Were you given 13,000 a month from Safe and Sound?
Let me give it to you: It's 13,000 a month to pay for rent, electric, insurance, staff, which we have one maintenance guy, and one computer lady. Nobody else. Transportation tokens, snacks, janitorial supplies and all for 13. And the fiduciary has to get his cut.
Oh. And when was the last time you received a check from Safe and Sound?
They submit the bills and they receive a reimbursement. It's never -- right now, when we -- when these young people come to 279 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the after-school program, we had college work study students who money has run out, so they getting ready to stop coming. I can't even hire 'em. And we have no tokens. I borrow money from everybody in the neighborhood to buy these kids tokens. I'm really ashamed because I have more pride than that, but my determination not to give up is what keeps me going.
Okay. And you have sent a letter to Mayor Nutter?
Mayor Nutter, with the backup documentation; Dr. Schwartz; the Managing Director's Office; Mr. Ernie Jones Verna all right.
Now, did you send them a budget that you would like to see? 280 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Two months. And if you know, me every other day I fax it and call 'em. And had these students call 'em too and Councilman Clarke. You know I call all the time.
Okay. Are there any questions or comments from members of the committee? (No questions or comments.)
Thank you. Do you want your two students there to identify themselves?
You'r e going to have to speak into the 281 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 microphone.
Hello. My name is Ayanna Adams, and I've been going to Citywide, and my brother went there when he was younger.
You're going to have to pull the microphone closer to you.
I am talking into the mic. And Citywide is a place where you come to do your homework or get the information from people, and they give you a summer job and...
I told her. My brother went there when he was younger, and they gave him summer jobs every time he came and they gave him stipends and stuff so he had money during the summer so he wouldn't get in trouble. So that was a place where he could go 282 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 to stay out of trouble.
Thank you very much. Please identify yourself for the record.
Hi. My name is Dulcina Cooke, and I go to Dobbins High School. Basically, I think that we need support in Citywide because, you know, a lot of youth nowadays, we don't have anywhere's to go. And, like, we need programs during the summer because, like, you know, you see a lot of kids fighting and, you know, doing a lot of stuff they shouldn't be doing, and that's because we don't have anything to do, so we just find other things to do, like stuff to get in trouble and stuff. So we really need a lot of support at Citywide because if, you know, with support at Citywide, you 283 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 know, it would be more stuff for the kids to do. A lot of kids would be off the street, and it would just help, you know, the community.
This is really going to be hard. About a year ago, we got evicted out of a facility -- about a year, ago we got evicted out of a facility. We been there for years 15 and had invested a lot of money when Safe and Sound cut our grant and we couldn't pay the rent. We had a miniature golf course in North Philadelphia on this lot at 910 West Cecil B. Moore. And one night, we had two big trailers put on the lot and electric. We meet at trailers in north central Philadelphia. It's not adequate space and it's very 284 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 expensive. Once a week, we have to pay for a waste company to come in and do the waste and do the water. And we owe him $15,000, and he's only doing it because when he comes over, he sees us servicing young people. I have not enough desks in my office, but fortunately, we've been able to put the Internet service on, our computers on, and some other stuff. And I've just been blessed with good young people; I could tell you that. I've really -- in the old days, I would overspend and be in trouble. And now, I don't have anything to spend. I would rather be in trouble for overspending and taking my young people on college tours and buying them pizza in the evening and helping them with books and sneaks and stuff like that and incentives than, right now, ducking everybody. I duck everybody. I literally duck everybody 285 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 now 'cause I owe everybody. And I still do it for my young people. And it's painful. It really is. I'm a real proud person, but I would do anything for these young people. I have pleaded with the Nutter administration all year long to look into our funding situation. And I guess they trying to figure out what's going on. I have pleaded to Mr. Jones. And I just want to say this at the end: You know, people can say what they want about me, but I have had a professional fiduciary to prepare the accounting records and everything. All these students right here is doing 500-word essays. They can't commend the program without the report cards. I mean, we running a real tight ship right now. And I'm just proud. And anybody can come to the 286 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 door and do an imprompt [sic] visit. The place is clean, it's ran tight, it's good. And when I spoke to the other administration, it was not -- I'm going to say this. With all of the money that has been spent in the last eight years on youth services, Philadelphia should be the model, but I have -- like I told you before last time, I must have a twin brother 'cause everything I proposed over there they tried to duplicate. And a lot of times when you duplicate, it's a fake and it don't work. And I just have to tell the truth. We empower young people to get into the community to do the things they need to do and build pride. It's no pride with young people right now. If we had that money and had our regular budget right now, these kids would be on TV every month doing community-service projects, the mock 287 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 trial, the computer lab, the youth mini mall presentation, the arts and culture division, our health division. We had a health patrol. We did a blight arrest patrol. We went around the City and removed blight.
We even had neighborhood cookouts -- just one more. We even had neighborhood cookouts where we outcooked Councilman Jones one time.
Thank you, 288 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Councilman. Thank you, Councilpeople. Thank you, Council President Councilwoman, thank you.
Okay. Our next witness? MR. McPHERSON: Our next panel is the PDR Swimming Team, Marcus Foster Pool. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good evening. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good evening. I'm Mike Major. I'm the president of the PDR or Marcus Foster PDR Parents Advisory Group. In addition to myself, 289 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 there are a number of other children who want to also make an appeal this evening. We're here because of the pool closings in general and the closing of Marcus Foster in particular. I took a look at some statistics. And, you know, there are approximately 175 rec centers throughout the City, and imagine the impact of closing 63 of them. And that's what has happened recently, where about 4 of the 11 pools are run by the School District have been closed, which represents about 36 percent of the pools. I just had a couple of questions for the School District. One is, you know, how did things get to this point? Who knew about the problem before it got to the point of having to close the pools? And then the follow-up question is: What are the -- what about the remaining seven pools; are 290 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 they headed for the same result? What is the impact of closing Marcus Foster? Located in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia, the pool was first opened in 1980 as a brand-new facility, contrary to how it was portrayed in the movie "Pride," which shows it as a broken-down facility. It was named after the former principal of Simon Gratz High School, and it recently became one of the four pools that has been closed by the School District. The following statistics are supported by the USA Swimming Foundation website: Nine people drown each day in the United States. In ethnically diverse communities, the youth drowning rate is two to three times higher than the national average. One in three kids in the 291 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 United States is overweight and at risk for obesity-related diseases. From September 2007 until April of 2008, when the pool was recently shut down, Marcus Foster did its share to counteract the above numbers. Forty-five children learned to swim at the Marcus Foster Swimming Pool. Note: More of that could have been taught, but the condition of the pool required the cancellation of two classes. The April (indiscernible) swimming class had a waiting list of 60 children. The September 2008 class, that will have to be cancelled, already has a waiting list. The 2008 summer camp season will see approximately 400 children impacted by the closing of the Marcus Foster Swimming Pool. And one of the camp directors is here this evening, 292 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Sandy Allen, from Zion Baptist Church. In addition to that, the summer season of 2008 will also see children of the Nicetown community with no local place to swim this summer. While those are the facts about looking back, I'm also going to try to look forward, as we talk about how we -- and I want to emphasize we -- can solve this problem. I noticed on the School District's five year financial plan the discussion of a shared services task force that talks about after-school programming in general and swimming in particular. Every day, from about 4 o'clock until 7:30, I know where my child is: She's in the pool, practicing. , then we need more programs that not only keep kids off the street but provide for not just structured programming but the opportunity for much more. I just want to give you a couple of facts about the team, and I'll be done. It's coached by Jim Ellis. Jim has recently served as the US National Team coach. Tracy, who you will be hearing from, was the first African- American swimmer to qualify for the Middle Atlantic Zone All-Star Team. And Matt Scanlon, who's also a middle school teacher at Baldi, Matt swam at Weidner University. The team was founded in 1971 and has had a long-storied history of success, beginning at Sayre Middle School and moving to Marcus Foster Rec Center in 1980. PDR swimmers have competed internationally and nationally at the highest levels of the sport.
294 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Consistent with Coach Ellis's desire to expose swimmers to other parts of the country and different lifestyles, PDR swimmers have competed in such places as: Paris, France; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Sidney, Australia, and Fukoalma zzz, Japan internationally; and in states; and in over 29 US cities, 10 including Boca Raton; Orlando; Ft. 11 Lauderdale, Florida; Mission Viejo; 12 Pasadena, California; and Honolulu, 13 Hawaii. 14 As an educator himself, Coach 15 Ellis knows the value of education. PDR 16 swimmers using lessons learned under his 17 tutelage have gone on to compete at some of the top institutions of higher learning in America, including: Dartmouth University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Howard University, University of Virginia, Northwestern University, Swarthmore University, and the University of Pittsburgh, to name a few. 295 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 PDR swimmers have also competed at the 1992, '96, and 2000 Olympic trials. During the period of over 5 years, PDR had no fewer than two 6 swimmers listed among the national age 7 group top 16 rankings. PDR swimmers 8 have represented the United States in 9 the Pan American games and the Pan 10 Pacific games. Team swimmers have also 11 held three junior national records and 12 one junior national east record and four 13 national age group records. In addition, we have a number of our swimmers who are on the team today who have achieved and won numerous awards. And I guess one of my questions, one of my frustrations over the years has been, how could a team with this kind of success not have received virtually any support at all from the School District and from the City of Philadelphia? And with that, I'll shut up because there are a whole bunch of other 296 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 folks who want to talk as well. )
Good evening. My name is Tracy Freeland. I'm an assistant coach with PDR. And Mike pretty much said everything about the program. I'm a product of the program. I started with the program when I was four years old. I'm 40 years old right now. Every day, we started at Sayre Recreational Center. My mother would drive 45 minutes, my brother and I, to practice and back every day, Monday through Saturday, from 3:30 to 6. And it was a vehicle for us to do something. I traveled all over the country because of swimming, and if I have swimming, I wouldn't have been able to travel all over the country. I grew up in a single-parent family. And in 1980, we moved to Marcus Foster. I've seen it deteriorate from 297 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 1980 to 2008 without too much maintenance going on. I earned a full scholarship to Howard University, and without swimming, I don't think I would have been able to go to college. I know my mother wouldn't have been able to pay for college. So I'm a product of the team. As soon as I graduated from college, I pursued my career in education. I've been teaching health and physical education for years 15 and have been coaching and giving back 16 to what PDR gave to me for the past 18 17 years. 18 Thank you. (Applause.)
For the record, my name is Sharon Luzier, and my children swim on the PDR Swim Team. We have some information that we passed out. Along with that is a 298 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 document, a petition that was circulated by the Nicetown CDC, with 400 signatures of people who live in that immediate vicinity who are protesting the closing of the pool. Earlier this month, as I was preparing my regular evening, which was sending my kids off to swim practice and then to leave work in time to pick them up along with a number of other children from our neighborhood, I got a call about a half an hour later and was told that the pool was closed indefinitely. And this was a couple of weeks after at least five kids from the swim team swam, including my children, swam in the Junior Olympics. So it was just such a downer for the children. This is a superior-ranked swimming team. The coach, Tracy, doesn't -- is modest in his skills. He could coach anywhere. Jim Ellis could coach anywhere. People all over 299 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the country have tried to get them to leave Marcus Foster, leave the kids behind, but they have a dedication to this team that is just quite remarkable. We're -- the City of Philadelphia is privileged to have such coaches that can take kids, get them into the ranks of the elite swim meets that they often take children to. The facility is Marcus Foster. I passed out some pictures. They were pretty bad. There were always puddles everywhere. When it rained outside, it seemed like it was raining even harder inside. But there were a lot of bright and cheerful things always going on there. There were inspirational bullet boards, Swimmer of the Month, there were lots of children taking swim lessons there who would come early to watch the swim team practice 300 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 and be motivated, and a number of the on the swim team now were children who were taught how to swim in the swim lessons that go on there. Even with such facilities, you often thought, Why are these facilities so run down? Why is a hose from the utility closet piping hot water into the pool all the time? , which children from all over the country attend; the Junior Olympics; the Pan American; the Olympic time trials; and other elite meets, right along with the kids from the private swim clubs that have so much beautiful facilities and cameras under water that analyze their strokes and things along those lines. But we had Jim and Tracy, the superior coaches that, without such amenities, were able to do comparable 301 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 things with our kids. And I think what we really would like the Council to know is that we are aware that the School District has acknowledged serious problems with the pool and how much they cost to run; that is certainly a reality. They have indicated that they don't have money to make repairs and that a shared service task force will examine the pool situation. We also read the newspapers and see that such task forces have been established many times before and have not really gone very far. And I guess what we want the City Council and the School District to know is that these are really kids in great programs that are waiting for these decisions and suffering as a result of the School District's lack of maintenance of these pools. And we just hope that this situation will stay in the forefront of your mind. 302 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Again, I have the petitions from the Nicetown CDC. Unfortunately, no one could appear from there today 'cause they're having their board elections tonight, and everyone has to be there for that, of course. But it's signed by 400 of the neighbors in the immediate area of the pool. I'd like to have the swimmers just stand up for a minute. )
And I believe that maybe one or two of them might have something very brief to say, if that's okay.
I would just like to ask a question, please. What is the cost estimate to repair the pool? Does anybody know?
No, we don't know. Typically, the pool -- as a volunteer 303 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 parents group, our focus is really on the team and swimming. The details of the facility and the cost of operations we don't have any exposure to at all. The School Board really runs the pool. They came in one day and said, "We're done. You're done." (Addressing Mr. Freeland.) Go ahead, Tracy.
The School Board, they just locked the doors of the pool. And they put it in the Capital Budget. You know, we don't have any say or have any knowledge of what's going on or how much it costs to fix. All I know is -- I don't know what that means exactly, but it's going to Capital Budget, and it's just closed indefinitely.
Is anybody from the School District here that could respond to this? (School District rep in 304 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 audience stands up.)
Do you mind approaching the witness table? The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you. Just one related question. I would expect that if money could be found to do the repairs, it would probably need to close it during the course of the repairs. Have you anticipated a location where you could continue to practice and train and compete while that work would be going on?
Yeah. We secured -- Jim has a number of relationships throughout the City and so he has spoken with the coaches at LaSalle.
And right now, we are practicing there on a temporary basis. 305 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
It sounds like a wonderful, wonderful program. (Addressing School Board rep.) Do you mind taking the witness table? The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Also, I acknowledge that great team that you have, and I look with pride at the young people and their accomplishments. As a former track coach, I know what that feeling is through the eyes of a child being able to see them achieve. One of the options also is the pool being built on Wissahickon Avenue by Reverend Bonnie (sp.?), which they're trying to build an Olympics-sized pool, which is in the 4th Councilmatic District, by the way. And that -- is that a long-term goal of yours to locate in 306 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that facility?
Yeah, I'm actually a part of the campaign leadership team trying to raise the funds. Right now, yes, the Salvation Army received a grant from the Joan Kroc Foundation to build a super community center. They've got the funding -- or they're raving the funding for that. In addition, there is a separate campaign being run right now, trying to generate anywhere between 6 to about $15 million to build either a 25-by -- a 25-meter-by-25-yard pool; or, as you indicated, to build dream, which would be an Olympic-sized 50-meter pool. But challenge right now is that it all has to come from private funds. So if anybody has any deep 307 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 pockets, we need to know.
I'm just -- long-term, it is the Salvation Army's interest to recruit them there. The difference between a 25- and a 50-meter pool is what is the difference between the $4 million or so that it takes to build it. That's just as a point of information, Madam President.
Hello. Carly Bolger, School District of Philadelphia. I don't have the figures with me on the cost to repairing the pool, but I'd be happy to get them for you by tomorrow.
When it would be anticipated that work would 308 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 be started and what is the completion date for the repairs.
A bigger -- something that's really important is, in the summertime, that pool is -- houses a lot of kids. It's where kids go to hang out all day. And you know how it is in the summertime with violence. I really -- it's very important for you to try to get the pool fixed by the summertime. Like I said, that pool is where kids hang out for somewhere to be safe. You know, 3, 400 kids come there a day for safety, you know, 309 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 because they don't want to be on the streets.
They probably have to put that out for bidding. I just don't know what the status of that is, but we will hear from the School District. Who is your District Councilperson?
Miller? Okay. We will follow through with this with Councilwoman Miller too, and I would suggest you be in communication with her. But we will get the information. I just don't see how it's possible. Do we have somebody from the 310 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 School District to say whether it's possible that this would be rehabbed by summer? In all likelihood, I don't personally see it happening. I'm sure you don't know what the status of that is at this point, do you?
Not off the top of my head. I could call back to the office right now to find out.
Would you, please. (Two young swim team members come to witness table.)
Okay. Do you want to identify yourself for the record. Good evening. PDR SWIMMER: Good evening. My name is Deja (sp.?), and I'm a swimmer on PDR, and I was just writing something out of the blue after I read the newspaper with my mom and stuff like that. My team, my wonderful team, the team that changed Philly, but is 311 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 it known? No. There is a team out there that we need to recognize. My coach, Jim Ellis, is trying to make a change in our communities. He has coached many black people. He has the discipline. Some of his students are on the way to the Junior Olympics. Don't you see the promise? Coach Ellis puts his whole heart into the team. He tries to help kids succeed. The City needs to start thinking about our young people. You say we need change in Philadelphia. Well, there are people in Philadelphia who really do want to make change, like, for example, my coach. Here you have a golden opportunity to change Philly, but you just brush it aside. You say that young people need to get off of the street. Well, what about PDR? My team has children in the pool often. After they come home from school, they go straight to swimming, from 5 p.m. 312 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 through 8 p.m. or p.m. through p.m. My question is: Why shut it down? Just because you can't afford to fix a pool doesn't mean anything. You have enough money for new building and to fix streets; why not for people trying to make a change? (Applause.) (Cheers.)
Do you want to identify yourself for the record. PDR SWIMMER: Hi. I'm Howard.
Hi, Howard. PDR SWIMMER: Okay. I've been on PDR two-and-a-half years, and it took me one year to come and be known as -- because I went to the Junior Olympics. Now, it took me hard work and good coaching from Tracy and Jim. It took, like, uh... Wait. It took a lot of work and, like, the coach liked 313 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 to make it to the JO's. It takes a lot of time. You work hard and you do a lot of stuff. If you close down this pool, then that would take a lot of things away from people. And, like, people could get lazy judge and just eat a lot of food and get fat. Like with swimming, you lose weight, you feel good about yourself instead of just saying, "Man, I'm a slob, I just do nothing" should they shut down that pool. So I was just saying, like, that pool means a lot to everybody. Everybody had joined and came into that pool and swam. We had started swimming lessons at that pool. And, like, when that pool is closed, where we going to have those swimming lessons for the people who want to swim? So I was just saying that if you going to, like, not close down the 314 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 pool, PDR. That's it. (Applause.) (Cheers.)
This is one of our swimming leaders here. (Witness comes forward.) PDR SWIMMER: Okay. Hi. I'm Chelsea. I'm one of the oldest people on the team. I've been swimming with PDR for about seven, eight years. I started out with Tracy and I moved up to Jim, and over the years, they've really helped me not only evolve as a swimmer but as a person also through -- like, we have morning practices and it's a lot of hard work and dedication and giving up so much to do to swim. And so, when you shut down our pool, what do we do after school? Now you find something other to do. I guess swimming kind of provided us with an alternate, like, solution to 315 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 do or something to do after school. So we go to the pool and we swim. And it's a lot better than what half of my friends do or most of my friends do. And, like Tracy said, he got a scholarship, so he inspired us to keep swimming 'cause most of our parents -- or some of our parents, I should say, can't afford to pay for college, so swimming is our road to college. So when you cut off our resource, like when we don't have a pool to practice at, it kind of cuts off our future because swimming is our future, and we really need to use it to get to where we need to go, so we need a facility to practice at. So, hopefully, our pool can be reopened so we can continue to pursue our dream. Thank you.
Thank you. (Applause.) 316 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Good evening. My name Sandra Allen, and I'm the day camp director at the Zion Summer Day Camp. I'm speaking on behalf of the camps. I'm only one here today. But we have been swimming at Marcus Foster for -- well, I've been there for -- it's been years, like a long time, almost 20, 30 years. And we swim twice a week. And when I received the news that the pool had closed -- and I am working on our program for the summer -- I was devastated. Now I'm looking for another place for the children because they love to go to Marcus Foster, they love the swimming, they look forward to it. And that was one of the assets that helped. And we try to expose the children to as much as we possibly can. And I'm just hoping that the 317 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 School District can find it, some way that they can try to get the money or -- for the summer. What I'm saying is, I know it's a long wind for this summer, and I'm in agreement with you. I'm not sure whether or not it will be -- we will be able to utilize the pool this summer, but I am just asking you, please, could you find it in your hearts to find a way?
Good evening. My name is Emerson Willis. I am a parent of two swimmers at PDR. I first became aware of the team in the late '80s, early '90s, and I read a article in the New York Times about how the team had made the 318 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 national championships, which they went on to win over a couple of years. And I had the opportunity, when I -- and this was all before I had children. But I knew that, as a parent, that water safety was the key, 'cause I wasn't a great swimmer. Growing up in Philadelphia, it's hard to swim in the fire hydrant, it's real hard. But I knew that what I wanted to do was have my boys water-safe. And so I went through some steps to make sure they knew how to swim, but as they were being developed, when they first learned, their first coach said, "You need to take your boys up to PDR and see Jim and Tracy and Mr. Woody." And that was in 1999. And in '99, the team was very strong, very large, and it was doing very, very well. But over the years, as the pool began to deteriorate, people stopped coming because they 319 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 were concerned with the facilities. And so, if it's at all in your hearts -- 'cause I've seen the success of this team. I often tell people that everyone that I've seen go through this program that reaches their senior year in high school has gotten money for college through aquatics. Okay, when we go to the Baltimore Aquarium and we're watching the different -- you know, the fish and the sea and things like that, the children -- I can say to my sons, you know, "You can be a marine biologist, you can snorkel, you can skin-dive, you can do all of those things," things that kids don't normally get to do, that they don't even entertain. But through this team and through this program, I've -- we, as a family, have been able to develop, and I've seen other kids do it. So I just wanted to testify 320 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 today on behalf of the team and PDR that if anything can be done to keep this program going, 'cause the success -- there's written, there's movies, it's books, and for the City to let it just go by the wayside would be a travesty.
It sounds like a wonderful, wonderful program. We're waiting to hear if somebody from the School District has any information. MR. McPHERSON: They're still making phone calls.
They're still making phone calls. However, I wish we did have it within our power to simply say that this should be rehabilitated, but we in Council have the sole 321 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 responsibility of reenacting the taxes. We will, however, be in touch with the School District. We will certainly let Councilwoman Miller, who is out, I think she has a very bad virus, she will be informed of your presence here tonight and exactly what the problem is. (Ms. Bolger returns to witness table.)
We have somewhat of an answer. The status of the three pools that have been closed is that we have affirmed assessing the conditions and the corresponding cost estimates that go along with those, and we're anticipating the results of that back by the end of May. However, currently in the Capital Budget, there aren't funds to 322 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 fix these pools with the rehab costs. However, it is one of the items that we have on the agenda to explore on the Shared Services Task Force, so it's something that we're looking and willing to work with on the City to figure out how to get this done. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: There is no money; is that what you said?
We're waiting for the estimates, but there is currently nothing in the Capital Budget.
So I would really like to be up front with everybody who is here. Would you say that it's not very likely that the pool will be rehabbed this summer? By the summer? 323 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
I think that would be unlikely given that we're not getting the estimates back until the end of May.
I think if there's no money, then is it likely that they won't -- that the pool won't be open at all? I mean, if you don't have any money in the budget right now and there's no funds, I mean, that sounds like a "never" to me. 324 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
There may not be money in this budget because they don't have the estimate, but once they get the estimate, they can determine how much they have to put in the budget.
And these are questions that I can get you more detailed answers to tomorrow. This is just the information that I had ready.
While we're all well aware of the bidding requirements that the government has to go through to get things done, repaired, or built, there are emergency opportunities for health and life- safety issues that don't have to be bid as stringently as building a new building or doing a rehab that's not of an emergency nature. And since there's young people and other people using the facility 325 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 and since because it's aquatic and it needs to be safe and it needs to be clean and it needs to be -- there's lots of, I guess, lots of scenarios you could put together to make this an emergency repair as much as a normal three-part bid rehab. So one of the suggestions that I have, Madam President -- Madam President? The suggestion I would make is that maybe your office or Councilwoman Miller's office could prepare a letter to the District, asking them to consider this an emergency, life-safety repair and perhaps cut through some of that bidding red tape that is required. The other issue is the issue of the three pools. I mean, at this point now, I only see one group advocating for one pool as opposed to the other two, and I'm not saying that they don't have similar -- they probably don't have similar programs 326 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 as this or if they have any programs at all. So maybe this ought to be the priority and ought to be handled through a life-safety effort as opposed to just the normal bidding processes.
We would be very happy to do that, but I think that the group should go before the School District's hearings. When is their next hearing?
Tomorrow night, I think. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: May 7, May 14th.
But I think 327 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 if we put them on notice now that we're --
But at the same time, I mean, as impressed as we are, I would like the members of the SRC to be equally impressed and know what the importance of this issue is to the entire community. When is the next -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: May 7th and May 14th.
May 7th and May 14th? At what time? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Immediately following the SRC meeting at the Broad Street School District offices. May 7th, at 5 p.m. The May 14th meeting following the p.m. 23 following the SRC meeting. 24
And 25 must the group call beforehand to be on 328 1 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the witness list to testify? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, they do. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: They have to call the day before, 5 o'clock.
While he's coming, Tracy just whispered in my ear that University City, which is where he teaches at, has been closed now for three years. So I think if we're not on top of this and don't keep a fire lit, you know, we run the risk of this just dragging on. I think beyond that, Jim, with his contacts with USA swimming, I think if the School District would be willing to talk with us, maybe we could -- you know, if they open to an emergency, you know, we're willing to try to kind of help at least find the people who could maybe expedite this, 329 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 but they got to be willing to work with us.
Fernando Gallard, Director of Media Relations, School District of Philadelphia. The next opportunity to speak in front of the SRC on the budget, the first one is May 7th, at 5 p.m.; and May 14th, immediately following the 1 o'clock regularly scheduled SRC meeting. If you would like to speak at the SRC budget meetings, you have to call the day before, and it's going to be before 4 o'clock, and you have to call 215-400-4040. That's 215-400-4040.
Do you have that number? Were you able to get that number?
Okay, great. 330 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Very well. Councilwoman Tasco, did you have a comment or question?
And, again, we think it's a wonderful program. I know that everyone here is impressed with it. Thank you. Our next witness? Do we have anyone else that would like to testify? 331 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Please approach the witness table, sir. (Witness comes forward.)
Good evening, sir. Please identify yourself for the record.
Okay. I have a prepared statement. Good afternoon. My name is Gregory Jordan Detamore, and I'm a Philadelphia public high school students and also a member of the Philadelphia Student Union. We, at the Student Union, along with other organizations that we work with, feel that there's a -- we have a lot of questions about transparency and accountability and the decisions that the School District makes. We feel that all too often 332 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 students, parents, and community members are left in the dark about School District decisions. We have serious concerns with the way the District handles the release of information. It seems the District only releases information that absolutely has to be released under the narrowest interpretation of the law. There's a great wealth of information that can, and should, be made public but is not. The most pressing information is information about charter schools and educational management organizations. This includes detailed financial reports, evaluation score cards, and recommendations on renewal. In general, there's a lack of transparency and accountability about how decisions are made to award contracts. Where is the quality control? 333 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 This leads to another important subject: that of educational management organizations, or EMOs. EMOs such as Edison operate many schools in the District. While they are contracted to improve the quality of schools, data shows that they have not improved the schools any more than other District schools; in fact, they have shown the least amount of improvement when compared to other District schools and charters. So why are they getting an additional 500 to $800 per student? How can we allow companies to try to make a profit off some of the lowest-performing and vulnerable schools? Another important point to discuss is the District's seeming neglect to inform the public of important decisions. An excellent example is that of the West Philadelphia plan. The 334 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 District currently has a plan to shift around many schools in West Philadelphia. Turner is supposed to be to closed, Parkway is supposed to be moved to Sulzberger, Sulzberger is supposed to be closed, Maya is supposed to be moved to Pierce in South Philly, and University City is closing in two years for renovation. Many residents are still confused about the plan and are upset about not being informed about much of this as the events have been unfolding. Council has an important role to play here in making sure that constituents understand the big picture of what's happening with schools in their communities. Now we come to the budget. We feel that the budget process is not what it should be. We want a process with real community input and more public meetings. The District has 335 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 responsibility to walk the community through the budget. I was unsettled by the news that some members of Council might feel that because there's a low public turnout at these meetings, schools must be improving. I think that the public tired of coming to meetings just to testify when we feel that our input is not being taken seriously, not to mention that we are actively discouraged from coming to these City Council hearings by School District personnel who tell us that City Council doesn't have any power; I assume we weren't the only ones who were told that. But here we are with this proposed budget. We would like to say that we are not satisfied with it. Where are the real reforms for corrective actions to schools? We want to focus on improved teacher quality and equity along with smaller 336 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 classes in schools. One program that was very successful in the past was the Office of Restructured Schools, or the ORS. The ORS was created in 2002 to improve low-performing schools.
It 8 provided teacher-coaches, more 9 professional development, more 10 parental involvement, extra staff, and 11 smaller classes. Then, in 2005, it 12 was mysteriously closed. 13 We have continued to ask the 14 District why it was closed, and to 15 date, they have failed to give an 16 explanation. You call that 17 transparency? 18 In conclusion, Council must 19 exert its influence to increase the 20 transparency and accountability in the 21 School District and on the School Reform Commission. Council also has the responsibility to make sure that community residents understand what is happening to their schools and have an 337 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 opportunity to make meaningful input in the budget and School District decisions. Since education is key to empowering our communities, a real effort needs to be to made to make sure that everyone is involved.
Thank you very much. Good evening. What school do you attend?
Wonderful. I'm glad you do. We appreciate all of the statements you've made. Apparently, 338 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the only school that will close in June, as you know, is Maya Parkway. And the Turner School is now being considered for various charter schools. They're looking at that. But I'm happy to meet with you, with your group to talk about what we hear. As you know, obviously, we understand our responsibility to you and to the community, and as I attend all of the meetings and learn often, as you do. But there's a lot going on in reorganizing schools in my district, in West and Southwest and in other places. So we look forward to meeting with you. And if you call my office, I'm happy to meet with you or your group, the Student Union, or whomever, many of them. We already meet with them and we'll go from there, okay?
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you for coming in and giving your testimony. As a former vice president of Philadelphia Student Union, I look forward to working with you and the group and as an alumnus of that association to hear your input, take it very seriously. And despite what you may hear from the School Board, we do have power, even if it's just the mic, and we will use that to make sure that they're as transparent as possible, thus allowing resources to go back to their primary mission, which is to educate the students of Philadelphia. So I look forward to working with you. 340 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Thank you. Good evening. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good evening. My name is Jan Sklaroff. That's J-A-N, S-K-L-A-R-O-F-F. I have a prepared statement. Dear Members of Council and Council Speaker Anna Verna: My name is Jan Sklaroff. I am a former teacher in the School District of Philadelphia and a citizen, voter, minority inspector at the polls for seven years, and a return Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Armenia. I have a master's degree in secondary education. " And I did my student teaching at Fels High School in the School District and worked for one year at Olney East High School. And my career was ended at Furness High School in April of 2007. I taught at Furness High School from October 2006 until April of 2007. I was a fully appointed teacher for almost two years in the School District of Philadelphia. I believe that I was illegally kicked out -- Jan Sklaroff was illegally kicked out of his school by the principal of Furness High School and placed in a basement by the superintendent, at 427 Monroe Street. This was a basement that had bars on the windows and was unheated. The District office is now at 6900 Greenway Boulevard. ) when a student threatened me. This is quite common in the School District of Philadelphia. The call that I placed at the Safe Schools hotline was placed around the time of the Frank Byrd and Ed Klein incidents. These were teachers who were physically attacked by students in the Philadelphia School District and injured. The Frank Byrd case made national news. Within minutes of my call. 343 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 The principal found out that I was the teacher who called the hotline and had me sent to her office. She was not pleased. I subsequently learned that non-tenured teachers who call the Safe Schools hotline are very vulnerable to retaliation by ruthless principals. I was not the exception. Within days, the principal at Furness High School at Third and Mifflin Streets retaliated against me. I was kicked out of Furness High School upon the beginning of Easter break, on March 30, 2007. Indeed, the principal at Furness High School washed her hands of me, as Pontius Pilate did with Jesus Christ, and had no use for me despite the fact that my department head wrote in a letter of recommendation, which I have, from March 8, 2007, that I, Jan Sklaroff, was a diligent, hardworking, responsible, and highly recommendable 344 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 teacher. " On March 30, 2007, I was instructed to go to 427 Monroe Street in the South Philadelphia District office. For days during my Easter 11 break, I was in limbo. The principal was going to conduct investigatory meetings while I sat in the basement at 427 Monroe Street in solitary confinement in -- as I said, in an unheated room that had bars on the windows in early April. It's very cold in early April. In a room that's unheated, I was required to use a blanket. I was denied an attorney to be present during these investigatory meetings. The basement, as I said, had heavy bars on the windows. During the time I was in the 345 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 basement doing absolutely nothing at the taxpayers' expense, I got sick. I had to be rushed to the hospital on April 15, 2007, for what turned out to be a vasovagal condition that's caused by undue stress. Remember, I was being greatly pressured to leave the School District because of my call. I was given an EKG. I was being subjected to a witch hunt very similar to the McCarthy Era. The sole purpose was to ask me for my job regardless of due process, of civil rights, and my civil rights were violated. On April 30, 2007, the superintendent kicked me out of the basement. In June, the School District of Philadelphia inexplicably took out over $3,000 of my salary from the time I was in the basement; no reason given whatsoever.
For the months of June, July, August, September, October, and November, the District would tell me I 346 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 would be paid the stealth money that was taken out of my paycheck and then cut, stop it, and then audited. This happened over three times. Countless hours on the phone with payroll were incurred by me. And I tried to recover my monies with no 9 success. Again, no reason for taking out my money was given. I've since been double-taxed by the Internal Revenue Service. Also during the time, specific dates were given to me when I would be paid. I was counting on being paid and was repeatedly, I feel, deceived. In September, payroll demanded that I prove that I was in this highly secured basement. Leslie Henley, John Frangipani's confidential secretary, said that I was very thorough about signing in and out, and I indeed proved that I was in the basement. The timesheets were sent to payroll. 347 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 In November, I was still not paid. Payroll said outright that I had not been paid and I would not be cut a paycheck. This, again, is over $3,000. I demanded to know why. Payroll said that I had to call their attorney, the attorney for the School District. I called the attorney and left a message. I received no reply from the attorney. I waited two more weeks and then was directed by my attorney, Ellis Saul, to demand the money or sue the District. I went to payroll and spoke with the payroll department head. I also wrote to Tom Brady, Acting School CEO, and my attorney, Ellis Saul, of King of Prussia, wrote a letter to the school's attorney. At this time, my unemployment compensation case filed against the School District was ruled in favor of the School District. The decision was 348 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 cast on November 31, 2007. All of a sudden, my money was released over seven months after I was in the basement. I received my check on or about September 10th. This is seven months after I did the basement duty. Again, I have been double-taxed of my money by the IRS. Finally, the School District of Philadelphia has successfully to date fought my unemployment compensation, even though they admit that they were going to terminate me regardless. The School District of Philadelphia has fought my Workman's Compensation case even though I was brutally placed in a basement for no 19 legitimate reason other than retaliation. There's been no legitimate reason for holding up my money, as was done for seven months. I ask that the School Reform Commission -- I notice that Heidi Ramirez was here -- issue 349 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 an apology for the unspeakable treatment I have received from the principal and the superintendent. I ask that an investigation take place to find out why I was so horribly treated. I ask that an investigation occur to find out why my civil rights and human rights were trashed by these individuals. I ask that the people who put me in the basement be punished. They deserve punishment. We do not put teachers in basement, we do not put human beings in basements. My health has been affected by the brutal treatment I received. It is time for an investigation. We are not Nazi Germany; this is America. Teachers with master's degree, who, by the way, have no 204s, negative writeups, with the School District of Philadelphia whatsoever do 350 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 not deserve to be placed in basements. And, finally, I was also in the peer intervention program. According to my union, my South Philly union chief, school employees are not supposed to be retaliated against if they're in the peer intervention program. Okay. Again, thank you for time, and I appreciate you listening to my story.
I don't have any questions, but I'm concerned about this issue because this is the second witness we've had today to discuss this matter, and we have encountered other issues like this with 351 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 people not testifying but at least have raised that procedure of putting people in the basement and trying to oust them. And I think we will ask the School District to -- we need to talk to them about that.
Thank you. I want to point out that teachers are very fearful. The School District can be ruthless. And a lot of teachers I talk to are simply too afraid. They've done everything they could to harm me, so there's nothing more really they can do. So I'm not that fearful still. I'm still very fearful of the things that they could pull, but I'm 352 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 encouraged by Councilwoman Tasco's remarks.
Yeah, I just want to say first that I would like to thank both of you all from testifying. I took interest in some of your testimony. I know that there are some concerns about whether or not Councilmembers actually listen and pay attention and take with some level of seriousness the testimony here. And 353 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 you may look around the room and don't see members here, but we do hear you, we do understand the problems associated with some of the issues relating to the School District. I took particular interest with one of the statements that you said, that the School District -- and you didn't reference a particular person, and I'm not going to ask you anybody's name 'cause they're going to obviously deny it if approached by that by the fact that City Council is viewed as being powerless as it relates to policy and operations of School District. And while I would like to not characterize it that way, but to some degree, I think sometimes -- and I can only speak for myself, but sometimes, I do feel that way. Unfortunately, under the current system, which is with the SRC -- and we have great members on 354 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the SRC, so I'm not talking about them as individuals, but this whole process has been set up where there's this shared level of responsibility between the State and the City. And the State has, you know, the majority of members on there. In the old days, it was all City appointees, so you had some level of influence as a Councilmember because you had to interact with the Mayor who was the appointing entity. I'm a little concerned that as that has transpired, we are not necessarily in a position to influence policy like I would like. We find ourselves on an annual basis probably getting one bite at the apple to have the level of questions about operations that we need to have, and that's during the tax reauthorization time, which is now, the budget. Unless there's the need to get some additional funding in the School 355 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 District over the course of the year, frankly speaking, we don't have really have any interaction in this kind of format, and that's concerning 'cause, at the end of the day, a Councilperson's ability to really get information and show the seriousness of the inquiry from us happens in this room. If you talk to a lot of people, they hate coming in this room 13 because they know that they have to be responsive in a way that they don't have to be any other way. I would like to say that in Council, we're actually talking about internally coming up with a process that in a periodic way during the course of the year that we talk to members of departments to find out the status of the progress throughout the departments and the requests that we've made and not wait until the next year's budget process, but sometimes 356 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 it's too late. I would actually say -- and I'm assuming that members of the School District are listening -- that in some periodic way that they come back before this body and give us a status report, 'cause I know over the last two days, there was significant issues raised and significant questions, and a lot of it wasn't answered, understandably because they had to get back to us, but I would really like to see a process that would allow us during the course of the year to really get a -- somewhat of a report card on what's going on with the School District and the educational process as it relates to our young people so we can truly be engaged and truly be responsible for the operation of the School District and ultimately the education of our young people. So I hear you. If you want to 357 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 send me a little note about who told you that, that we're powerless, that's okay, but I'm sure that they won't acknowledge that. But I just want to say that we hear you and we take serious what you're talking about today. Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you very much. Are there any further questions? (No further questions.)
Thank you very much. Is there anybody else to testify here today? (No response.)
Seeing none, this hearing will be recessed until May 1st, at 9 a.m. 358 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming. Thank you all for your patience. (Proceedings end at 6:58 p.m.) * * * 359 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the City of Philadelphia Council Committee of the Whole are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Tuesday, April 29, 2008, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)