people of just Philadelphia alone. Since 2022 we have unexpectedly welcomed the arrival of our second mass migration of Kalmyk seeking asylum in Philadelphia, many families with school-aged children. They quickly escaped our ancestral lands because of turmoil, flew across the world and were held in detention at the border for varying lengths of time and entered a new environment with a new language in Philadelphia, this all while and navigating confusing immigration processes and threats of ICE harassment, detention and deportations, also trying to stabilize housing, food, utilities like electric and water at home, and helping their parents with younger siblings. That journey is a lot for young children to experience. It takes a toll on long-term emotional health, which we unfortunately learned from the last generation of refugees from 70 years ago and are still healing through today. Sorry, I lost my spot -- oh, while we have a community to help support families outside of the school, children spend large parts of the day in school. We need at least three newcomer programs to start and the multicultural assessment centers to help ensure our students and all students of Philadelphia have an actual chance to learn. Setting children up for the future through education is the purpose of the School District. It's part of a holistic approach to ensure that our people, all people, have access to the resources they need to survive, feel safe and supported and thrive. Help us keep our people alive and thriving to see the next generation and the one after by funding programs that help our kids and their families in your Districts while our communities and families are under attack. Schools and education need a bigger slice of the pie. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony and for being here. Please approach the witness table. State your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. Good to see you. 52nd Ward in the house.
Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Kimberly Nelson and I'm here today. Thank you for having me. I'm here asking a question in reference to the changes that are happening in Washington, D.C. for special needs children. I sat here for two days listening to the conversations and this is the first time that I'm going to be mentioning the support that is going to be needed to protect our children in our city, with 25,000 children that are in the School District of Philadelphia that hold 15% of the children inside of our School District. I myself have a daughter that does have a disability. And knowing that some of the schools that are short with accessibility for children that have wheelchairs and that need accessible entry inside of the schools, how does the City plan to support our children, our baby Philadelphians? And I want to also incorporate conversation about the transition of 8th graders going from charter schools going into our public schools and high schools. I have a challenge right now that I'm going through with my daughter with trying to get into a school that's going to be accessible for her as well. So I'm asking City Council to please support us parents as myself to make it easier for the process of entering high schools for our children with disabilities and have IEPs. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony and for being here. We appreciate you, and our junior block captain. Will the Clerk please call the next witnesses.
Is there a Lilianna Sand present or a Julie Krug? (No response.)
As there is no one else here to testify, we're still going to come back at -- what time is it now, 12:44. We'll come back at 2 o'clock to reconvene for our afternoon session. But I just want to give us just a brief time because somebody is at the metal detector. I just want to get this last young lady in before we break so she's not standing around until 2 o'clock. One second. Council will be at ease. (Council at ease.)
I do want to take a moment to just thank all the activists who are here today. Could we give them a round of applause? (Applause.)
Just to show that this is democracy in action on a Wednesday afternoon, and it's nice outside and you're right here speaking truth to power for our most precious assets in the city of Philadelphia and that's our children. So it does not go unnoticed that we recognize the hard work that you are putting in advocating for all of our young people and everybody who's here. So I just want to personally acknowledge that as well as my colleagues acknowledging that as well. The Chair recognizeS Councilmember Landau.
I just wanted to lend my voice to thank you all for coming out here and making such a clear case to us about how while we're in this budget process, we have such important decisions to make. There's unfortunately some version of a limited pot and we get to choose how we're prioritizing our spending based on the needs of Philadelphia. Whether you've brought in the stories of students who are in school now, whether you spoke from parents, whether you even just spoke from your experience as educators, it is clear as day that the need is still as urgent now as it was years ago, as it was years ago, and the only way we are going to be able to create the Philadelphia that we all want, having the pipeline of the students who are so highly educated that they get into these great jobs, is that if we invest in our School District now to the best possibility that we can keeping the funding for the future, knowing that we don't have to keep doing this every single year. You guys have really made the case for that and I appreciate you so much. Thank you. (Witness approached Witness table.)
I think I'm a good, fair -- I think I'm a good, fair leader too. I kind of waited and -UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Inaudible).
Yes, taxpayers. That's right. That's who we work for at the end of the day, the taxpayers. How are you doing today?
See, I would have got you a personal escort upstairs. So the next time let me know if any of your team downstairs and they give you a hard time. As you come through the checkpoint, we'll get you escorted upstairs. So you can begin your testimony.
That's all right. Take your time. We got a bottle of water for you as well. Thank you. Fighting for our kids. Take your time. Take your time.
All right. This is obviously very important to me and to all of us here at Lift Every Voice. My name is Julie Krug. I'm a parent of two children, one at Albert Greenfield Elementary and one at CAPA. I'm also a member of Lift Every Voice Philly, a Black-led parent organization advocating for all children in Philly schools to have what they need, including joyful and developmentally appropriate policies and programs. I'm speaking because there is deep inequity among K to 8 schools. Some schools like ours have fundraisers to address needed resources. But what about schools where families cannot afford to do that? We can't have kickstarter campaigns for schools. That's not a solution. I'm also speaking because I see policies at my son's school that are based on punishment as control as opposed to creating a classroom where everyone belongs or focusing on empathy. I'm speaking about punitive discipline. Entire classes being denied recess for the actions of a classmate and rules that don't even allow snack breaks, even when lunch is scheduled as late as 1:00 p.m. These are not isolated incidents. They are systemic. They're part of what over 600 parents have named the Dirty Dozen, 12 widespread harmful practices that we can and must end. My son loves recess. It helps him focus, but he's often hungry by noon and earlier this year he got in trouble for eating during class. When I asked about snack breaks, his teacher told me their bodies will adjust. That's simply not acceptable. He's been given yellow cards for talking in class, warnings that lead to losing privileges, including recess. The times he struggles most, right before lunch and recess after sitting for hours. We need district-wide standards rooted in child development. Kids need to move. They need play and they need dignity. This is why we at Lift Every Voice Philly are asking City Council to fund our schools and we are asking the District to prioritize a framework that addresses the schools that are hurting the most and to hire a Chief of Joy to make sure all schools are living up to the actual needs of all Philly kids. Thank you. (Applause.)
Any questions or comments from members of the Committee? (No response.)
I just feel compelled to call on my colleague Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke because he's been a champion regarding the Joy campaign and the Chief Joy Officer and he's been on the front line speaking about this particular issue. And so, I just feel compelled to offer the floor to you.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just will add my voice to the great voices that are being lifted here behind me in their advocacy, to remind us that if we want to realize joy, not just talk about it, not just call out that it's missing, but if we want to realize joy in the life of our students in the culture of our schools, we have to give it a job. We have to prioritize it. We have to give it a role within our administrative structure. And I thank you all for actually coming here and being relentless in your advocacy and saying, regardless of how foolish or silly some people may think it is, saying, hey, no, joy matters, we want to change -- we want to lift their spirits in our schools. And I think it doesn't just help the students. It helps the teachers as well. Everyone is impacted by this. So thank you. We know that joy is also an act of resistance and I thank you for resisting any negativity towards this effort and continuously putting your voice forward to make sure that we see this in our schools. Thank you, Mr. President.
And just wrapping up before we break for recess, when I think about the culture of our schools, when I think about having a joy-based climate, I think about and I say this sincerely when we think about the state of our city, the actual trauma that our young people are dealing with, not only as a result of the significant gun violence that they're seeing in terms of losing friends and loved ones to gun violence on a daily basis, and although we are at a 30-year historic low when it comes to homicides and shootings in the city of Philadelphia, we are seeing an increase, a significant increase in juveniles being charged as adults for shootings in the city of Philadelphia. And as a direct result, we have young people dealing with the issue of trauma of seeing their friends and loved ones being murdered in the streets of the city of Philadelphia. And so, when they're going to school they have a decision to make, even if it's a decision they can even make at all in terms of how do you process that trauma in a school-based environment. And so, this is something very serious that we have to consider. And I know we've had conversations with Dr. Watlington, and he kind of hinted or danced around if they have a support for it. But at the end of the day, you prioritize your budget what's important at the end of the day. And so, we will continue having conversations with the Administration, at least to express from our perspective as this body that this is something they should strongly consider as they continue to move forward. And so, we just want to thank you for your advocacy. (Applause.)
With that being said, Council will be at ease. And thank you very much for your testimony. Council will be at ease until 2:00 p.m. (Council at ease.)
Members, please take your seats. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the next person for public testimony.
Barbara Dowdall, and if we have Lilianna Sand. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
I want to thank you for being here today. Just, please state your name for the record and begin your testimony. MS. McDOWELL DOWDALL: Thank you. My name is Barbara McDowell Dowdall. I'm a retired teacher retired from A. Philip Randolph Career Tech High School. One-time State Representative and Pennsylvania Cabinet Secretary John White told PFT members, Every day in every school something good happens. This remains true, true in the three privileged schools with fully-resourced professionally-staffed libraries, true in the 200-plus schools without and especially true in the underresourced schools currently on the secret hit list of the secret facilities review group. Once announced, communities facing loss will have no time to fight back. The process here directly mirrors nationwide strategies to close schools, claiming seeking equity or cost- savings, as reported in one session at the recent Network for Public Education in Columbus, Ohio. The Board hires consultants to do utilization study packed with euphemisms right-sizing is a favorite for closing neighborhood schools. Real motive, developers want to get their hands on school buildings. See (inaudible) in Germantown. Board launches Superintendents Facilities Task Force early in one year to give recommendations to the board to a set date with plans to ram through closures soon after. Factors leading to this situation, desegregation, redlining, white flight, disinvestment, privatization and gentrification. Research confirms that majority Black schools are more likely to close. No more profound evidence of disinvestment than the relentless closure of our school libraries. Let us seize the moment. Reject the Trump Musk DOGE strategies of secrecy, shock and awe. Implement the work of (inaudible), our Director of Library Services and the PFT contract proposals and pending legislation in Harrisburg. Direct the first cohort of new librarians to the schools on the secret hit list. Pause school closures, engage communities, plan for growth. Do not sell school buildings. Strongly recommend that Council rotate assignment of at least one staff member to attend Board of Education meetings and report back to Council. This will provide much of the information you were seeking yesterday when questioning Board President Streater and Superintendent Dr. Watlington. Please read my cousin Iris Rodberg's article on the myths of test score comparisons. And join POWER Interfaith in Harrisburg on May 13th to speak to legislators and rally on the Capitol steps. I am also a member of the Alliance for Philadelphia, Philadelphia Public Schools. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Lilianna Sand. I am a student at Central High School, as I hope is obvious by my T-shirt. And for the past few years, I've been a member of our Robotics team. These opportunities have absolutely 100% changed my life. I've become a leader in engineer, and next year I'm going to be studying my dream career at my dream school and I would not have been able to do that without robotics.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I wanted to go there --
Okay. That's what's up. I do want to acknowledge in City Council we do have our own -- we have two doctors.
Dr. Councilmember Nina Ahmad and Dr. Councilmember Anthony Phillips.
I wanted to be an astronaut since I was 5 years old and I'm going for aero astro engineering. So I just want to build rockets.
Okay. Just don't fly with Elon Musk. That's all.
Hey, no, no, don't worry. Trust me. My team and I beyond Central, we work to make sure that every student has access to the opportunities that I've been given. The access to be able to go to your dream school to follow your dreams in the way that I have absolutely been able to do shouldn't just be restricted to Central High School. And we fully trust in that belief. Over the course of my high school career, we've started and supported 140 robotics teams across the city, giving thousands of students coming from every single one of the Districts that you represent the opportunity to participate. Last year, as some of you hopefully know by the billboard, Central won the first Robotics world championship. (Applause.)
Thank you. We competed against -- that's competing against 600 teams from around the world out of the 3800 that exist in total. And we were competing against some of the best most-resourced teams in the country and we showed them the Philly spirit. Philly loves an underdog and we won. But coming back from Houston, we were told that the City or that the School District of Philadelphia was cutting all funding for extracurriculars, including our team and the 140 teams across the city that we had worked really hard to create. Many of these teams didn't survive that cut and we're back to basically where we started just a few years ago. So we began showing up at the Board of Education meetings and asking the District to restore the funding that had been lost. After a couple of months, the Superintendent announced that they were restoring $1.2 million for this year and $1.8 million for next year. We were told that our voices mattered and our advocacy gets things done. On Monday I saw the Fiscal Year 2026 proposed budget, which includes a 22% decrease in funding for extracurriculars. That's about $1.3 million which is what we gain through advocacy and then some. This time most of the money is coming out of funding for extracurricular pay for teachers, which means that most of our teams won't have coaches. This is the second time in a single year that the District has cut this money without warning. I should absolutely be focusing on school right now. I rushed here on SEPTA directly from an AP exam. I also don't really know how all of this works. I will be completely honest. I don't know who makes the decisions or what decisions and who influences what, but I don't know what else to do. I fully believe that extracurriculars are essential in building the students and the culture that we all want for the city. And I just want to stop this pattern. It's unsustainable. We've proven that when given access there is demand for these programs. We've shown the profound impact that extracurriculars can have on students' lives, including my own. And we've seen how the attention of District and City officials can change access drastically. Please, please help me make sure that no 23 other student has to be in my shoes and fight this fight again. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. I just want to say that your voice does matter and we thank you for taking time and really just showing up and speaking truth to power. So I do have some members that do want to comment. We want to say thank you for your leadership. I want to thank you for mentioning one of my mentors, John White, Jr. And so, thank you for keeping his legacy alive in terms of his public leadership to the City of Philadelphia from the work that he has done as a public service. I want to say thank you. With that being said, the Chair recognizes Chairman of Education Councilman Isaiah Thomas. And then Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and Councilmember Landau.
Thank you so much for your testimony. It's truly inspiring and it means a lot. I want you to know that when you all did your advocacy-based initiatives to fight for the program that you're talking about, especially the robotics program, it landed on the elected officials. It landed on the Education Committee, so you can hear some of my colleagues who are on the Education Committee. Your advocacy became the talk of the group texts. We got those things too, right. And because of your advocacy, it inspired us to step up our advocacy. And that's why together we were able to see those funds restored for that program. So when you come down to City Hall after testing -- my son is testing today as well too -- so when you come down to City Hall after testing and you provide testimony like this, know that it resonates with all of us because it doesn't happen often, but the most important thing I want you to know is that you can be the change you want to see. You and your voice alone is enough to make a difference. And when you hear us telling you that, know that we're not just saying it. All of us are ready to get out of here, right. But we don't mind taking a couple extra minutes just to not only give you your flowers, but also to make sure that every young person who hears this after you, all of your friends and all of the people you end up teaching, mentoring and inspiring, that they understand that this does matter and advocacy does matter. So thank you so much. And congratulations to that amazing robotics program. You put a lot of pressure on them. Make sure y'all keep bringing home the gold and representing Philadelphia.
Oh, I know you will. Thank you. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you so much. It really does mean -- it makes such a huge difference in our lives. If every student could have the opportunities that I have had, we would have an even better city. And it really does -- it changes lives. So we appreciate it. Thank you.
Thank you, Council President. Lilianna, we talked earlier. I want to thank you for being here and thank you for your efforts. I am a proud Central graduate 255. And you said in your comments that you didn't know how these things work, you didn't know how it happened. This is how it happens, right. As our Chair of Education mentioned, we heard your advocacy. And when we recognized what was going on, we took up that mantle while you were still advocating and it was due to that advocacy that we got a win. But you make a good point that the win can't be for one year, right. Students don't just need extracurricular activities for one year. They need all the time to be able to learn and explore through arts and music and extracurriculars outside of the classroom. And the thing that I love most about the Central robotics program, which we honored here in this chamber, the thing that I love most is that it's for the whole city. I love how you all are approaching equity and making sure that so many students across the city get access to what you have access to. And I think a decision not to include this in the budget is what they call I think penny wise and pound foolish. $1 million is a drop in the bucket of a several billion dollar budget. And we need to make sure that extracurriculars are funded and included and you will have our support for that this year and every year. So thank you so much for being here because this is how it happened. And we wish you the best and we are so proud of you.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you so much. Absolutely brilliant testimony and I agree, this is how you make it happen. Two particular points I want to bring up right now. One is you are graduating --
You did not have to come here. Thank you so much for thinking about the juniors, the sophomores, the freshmen, the middle schoolers and the little kids who are going to come after you. You're making sure you're here to advocate that these programs exist for the future so that all of the kids get access to it, and that is so extra special about you. And then the second thing is that I really appreciate how you're highlighting what we heard all morning here today, is that we cannot continue having these arguments and these fights every year. It doesn't make any sense. We need consistency. We need to know what are the core things we need in a school and in a classroom. Let's fund it. Let's make it predictable. Let's fund it for the future and that way you guys get to go do what you need to do best. You need to learn. You need to study. Thankfully you're picking up all of these extracurriculars and then making Philly proud by going off to MIT. My gosh, that's unbelievable.
But we do have one request for you. Not only that you pass this down and tell folks how you came here today to talk to us and how they have to keep fighting the fight, but we're very greedy here in Philadelphia and we want you moving back after college. Okay. We want you back here in Philadelphia. Best of luck to you. So happy for you and can't wait to see all that your future holds.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony. Go ahead. MS. McDOWELL DOWDALL: I would say that we also saved the robotics teacher at Girls' High last year.
Okay. MS. McDOWELL DOWDALL: The students, the students.
Awesome. We have one more Councilmember. Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. So good to see you again. I echo everything my colleagues have said. I wanted to ask how Leonardo Da Pinchi is doing and who's going to take care of that robot. I saw it in action when I was there congratulating you on your win. So that was one question. The second one is, how do we take what you have at Central and the group you had and invite more people to actually see value and interest? I would love for you, the graduating class who was so instrumental in this win, to leave behind some kind of a blueprint for us to say what things we should be doing in other schools to pique people's interest?
I so appreciate you and all of you for doing what you do. Thank you.
It's so good to see you again. Leonardo Da Pinchi is being used as a teaching tool for all the kids to come, so they rewired it, redesigned it and that's what we do every year. And I invite every single one of you to come up to Central. We love having guests. We love showing off what we love to do. You can drive a robot. Don't worry, you won't break it. And if you do, we'll fix it. It's more fun for us anyway. So please, please come anytime. We would love to have you and show you around. The thing with this program, the part about robotics and about these extracurriculars which make them so special, is that we're teaching students to be able to do the work in creating new programs. Part of our process is not only the students learn how to wire the robot again from last year, but they learn how to teach the next generation of students to do the same. And that's not only the new class that comes up from Central. That's all across the city. Part of our program is learning how to make an impact and mentor students from around the city. And that means that the motivation is there, the knowledge on how to both start but also sustain to train teachers, to train students, to recruit, all of that is institutional. It just requires time. There are absolutely steps that can be taken to make sure that every school is more prepared to accept that. But what it really takes is consistency and time and the ability to build up those skills in a set of people so that they can teach those skills in somebody else.
Well, thank you. And that's really the value add to make sure that the budget takes account of all this, because the indirect impact on what you do is vast outside of just the direct impact. So thank you so much. And thank you, Council President.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Continue to keep up the good work. Good job.
At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion that the public hearing and the meeting on the bills and resolutions before the Committee today stand in recess until Friday, May 2, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. in this room.
So moved, Mr. Chairman. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolutions before the Committee today stand in recess until Friday, May 2, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. in Room 400, City Hall. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. The Committee will stand in recess until Friday, May 2, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. Thank you very much everyone for your attendance. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 2:30 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL