However, what I spoke about was what currently existed and has been existing for a number of years in the School District, that schools did not provide art or music instruction to all students.
So we're on the right track and we are making improvements?
Good. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Good 130 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 afternoon. We say thank you. It's always a pleasure to be here with you. And thank you for your leadership at the helm of the PFT.
We are really concerned. I think the most disappointing thing of all is, after so many years that we've all been involved, we still don't have uniform teaching at uniform grades -- not just between Charter and public schools, but across the board, where teachers are still trying to run off materials, trying to buy materials, trying to gather materials. And we still don't have, in spite of the testing and the time restraints and us worrying about that -- all that that brings on, we still don't have a uniform education across the City in every grade. And as long as that doesn't happen, we're going to have problems with children learning 131 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 for all the reasons, whether it be neighborhood, whether it be their ethnic background, all of those things will play in. And, obviously, I'm sure you agree with me that that's the reality of what we're dealing with even now.
And so we wanted to thank you for your leadership and always extend our hand in partnership to what you think we should do and what you think will help improve education. Yesterday, I mentioned Ritalin and behavior-altering drugs; I always do and always will, God willing. And we'll see what we can do. Thank you, Mr. Jordan.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones. 132 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
It was good to read in your testimony that Overbrook High School's mock trials championship was recognized, and I appreciate the work that your membership put into that. It is sometimes distressing when I hear from groups like that. A year ago, when they were in a similar situation, where, because of cutbacks, they didn't have enough paper to copy their testimony and preparation and notes, and so they had to have a fundraiser to raise the money for paper, which was interesting to me. You cut off some of your testimony and made it brief. I kind of get a flashback in school that if I did that and cut it off and said that I want to abbreviate my book report, I would have gotten in trouble, but 133 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that's okay.
Oh, okay, that was a good move. Oh, okay. But I point that out because you mentioned that you had an opportunity to go to a school in the Lehigh Valley, where their vocational career paths were solid. I don't know if you heard my comments in testimony earlier about green jobs and opportunities like that, and I wanted to kind of let you elaborate on the record a little bit about the Lehigh Valley visit.
Thank you, Councilman. The Lehigh Valley School was a school that was developed in partnership with the community leaders, and they were able to sit down and determine the kinds of jobs 134 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that the Lehigh Valley employers would need over the next decade. And as a result of those conversations, they then developed the programs that young people are able to study at the Lehigh Valley Career and Technical School. And it's been a very successful school because young people choose the course of study that they're interested in, and they're hired in their community by the companies that will employ them with the skills that they have. Many of the young people are able to get dual credit, credit for high school and for college, and leave with enough credits to have an associate's degree. I learned that many begin working in their skilled area, and, after a few years, may decide that they want more education and will then go back to college for another two years to earn a bachelor's 135 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 degree. It's a program that prepares young people for the jobs that are going to be available in their community. And I'm suggesting in my testimony that it's something that we need to do. We need to look at how our high schools are functioning. I know that yesterday there were some questions about -- and I think from you -- regarding the high schools and the graduation rate. And in order to increase our graduation rate, we need to offer children the opportunities to pursue a course of study that they're interested in.
I appreciate that, and I didn't want that cut out of testimony. I wanted that kind of highlighted on the record. Another interesting part that you talked about was at-risk young people. Councilman Goode and other Councilpeople here cited startling 136 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 statistics as to attainment levels at-risk young people have or the lack thereof. And you mention in your testimony, which you didn't put on the record, verbally some of the coalitions that needed to occur from your vantage point and from your membership's vantage point, on being able to: A) keep more kids in school and increase graduation rates; and B) reduce some of the impediments such as teen pregnancy and other issues. So could you elaborate on that a bit for me on the record.
Yes. Children who are in foster care, children who -- teens who are pregnant and children having a lot of other issues, we know that those are children who are very likely to drop out of school. So if we know it, why don't we develop a program in order to make sure that those children are 137 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 constantly supported, constantly supported, because they face a lot of challenges. And rather than -- we can't continue to act as if they're not there. We have to focus the social services in that area in order for those young people to know that they have the support at the school level so that they will be able to be successful.
And my final question, which I'm out of time and I'll maybe get another opportunity: The condition by which your workforce, your membership, have to deal with in-class violence, I don't see that here, and it was a big series of articles about that about six months to a year ago. In fact, one of the persons, the teacher, went to Millersville with me who had his neck broke, and I wanted to find out if that condition 138 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 generally has gotten better. Is there more security or less in the public schools for teachers and administrators?
First of all, let me say that schools are some of the safest places for kids. But having said that, the example that you cite of the serious incident that happened to Mr. Byrd does occur, and there is a section in my testimony calling for better safety measures and better interventions. I, first of all, believe very strongly that if we -- we can begin the safety and intervention by making sure that every child is able to read by 3rd grade, because if a child is able to read, that youngster is less apt to become disruptive as he or she reaches the middle years, they are able to work independently, they are able to work in groups, they're able to go to that library if it's open 139 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 with a librarian, and to work and to discover so much information. But too many young people are not successful readers. And as a result of it, I think a lot of disruptive behavior is the way that some adolescents try to cover up their lack of ability to read and to work with others. But we need to make sure that we have an adequate number of adults in buildings. In the case of Mr. Byrd and that incident, there were no 15 non-teaching assistants assigned to that building. The hallway was empty during the passing classes, and so the young men who were playing in the hallway when Mr. Byrd came out of his classroom, had there been a non- teaching assistant patrolling the area to say to those youngsters, "Why are you in the hall? you should be in class? Where's your note?" I think that that would have been preventable. 140 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 But we really have to do more to get out the disruptive children. And that is not a large number, but there are a few who are disruptive, who aren't able to follow the rules. And I say in my testimony that we don't believe that schools should be treated like prisons. And children are children; they're not prisoners. We've got to try to make sure that we do all of the things to intervene before a disruptive child is forced out of the school.
Less assaults, more assaults on teachers and administrators?
Thank you, Madam President. 141 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 I actually was going to ask a very similar question to Councilman Jones's last question, but maybe just I can add one more on a very general note. Do you see -- you talk about some of the things in improving school safety that you think should be done. Have you seen, in your opinion, the District moving towards some of those? Are you -- do you see improvement in working on those issues or not?
No, I don't. As the testimony that was given to you yesterday, that there is a task force that will be coming out with recommendations.
So I can't say that I have seen that, and I don't know what the recommendations will be.
So it might depend on what the -- okay, that's fair. All right. Thank you. 142 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
During the School District's testimony, I asked a couple of questions relating to conflict resolution, civic values, shared values, right and wrong, as Councilwoman Tasco put it. And the questions really related to whether or not there is any way to quantitatively measure the way we do on PSSAs for math and reading, et cetera, how to quantitatively measure whether or not the School District is -- or, you know, the children of our being imparted those values or truly understand the 143 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 precepts of conflict resolution, et cetera. And I just -- I don't know if you heard that or any of that testimony.
Oh, okay. So the premise for me was that we -- for each student, we have records on how they're doing in math and reading and attendance and other measures, which can tell us whether or not, by 6th grade, whether or not the child's likely to graduate from high school, likely to do other things. And we described the core mission. I think the School District and I agreed that the core mission, if you boil it down, of the School District or the school system is to produce productive citizens. And so my question is -- and you don't have to answer it today, but if you have thoughts, that would be 144 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 great. Can you think of ways we can measure and have data on how successful the School District is in imparting the kind of values that would, in fact, reduce school violence, like tests that determine whether or not children truly understand conflict resolution, not just their grade in that course, or whether or not they have -- you know, share values that society in general holds, like you should respect your elders and respect your teachers and not talk back and things like that. Any thoughts about that?
Well, I would first say that I think that the District does have the ability to quantify some of that in that we mention in our testimony -- and I heard the District say a bit about it yesterday -- that one of the warning signs of a potential dropout is 145 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 youngsters who are having behavioral problems, children who are poor readers, children who are poor when it comes to math. So when youngsters violate a school rule, there is something as simple as a pink slip that is written by the adult who sees what it is that the child has done improperly, and the child -- the incident is discussed with the child by an adult and many times with a parent as well. So -- and those records are being maintained. Insofar as drilling down deeper into your question, I think that that's an example -- what you're asking is an example of the kinds of conversations that counselors in schools have with children and with their parents in order to help children deal with issues to also reach out to the families and so social service agencies to help. 146 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 And at this time, it is very difficult for counselors to be able to do that kind of work that you're asking for because of the limited number of counselors in our elementary schools, and some have a large number of students. There is only one counselor in that building, and many of those counselors teach a portion of the day, leaving less time for them to deal with a situation such as the one that you described. And in our high schools, the counselors also have a large caseload, a lot of paperwork. They have -- (Timer bell rings.)
You know, if anyone had to fill out a college application with a child recently, there's a lot of time that goes into doing that, and there are just but so many hours a day far counselor to be able to do all of the things that he or 147 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 she is asked to do in order to, you know, fulfill the -- their job duties and responsibilities.
So you think increasing the number of counselors would move us towards that --
My time's up. Thank you. (Councilwoman Blackwell assumes position of Committee Chair.
You're welcome. Are there any other questions for Mr. Jordan? (No further questions.)
Thank you, Councilwoman Blackwell. MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is Paul Weeks. (Witness comes forward.) 148 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Good afternoon, Madam President Anna Verna in absence and Councilwoman Blackwell, Councilwoman Marian Tasco, Councilman Jones, Councilman Green, Councilman Greenlee, and all the other Councilpersons present. I also want to give a (indiscernible) to Mrs. Heidi Ramirez, SRC Board Member, and also Dr. Laurie Shore, Office of Education for Philadelphia. I promise not to bore you all. I will be very brief. The last question that was asked, you know, we had to be really proactive with this budget, and we don't want the Council to be a rubber stamp to what the SRC Board is doing. We want to inform you with these testimonies, because the two things that people need more than food or water is information and inspiration, and we want to inspire you all, 149 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 because out of the $2.3 billion budget, 40 percent of it we account for in the City, $889 million, and not even 1 percent of that goes to class size And my whole testimony wraps around class size first. And, Mrs. Blackwell, you know -- you've been a teacher -- that class size is crucial. I think class size would be a proactive solution to any classroom problems. The larger the classroom you have, the more problems you have And I would just like to highlight a few things in my testimony, A, B and C. I used the pyramids of Egypt as a prime example of, if you're going to build, you have to build class size first. You put the heaviest weight on the hardest foundation. And still, we are mystified and marvel by the longevity of our Egyptian pyramids. And if you build class size 150 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 first, you will get A, B and C. You will highlight the best and the brightest of our future leaders. You will highlight the middle-of-the-road children who, however, have great potential. You will get C out of that. You will get those who are slowly cerebrally developing children, you will get to highlight those and look at the phonics, reading, math. And tutors will be implemented. In closing, for class size first, you open up the windows of the hearts and the eyes of some of our young people who are dealing with some serious social issues: death, divorce, a broken home, or even abuse. I give you Exhibit A of this, because we want to build a tax base here in Philadelphia. We want to be the next great city, as they projected. Penn Alexander at 42nd and Spruce, that is the model for how we 151 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 should try to build our class size first. I toured Penn Alexander, and I spoke to the principal, and immediately, I went outside and I looked at the properties. I seen two houses for sale right down the street, at 42nd and Spruce. One said the owner was selling it, and I called the number. He wants $595,000 for a rowhome. Why? Because it is attributed to Penn Alexander. People are running to that district because of the job that they are doing at that facility. I went down the street and I called the next house, a rowhouse, a three-story rowhouse, sold by a Realtor. $620,000 for a rowhome because it is in correlation to Penn Alexander And I believe if we have the willpower, if we really have the willpower to counteract dropout rates, to counteract this abusive situation, 152 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 which is a societal ill that's spilling into our schools, that we ought to really, really highlight class size first, because we know that when we build class size first and the rumor gets out, people will flock to that jurisdiction, they will flock to that district, they will flock back to Philadelphia. And we all know that it is a win/win factor for all of us. I thank you for your time and I appreciate it.
Thank you very much for your fine testimony. Are there any questions for Mr. Weeks? (No questions.)
Thank you very much. MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is Sheila Simmons. (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon. I'm Sheila Simmons, Education Director 153 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 of Public Citizens for Children and Youth. Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the proposed education budget. I begin by noting PCCY supports the priorities laid out by the School Reform Commission: smaller class size, music and art for every school, more nurses, counselors and librarians. We also support the District's efforts to reshape our high schools so that they are smaller, more adequately staffed, and able to respond appropriately to the needs of the City's youth. In the fall of 2007, we were a school community shocked with the sudden burden of a deficit which grew to $181 million on the futures of our children. A loud call for both more accountability, and yet again, more funds went out to all in a position to hear it, including this body, the Philadelphia City Council. 154 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 We are thankful that you heard it and responded with the public education reinvestment bill, moving nearly $20 million a year over the next five years to schools in an accompanying resolution dated October 25, 2007, seeking greater accountability, and for that we are grateful. You are to be congratulated for your prompt response. It was an important step we need you to take more. Our financial picture has improved since then, although we still pay today for the financial missteps of yesterday, and we hope you will call for the District to be more proactive in more accurately determining student enrollment, teacher retirement impact, and the cost of contracting out on finances and on the District's own capacity to perform public work. Philadelphia has the largest 155 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 class sizes in the state. It is time we come up with a plan to not only name it as a priority but to put in place a plan for it to happen and promote ways to fund it from local, state, and federal sources We are pleased that some schools will get smaller class sizes in the proposal before you, but we need it for all of our schools We urge you to identify the cost of having all elementary schools have small class size in the early grades and that you help support this initiative. We would ask that instead of eliminating 151 teaching positions to serve 3,303 fewer students, why we don't take the opportunity to bring smaller class sizes to 3,303 students In the area of school safety, the District stated 8 percent reduction in its 40 most challenging schools comes as a relief, but clearly, we need the joint efforts of 156 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the City and School District to support the initiatives to improve school climate. This may indeed be a good opportunity for the new Shares Services Task Force. From more behavioral-health programs, to extra supports from DHS for children in care, there is much that can be done to improve the environment in our schools. We support the District's single-school cultural initiative and have worked with the School District to target positive behavior supports as an integral part of this model. Improving the environment in our schools means increasing the adults who can work with kids and developing a coherent, consistent approach within all of our schools. It is a joint responsibility of citizens, community groups, the City, and the School District. We commend the District for 157 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 its announced move to reshape alternative education, including reissuing contracts for disciplinary schools. We need more clarity and transparency as well as common sense when dealing with different behaviors. We should make sure that we only send youth to disciplinary schools when it is absolutely necessary and that the contractors for these schools meet agreed-upon expectations. This is the type of action that's needed in a district where every dime and every student counts.
If the District is moving forward with the multiple-provider model, we need to take financial impact as well as performance into consideration. For five years, the private providers have insisted that their schools deserve a higher per-pupil fee because they were taking on the lowest-performing students in the 158 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 District. This has become a tired argument. After five years, at some point, their students should no longer be the lowest performing. Do what works based on data, reports, and surveys, many of which have already been taken and the information is known. Of the 70 public schools in corrective action or considered failing schools, are managed by 13 outside providers. As disturbing as 14 this is, there are some schools that 15 have shown progress, and PCCY supports 16 continuing them when schools and communities believe they are well served by their managers and the data finds strong improvement But such schools are in the distinct minority. We have long encouraged a school-by-school approach to enacting reforms and deciding management structure. After establishing a task force and 159 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 discussing RFPs, we are hopeful that the District has decided to indeed take this approach. In terms of resource allocation, we support the next tier of priorities named by the School Reform Commission for nurses and counselors. We support these and urge that you insist that educational programs that have a direct impact on classrooms are protected from budget cuts. Our high schools are also in dire need of attention. While test scores have improved five years in a row in the lower grades, as mentioned yesterday, this is not the case for 11th grade test-takers. High schools under EMO management -- I believe there are three -- have been shown to fare as bad or worse than District high schools. Students themselves have long called for small schools in their 160 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 neighborhoods, for more manageable atmosphere, more personalized environment. These schools have been shown to be particularly important for disconnected students in large urban environments. Yet in some neighborhoods, creating small schools has meant putting a wall down the middle of a big school instead of a from-the- ground small school, as is often the case in Center City neighborhoods Choosing a small school is not really a choice for families in our neighborhoods. We do not oppose small schools that have select criteria, but the need now is to create and support small schools in our regular neighborhoods without advanced criteria, except the belief that these children should have a chance for a good education and a safe environment too. As Research for Action wrote 161 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 in a recent report, today, within the School District of Philadelphia, there is only one choice: the neighborhood high school for the 51 percent of rising 9th-graders who try to exercise choice but are not accepted into any of their preferred choices. Finally, we look forward to City Council's full support of the Governor's education budget. Following the legislature's costing-out study, we know the entire state is far behind on what is needed to pay for a quality public education. The study found that 474 of the State's 501 districts are underfunded; Philadelphia to the tune of $5,000 per student. We ask you to help lead the movement for a major revision of the funding formula so that children across the state can benefit from the beginning of a six-year commitment to adequately fund public schools across the state We 162 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 also urge that you explore every possible opportunity to increase the City's support for it is schools. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Miss Simmons? Councilman Jones?
I just want to say your professional history of being a newspaper reporter shows in your testimony, and it was succinct and helpful. And what I mean by that is, a lot of times, as a freshman, you know, you get a lot of testimony, but it says and highlights what the problem is as opposed to what you point towards solutions. And in this testimony, as I read through it, I got a lot of the answers as to the questions posed by you, and I appreciate it. One question I do have is -- and I keep hearing this about this 163 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 creating a single-school culture. And I'm going to be honest with you, I'm a little lost about what that really means to you and others. So help me to understand that.
From my understanding, it is the School District's effort to get all schools to think pretty much and act as if we're all -- as if all the schools' divisions departments, and staffs are all on the same page. What it tries to do is to come up with similar interventions for academics behavior and climate; and if you address one, you know, you're often addressing all three. And PCCY has really been working with the School District and others in the community to apply a positive behavior support model to the behavioral component of single-school culture. And it is scientifically shown to not only -- not only to decrease 164 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 incidents in schools but to also increase academic scores. And the reason for that is, the less time that it takes dealing with disruptions in classrooms, the more time that you have on task, so there's more time for students to learn. An example of positive behavior support often involves just the way you speak to children. A lot of our kids don't hear anything positive all day for every day, for years in their life. And so, sometimes if you tell a problem student, instead of saying, "Don't hit the kid next to you," and instead, you say, "Keep your hands to yourself," there's kind of like a subtle difference in it that kind of has a different psychological effect on them. And Mr. Jordan from the PFT talked about the pink slips that kids get. Philadelphia uses -- this is 165 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 considered like a control tactic. Every time you do something wrong, we're going to pink-slip you, we're going to suspend you, we're going to expel you. But a lot of times, if you deal with these interventions early on, you won't have to get to that point. Positive behavior support also encourages walking around with a notepad and giving notes to the kids for doing something right. So when they do something right, you recognize it. You set up a lot of opportunities for kids to identify positive behavior and to learn appropriate behavior. And they have to learn it and they have to practice it every day. Not all of our kids come to school ready to learn, not all of them come to school with the behaviors that we'd like to, but if the school addresses it and establishes agreed-upon expectations, everyone 166 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 knows what they are. You're awarded when you follow them, you're dealt with when they're not, and you follow it, then it tends to have a better impact on the entire school -- academics, behavior, and climate.
Thank you. I want to try to be as succinct in my questioning as you are in your answers, and that was great. Thank you.
Councilman Greenlee? I'm sorry. Councilman Green.
It's not the first time that's happened to us. (Laughter.)
Thank you 167 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 for your testimony. Are you saying the school -- like in -- when I was in elementary school, I didn't get a blue slip for good behavior but, you know, there was a board, our names were on it, I got a star or a -- is that not happening?
I'm not sure. I would think that different schools have different systems to reward behavior. The difference is that it's not embedded as a system-wide approach.
And I think that's the difference, and that's one of the things that we're encouraging. We need the entire school system to say that we need to come up with a reward system to recognize the behaviors that we like.
I understand what you're saying. Let me ask a quick question about the -- 168 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
A quick question about the pink slips, and that is: If you get a certain number of pink slips, does that result in disciplinary action? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No. 10
So a pink slip is like you have counseling and stuff, but I wonder if -- what you suggested seemed like a very good idea, which is, maybe there should be a blue slip that cancels out a pink slip so 169 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that, you know, your record is kind of expunged of your bad behavior when you do something that merits -- you know, when you do something that's praise- worthy.
So that the focus isn't just on pink slips, but there's also, you know, good-conduct slips.
Right, absolutely. There needs to be a balance. You also have recognize positive behavior, but you also have to correct the negative behavior and then encourage the kids to show them the right way and then encourage them to follow that.
I think what you're saying makes sense. There should be a systematic --
-- approach 170 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 to recognizing good behavior as well as bad behavior so the records demonstrate good conduct as well.
And that's actually a part of a national movement. There's actually a national movement in education towards more positive- behavior supports, and it's also called "positive-behavior intervention supports."
The School District is starting to move a little towards that.
I just wanted to recognize that point. I think it's a good point. Thank you very much.
Thank you. 171 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Are there any further questions for Miss Simmons? (No further questions.)
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is Helen Gym. (Witnesses come forward.)
Please identify yourself for the record and begin.
My name is Gerald Wright. I'm a parent of two daughters at John Story Jenks Elementary School and also a member of Parents United for Public Education. And just before I really get started with my testimony, I want to say what Parents United for Public Education is. We're an all-volunteer citywide collective of public school parents concerned about School District budgets and how they reflect 172 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 achievement and accountability. We've been successful with both bringing new funds to schools and ensuring that funding is dedicated toward the initiatives that we as parents believe in: reduce class size, art and music, libraries, counselors, nurses, a healthy food program for every child at every school. Just kind of introductory. And, again, good afternoon. My name is Gerald Wright. I'm a parent of two daughters who attend the John Story Jenks Elementary School and a member of Parents United for Public Education. We believe that public education can, and should be, high-quality education. At the end of the day, the majority of children in Philadelphia will be educated through the publicly-supported schools. There are nearly 170,000 children enrolled with the School 173 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 District of Philadelphia. These children can't wait five years for reforms. They need our help today and no later than the beginning of the school year beginning in September 2008. We must challenge ourselves to not fall victim to pretty processes and eloquent diagrams. Our children need improvement right away. There are many things and issues that the School District of Philadelphia could do to improve education for our children. However, with limited time, I will only raise three topics for your consideration. Two of the three relate to hiring and retaining quality teachers. Earlier, you heard testimony about small class sizes being the rock upon which we -- or the hard surface upon which we need to build, and we believe that smaller class sizes is a cornerstone of anything that we do to improve education in Philadelphia, but 174 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 we can't do that if we do not recruit quality teachers, retain those teachers, and provide professional development for them. If teachers are the most valuable asset that the School District has in improving the quality of learning for our children, why does it appear that no pay increase is budgeted for teachers in the 2008-2009 budget? Ironically, we just hired a new CEO for the School District of Philadelphia, and for that slot, we gave a 15 percent pay increase, from $275,000 to $325,000 per year. There is not a salary freeze at the administrative level. We want to make -- we are hopeful that there is not a salary freeze for the line people who must be at the front of building a better learning environment for our kids. We should make sure that 175 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 teachers are valued and supported. Essentially, as we make greater demands for quality learning outcomes, and as we spend more money than ever before on education in Philadelphia, it kind of appears that teachers, as a percentage of those costs, is expected to be less. I hope that Councilmembers make certain that this does not happen. Without good teachers, there can be no good learning outcomes for our children. This leads to my second topic. Second, there appears to be $54 million in the budget for teacher development. This does not include costs associated with the Friday afternoon teacher development sessions that are so disruptive to parents. $54 million is a lot of money. What is it spent on? Does this $54 million represent contracts? Is this teacher development strategically 176 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 utilized to help recruit and retain quality teachers or to lure teachers with specialties such as advanced math and science. Finally, the School District of Philadelphia has to see parent engagement if a better light.
While there's been a great deal of improvement in that area and a great deal more done now to engage parents, parents should be integral to the budgeting process and should have some input into any teacher contract negotiated and perhaps should have some input in looking at current procurement vendor selection processes. 3 billion budget, may be extremely important to parents and to the education of their children. 177 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Thank you for your time and attention.
My name is Reverend Leroy Simmons. I am the coordinator of the Germantown Clergy Initiative, and I'm here and thankful to be a part of this wonderful group, the Parents United, although my youngest child is 28 years old and graduated from public schools, and I did too and so did my son. I'm here representing really the more than 1400 children, parents, and teachers and churches and community members around Germantown High School and to bring to your attention something that -- you know, I didn't plan to come down, so I didn't write a lot of stuff down, but from my heart. One of the things that I found in conversation just today, thinking 178 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 about it, it was in 1994 that Mr. Hornbeck came up with the Children Achieving Plan, and that Children Achieving Plan, you know, those children are now the 18- and 19-year-olds dropouts that we're talking about. That Children Achieving Plan, those children came into kindergarten with high expectations and through several administrations and through several budgets like this. I want to thank you for scrutinizing the budget now, and I would appeal to you to be good stewards of the money that is coming in from the City and be good stewards of the efforts towards education our children. We will never been never be a first-class city with a second-rate school district. So we need to move forward and help these children achieve, 'cause what they have 179 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 achieved so far -- just in Germantown High School, 400 children come into the school in 9th grade, and less than a hundred graduate. Those children that come into the school are reading below basic. Seventy to 75 percent are reading below basic throughout Germantown High School's tenure, and nearly 70 percent are doing math below basic -- not at proficiency, not at basic, but below basic. These children are the dropouts we see in the streets. Councilman Curtis Jones asked about the students involved in the horrible incident with Mr. Byrd. Mr. Byrd was a teacher that was loved by the children there at Germantown High School. He was a great teacher. He was someone who ran plays on his own time to help engage our children. He was somebody who I saw walking around with -- like a duck with little ducklets, leading children around, 180 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 taking pictures all over the neighborhood. He enhanced them. It was some students that had gone to Boone and gotten out of Boone, one the CEP schools that didn't really develop those children, that had gotten into the hallways. And like Mr. Jordan said, there were no NTAs because somebody came up with a brilliant idea that NTAs cost too much, let's just do SMAs, and they did SMAs. The SMAs weren't there in the hallways. And these were students who wasn't engaged emotionally at all in this incident, ended up ending a career of a wonderful teacher who was making a difference. In this budget, I don't see -- I know you've talked about and heard some wonderful testimony about the CA2 schools. CA2 schools are the lowest- performing schools in the School District. They actually came up with 181 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 a plan and listed them in tiers. And there's the first entire that might, you know, with a little help, get into yearly progress, you know, average yearly progress. And then there's Tier II schools that, with some help, could maybe get to Tier I and maybe with another year of help could get to average yearly progress. And then there's the Tier III schools. The Tier III schools -- everybody's talking about, you know, we want to reduce -- we want to reduce the dropout rate. There is zero money in the budget for Germantown High School, which is a CA2 Tier III school. What are we going to do to move these children to a level where they can at least achieve? Yeah, there's some things that work. There should be some votech stuff.
You know, when they get 182 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 exposed, like the children in West Philly get exposed to auto mechanics, they don't just fix cars; they develop a whole new industry. They will produce jobs. These are brilliant children who don't get an opportunity. And I -- you know, I know it's not your total purview, but there is nothing, I believe, more important than looking out for our children. When will we begin to put them on the front burner as opposed to an after-thought? When will we begin to move our schools to the place where they belong, our children to the place where they belong? We have only got money in the budget for security. And I would ask that you would -- there's some people in the budget that I don't understand: the BRT. The BRT is 85 people in the budget. I don't know where that comes from and who's spending the money on that. 183 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 There's million of dollars involved with Mr. Butkovitz's office, you know, and he does a good job. I mean, I know the BRT collects the taxes; I pay 'em myself, a lot of 'em. But I think that the City -- you, in your brilliance and your -- I'm not kidding. Figure out a way to take that burden off of the School District, and that would increase, you know, in these low-performing schools. In Germantown High School, they drafted a budget of $92,600 for each teacher. If we could get some of the that money back from the BRT people, if we can get some of that money back from the controller's office people, it would take some of the burden off the school, and we could hire some teachers to do some things. I -- you know, I'm taking up a lot of your time, Helen. But I -- in ending, I appreciate your scrutiny, but I would 184 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 ask that you would be good stewards of this nearly $900 million that you're going to sign over to the School District and look into some of these contracts that seem to seep through without good oversight, these contracts that, you know, seem to get into pockets of people who aren't getting into our children's hearts and minds. Thank you.
My name is Helen Gym, and I'm the mother of three children who are in or entering public schools. We're again a part of this group, Parents United for Public Education. All of us have experience 185 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 working. And we live with this budget. I'm not a policy wonk or, you know, I'm not a, you know, a budget expert in any way. I'm here to talk about what essentially is an accounting document feels like to live with to come home to -- for my children to grow up in, and I think that's kind of a different thing. We also -- you know, I guess part of it is that, you know, for us, at least as a parent and a mother, this is a really grim budget. If there's a five-year plan where school closings are essential to cost-savings, that's a grim budget. And if there's a budget where there are across-the-board pay freezes, balanced deficits, then it's grim budget. 5 million for reduced class size and arts and music 186 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 programs, that that's an amount that's less than one half of one percent of the entire school budget, then that's a problem. And although we as parents acknowledge the progress we have made, it's important to say here it's not enough, especially for the investment that the City Council has put in last year. And for the record, parents fought for all of those things: the reduced class size, the arts and music programs; we pushed the District to redo the budget to include those. So, you know, we're coming at it kind of from the back -- you know, already on the back foot in some ways. In some ways what I feel like we've made progress in since last year's time is that we've identified the areas where we need to invest in. We know we need to do more in early grades, where children can be 187 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 most influenced. We know that we need intervention in the middle school. We know that the 8th-to-9th-grade transition is essential. And we know that high school reform is absolutely necessary. But what we haven't done is invest. And if you look through the budget, these are the missing items in the budget. Councilwoman Tasco, I know, was concerned about the 74 percent of students who fail to be proficient in high school, but we despair about the fact that 52 percent of our kids don't meet grade-level reading by 3rd grade. And then we go back to the budget and we look. Class sizes have increased over five years. We've lost librarians at three-quarters of our -- three- quarters of schools don't have librarians. Most of them are elementaries because most of the high 188 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 schools can afford in their budgets to put them in. And why we cut literacy programs -- literacy interim programs, rather, at the elementary school because we lack the money. This budget may have addressed class size, but it hasn't relieved the overcrowding ironically, which is a function more of geography than of achievement. And we need to ask why, when teacher quality is one of the top issues of our school district, why we're talking about a five-year pay freeze when we're already at a huge disadvantage with our surrounding suburbs. Meanwhile, we consistently ask why we prioritize some things over others. Why do we agree that we pay external contractors like this disciplinary contractor, CEP 3500 -- we allot 3500 students as disciplinary expulsions before we even know who 189 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 they are, especially when these contractors, specifically CEP, have a non-performance-based contract, charge thousands of dollars more per student, don't have a track record in returning kids to schools, and that the State cut their budget by 36 percent. When the District saw its transportation budget to the State cut, it recommended that it push the burden onto children and families to bear the burden of the transportation cuts. But when alternative education gets its contract cut, why don't we cut that contract?
Why is that on our end to foot that bill? We know many of our problems in the budget stem from this chronic underfunding of public schools, there's no doubt. But this budget, more than others, should have us asking the question, What problems are of our own making? 190 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 The majority -- overwhelming majority of the reform money over the past five years and for the next five years we go towards charters and debt service. Meanwhile, school operations have grown 2 percent in the last five years. We have a contracting environment that's run amok. And from the recent news stories, we know that the District, perfectly honestly, is a terrible contract manager. As difficult a handle the District has on its own operations, it gets worse when it doesn't run things. The multiple-provider model has been held up as this model or a solution, but if we look at the multiple academic studies and reviews that have been done on alternative education providers, charters, and EMOs, the money we spent and the average-to-poor results that we've gotten back, we need to start asking ourselves whether 191 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 this multiple-provider model is not a solution but really a part of the problem. It hamstrings us in legal and political entanglements and costs us hundreds of millions of dollars over years, and we can't let it go. So how do we get to a better budget? As parents, we offer the following suggestion: Number one, we believe that the District has to cost-out its priority initiatives. This seems rather obvious. How much does it cost to reduce class size over five years for every child in the District for whatever grades that we have set out? We have requested that costing-out study for months. And we want to know how much it costs to put a full music and art program, not part-time, full-time, in every school; what it costs to put a full-time nurse in every school; what it costs to have potable drinking water available so 192 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 our kids don't have to buy water. But we continue to wait for these studies. And without these cost studies, the District does not have a plan, it does not have a sense of what it's buying and what it needs to shoot for. And what we see is that despite -- and I want to say it's a very heartfelt rhetoric from the School District and Reform Commission. The District's budget has stayed largely the same year-to-year, with only fiddling in some of the areas to reduce damage but not to seriously restructure financial priorities. The second thing we ask is that the District pass the limit contracts. This isn't about just EMOs. The Philadelphia public schools has more contracts probably for more services than just about any district in the nation. We've got CBOs running security, we've got contracts for cleaning, curriculum, professional 193 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 development, testing, everything under the sun. 68 million that they can do with their contracts. And, as we said, the District is a poor contract manager. And meanwhile, while we continue to do these contracts, we wonder whether the District's internal capacity is gutted. And when there's a problem with contracts going wrong, we can't reassume those services. The third thing: We need to ask your support in helping the District control charters. I'm a charter supporter; one of my sons goes to charter schools. But I don't believe that a charter system can operate without limits. Without controls, parameters, guidelines, or, most importantly, consequences, there's no limit to the possibility of creating a secondary school system; 194 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 it's going to happen, especially with the amount of dissatisfaction.
Until this year, the School District had closed only one charter school, and so we need Council to support some sense of control on these entities, the reality of the school landscape, but they are also extremely cost -- they cost a lot and they're erratic performers, according to a number of studies. Number 4. The City needs a plan to review local revenue to schools. Over the next five years, the District looks at 31 percent growth in projected expenses. 9 percent, and that's just simply not enough. What this means is, we need to have a discussion about boosting local revenue; whether that's through 195 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 enforcement of existing taxes, whether we link any property-tax reassessments to impact on school funding and the City's consideration of assuming services that the District now provides. Number 5. We ask that you go back to the Parking Authority. 2 million to the public schools, it would have to be have to be a laugh. The PPA's agreement to fully fund the City and give a minimal payment to the schools was just a political compromise at the time. The longer the City and State tolerate the waste at the Parking Authority, the more financial burden both entities assume for the schools. And the last thing that we ask 196 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 you is that we ask you to empower parents. We're not necessarily naive enough to think that Council is supposedly going to put school management on the top of its priority list; it's not necessarily your job. But we do ask you to support the parents who do put it at the top of their list. Our group has been at the forefront in analyzing budgets and putting forth the parent voice on the shaping of financial priorities. We join many other parents who are also on this mission. We ask you to help empower parents by asking the District to give us a role in the budget process, help us ask the questions that we can get the answers to, and meet us halfway at some of these school budget meetings where we're struggling to get some answers. I want to conclude by saying 197 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 thank you especially to the Councilpeople who are here. We're very grateful for this part of public testimony; we don't get this opportunity very often. We know the cost of underfunding the schools. Most importantly, we want Council to understand that a major cost driver -- or a major savings driver for the School District in the next five years will be school closings and consolidations. And I know that Councilpeople here in this room will not want to face their constituents in a few years who are angry because their school is closing. At one point, Paul Vallas had projected school closings over 21 the five years, which would more than 22 likely hit most Councilpeople at some point in their district. So we've got to find a way to figure out what to do now. It's an 198 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 urgent situation. It shouldn't come to school closings to force the Council's intervention in this issue. We ask you to work with our parents, demand accountability, keep tabs on public engagement, and help us be ready for the hard decisions coming down the road. Thank you.
You're welcome. Councilman Jones, you're light is on. Did you want to be recognized?
Yes, Madam President. I want to thank you first for getting out of your sick bed and providing that testimony. I know you were ill. We tried to contact you yesterday, and my staff informed me that you were very sick. Thank you also for providing me information about the educational process during my transition into City 199 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Council, and it was very enlightening and helpful. I want to say that you don't have to feel as though you're being naive for this Council to prioritize education of our young people. We contribute to that funding of these schools. We contribute to the future of Philadelphia by educating a workforce. And it is a priority. Clearly for me, clearly for me, as a product of the public school system -- all of my children, all of my children attended public school and they got a valuable education that was augmented by dad's and mom's interest in their well-being, but that's the vehicle by which they were educated. I could safely say all my grandchildren will go to public schools. The question becomes: What are we prepared to do in this Council and this administration to make sure 200 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 there is a system worth putting our kids into? I have found in my district that the single decision that -- one of the biggest decisions that a person makes beyond the physical dwelling of their house is, what school and type of education and quality of education will my child receive by going to this particular institution? I think that your testimony, and all of your testimonies, should be given -- I asked for a copy of yours in particular; hopefully, you'll be able to provide that to the President of Council so we all can benefit from it and ask those tough questions as we continue this process. Councilman Green and I share now a motto: that if it ain't measured, it ain't managed. And if it's contracts or if it's deliverables by institutions, we have to do a better job of holding the feet to the 201 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 fire of the SRC and the respective institutions to make sure that our kids are getting a quality education. So it is a priority. And no, we don't want to face the ire of the public for not being good stewards, but I hope and encourage you to help us to do that by giving us information. There's one other analogy: The mouse in the house spends more time concerned about the owner of the house whereabouts than the owner of the house cares about the mouse. In some instances, because we have so many departments, I understand what you're saying, that we don't pay as much attention as you do to what's going on in our public schools, but keep us informed, keep us in the information loop. You've done that for me, I would hope do you that for all of the members of Council, and particularly the disciplinary schools 202 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 who, in my opinion, the alternative schools, some of whom are ripping us off, just plain ripping us off, and we're going to look into that in a great deal of detail along with my colleague Councilwoman Quinones- Sanchez, and we hope to come to some kind of understanding of that in the new contracts that are going to be let out. So thank you for your testimony.
Thank you very much. Thank you all for your testimony today. Miss Gym, you said something that I just have a question about, and that is that the budget is addressing class size? I did not get that impression from the School District and wonder where you get that idea.
We're saying that the 203 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 School District's budget does not address class size enough, reducing class size. Our concern is that they --
Yeah. I just misunderstood you, or you went through it very quickly, so okay. Do you happen to know what the average class size is in the School District? I went to the website, and it looks like it would be a 17-to-1 ratio based on number of students and number of teachers, and I know it's more like 30 in the actual classroom, but do you -- is there a number that you're aware of that's public information?
I don't -- I think that's what we're struggling with. We've been struggling for a long time because -- trying to get at not just 204 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 what the average class size is because I think there's this idea that you can take aggregate numbers like total students, total teachers, and do a division, and it's extraordinarily low. But if you were to look across the classrooms, we know that the class size maximum -- contractual maximum, according to the PFD contract is 30 students in grades K to 3, 33 students in grades 4 to 12. Dr. Jones has said on several occasions that she's aware of roughly 100 class sizes across the District -- it's been thrown out before, I don't know how well it's been studied -- 100 class sizes that exceed the contractual maximum. And what we've been trying to ask is, Can you give us a head count of the number of students at a school, you know, the class size, and I think -- you know, I don't know if there are, like, legal complications 205 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 because, you know, they then violate PFT rules, that they actually put a number, I don't know. But, you know, what we do know is that there are plenty of schools, particularly in the northeast and east regions, where you've got 38, 39 more students packed into classrooms. And it's a huge problem and it's not really addressed at all -- or enough, rather.
No. And I -- I don't -- once again, I agree with you. I don't think that they know, or at least I can't get a clear answer about it. And it's scary that things that are most important that you can't get the answer from the School District, like class size. Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you all very much. We appreciate your coming in to testify. Thank you. 206 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Our next witness? MR. McPHERSON: James Sklaroff. (No response.) MR. McPHERSON: James Sklaroff? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Inaudible, off-mic.) (Witness comes forward.)
You're welcome. Kindly identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon, Council, and thank you for letting me speak today.
My name is Mimi Shapiro. I wanted to make sure I didn't forget the others.
I had the pleasure of meeting Curtis Jones at 207 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Community College a few weeks ago and the pleasure of meeting Jannie Blackwell and Augusta Clarke when I was working at the Obama campaign at Haverford College, and both of them I spoke to very briefly 'cause I know their time is very important and said to get back to them, so here I am. And as Curtis pointed out for himself, I am a freshwoman here so if this is not highly organized as I'd like it to be, I'll apologize for it in advance, and hopefully, you can follow me. I had brought in a speech that I wanted to read, but after hearing a lot of the comments that just went up -- came up, I changed my speech and had some answers for some of them and points that I wanted to bring up instead. I'm a retired Philadelphia school teacher. I was in the system 30 years, a little over 30 years. And 208 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 from my speech, I wrote -- I had a very dangerous job. D. badge, and I had to succumb to mobbing and bullying. And yes, folks, I was a teacher in Philadelphia. And the problems were not from the children. Children are children; children are good, bad and ugly and beautiful wherever you go, and they didn't ask to be born that way; it just happened for various reasons. And after my first 15 or 16 years of teaching, with 150 accolades for excellent classroom projects where my students won show tickets from downtown, monetary awards, Toys-R-Us, they got computers that they had won for essays that they had written -- writings was one of my areas of expertise. They had won clothing. There was very little that my students lacked for when we did a writing 209 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 project and had a goal in mind. And all of a sudden, because of a particular gentleman who's in this building -- and I don't know if we're allowed to mention names so I won't, but his office is in this building, went after me. I had been accused of something that never took place. The School Board President at that time was the late Rotan Lee, who later became a very close friend of mine, did the investigation, and it proved not to be true. However, this gentleman and another person -- who her office may be in here, I think it's across the street, though -- went after me like bees on honey for no 20 reason, having never spoken to me. Never -- there was no 22 investigation, there was nothing done. And the next 15 or 16 years of my teaching career were nothing more than bullying and harassment. 210 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 I couldn't go from this excellent teacher -- and I'm not bragging, I'm just -- it's a fact what. I mean, what my students won I can prove. I have documentation for all of it from superintendents, from mayors, from everybody -- into this nightmarish person that these two individuals dreamed up. org, which is where my shirt is from. There's close to a thousand teachers in the nation that belong to this. There are many more that would like to belong, but Karen Horowitz, who is the owner of this site in Chicago, finds that many teachers are 211 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 afraid for fear of retaliation. Once I left the system, I let my name go public, because then I had nothing to fear, but I knew, as long as I was in the system, I had everything to fear and then some. And as Jerry Jordan, who was here today, agreed with me on March 11th in the Philadelphia Inquirer in an article done by Martha Woodall, any teacher that complains is retaliated and eventually terminated. I was forced to sit in a closet, another teacher I know of was forced to sit in a basement, and people have been forced to sit elsewhere. Commissioner Ramsey -- Police Commissioner Ramsey said a few weeks ago on the 11 o'clock news that if you want people to be professional, they need to be treated professionally. Myself sitting in a closet I don't consider professional. 212 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 And it was done for weeks on end.
I find that a waste of money and a waste of my talents, while my children, who don't have a regular substitute, 'cause you cannot get them in Philadelphia, are losing in the lung run. Those are the ones that were hurting and losing the most. And many teachers in Philadelphia have been asked to do this, this sitting and doing nothing. When you talk to people outside of education, they think we're wearing like loose straight jackets. They have no idea of the bullying and the mobbing going on inside the building. The School District -- and I don't mean towards the children. The School District staff and the union need to be held accountable for their actions, or lack thereof. This is where the laws have to be changed in America. The laws are being changed, and have been changed, 213 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 in states like Kansas, Montana, California, and Tennessee. And the one person, from what I understand -- excuse me. There is one document here that's being done, and it has very poor wording on it, to help extinguish this bullying and mobbing, and it has been sitting on Dwight Evans' desk for months. And at this point now, I think it's a good idea that it's been sitting there because staff, parents, and others that work in the School District buildings need to be protected, just like the children do. And, of course, the children are our utmost importance, but it's the harm that's coming to the others that's making their life so miserable. Many districts like Philadelphia are untouchable and above the law. " I spoke to a district court judge, Johnny Houston, from Red 214 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Bank, Tennessee, about his article. Teachers are not protected. He has confirmed this and researched this in his state and is continuing to research it. He would like people to contact him with any stories they have. And it's funny that when I called him -- and this man is in Tennessee, at work in the courthouse, didn't know me, got on the phone, spoke to me for 50 minutes of his time. I cannot get anyone in the City of Philadelphia to talk to me. I cannot get anyone in the Department of Education in Harrisburg to talk to me. And yet, this man a million miles away wanted to hear what I had to say because he thought it was valid. I'd like to know where else can people work and not be paid, as has happened to me and others in the public school district here in 215 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Philadelphia. I walked in, I signed my T&A; I was not paid. Where can you go out on approved sick leave and be terminated while you are out on approved sick leave with documentation that is required? Where else do they put people in rubber rooms to sit for days on end and weeks on end except the School District and perhaps in mental hospitals? Where can administrators make fun of your clothes, embarrass you publicly, lie about what you did, throw out your belongings, coerce the children to do things that are really professionally unacceptable if they're trying to get rid of a teacher? And yet, this has happened to me and others here, in Philadelphia. To the best of my knowledge as a layperson, all of the above-mentioned bullying is against 216 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Pennsylvania State labor laws. Yet the union, the EEOC, and the PHRC just look the other way. Bullying itself is not against the law. However, abuse, harassment, not being paid for work performed, and a hostile work environment is against the law. And bullying needs to be inserted in there because it's going on here rampantly. I know of two employees in Philadelphia who were terminated because they reported and photographed teachers abusing children in a public school. A teacher in my last school, at Elkin Elementary, covered a student's mouth with four to five inches of the -- I guess it's two-and-a-half, three-inch-wide gray electrical tape so the child would stop talking in his class. This is fact; I witnessed it.
It was witnessed by 60 children and or 217 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 adults. The principal did nothing. She liked that teacher. That teacher didn't create problems; his children pretty much did whatever they wanted in the classroom. He never wrote pink slips because if you write pink slips, you're harassed and terminated, you're known as a troublemaker. He never did any of those things, so she let him slide. And, again, it really happened. In another school, a teacher went home for three hours because her house was not too far from school. The children were left uncovered. I had this on video because I happened to be taping that day for my pen pal project, and I was showing another school, a suburban school, what life was like in a city school. How do you tape a room with no teacher? When the teacher came back two or three hours later, nothing was done 218 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 to her. Why? She didn't create any problems in the building for the principal so she was allowed to stay, and nothing was done about it. In another school, a teacher received an emergency phone call about her special-needs child. It was the first phone call the teacher ever received in the four years at that school. The teacher went to answer the phone, never leaving the class uncovered. It was a prep teacher. The primary classroom teacher was there, the principal was there. There was work for the children to do, and then the teacher went and took the emergency call. The principal wrote her up as an unsatisfactory teacher for answering an emergency phone call. " And I 219 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 agreed with her, and I stated I never left the building, I never left the building. This teacher obviously was me. My were classes covered, the work was there. Nothing was done against the District's policies, to which she replied, "We don't pay you to come to work and answer emergency phone calls. We don't care about your family. " I wonder if that was her child how she would have felt, not knowing what was going on or why this phone call was received. I think the School District needs to invest in security for the teachers and the children and the others in the building. I also have attached a photo here that was hung all last year at the entrance to Edison High School right opposite the principal's office. 220 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 I find it highly offensive and provocative, and I would appreciate it if you would look at it. I did mail a letter to the Councilpeople inviting them to a meeting that we had in Germantown on March the 30th. The only one that had sent representation was Frank Rizzo. And I am in touch with Donald Tripp, who was his representation. And I just would be curious on Councilpeople's opinion of this hanging in a Philadelphia public school in the main entranceway. What is being taught here? This is a troubled high school, and it hung there for at least a year. I have not been in the building this year so I don't know if it's there today. And, obviously, everyone in the District knew about 'cause they've all been in that building. Mr. Wright made some very valid points in his speech, that we do 221 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 need alternatives for the children right in the buildings. I don't know why vocational technical education was ever done away with. We can't all be doctors and lawyers. I myself am not a doctor or a lawyer, and I went to Philadelphia public schools. These things need to be brought back so that these children have something to achieve to. The children being below basic is blamed on the teachers. The teachers are questioned, the teachers are harassed, the teachers are written up. Why are your children below basic? The fact that these children come in unprepared, some show up once a week, some show up once a month; they blame that on the teacher. The teachers seem to be the scapegoat for everything in this system. And it's not true.
You have some excellent, excellent teachers out there that I have worked with and some 222 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 excellent principals out there that I have worked with, and I'm sure there's many that I have not worked with. But it's this underlying current, as Rotan called it, the old school boys' network, that's ruining our school district and that ruined my life. There are no activities after school for the average or the above- average child. There needs to be activities in these school buildings for the average and above-average child, not just the children that are failing. The average child and the good child need something to achieve to as well, to being allowed to be in a sports activity, a sewing class, a computer class. None of this exists for our children, so they have nothing to do but go out on the street, and that's where the problems start. It was mentioned from one of the speaker that we should use 223 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 conflict resolution. Conflict resolution has proved to be negative. This has been researched by Dr. Marie Lewis in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and she would be happy to talk to anyone about it. What conflict resolution does, it makes the victim a victim twice because the victim has to point out who their perpetrator was, thus giving the perpetrator the attention that he or she is seeking. And then the victim becomes the whistleblower or the squealer that all the children go after because they pointed out the perpetrator, and then they become ostracized. That is how the victim becomes a victim twice. There's another program called "Step Two Program" used in many suburban schools, which has a much more positive affect. And there are positive comments and effects going on in the school, but there needs to be 224 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 more of it. There's a lot of research showing that children react positively to positive reinforcement, and so do teachers. " That doesn't happen. Thank you. I think summer school -- if there was less summer school and the money from summer school was taken to make smaller classes, we would achieve a lot more, because in summer school, all the children have to do is show up, sign their name, eat lunch, not cause too many problems, and they pass summer school. There is not a whole lot of learning that takes place in 225 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 summer school.
Miss Shapiro, can you please come to some conclusion?
Okay. I think what needs to be stressed is more funding for safety and for the children in smaller classrooms, better protection all the way around for everyone and more supplies and more positive reinforcement for all of the children and for the teachers as well. Give me two more seconds to wrap it up. And I want to just thank everybody for giving me the time to listen. I would be happy to talk to anyone about what happened to me because I was assaulted in a Philadelphia school.
Thank you, Miss Shapiro. When you first started your testimony -- 226 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Were you referring to the school building or were you referring to City Hall?
I beg 227 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 your pardon?
I do have newspaper articles from the time that it happened to prove what I am saying, that this particular individual went after me numerous times with no fact, never spoke to me to this day, has never spoken to me, has refused to speak to me when asked to speak to me, and there was never any investigation; that is fact. As Rotan Lee, unfortunately, is not here but could attest to --
And you said you were literally put in a closet?
Let me ask you something: Did you ever go to an attorney?
Did you ever seek the advice of an attorney? 228 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
I went to many attorneys in Philadelphia. There are very few -- in fact, I couldn't find any, except Rotan, who was an attorney and he was representing me. I had a meeting with him at 9 o'clock in the morning that he died; I got a phone call 7 not to show up because Rotan had died on Sunday night. I had spoken to him before he went to see his doctor, Judy, who told him to go home. That will take the case. Rotan said he was willing to do it because Rotan had done his own investigation. Most of the attorneys will -- well, I should say "most," 'cause all of the attorneys that I spoke to would not touch the case for two reasons: One is, they all have a hand in the 229 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Philadelphia School District. If that individual attorney did not, someone in the firm on the third floor that they haven't spoken to in six months had a cousin twice removed that had dealings with the School District. And the second reason is, if you have a union, you are not allowed -- even if you are not a member of that union, you are not allowed to have a lawyer represent you. You must use the union. And I was not allowed to talk to Willick, Williams & Davidson without the approval of the union, and they would not give me their approval because it cost money. So how could Willick, Williams & Davidson fairly, rightly, honestly represent me without talking to me?
Thank you. Are there any questions of Miss Shapiro? 230 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 (No questions.)
Miss Shapiro, thank you very much for coming in.
Okay. And I just want to say one more thing, please, if I may. I just want to recommend a couple of books that need to be looked at: "Guilty Until Proven Innocent," written by Neil Schwartz, a teacher at George Washington High School here in Philadelphia. It came out in 2007, it's a quick read, and I would highly recommend it. "Breaking the Silence" by Joe and Josephine Blaze. And "Peer Abuse No More," which shows you the psychological perspective, by Elizabeth Bennett. I would highly recommend these books to see what's going on.
Thank you very much. 231 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is Kay O-Q. (Witness comes forward.)
Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. My name is Kay O-Q, and I'm here to represent CMAC, a nonprofit agency working with refugees and immigrants in the area. Good afternoon to members of City Council, community partners, and members who are here. I'm here today to speak on behalf of the thousands of Asian, Latino, and African immigrants and refugees in Philadelphia. In the School District of Philadelphia, there are thousands of students, parents, and families from these communities. Unfortunately, these communities suffer from 232 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 continual lack of support and from continual lack of interest in helping them with language-access services and culturally appropriate services. I just also want to say that I am a proud product of the Philadelphia school system. I'm a born native Philadelphian and proof that with good teachers, administrators and staff and community-member support, you can receive a quality education in Philadelphia. I'm a graduate of Temple University, and I want to continue working and supporting immigrants and refugees in the area. We are among Philadelphia's laymen. We keep the economy running. We also support and uphold many of Philadelphia's integrity and traditions of freedoms. A large part of the community every day that we work with testify and -- I'm sorry. Forgive me. I'm a little bit nervous. But members of 233 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the community that we work with daily want to be self-sufficient, and they cannot do this without having access to quality education. Parents that we talk to often say that language-access services are not given to them. We suffer from many of the similar issues that students suffer from: overcrowding, specialized services, education curriculum. But on top of that, we have another barrier: We have language issues. In the many times that we have testified in front of the School District of Philadelphia, there has been no answer to the reasons why the School District is not inclusive of language-access services in its budgets. There's also no answers in its accountability on how it spends language-access money given to it by the State and by the government. I want to say that these communities are asking that the City 234 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 of Philadelphia look into the School District budget and to be inclusive of the needs of immigrants and refugee communities. We have made a commitment to the City and we hope that the City, in return, makes a commitment to helping our communities thrive and grow. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We appreciate your taking the time to come in to testify? Are there any questions or comments for this witness? (No questions or comments.)
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is Cecilia Thompson. (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself 235 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 for the record. Thank you.
My name is Cecilia Thompson, and I have a nine-year-old son with autism who attends public school at Thomas G. Morton Elementary School in the southwest section of Philadelphia. I'm also a member of the Philadelphia Right to Education Local Task Force, an organization federally mandated by the State of Pennsylvania to provide systemic advocacy for individuals receiving specially- designed instruction in Philadelphia public and charter schools. I'm also an employee of the Arc of Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization that provides advocacy, supports and services for individuals with developmental, intellectual, and cognitive delays. I am testifying today on aspects of the proposed school budget for your consideration. 236 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 As to the dropout rate, the District's dropout rate for students is 45 percent. However, according to Penn data, the dropout rate for children with special needs in Philadelphia is percent. 8 And I must add that that's an 9 error. The City and the State knows 10 that that number is wrong, and they 11 really don't know how many children 12 with disabilities are dropping out of 13 high school and just sitting at home. 14 The result of that is, 15 depending on the severity of the 16 disability, the parents end up 17 quitting their jobs because they 18 really have no place to send their 19 children because they're not properly prepared to go into the workforce to provide for themselves. Currently, children with special needs make up about 14 percent of the District's student population. The dropout rate exceeds the student 237 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 population. And looking at the budget online, I did not see any initiatives for this population to utilize the alternative education or other education initiatives so they can graduate and become productive members of the society. Although everything in the District is for all children, children with special needs, especially those who, due to their disability, manifest extreme behaviors, are not invited to participate in these programs. There needs to be funding allocated to provide the supports and services needed for our children so they are not a burden to the State via SSI, welfare, or any other governmental funding. As to vocational education, vocational opportunities need to be available to children with special needs. However, in order to do this, there needs to be supports and 238 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 services available for this population to participate and learn a viable skill for the job market. For many students, one-to-one services need to be provided to keep the individual on task to complete the task. In addition, professional development needs to be provided for the professional vocational education teachers. Furthermore, there needs to be a partnership between the vocational and special-education teachers to work in concert with our children so they learn a marketable skill upon graduation. Again, while The District will argue this is provided to all students, children with certain disabilities are not given this opportunity because, in my experience, the teachers don't feel our children are capable of doing anything more 239 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 than folding napkins, cleaning, or putting tags on clothing. Although it would take a partnership with the business community to provide opportunities for our children, the District must first prepare our children for these opportunities. As to supports and services, the District's budget does not provide the necessary and support and services needed for the success of children with special needs. For example, if a child requires one-to-one assistance, schools often tell the parents they do not have the money to pay another staff person. Even if they have the staff person, many are not trained in or experienced in assisting children with special needs.
There needs to be money available to hire qualify paraprofessionals to provide assistance and supports for our children. 240 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Before I conclude, I just want to say that although professional development is offered, according to the PFT contract, you cannot make a teacher attend a professional development class, meaning if a school is in a corrective action too and you know there's low reading scores, you can't tell the teachers in that building that they have to take professional development in reading or, you know, techniques in math. It can be offered, they choose which ones to go to, and that's basically it. So maybe a suggestion I can offer -- and I'm not sure if this is happening -- is City Council could participate in the upcoming PFT projects. For example, I've heard testimony offered by Councilwoman Tasco and Councilman Jones that the schools in their neighborhoods are not 241 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 performing adequately. Well if you're sitting at the PFT negotiations, that can be something that can be negotiated, because clearly, nobody wants to tolerate our children not being able to get jobs in the City, that they're educating them because they lack the skills needed. You don't want to have a whole lot of public housing. People should be able to buy a home. People should have the opportunity to not want to live here and go somewhere else and still have the funds and resources that they had need to up and go somewhere else. I heard Councilman Green saying that his constituents can go to Bucks County, but Southwest Philadelphia people in West Philadelphia don't have those resources. We have to utilize the education that we have. And I shouldn't -- I shouldn't 242 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 have to move because of the school system; I should move because that's what I want to do, not because I think the system is failing my child. In addition to children with special needs, I shouldn't have to -- my son's homework should not be on recycled School District memo because that school is not necessarily supported by one of the universities. He should be able to go to any school and get paper. My personal experience is, my son went to one school, Penn Alexander. They have all the bells and whistles. All his homework was in color. He transferred to Morton -- good teacher, good principal. But, again, homework coming on recycled memo paper. You could hardly see the ink. We had to ask the principal to give her the science material so he can be exposed to the science curriculum so when he gets to third 243 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 grade, he's able to attempt to take the PSSAs, which has a science component on there. I didn't have to fight like that for materials at the other schools. Why should I have to fight like this for this school? And they're in the same geographic area. When African-Americans and Latinos, when they catch a cold, people with special needs catch the flu, because they think of our children as not being capable because they do thing differently, and that shouldn't be. And as a result, what ends up happening is, you have a lot of the emotional-support students and learning-support students saying, You know what? I'm done, I'm tired of being made fun with. When I get 18 or 16, I'm done, I'm out of here. Those are the children you see starting fights. Those are the 244 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 children -- not all of them, but some of them you see acting quirky or queer with no job skills, can't get a job in the -- maybe the penitentiary system, can't keep a job. I mean, we just -- these children are forgotten, and I think it's very important that they not be forgotten. But we need supports and services for them. Nobody should have to beg the School District to hire a paraprofessional to support a child that you know is having extreme behaviors but you don't have enough people to implement the behavior plan for that child.
" They're glad that that child's gone. That's one less behavior that has to be dealt with. So I'm asking -- or suggesting to Council that, A,somebody sits at 245 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the table at these PFT negotiations and find out what's going on, 'cause not everything is the teacher; at the same time, not everything is the District. Again, with the professional development they don't have to go or they can't say, like I said, Your school is failing, you need to attend it. If you're teaching a special-education class, you need to go to these different interventions that apply different strategies for children with special needs so that, again, you spend less time on the behavior and more time getting them what they need so they can get a job and be productive, you know, citizens in our environment. And that's all I have to say. And I thank you for the opportunity.
We thank you for coming in to testify. And we do have people here from the 246 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 School District who, I'm sure, are making notes of what your concerns are.
I do want to add one more thing. When it comes to the supplies that the schools are getting, again, I would suggest that those Councilpeople whose districts are not performing, that whenever school starts -- September 4th or I forget the date right now -- to go to those schools. If they say bought books, then every child in those schools that are performing below basic should have a book. If -- again, Councilman Jones or Tasco, those were the individuals I heard testifying. If they see that those children don't have a book, then the question is, What did you do with the money that we approved? Because it's hard to learn if you don't have the materials. And that would be my last suggestion.
Thank 247 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 you. And may I ask, do you belong to the parent-teacher's association with the school that your child goes to?
I don't belong to the Home and School 'cause they tend to have their meetings at 3:30.
I don't -- I belong to the general Home and School, but I don't participate in the local Home and School because they have those meetings at 3:30, and sometimes I can't take off of work to attend that. And if it was at 5 o'clock, I could go, but that time is inconvenient for working parents.
I would agree with you. I think if there were more parents who said that they prefer the meeting to be held later in the day that that could probably be 248 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 arranged. But I think that if you have complaints such as the paper that your child is using, that should definitely be brought to the attention of the principal.
I did bring it to her attention after the fact, but I guess my concern is, I shouldn't have to --
Well, now he has paper. And I don't know if it's paper for my child because I said something or if the kids in that particular class, they're all getting paper. It could be, We don't want no trouble, just give her what she wants, and let it be. But it shouldn't be that way. I shouldn't have my son in two different schools, and one school has paper because they're supported by the 249 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 University of Penn, and one doesn't. So then the question becomes: What are you doing with the money? We're talking about something as basic as paper and ink. If you don't have paper and ink, then you're going to have problems. I shouldn't even -- I mean, I'm a product of public school, I went on to graduate from college, and that was never an issue. I went to Henry C. Lee. We had a library, we had a full librarian, and paper was never an issue, so I guess I'm not understanding --
It should never be an issue, but I would strongly urge you to become more involved, you know, with the school that your child is going to. And I know that we do have someone here from the School District, and I think we have people here that have listened very intently to what 250 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 you had to say and will be certainly looking into the issues.
Thank you very much for coming in. MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is Vernard Johnson.
We're also concerned -- my name is Vernard Johnson. And I don't how the lady who just left the table could become any more involved than she is, but if she could find the time, God bless her. I'm saying that to say that she is probably one of the most active parents that I know since the time we've been doing this work. And the question for me becomes equity. What you have in your hand is a media night that's happening at the Barrett School in South Philadelphia, Councilwoman, because we have become concerned about the services, or lack thereof, that 251 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 children in special education and special needs are having especially in the District this year. You know, when we first started our work in South Philadelphia six years ago -- and by the way, six years ago, this time, this place was full of people, union members hanging out the rafters. People had a real feel for public education six years ago. And six years later, I guess we'll all go home on time. I'm trying to make a point when I say that. There's something going on in public education in this town that has killed the spirit of a lot of people, and we need to seriously look at that. But anyway, this is a meeting that the School Reform Commission and its group of parents, which included the lady who just testified and myself and others, are sponsoring this meeting to look at the services that 252 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 children of special needs are getting, or not getting, and we invite you to come to this meeting. I wanted to make a couple belief remarks; it sounds like the remarks that I made years ago. It 8 seems today, Councilwoman Blackwell, 9 that more kids than ever are taking 10 medication in school. 11 As a matter of fact, the 12 School District has a billing number, 13 which allows them to bill the State 14 for a nurse observing a child who is 15 taking medication in school. They've 16 gotten really sophisticated with it 17 these days. 18 We're not quite sure where the 19 dollars go when they're reimbursed; 20 they don't go back to the neighborhood schools, where the children are having trouble; they seem to go into some general fund that may not be benefit the children fall, and there may be a need to have some type of hearing 253 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 again just to find out, you know, what happens to the dollars that the District bills the Commonwealth for a nurse watching someone take a pill. The single-cultured schools is not a local initiative; it is a federal initiative. I don't know where Councilman Green is, but it's a federal initiative. And this year, the School District received $3 million to address the persistently dangerous and the dangerous schools, and they're supposed to create a manual of best practices from the 11 persistently dangerous schools that would be adopted by the other 30 dangerous schools that might fall into the persistently dangerous category. And then that road map could be used to overlay the other schools that are having problems. We're concerned that the people who are in the buildings 254 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 haven't significantly trained, sufficiently trained. And there were some articles in the paper last week and the week before that address some of the concerns that some of us have about how that money is being handled. 8 percent reduction in reportable incidents don't add up to me. I don't know. The dropout rate. It seemed like the District was having a problem answering the dropout rate yesterday.
We've been asking them the same questions, and we haven't been able to get answers, but if you look at the number of students who are going to graduate from Furness this year, Councilwoman, which is, you know, a South Philadelphia school, our understanding is that about 483 students entered into 9th grade; this graduating class is now made up of 138 students, and we understand that 60 of those students are not on target to 255 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 graduate Furness High School. The EMOs, some have done well, some have not. The $25 million that's attached to -- that's assigned to the schools, we believe, should stay with the schools and not follow the EMOs. " We just want you to know that they're the same schools. No matter who's managing those schools, we believe that the $25 million should stay with the school. And someone might want to talk to Representative Evans, who designed the legislation that required the $25 million to stay in the school. So when the District was prepared last year to eliminate some of the contracts, the EMOs were given 256 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 a one-year reprieve because the District wanted the million. 4 Now. There's a question about 5 where 11, maybe 13 million of those 6 dollars go. The District somehow 7 takes those dollars off the top and 8 they disappear. And so we're not 9 quite sure where those dollars go, but 10 it's something that we'd ask you to 11 talk to your colleagues on the State 12 level about. Those dollars don't stay 13 with the children. 14 The homeless (indiscernible) 15 students is probably more now, 16 Councilwoman Blackwell, than it was 17 when we looked at it when Estelle 18 Richman was the Health Commissioner. 19 And we tried to address it then, and 20 we think that it's something that the 21 School District can't address by 22 themselves, and maybe we could work 23 with the District and others to 24 address the problem of homeless 25 children. 257 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 But it also seems like where the kids with the most challenges are get the recycled paper. So we understand that at Locke School in your district, Edison and the School District can't make a decision who should buy books for the grades that's increased. And I understand from meeting last night with the president of the Home and School at Locke, attended the meeting, that when they heard that Sulzberger School was going to be closing, the Locke School ran to Sulzberger to get the books because they didn't have books of their own. And it seems like the families in Fairhill, in the Fairhill community, that attends Hartranft School also don't have books. So I'm wondering, you know, is it the school that service our families that have the least, that schools also have the least? And we'd ask you to work with us to make sure 258 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that the least of those have the same level of service that the Mastermans and the Centrals have. We're calling for equity across the board. Art and music, we heard that dance five years ago, six years ago now, that art and music was going to become a part of the core curriculum. Well, we're hearing in the dance again, that art and music are going to become a part of the core curriculum. My youngest daughter is an art student who never had the opportunity to take advantage of art in the school system. And when we went over to Drexel just to see what Drexel was offering in the area of art or technical design or whatever you might call it, we saw a lot of the students who didn't look like the students who live around Drexel taking advantage of scholarship opportunities because in their schools in the neighborhoods where they came from, they were able 259 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 to have art and music.
And so our kids, even in areas where God has given them the talent to excel, we're not developing it, and it needs to be developed, because our kids -- there are just some areas they just naturally excel in, and we're not taking them to the next level. The buildings are falling down. 6 billion is what it's going to take to rebuild the infrastructure of these old buildings. We need something like 3 million this year, for the year coming in, just to open up clean, safe, decent schools. We still have too many schools without water fountains. We were at Fitzsimon School today, and they got nice, brand-new water fountains but they're still turned off, and there's no water still sitting aside the fountain that when the City and the EPA told the District to turn the 260 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 water off years ago because of the lead in the water, they were supposed to put water next to those fountains so the children could drink water. There's still no water in the schools, and someone testified today about our kids having to buy water. So why should our children have to buy water to refresh themselves during the course of the school day? And, um, oh, this library thing. I remember when Mr. Hornbeck and Council held some hearings here however long ago that was, talking about libraries and how we can form partnerships with the public library system. Do you guys remember those hearings? I remember very well we stood back there took pictures, and many of our schools still don't have libraries. It seems like we're going around and around and around. And it seems like that somebody has to put 261 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 their foot down in managing, monitoring the School District so we don't keep talking about the same old things years later, years later. 6 We're talking about the same things. 7 And I'll close with this, if I 8 find it... Well, I think I'm 9 finished. 10 Oh, let me say this. No, I'm 11 not done. The way they close schools? 12 They closed a school in your district, 13 Councilwoman Verna, the Pierce School, 14 24th and Christian. Closed it without 15 a hearing. 16 They had a hearing about 17 Sulzberger School, and I know 18 Councilwoman Blackwell was involved in 19 the community meetings, but the last 20 hearing around Sulzberger School took 21 place at o'clock in the afternoon at 22 440 North Broad Street, and there 23 wasn't anybody there. I don't even 24 think they notified your office, 25 Councilwoman. I don't think they 262 1 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 notified Councilwoman Blackwell's office about that hearing even though she was involved, you know, diligently around the community meeting that held a hearing without anyone there. And I say this: They intend to take -- they intend to take the Maya School- they intend to take the Maya School from West Philadelphia and relocate the Maya School from West Philadelphia to the Pierce School in South Philadelphia without giving the people in the Pierce School community an opportunity to say what they think they can use that building for. So if you have students who are sitting at the Stanton School at 17th and Christian without an auditorium, without a cafeteria, having to walk down steps to get to where they meet, and the Pierce School is seven blocks up the street with a nice auditorium and just a nice building, a nice old, small building, 263 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 it seems like they would give the people in South Philadelphia an opportunity to say, Maybe we need to be using the Pierce School and giving those folks an opportunity to have some input as opposed to taking a school out of another neighborhood and moving that school into your neighborhood and then telling the people from West Philadelphia that they're going to have first opportunity to attend that school. And so I just wanted to say that the way they're closing schools, they're giving the community no real impact.
If the elected officials don't get involved, like I believe Councilwoman Blackwell and Senator Williams are around the Turner School, then our communities don't have any say-so about what happens to 'em and with those buildings. And so there are 18- and 19- and 20- and 21-year-olders who are 264 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 eligible for a free public education that are in many of those communities that those buildings could be used for a number of things, and so we wish that you would have a conversation with the School District around the way they're closing these buildings without getting community input. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments from members of the committee? (No questions or comments.)
Seeing none, this committee will stand in recess in 5:30 this evening. Thank you very much. (Committee stands in recess at 4:30 p.m.) (Proceedings resume.)
Council is now back in session 265 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 regarding Bill No. 080158 and 080159. MR. McPHERSON: Our first group this evening will be William Mackey. (Witnesses come forward.) (Applause.)
Quickly, you guys. Thank you for taking us now Councilwoman -- Council President. (Addressing students.) Come on, you guys. Got to hurry up.
Yes. My name is William Mackey, founder and executive director of Citywide Youth Leadership Agency. STUDENT: Hi. My name is Ayanna Adams. STUDENT: Hi. My name is 266 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Dulcina Cook. STUDENT: My name is Rodney Cook.
Okay. I want to just say tonight thanks for giving us the opportunity to testify. Over the years, the Citywide Youth Leadership Agency has had the pleasure of serving young people in the City of Philadelphia since 1981. And I could just tell you, Council President and these Councilmembers, that this year has been the most challenging and hardest ever. This year, our budget was 160,000 for 100 students for 12 months. And it's impossible. And I 267 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 don't know how we made it to April, beginning of May, and still have our young people around. We have no 5 staff. Our utilities is about to be shut off. I'm not on payroll at the agency for the last six months, and I'm near 60 hours a week. But nevertheless, I want to tell you if we had our way what we would do in the City of Philadelphia to restore our program and resources to our young people. The first thing is in the package is a letter from a gentleman by the name of Michael Asbell, who's a prominent developer in the City of Philadelphia. He's now volunteering to help Citywide build our youth mini mall program, which we've been trying to build for, I guess, 15 years. And I'll get back to that. We have requested from the Nutter Administration to turn over property at Ninth and Cecil B. Moore 268 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 so we could build a Stage I youth educational entrepreneur center, something like the one in the Northeast. Young people in North Philly can have a center like that to go to for education and storefronts on the first floor. I'm going to come back to that. Right now, I'm going to tell you that a quarter million, 250,000, young people in the City of Philadelphia are at risk, and there's many -- there's four major elements that make that at-risk happens to them. One of 'em is, percent of 18 those young people are engaging -- 25 19 percent of those young people have 20 access to handguns. Twenty-five 21 percent of a quarter million young 22 people have access to handguns. 23 I'm going to tell you today 24 that 50 percent of a quarter million 25 students are indulging in some form of 269 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 narcotics. Fifty percent of a quarter million students are indulging in some form of narcotics. I'm also going to tell you that percent of the students that 7 are average students have nothing to 8 do after school. And some of the -- 9 I'm just going to tell it the way it 10 is, like I always do. 11 Some of them after-school 12 programs is really not challenging to 13 them. They not fun because they not 14 in charge. We promote -- we proposed 15 with Shelly Yanoff ten years ago to do 16 a Youth Commission, and I'm glad you 17 have a Youth Commission now. But I'm 18 going to tell you, it's a little late. 19 You need a Youth Crime 20 Commission. You need young people to 21 have chapters throughout the City, and 22 they need to have they own youth-based 23 organizations that they run. That is 24 college students in there that 25 administer the program with them but 270 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 they have self-control. And I need a school I.D. card. Anybody have a school I.D. card? I'm going to show you something, Council President. I'm going to be brief. I'm going to show you this. Ten years ago, we proposed to the Street Administration -- and I got comments from the School District the other day to bring it up again. If you took -- and we demonstrated this here a couple of years ago. If you took a school I.D. card, right, and you made it work at SEPTA and they scan that I.D. card and it logs in, right? So Governor Rendell, last year, when SEPTA said they was going on strike, he kind of pitched it a little bit -- (Councilwoman Blackwell enters chamber.)
Hi, Councilwoman. Now, if you take this same school card and make it a library 271 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 card, I could tell you right now, that very few -- that the library's not utilized percent by the public 5 school students but this I.D. card 6 could be a library card too. 7 You like it, don't you, 8 Councilman? Oh, you going to love it, 9 it's going to get better. 'Cause 10 guess what? It could be a health card 11 to go into the health centers. They 12 could use this card for DHS. They 13 could use this card as a curfew card. 14 They could use this card for they 15 after-school programs. They scan it 16 and then you load it, and then the 17 School District says to that cluster, 18 to that area, This kid's profile for 19 success -- to succeed for success is 20 loaded. He needs 15 hours of this, 15 21 hours of this. 22 And that's how the community 23 groups get they money, 'cause right 24 now, everybody, let's hustle. You get 25 so many kids, you don't know what the 272 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 need is. You get sign-in sheet, you count 'em in. That's how you measure it, and you should do the demonstration on 250 students that's at risk by area. And all you do first is, you get all of the computer people, the smart people, in all those places, you put 'em in a room, you make the computers talk to each other. That's number one. Then, number two, you set up the service providers. All those groups I told you, they set up a service provider system, and they do the services. And then you set up the deliverable system. That's all those groups of kids that actually fill people that work with young people and have that. So you got three: You got the computers, you got the managers, and then you have the deliverables. We proposed this. And when I 273 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 proposed this, I got punished when I told the other people they didn't know what they was doing. You know what people I'm talking about. I got punished. I thought they was my friends. That's what happened. It's ready to go more today than ever. It's in here, we proposed it, we'll be happy to demonstrate for any committee you have. But let me go back to this youth center. We have a million- dollar grant that a good friend of mine told me about. If I ever could get that grant -- his name is Councilman Curtis Jones -- then I would be lucky. We have a state grant that's sitting in PIDC for a million dollars, and we proposed to build this real nice entrepreneur training center in north central Philadelphia, with a alternative school on top where a lot of young people come. 274 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 We have two requests for you, and then I'm going to be quiet. One is, will you please ask this administration to find us some money in this fiscal year? I sent them the bills. It's detailed, it's narrowed out this fiscal year. Because you know what? Did you ever watch that Will Smith movie? That's how Mackie's going to be next week. I'm going to be homeless with me and my son, and I will be here camping out at somebody's store and I'll really be getting thrown out of Council. But more so, Citywide, stand up. (Citywide kids stand up.)
This is half of my group. I have no snack money, I have no tokens, I have no staff. And have a seat you guys. Thank you. And in this community that 275 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 they come from is the ones you see on TV every weekend. You just punch that thing on Thursday, and by Sunday afternoon, you see all the shootings and all the violence and all the -- that's the 250,000 people that we're talking about. So we have no money now. We ask that this Council consider putting us in the budget for '09, I guess, and help us build this entrepreneurship training center. And the last thing is to allow us to come do a demonstration on this youth resource card. If you allow us to do it, I bet you it will work, and I'll bet you we help really be able to evaluate, demonstrate, reduce violence, produce leaders in the City of Philadelphia. I'm good tonight though, ain't I? 'Cause I'm broke.
Mr. Mackey, did I understand you to say 276 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that your budget --
It's 160 current 11 through Safe and Sound, and we have put 12 all the records back through Safe and Sound and asked their president, Ernie Jones, to take a look at it. We have put all of their necessary documents that they asked for over and over with the budget for my fiduciary test. And it's a (indiscernible) audit. We have bills that haven't been paid. I have told the phone company for six months the check was in the mail. The lady said, "If its not there tomorrow, Mr. Mackey, I'm cutting your phones off." We have no money. We only 277 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 allowed to spend one-twelfth of 160 per month. And let me say this to you, Councilwoman. This is one that's for Miss Councilwoman Tasco. Councilwoman Tasco, I think one time last week, we was testifying here, and people could like me or don't like me, but I think the message is always good. When Citywide has funding, you all know we out there doing a lot all the time. Nobody can doubt it. We have professional people with us right now. As soon as I get all of my students back and get college students trained and other people, I have to turn 'em away, and I'm afraid that's what's going to happen again.
I would just like to get this clear in my mind. Were you given -- (Councilwoman Sanchez enters 278 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 chambers.)