COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, August 6, 2026 10:15 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN ISAIAH THOMAS, CHAIR COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD
Good morning, everybody. And I now call the Committee of Education. Colleagues, we're about to get started. Good morning. Today is Thursday. This is the Committee on Education. Welcome to Philadelphia City Council. I note that the hour has come. Madam Clerk, please take the attendance. Members that are present will communicate their presence by saying aye.
Present. A quorum of the Committee is present. This is the public hearing on the Committee of Education on Resolutions No. 260617 and 260647. Madam Clerk, will you please read the titles of the resolutions to be heard today.
260617, authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings examining preschool pushout, the practice of suspension, expulsion, and informal methods of exclusion of our youngest learners, to provide a space to hear stories from impacted families and identify solutions to ensure a bright future for all of our young people. 260647, authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings examining the accessibility and equity of Algebra education curriculum in Philadelphia schools and the impact this has on accessibility to special admission high school schools.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Both of these issues were presented by advocacy groups. And as result of the concerns about the education issue, they felt we should bring it to the forefront. And hopefully, we explore these issues as a result of addressing both problems now in the summertime because we know once we come back to school in September, it will be busy. There's no secret that we're going to continue to advocate against the current facilities plan. That's a big issue for us. I want to say thank you, especially to my colleagues on the Education Committee that's here today and I want to take a moment to open it up to who has any remarks before we call up the first panel. Chair recognizes Councilmember Ahmad.
Thank you, Chair Thomas, and thank you for bringing these resolutions forward. To all the parents, providers and everyone testifying today, you've been working long and hard in this space and we see that work and we are so very grateful that we're discussing this today. This morning we'll hear from all of the parents who will tell us who their children really are and what happened to them. Some of these children were turned away on their first day and (inaudible).
I'm sorry, folks. Give us five minutes. We apologize. We just need two minutes. Let us clear up some technical issues we have and we will definitely resume in two minutes. (Brief recess.)
Good morning again. I apologize for the delay. Welcome back to the Committee on Education. Again, today is Thursday, August 6th. We apologize for the delay for technical difficulties. We've already established a quorum and I've given brief remarks. And I think now we're ready to jump into our dialogue for today. Madam Clerk, would you please call the first panel to testify as it relates to the first resolution being heard in today's hearing.
We will first hear from Jennifer Garrison and Tanema Fannings, followed by Sean Perkins.
Jennifer Garrison and Taneema Fannings. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please make your way to the front. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Good morning, Councilmember Thomas and members of the Council. My name is Jennifer Garrison --
(Inaudible) -- ma'am, you may proceed with your testimony.
My name is Jennifer Garrison and I am the mother of a 4-year-old autistic child named Terrell, who we also call Chuck. Terrell is one of the sweetest, brightest and most loving little boys you could ever meet. His smile lights up a room. He loves to sing, play instruments, especially the guitar, dancing in the mirror, climbing at the playground, snuggling with his dad and I, giving hugs and kisses. He loves to hug and he loves to kiss. Terrell has been receiving therapy since months 6 old and every provider describes 7 him as persistent, determined, 8 hard-working and a joy to work 9 with. He pushes through tasks even 10 when they challenge him, and he 11 remains loving, gentle and full of 12 energy. This is a child I 13 entrusted to preschool, a child 14 deserving of safety, care, and 15 understanding. 16 What we experienced was 17 the opposite. Terrell has 18 significant feeding difficulties and relies on support to eat, which the school did not provide. At school meals and snack time, he shut down and stopped eating altogether. If therapists weren't present, he simply didn't eat. As a non-verbal child, Terrell depends heavily on his AAC device to communicate essential needs such as hunger, thirst, discomfort or help. Yet the device was routinely left inside the classroom while Terrell spent hours outside on the playground without his AAC device. My son had no 10 voice. Entire days passed where he went without food, water or communication access. When I picked Terrell up, he was extremely hungry and thirsty almost every single day. Terrell did not -- the school did not implement his IEP and suggested a restricted schedule. There was a disregard for his needs, which ultimately amounted to an indirect expulsion. These suggestions were never about what was best for Terrell. It was simply about what was easiest for them. The impact on my son has been devastating. He experienced regression, emotional shutdown, a loss of trust in school routines. He spent days hungry, thirsty, overwhelmed, and unable to communicate. For his father and I, the emotional toll has been overwhelming. We are dedicated parents who advocate daily, communicate constantly and do everything in our power to support him. Yet the school still failed him. As a Black parent of a child with disabilities, there is an added layer of concern that behaviors or needs associated with autism may be misunderstood or responded to differently. Families of color often have to work harder to advocate for the same supports and assumptions about parenting, discipline or behavior -- and/or behavior can influence how assumptions -- excuse me, or behavior can influence how situations are handled. When those dynamics intersect with disability, they can create additional barriers to receive understanding, patience, and appropriate accommodations. While each situation is unique, it is important to acknowledge that race shapes how families experience systems that were not originally designed with equity in mind. I'm not sharing this for sympathy. I'm sharing because no 17 autistic child should be ignored ever. They shouldn't be silenced, left hungry, denied communication access, unsupported or quietly pushed out of a school because their needs required effort. I'm speaking up to protect children like my son and to advocate for accountability, training and meaningful inclusion. Thank you.
State your name for the record. You may begin with your testimony.
Good morning. My name is Taneema Fannings. I am the owner and operator of Christ Like Childcare Center. Okay, everyone, so I'm here today to testify on behalf of my over years of experience in 13 education. I'm born and raised 14 here in Philadelphia. I have a 15 degree in elementary and early 16 childhood education from Temple 17 University. 18 After teaching for the 19 school district for several years, 20 I opened up my family child care 21 center. And it is my testimony 22 today that what is being asked of 23 child care providers is fair, but 24 no support or resources make it impossible for family child care providers such as myself. It is one person to six children. It is a highly regulated and demanding field and I do it sheerly for the love. I have many of the people in here. I've provided care for people in Council, Philadelphia Eagles, people on subsidies. I've had a gamut of children in my care, but it is hard to ask of me to do all of these things to address the needs of kids with physical disabilities, mental issues, challenges, behavior problems without resources. I am only one person. I am highly regulated. I have 17 clearances. I have to do a lot, not only for the business aspect, but for the health and wealth and safety of children. Someone cannot continue to sit in a room and demand of me all of these obligations without the resources. If you want to help me, help me with my taxes that's about to put me out of business. You want me to keep kids in my day care center, keep my day care center in business. You want me to support families and be a resource, be a resource for me. Do not continue to ask me to meet these high standards and give me no support. I completely agree with this mom. It is not easy and no child should be left unattended or not given the needs they have. But people cannot just sit in rooms and make rules and walk away from the results with no 19 obligation to it. And so, that is my testimony and I thank you for hearing me this morning.
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you both for your testimony. We appreciate it. (Applause.)
We went out of order a little bit because we wanted to give the child care providers an opportunity to testify. Clearly, they have children to tend to. And so, thank you all for sharing your story. Are there any questions from members of the committee for this particular panel? Chair recognizes Councilmember Minority Leader Kendra Brooks.
Jennifer. I'm sorry I put the wrong check next to the wrong person.
So my question is when it happened to you, what supports were available? And was there a centralized location where you could go and find out what to do next? Was there a place you could go to say that the child care provider needed resources and how can you get them or what type of services could you apply for to help support your child in this situation? What were the next steps? Were you just left high and dry? That's what I'm trying to figure out.
As far as in the school, it was kind of like high and dry. I did start to do a little bit of research, which is when I found the Education Law Center and there they were able to provide me with everything that I needed, resources. This is my first child so everything was just like I had to dig to find what --
And then for you, Ms. T, if you were in the same situation, do you know where to get the resources that you need to support a family before expulsion or suspension? When it gets to that point, do you have a point of contact to say this parent needs support, how can I assist them, because I don't have the capacity to manage the behaviors? Do we have that here?
That's a great question. There is absolutely no one singular place, company or organizations that addresses this. Often as a business owner, it's not until you make a mistake that everybody says, oh, you could have did this, you could have did that. There is no 12 one place that gives us training that's not free or that's legally accepted. I have to find out my own training. I have to find the resources and the support to support my parents. And yet I'm supposed to provide family engagement and resources. If it's my job to provide all of these things, then provide it for me or give me a place to go where I can pull it and provide for her. If I did not have a degree, I would not know how to do an IEP. Everybody in child care does not have the same experience or education. Even with a CDA, it does not train you to handle IEPs, children --
IEPs, CDA, you got to give us the acronym. Everybody's not --
Okay. So a CDA is a training someone can get to work in child care. I'm sorry I don't know the name for it because I have a degree. But an IEP is an individualized assessment plan, I believe is the word --
Educational plan for children who have needs that need to be specifically met, and there's a plan of how you're supposed to address that. Often for those plans, they want their providers or their teachers to sit in on that plan to give advice and help provide resources to make this possible. But if I am working and I have one child and I have five children enrolled in my facility and one child has a plan, how am I supposed to leave the five children to go to one child's meeting, how am I supposed to provide all these resources for one. And then I'm not providing the basic care for the five. So my answer to you, there is no place for us to go. We have to forge for ourselves. And then if we don't or something like this bad happens, then it's like, oh, that horrible child care center. No, we're quality. There is a system that doesn't exist to help us support in all these demands that y'all ask of us.
So one question. With ELRC, a lot of your trainings come through them; am I correct or, no, they just provide funding, not training?
No. The ELRC basically pays child care centers through the state for providing subsidy. They have meetings that we can sit in on. They don't offer any training. You have to go to PA Keys or find other companies and find the training for yourself. There is no one place where educators can go to get trained. As a former teacher, the school district provided that training. As a small business owner, I have to find it, make sure it's valuable and hopefully is addressing the concerns that I need.
Thank you all for your testimony. Jennifer, thank you for being courageous to come here today. You're speaking on behalf of a lot of families in the City of Philadelphia, so we thank you. I just have a quick question for -- correct me if I say it wrong, Hydrea?
Oh, Ms. T. Ms. T, if you as a provider know from the outset that it may not have the staffing or specialized services or resources to adequately support a child like Ms. Garrison's, what factors are considered in deciding to enroll the child?
So for my child care facility, we have an intense interview process because we have limitations. And that is unfortunate to say I have the skill, I have the temperament, I have the resources to address many problems. I just can't because I have to consider all my kids. So for my facility, we interview first, we do tours and we ask for a one-hour play date so that I make sure I can fairly disperse myself amongst the kids. It must be a yes between not only the child care provider, but also the parent. And that's what I ask all parents to do. Don't just check me out, check other places. Because child care centers are like a fingerprint. We handle the micro communities of the City of Philadelphia. And so, my facility, it changes, its morphs based upon the needs of the kids and the families I serve.
Have you been in a situation where after that one-hour play date interview that you find out later that this is a child that you probably can't service anymore and now you're in a position where you have to -- is there a way to prevent that from happening?
The way to prevent that from happening is having resources. If I had another staff member, if I had one-on-one for that child, that might be having some behavioral issues, then I can address it. But otherwise, no, there is no way that one person can properly care for six different children, six different households, meet all the state requirements, the city obligations, educational, emotional, social needs, business needs and do a great job.
So normally once you find that information out, is it an immediate we can't work with this student or you give a parent some time?
For me, we usually do a two-step interview process and by the second interview, we have that conversation and be honest about --
No. I'm saying once they're in your day care and you find that out, how long --
Oh, I've had that as well. So I have a plan of -- we constantly do observations within the first 30 days. I have to do an observation. I interact with the parents daily. We take report cards on behavior, conversations, interacting with the family. And if there's a problem, we try to mitigate it over 30 to 60 days. If we don't see that we can move the needle in that area, I have to go back to that parent and apologize and say, I'm not able to address the concerns your child have in a way that keeps all my other children concerned. I've had children bite --
And then it's immediate removal after you find that out?
It is not an immediate removal. It is a mediation. It's a working between parents. We call ourselves sometimes co-parents. We're figuring this out together because there is no set standard for this.
I think that's the important thing and why we're here today, is there's no set standard for this. So I want to --
I just wanted to know is her size limited because of what she wants it to be?
I'm sorry. I'll be very quick. You are a single operator for your business. You have nobody else?
I'm a home-based child care provider, which means that the ratio is one person to six children, group is 2 to 12, and center is up to 166.
That's where the support could have come from if you were to say, I can do more than this or in my six ratio, I need support. That's where you would have gone?
Absolutely. I would get it from the ELRC or a set place that provides that resource for us. But since there is none, I'm left on my own and I'm left to turn parents away or disenroll kids.
Sean Perkins and Diane Castelbuono. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and you may begin your testimony.
Good morning. My name is Sean Perkins. I am the Chief of Early Childhood Education with the city's Office of Children and Families. Good morning, Chairman Thomas and members of the committee. My name is Sean Perkins with the city's Office of Children and Families here to testify in response to Resolution No. 260617. As the Chief of Early Childhood Education, I oversee the city's investment in high-quality, free, full-day preschool under the PreK program. It aims to support Philadelphia's children who are or years old prepare for kindergarten and elementary school. Since the PreK programs inception in the 2016-17 school year, over 40,000 preschool-aged children have been served at over 250 locations. In that first year, the city funded 2000 seats at 88 locations. Now, for this upcoming '26-27 school year, we will have 5350 seats available at over 235 locations, which is an increase of over 167% since the program started. While this expansion effort is both historical and remarkable, it is equally impressive to share that the number of high quality seats offered has gone from 56% in year one to now more than 95% of our seats. Last year our seats had a 95% enrollment rate, which means almost 500 3- and 4-year-olds were funded by the city in high-quality early learning programs. Each year, we collect demographic information from our families attending for PreK programs, and what we know from their self- reporting is that over 80% identify as children of color. Over 70% are in homes with an income under 200% of the federal poverty level, which for a family of four is under $60,000. 13% speak a primary language other than English. 10% have an Individualized Education Program, IEP, and/or an Individualized Family Service Plan and IFSP. As our city has expanded access to high-quality early learning, children are now in more structured environments where trained adults can identify developmental and behavioral needs early before kindergarten in the PreK program. Each classroom is required to conduct a developmental and behavioral screening of a child within the first 30 to 45 days. We are encouraged by this committee's hearing, as we know from research that preschool pushout has longstanding racial and socioeconomic disparities. Philadelphia's investment in PHLpreK is intentionally designed to counteract those inequities. Now entering its 10th year, the PHLpreK program has held firm on its commitment of serving any and all children who enroll. Each center that receives PHLpreK funding is under a contractual obligation to meet this requirement, as they are not permitted to suspend or expel or remove any enrolled child. For example, providers are not permitted to exclude a child from the classroom, whether by placing them in another part of the building or excluding a child from the building. " In some cases, this commitment has been challenging for providers, which is why we have added additional measures to identify and fast-track the necessary services for children exhibiting exceptional needs. This effort is largely led by our SPARK Quality Support Center and our administrative intermediary. They provide coaching, professional development and technical assistance to all PreK teachers, which includes positive behavior support training. They hire early childhood mental health consultants and family navigators to provide immediate support once an early learning center says it needs help with a child. They offer paid summer professional training sessions for teachers that focus on trauma and behavior supports. They deploy emergency responses to traumatic events that link families and support classrooms, navigate how to handle the days, months and years following a traumatic experience.
And most recently, we are piloting an initiative with two centers where children who are identified with autism spectrum disorder to meet specific requirements and receive additional applied behavioral analysis treatment for daily inclusion in a neurotypical classroom. As a result of these invested initiatives, we can report that last school year, there were over 350 professional development training sessions with over 2100 teachers, assistant teachers and staffers. There were early childhood mental health consultation services provided to 35 children at 31 locations. There are nine families who received home visiting supports, and there were four emergency responses to traumatic events that were managed, including the Northeast plane crash, grief following death and substance abuse disorders. These supports are designed for one purpose, to keep children safely and successfully included in their classrooms, rather than being excluded or removed. In one autism support classroom, our inclusionary techniques allowed a child -- excuse me, allowed a child to attend their first ever birthday party. After the successful first birthday party, the child went on to its own family party, picked up the microphone and was able to sing Happy Birthday. In addition to our existing supports, we are continuously working alongside our partners at the state's Office of Childhood Development and Early Learning, or OCDEL, the city's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Community Behavioral Health, the School District of Philadelphia, Elwyn Children's Crisis Treatment Center, Public Health Management Corporation and just recently, the nationally accredited Lowry Center to identify hurdles, bottlenecks and gaps in the ways families, teachers and early learning centers are asking for help to then get the necessary services to the child at a location most convenient for the family. Philadelphia has made a clear commitment young children belong in the classrooms. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Council to ensure that inclusive, high-quality early learning remains the standard across our city. Thank you very much for your support. I'm here to answer any additional questions.
Good morning, Chair Thomas, members of the committee and members of the public. My name is Diane Castelbuono, and I serve as the Assistant Superintendent for Early Childhood Education for the School District of Philadelphia. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding our youngest learners. We appreciate the Council's commitment to ensuring that every young child in Philadelphia has access to a safe, nurturing and inclusive educational experience. The School District of Philadelphia shares that commitment. We believe every child deserves to begin their educational journey in an environment that supports their development, honors their individual strengths and provides the services they need to succeed. We also recognize that national and local data raise important concerns about disproportionate, exclusionary practices affecting Black and Brown children and children with disabilities. These concerns warrant thoughtful discussion and meaningful action. At the outset, it is important to clarify that the district's policies regarding -- it's important to clarify the district's policies regarding preschool discipline. The school district does not permit the expulsion or suspension of preschool students. We recognize that expulsion or suspension from an early childhood program can have profound and lasting effects on a child's educational trajectory and family stability. And our policies reflect that belief, that removal from educational opportunities should not be the response to challenging behavior. There are, however, in full transparency and consistent with federal Head Start standards, limited circumstances in which a temporary exclusion from a PreK classroom may occur. These situations are not disciplinary in nature and are not intended to permanently remove a child from preschool. When a student presents a direct threat to their own health or safety or to the safety of others and that risk cannot be mitigated without additional supports, a temporary exclusion may be necessary. This allows time to identify appropriate interventions, secure needed resources and, if necessary, plan for an alternate placement that better meets the child's needs while maintaining the safety of all students and staff. These situations are rare, individualized and temporary. The goal is always to return the child to an education setting with appropriate supports as quickly as possible. This distinction matters. Our educators work every day to support children with a wide range of developmental, behavioral, emotional and communication needs. Staff collaborate closely with families, early intervention providers, school psychologists, counselors and special education personnel to identify and implement appropriate supports. These efforts reflect a core belief: Challenging behavior is often a form of communication. Rather than viewing behavior as something to punish, we seek to understand its root causes and respond with interventions that support the child's long-term development. At the same time, we must acknowledge a significant challenge facing not only the school district but the broader early childhood system in Philadelphia. We have a shortage of appropriate placements for children with special needs. Some young children have needs that cannot be safely or appropriately met within a general education preschool classroom, even with reasonable supports in place. In classrooms serving approximately preschool-aged 18 children, educators must balance 19 instruction, supervision, social- 20 emotional learning and individualized support throughout the day. While full inclusion remains our goal whenever appropriate, there are circumstances where a child requires specialized therapeutic, behavioral and educational supports that exceed what can be delivered in the classroom. When this occurs, the challenge is often the availability of appropriate placements. This is not a challenge the school district or the city can solve alone.
Addressing preschool pushout requires a broader examination of the capacity of Philadelphia's early childhood and behavioral health systems. It requires ensuring that children with significant needs have timely access to specialized education placements, therapeutic services, behavioral health supports and early intervention resources before situations escalate to crisis. We also recognize that equity must remain central to this work. The disparities identified nationally and raised in Council's resolution require continued examination. The district remains committed to reviewing our practices, monitoring data, supporting professional learning and partnering with families and community stakeholders to ensure decisions affecting young children are made thoughtfully, consistently and without bias. The school district welcomes the opportunity to continue strengthening our practices in partnership with City Council, other early childhood providers, advocates, families and community organizations. This hearing represents an important opportunity not only to identify concerns, but to advance practical, system-level solutions that improve outcomes for Philadelphia's youngest learners. The school district stands ready to be an active partner in this work. Thank you for including us.
Thank you for your testimony. This has been informative so far and we're just getting started. I would like to start by taking the testimony that we heard earlier and listening to some of the concerns from both parent and child care provider. And so, from the seat that you sit in, what is the solution to how we service young people who have these needs? But at the same time, we're listening to providers say, I don't have the capacity or the resources to serve them. So from the seats that you all are sitting in, you're the leaders in the City of Philadelphia as it relates to educating this specific demographic. What do we do?
So I think Assistant Superintendent Castelbuono gave some really great recommendations, which is an understanding of the capacity, a capacity awareness of what each location. There are about 1600 licensed child care centers in Philadelphia. Between the city and the school district, we have regulatory oversight of about 370 of those. So there's about 1300 or a little over 1200 licensed child care centers in Philadelphia whose regulatory capture isn't under the purview of the city or the school district. And between us, we have about 17,000, 3- and 4-year-olds who we're serving. There's about 40,000 3- and 4-year-olds. There's about 100,000, 0 to 5 year olds. So we're a sliver of the pie of what we are regulating and what we're supporting. I think what Assistant Superintendent mentioned here is that it's important to understand what it would take to meet the capacity of all of those. And I think one of the child care centers who mentioned earlier, there are varying needs. We have various teachers with varying credentials. We have varying agencies that are providing behavioral health support services and our early intervention system. As we've expanded PreK, as we've expanded child care options, we are flooding that system of families going, I need help for this child. So I think understanding the capacity is really important and it's continuously working with what we have as well, being efficient with the resources that we do have and creating a seamless system to identify what is the problem, what are the antecedent behaviors, are there cultural competency issues, the teachers as well. It's important to understand each teacher's ability to meet the needs of each child and each family warrants, I think, a really good investigation and understanding and awareness. We can, I think, between the city and school district, because we have a smaller slice of the pie, I think. But then that broader spectrum, we need to expand that.
Yeah. I understand you guys got a smaller slice of the pie, 100% recognizing capacity and who has a say over what is important. But if we have state guidelines and the state guidelines create a criteria and then we have folks who are saying it's very difficult to adhere to all of the state guidelines and the entire criteria -- so let's take a step back. Let's say, hypothetically speaking, you know, the situation that was communicated earlier presented itself where a child care provider program has a young person enrolled in the program who they don't have the resources and the capacity to take. So on the one hand, we're saying you pretty much have to take the child, right? Is that correct?
Under the city and school district contracts, that's correct.
Okay. So if I can't do that and I don't have the capacity, I didn't recruit this person, the child comes in, the family is great, I just don't have the capacity and the resources to support the child's need. What happens next? And you can tell us what happens when they're under your umbrella and then when they're not under your umbrella.
Yeah. I'll speak on what happens under our umbrella. Once a center goes help, right, like they send an email, they send a text or they send a message to its contracting agency that says I need help, I can't take this family anymore, I can't take this child, whatever the circumstances might be, we focus the child first and foremost to understand what is the behavior, what is the antecedent instances that are occurring for this issue, to diagnose a little bit better of is it a teacher -- it might be a teacher issue. We talk about challenging behaviors, but we haven't talked a lot about behaviors challenging the teacher. Those are two different things. I think it's important to understand which one might it be while at the same time speaking with the family, what does the family want most, what do you see happening in the home, what are the things that you want to see best happen for your child. So that's how we do it under our contract. We put in the professional development supports for the teacher, then coordinate with the other agencies I mentioned before like Community Behavioral Health. Sometimes it's a crisis situation where you have to work with CCTC. Other times we call up the school district and say, do you have any of your behavioral health analysts. We also employ mental health consultants and family navigators to help families go through the identification and support services system that exists here.
That don't work. That doesn't work. That's unfortunate. We need to brainstorm and figure out what do we do. Because if I'm -- let me offer a perspective. I have a son who is in PreK, right. And for the later hearing, I have a son who's in 8th grade who's about to go to 9th grade, so both of these conversations are lived experiences, right. So I'm partly Chair of the Education Committee, but I took that hat off for a second and put my parent hat on and I thought about the sister right there that was just sitting here. That doesn't work for her. That just doesn't, right. We can't just say we're going to call and screen and re-examine a teacher and provide training. If my child has been diagnosed with a specific disease, that's not the teacher. That's none of those things. So what I think we need is a system that says, if we're going to ask the providers to take the child no 17 matter what, then there should be resources available to address the needs of the child no matter what, right? And so, I'm hearing what you do on the side when it's under your umbrella. But then what do you do on the side when it's not under your umbrella? Because listening to what you do on the side when it's under your umbrella, I think those things work in a traditional classroom setting or when you have, you know, that contract for a child to have a TSS worker. Okay. In those situations, it might work. But when you don't have those resources for a specific TSS worker or the wraparound services and they're not under your umbrella, what do we do?
I think in a lot of those cases -- so you mean the other 1300 licensed child care centers?
Yeah. So the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a department called the Office of Childhood Development and Early Learning. They are situated between both state DHS and Pennsylvania Department --
Say that office one more time. We're taking notes. We're learning from you.
Yeah. The Office of Childhood Development and Early Learning. Actually, Assistant Superintendent helped actually create that office --
It was groundbreaking actually in our country's history. There was no 21 state that had ever said, we're going to create an Office of Early Learning at the time when Assistant Superintendent Castelbuono was over there. And they said, we need an Office of Early Learning at the state level. So Pennsylvania was one of the first in the nation that actually did this and then said, okay, what do we do to help all of our license centers. I think one of the one of the centers that testified earlier mentioned that the PA Key exists or the Early Learning Resource Centers. Those are places that the state contracts with to say, we need to deliver those services to our child care centers that exist all across any region. I think there's regions across 18 Pennsylvania and we're one region 19 isolated for ourselves. They are under the purview to answer you, Councilmember Thomas, Committee Chairman Thomas, the state's Office of Child Development and Early Learning is the first place that gets looked at.
And let me add to that. The early intervention is a state responsibility by law in Pennsylvania. For the Philadelphia County, the state contracts that early intervention work to Elwyn. Elwyn is the early intervention provider. And so, the early intervention money that flows to Philadelphia County for children with special needs flows to Elwyn. And so, we would all reach out to Elwyn. And I'm not sure that all PreK providers have that or child care providers have the ability to do that. And I think that's one of the things that's being raised in this hearing, is that very smaller, independently operated providers don't always know where to go. And I think that's a very fair criticism that we can try to address moving forward, is making sure that even the providers who are not under our purview and we don't work --
For smaller child care providers, what resources or how can we set it up? And if it's not addressed in early childhood in PreK, it's becoming a kindergarten problem. This still is not addressed. So the services that you're talking about, I currently have two kindergartners that are under my care that these systems aren't being met, that we get called every day at a school district program to come pick him up, which is unacceptable. So I need for us to -- and I'm a Councilmember with the resources that can call the people. What resources are we providing for families that have children within the spectrum or whatever behavioral challenges to really address the needs, because a lot of parents can't just leave work? This is what child care is for. This is what school is for. We have to create a system to support the parents. Because you expel my child for a week, I still got to go to work. What am I supposed to do? And then on the flip side as the provider, if I don't have the resources, it takes months for these services to be set up, wraparound, TSS, medication, behavioral support, psychology, psychiatry. All of these services parents have to navigate when the provider, who the city or state is paying for, can resolve themselves from the whole thing. And then I'm hearing you guys say it's a system, and I'm saying the system is not working. And I'm saying it -- he talks as the parent and I'm the grandparent. I have nine grandchildren. Two of them are currently in kindergarten that we adopted that are in the system right now where I get calls, hearing Council to come pick them up from camp. What are parents supposed to do? What resources can we create as city services, as state services to mend or to bring that together? Because the purpose of this hearing is saying what are we going to do. We have to leave out of here with some results, because I'm fed up. I can't imagine what the parents are going through. And I can't leave here without a solution or working towards a solution to mitigate that gap. Because just saying the kids are expelled is, oh, well. What resources can we really put our minds together to make sure these systems are talking to each other?
And if we don't have them currently, tell us what to do, right. We're passionate because we're in this space as it relates to our lived experiences, but we also represent the entire City of Philadelphia, all three of us. And these are our constituents. We know we've done some things in the past that's been both good and bad, but this problem is very, very unique and help us figure out what should we be doing and how should we be thinking about it.
So Council President Kenyatta Johnson has created a Special Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education. It really has just started. But most of the players I would say are sitting around that table, and this is one of the top issues that is facing them, is how do we create a system. Across the nation is a highly decentralized, complicated bureaucratic system of child care, right. So you have child care providers and they don't all report through one entity, but there is a responsibility and a need for us to create a system. I think the city and the school district have joined hands to try to merge our two systems at least so we're not no 19 longer at odds. And now, I think the next stage of that is how do we create a county-wide system. And I will say we are at that -- it is a little bit slow going, but I do think the current subcommittee might be a way into helping push that work more finely.
Thank you for having that vision to say there are the gaps, we need to overlap all of this and have a system. But for the parents, it has to be seamless. They don't know if it's state or city or PHLpreK. The child should experience it as a child without having to understand all these demarcations. But this is the bureaucracy we face everywhere, the silos we face everywhere. To use Council President's PreK Committee, I'm on it and I forget the name of it, but how do we expedite this? I mean, we're articulating the problem as the Mayor likes to say, but moving it from that articulation to the next step needs to be much more emergent. It should be an emergency, right. But of course, in emergency we make mistakes so I understand the caution of getting enough data to understand it. But the mother who testified, her child doesn't have that time, right. So while we are putting the final structure together, we need to have some interim measures, right. We need to have some -- our Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities, in my opinion, should be mobilized in this space while we've come to a final structure, right. So as the Chairman said here, we have to think outside the box and creatively. And to Councilmember Kendra Brooks' point, she can't leave here without being able to say something. So we have an emergency situation in my opinion if even one child is being pushed out because they don't have the right supports, right. So we don't have time to have slow process of, you know, three months we'll get a report. I don't think we have time. If we want Philadelphia to thrive and we have these children ready to go to school, we don't have time to do that. So I would love this entire space to sort of have the freedom to have everybody's ideas come in, right. Some people know much more than I do sitting right here. So have a forum of sorts where you can collect and then have a timeline. Like we need to hold ourselves accountable by creating the timeline. We can. And then that's when we start reacting, right, when we have the deadline coming up in front of us. So I would highly recommend that the, the PreK committee, working with our education committee, with the school and the state. Look at the gap remediation while the final structure is put out, and call it something so that people can come to it, offer their solutions, and then come up with some, and then we have the data to know where are these problems happening, right? It's not everywhere. It's specific spaces. So let's tailor the responses, the gap measured responses to those places. Let's use our data analysis properly and in a responsive manner, this sort of a statement of saying we need to move expeditiously, right. So thank you very much for all the testimony because the clarification of the systems in place does clarify for us that it's not just you who can wave a magic wand, but we do need a magic wand for everybody to come together and say the children are our primary constituents and that's who we're responding to. Put in Behavioral Health, Pennsylvania Human Services. There's lots of resources we have, but they don't seem to come together to meet that one mother's request, what am I going to do. We should not have anybody in a first-world country, the richest country in the world. She has done her homework. She's been an engaged parent. We say, oh, parents are not doing -- no, we have engaged parents and she still doesn't know what to do in the sixth largest city in the country. That is unacceptable for all of us. I mean, I'm holding myself accountable as I'm saying this, that we cannot just say, oh, we just had a hearing and then three months later, maybe we'll come up with something, what is she going to do. So, Council Chair, I think to your point we really need to have a brainstorm response to mitigate these gaps while we're having a final structure to be put in place. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Doc. I appreciate it. Last question and then we'll move on to the next panel, unless other members of the committee have questions. In the midst of my young folks doing this work, and I want to give a huge shout-out to all of the interns in my office and I'll do that a little later because they've been running point on this hearing and preparing for this conversation all summer. The research basically suggests that this type of behavior with PreK students in PreK pushout reflects on Black and Brown children being targeted disproportionately compared to their White counterparts. Help me understand why Black and Brown children are more victims to this issue than their White counterparts.
I would say I think there's a couple of things at play here. The first thing is, I think historical and cultural disproportionate approaches to policies and funding that exist in our country and our communities are things that we are working hard to dismantle. I think that we are still watching that play out, but I remain vigilant about dismantling those. But I think that some of those still exist. I also think that we have a larger number of Black and Brown children who are in our programs and that does not excuse it. I actually think it should not be. But I do think that there are, again, historical and cultural disproportionalities. And so, cultural competencies that have not been provided.
And your umbrella of organizations that you said adds up to a little less than 400, you say you have more Black and Brown children than anything else in that demographic?
Okay. So from the data that's been told to us, it's not necessarily like a total amount. It's more of a percentage thing. So based on looking at your data, clearly if you serve more Black and Brown children, you're going to see more pushout to that demographic. But from a percentage perspective, if you're serving 70% Black and Brown children, are they making up 99% of the pushout?
So between -- we don't allow preschool. I think what we might be missing is between the city and the school district, it's a non-permissible act. You're not permitted to actually remove a child. We actually have measures in place to catch that in case of a family is reporting I wasn't put in there or I'm now --
So let's take a step back because I understand what you're doing. So in the paragraph right here it says there, There are, however, limited situations in which temporary exclusion from PreK classroom may occur. These situations are not disciplinary in nature, but they are intended to remove the child, blasé, blasé, blasé. This is your testimony. All right.
Let me speak to that because I think I understand where you're going --
No, we understand what you're saying. So what I'm saying --
So the School District of Philadelphia looks at what's called a persistence rate. We look at that and that's historically how the Feds define it, persistence. And persistence rate means the number of children who start PreK at one center and persist until the end of the year. And that's our proxy measure, right, for looking at do we have disproportionate impact. And so, when we look at the persistence rate just of the children we serve, again, I don't have that data for all 1300 centers. But the data for the School District of Philadelphia affiliated centers doesn't suggest that there is disproportionate impact among those we serve. So if you look at the data by race and income, about 94% of children with IEPs, we have a 94% persistence rate. What I like that to be is 100% of course, right. But 94% overall population in PreK for the school district is 91%. So special ed. students, children with disabilities in the school district programs tend to have a higher persistence rate. That does not negate or dismiss any individual experience of any individual family. We know that mistakes are made, but generally speaking, the overall data does not suggest disproportionate impact for children with disabilities versus children without disabilities. On race, again the overall persistence rate is 91% for African American children. I believe it's 98%. I can pull this data and put it on the record for you as well. So again, the overall data, but that does, I would imagine, mask probably some serious issues. And so, I do think it is a fair question that we have to do a much better job at parsing this data and committing to actually looking at complete numbers site- by-site.
Yeah. I'm going to let Dr. Phillips close out this panel, but I'm just going to say this, and I hope you guys hang a little bit. I'm having deja vu right now. I was literally in this moment before. And as you're communicating, I'm just looking at the experts that are behind you. And I think that they're going to offer a different perspective when they come to testify as it relates to how Black and Brown people are disproportionately affected by this particular issue and why that's the case. So I'm hoping that you hang around a little bit just so you can hear other perspectives, because for me I'm facilitating the dialogue, but I'm also gathering information and learning, and the teacher in me pays attention to facial expressions and tonal semantics and a lot of things that happen when people are talking. And so, I'm just hoping that when folks offer a different perspective as it relates to the question that I just asked, that we're all able to brainstorm what do we do and listen to one another's perspective. Dr. Phillips, I'm sorry. Just one more thing real quick. So do we see -- I think about child care providers who are for-profit organizations compared to child care providers who are nonprofit organizations and being the person who's not necessarily as educated and informed as it relates to the practice and the business side of PreK, I hoping first we would acknowledge that we disproportionately impact people of color. I was hoping we would acknowledge that, but we'll go to that later in the conversation. But if we were to acknowledge that, I wonder is there an appetite to examine if the entity, a child care provider has an impact on the services they're able to provide. And so, based on the work that I've done around the BIRT tax and how we have mishandled the BIRT tax as a city, that really put me in a position to recognize how many child care providers are actually for-profit LLCs. I'm wondering if there was a movement to educate, inform and push for-profit LLCs to go to nonprofit, and then resources being provided to nonprofit organizations to help offset some of the issues that they're facing with young people who might be struggling. Do we see any correlation between child care providers who are struggling? And as it relates to providing quality services and resources and the type of entity they have, is there a correlation there?
We should dig into that. That's a really good question. Yeah, let me dig into that. We can look that up.
I'll pass it to Dr. Phillips to close us out. But I was just listening and wondering how we could be more supportive of these entities, Dr. Phillips. And then we'll move on to the next panel.
I just want to say thank you so much, Chairman Thomas, for convening this important meeting. But also just thank you to all the panelists who came out today. It's an opportunity for us to better understand how we can ensure that we have better processes going forward so that every child and, you know, with their educational journey has the support that they need. So I have two questions. How can we better support families so they understand the process and feel like true partners in their child's education? And then the second question is what steps can we take to intervene earlier so that children receive support before exclusion is ever considered, right? So what steps can the city take, the school district take to make sure that earlier exclusion is not considered? And the other question was how can we better support families so they understand the process and feel like true partners in their child's education?
I'll try the first one. The first thing is building trust, having open forms of communication and meeting with families where they are that's most convenient for them. I think a lot of times we put out surveys or we put out a QR code and say, please click on this link and tell us your experience, which is what we do and I think that that's important to do that. But it's also to do the harder work, which is finding times that work best for families, especially our working families, maybe they're hourly employees where their time is actually money out of the paycheck. So finding those places and spaces where they can meet and have those engagement sessions, which is again what we do under our small purview. But that's the commitment that we make. The other thing is to rely on our providers as well. They're beacons of our community. They're the ones who are with children and families and with the resource providers, resource agencies every day. And this is the work that they are doing. So we are constantly working with those providers and engaging with them. But I think that needs to be expanded. It needs to be greatly expanded in order to capture the voices of those that we intend to serve. But again, I think it's meeting them where they are, but also working with the providers who are those centralized agencies who are doing the work every day in the classrooms, at pickup, at drop-off, calling Elwyn, calling CBH, calling us, calling the school district. They know very well what is going on in the child's life as well. And I'm sorry. The second question was about how do we get family or how do we get?
Understand the process and feel like true partners in their child's education.
Yeah, I think the same thing, that's building trust to make sure that people feel like they are heard and that there is an environment under which they can provide feedback and opportunity are critical. Because if you don't, then no one's going to give you the information you need to get to the child.
I have a suggestion for both the school district and the city, Sean, and thank you for the work that you do. Why don't we just have every provider receive a mandatory if you're going to get these PHLpreK slots, maybe some sort of meeting that they have to come to during the summer or something like that to go over what are the ramifications and rules and expectations of this. And then not only that, if you want to avoid kids getting kicked out, you also have to say you have to sign off with all your families to let them understand that they understand that maybe as a document each sign says that you cannot be expelled or removed from a program because of X, Y, Z reasons, and then make sure all the providers understand all the resources that are available to help these kids and get direct alliance to do that. Maybe that's a new way to do things to avoid this going on in the future.
So happy to report under the PreK program we do that. We have three trainings that happen before the school year starts. Some of them virtual, some of them inperson as well. We offer a variety of ways to do that. But in particular around parents' rights, we do a review. Every single center that we contract with has to submit its parent policy handbook. And in that parent policy handbook, we explicitly state you need to show us what your policies are on removing a child or suspension or expulsion or any terminology you want to use and we review that. We then back it up with a quality support center for our new providers. Our providers that are not Star 1 or 2, they're not high quality yet, we provide additional resources that are mandatory to them. But again, these are 235 of them. We do use a lot of those methods. I think we could do more, absolutely. And absolutely committed to doing more of signing more waivers, signing more paperwork.
Yeah. I just want to be helpful because even in the -- I mean, we had a good provider for my stepson, but we didn't have to sign off that we received the parent handbook and we read the parent handbook, I believe. I don't recall that, but if it's not required for families to have read the handbook and your document and sign off on it, it doesn't really, you know, they can have the policy, but they don't necessarily know it exists.
I think that's part of the thing we need to do better on, I think a lot of parents, myself included, I don't really remember that that's the key phrase here. I think a lot of parents are rushed to just sign the thing, get the child in there and then deal with the issue later. I do think we need to do a better job of being really clear, eye to eye at the same table and say, look, I need you to be aware that we have a zero-tolerance policy on your child being removed here. If you are aware of any instances where you might be getting pushed out, please report. I think that could be bolstered a little bit.
Or better yet maybe for all PreK students that get this resource, now that you see that there's an alarming problem, you could just highlight this in an email that you send. We've noticed over the past several years that this has become a problem, if you see this, just know to hear your rights. And also for providers, if you know that you have troubles with these children, here's Elwyn, here's this, here's that and the third. So it's a balanced situation where you're helping them. So it's not become an evolving issue. So it's just one way to be helpful.
I think that's a very good suggestion, very fair suggestion. We are continually challenged to make sure that families and providers are aware of their rights and responsibilities, and to make sure that they're aware of the supports that are out there. I will say we are also challenged that sometimes there are not enough supports out there. And so, that's the second part of the problem.
And y'all have a lot to tackle within this world. I mean, 1700 providers, 370 you're -- that's a lot. A lot of them are hard to find, I bet. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you. Madam Clerk, will you please call the next panel.
Call both panels. We'll do both panels at the same time. Call both.
Let's give them some chairs. We'll just share the mics.
Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony. What we're going to do is we're going to allow -- can I get a fifth chair? All right. We're going to allow you all to provide your testimony first. And then after everybody's provided their testimony, we're going to open it up to questions from members of the committee. All right. So whoever wants to go first, please go first and let's jump right into it.
Stephanie Blake. Good morning, Councilmembers. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Dr. Stephanie Blake, Senior Vice-President of Field Operations at Brightside Academy. I oversee 31 early childhood programs across Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. I'm also a contributing author on the Supporting All Young Learners to Thrive, a statewide research report on exclusionary discipline in early childhood education. I'm here to talk about preschool pushout, young children being suspended, expelled or informally pushed out of child care and PreK programs. It's a crisis hiding in plain sight, and it's happening right here in Philadelphia. So our research, which included direct observations of Philadelphia classrooms, 19 found that more than half of the 20 families surveyed were asked to 21 disenroll their child while they 22 were actively trying to get help and support. This does not affect all children equally. As you shared before, Black and Brown children, children with disabilities are removed at disproportionate rates, reflecting adult biases and structural inequity, not children's behavior. Much of this never shows up on an official report, early pickups and quietly reduced hours. Pennsylvania has no requirement to track these informal removals, so the true scope stays invisible to policymakers. But the report also points out to a solution. Through our Supporting All Young Learners to Thrive Pilot, we provided sustained, trauma-informed professional development to Philadelphia classrooms and we saw some gains. I also want to lift up our Parents Growing Together model from Children First and First Up, a peer-to-peer program where parent leaders created spaces that help families build resilience, reduce stress and strengthen their ability to support their children. The report's own roadmap points to clear term priorities. So I urge the Council to support required programs to document exclusionary discipline decisions and pair them with reentry plans, track suspension and expulsion for data statewide, expand our infant early childhood mental health consultation and require it before a child is excluded. Provide add-on payments for programs serving children with documented diagnoses, the Individual Education Plans or the Individual Family Service Plans so programs can hire additional staff and needed resources, and incentivize sustained coach professional development for educators, building on models like Parents Growing Together and supporting all young learners to thrive. Every child deserves a stable early learning environment. We know where the gaps are and we know what works. What's needed is the will and the resources to scale it. Thank you.
Thank you, Doc. Thank you for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and you may begin your testimony.
Good morning, Chairman Thomas and members of the committee. My name is Rose Wehrman, and I am an attorney at Education Law Center. We're grateful for your partnership and we're especially grateful to the parent advocates who are here today and have been working with your office for months to bring this important issue to light.
And just as a point of personal privilege, I want to say thank you and your entire team for making us aware of this issue and pushing us to have this hearing. So thank you for that. Please proceed with your testimony.
Absolutely. Thank you for your partnership. ELC's mission is to ensure access to a quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania, including our youngest learners with a focus on underserved children. ELC has a long history of supporting the needs of young learners and I have spent the last two years dedicated to the issue of preschool pushout. Specifically, I represent families whose young children have been suspended and expelled from preschool in Philadelphia. Over the last five years, ELC has worked with hundreds of families who have experienced or been at risk of exclusion in Philadelphia preschools. These exclusions are rooted in discrimination and are both harmful to children's development and are developmentally inappropriate for all children, as recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and I've included that statement in your folder. Preschool exclusions are the result of adult assumptions and adult decisions made by adults, not about 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children's behavior. We have documented examples of preschool pushout in PreK programs, PreK Counts programs, District PreK programs, District community partner programs, programs that receive state subsidies and other early childhood education programs. Our internal data indicates that pushout is happening in all types of preschool programs across the city and at very high volumes. This practice is not reserved for extraordinary circumstances that are already contemplated by the federal Head Start policy. Pushout instead is often used in response to developmentally appropriate behaviors, behaviors that don't require intensive behavioral support and completely unrelated reasons. For example, a child's allergy or a child not using nice words. The experiences in a child's first five years of life are critical for brain development, and the benefits of high-quality early education for all children are robust, intergenerational and long-lasting. They include increased graduation rates, increased financial independence, increased employment rates and they span generations. When children are instead suspended and expelled from preschool, they're denied the opportunity to access those important benefits, but they're also taken away from support systems, and the likelihood that these children will later experience additional school exclusion and as well become involved in the criminal justice system is increased significantly and represents the very real preschool-to-prison pipeline. Despite this, in Philadelphia and across the country, preschools suspend and expel our youngest learners at a rate three times higher than K through programs. In cases I've 5 represented on, while there might 6 not be one single reason told to a 7 parent for why their child is being 8 excluded, I have seen young 9 children suspended for a day, 10 suspended for multiple days or 11 expelled for reasons that include 12 using a fork unsafely when a child hugged her teacher while holding a fork, not sitting still, saying no, not using nice words, not participating, throwing a toy or yelling. I have seen cases where parents are told that their child can only come to school if the family procures their own full-time one-to-one aide for the child, something that's very inaccessible for most Philadelphia families to do or that their child can only come to school until noon because their child has a disability.
I have cases in which an 18-month-old with a sensory processing disorder was suspended for not keeping his hands to himself as he sought to explore the world around him, and which a 4-year-old Black girl was told that she could no longer come to school because she had a dairy allergy, and which a 5-year-old Latino child with autism and a speech delay who had been deprived of speech services he was entitled to for over a year and learned to communicate non-verbally in the absence of any supports, was suspended for those communication efforts, but never given any tools to learn how to communicate appropriately. These exclusions do not affect all children equally. 6 times higher than White children, despite no 5 differences in behavior. Nationally, preschools expel approximately 250 children per day, and statistically 125 of them will be Black boys. 5 times higher than typically developing peers, often in violation of federal law. And children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences such as homelessness, neglect, poverty are ten times more likely to be excluded than their peers. Many of the children that I work with every day, and families you'll hear from today live at the intersection of these identities. Families are told that these exclusions are permissible but they're not, which is exactly why Philadelphia needs explicit policies upholding children's educational rights. The Americans with Disabilities Act, Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and Pennsylvania child care licensing laws all mandate that early childhood education settings, whether public or private, must not exclude children based on race or on disability, with extremely narrow exceptions and that preschools instead should support children. Pushout occurs across the board in both public and private preschool programs in Philadelphia and is not the result of any single provider's actions. The preschool push out crisis in Philadelphia is compounded by failures across multiple systems, and additional funding and training is needed to fully support young children to access education. But one thing is clear, suspensions and expulsions are not an appropriate response by adults to young children's behaviors. They do not teach positive behavior or skills, but they take children away from support and teach our youngest Philadelphians, especially our Black and Brown children and our children with disabilities or delays, that they do not belong in our schools. In our city and statewide policy memos in your folders, we've outlined actionable steps that the Council, PHLpreK and the district can take to both strengthen their existing policies and develop new ones. Fundamentally, that starts with clear, explicit policies prohibiting suspension and expulsion in programs with city and district oversight. In fact, the district has a great model in its existing K through 2 exclusion ban. Additionally, Head Start programs, which are federally funded and subject to Headstart's narrow limits on suspension and its ban on expulsion, can be applied across the board by policy adjustments within programs under city and district oversight. While exclusion continues to happen in preschool settings, we see that strong protections such as the Head Start policy make a real difference. Both the city and the district are important partners in this work, and ELC is committed to continuing to work with both to implement what we believe is our shared vision to eliminate this harmful practice. Further, there are clear and urgent funding needs as well as training and support needs for providers and systems. Neither families nor providers should have to navigate these complex systems on their own. That will require collaboration and funding. A ban on preschool exclusion is necessary to uphold the civil rights of our youngest learners and ensure they have the opportunity to access education.
But just like the district did when it prohibited the exclusion of kindergarten through 2nd grade students in 2018, decisive action must be taken now. Like the district recognized in 2018 when they affirmed that students in Grades K through 2 needed immediate relief from this harmful practice, this prohibition must explicitly apply to our preschool programs across the board. Any solution that does not prohibit exclusionary discipline for our youngest learners will not fully address this injustice. Thank you.
Hi. Good morning. My name is Shandell Cromwell, and I want to thank Councilmember Thomas and the other members of Council for your attention to this issue. It means a lot that you have taken our concerns seriously and have been vocal about your commitment to addressing this huge issue. My son Romaine is 6 years old and he is an incredible child. He has taught himself multiple languages such as Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. He loves music, the solar system and he is currently learning how to play the piano. As parents, we want to nurture every part of who our children are. I want Romaine to grow, to thrive and to have everything he needs and deserves. But for many children with disabilities, and particularly many African American boys with disabilities, this is something we as parents have to fight way too hard for. After Romaine's autism diagnosis, he began receiving early intervention services and those supports had made a really big difference. Romaine's preschool experience started at a wonderful early childhood education program. However, when our family needed to relocate, everything changed. We found a new center and I met with the director. I shared Romaine's strengths, his interests, his personality and I shared his intellectual disability. I wanted the center providers to truly see who Romaine is. The director reassured me that everything would be fine. Shortly after Romaine started, I was called in and I was told he was no longer a good fit. There were no 9 solutions offered, no supports discussed, no conversation about what could be done differently. Despite our efforts to advocate for Romaine to remain in the program, we were told that the decision was final. Romaine was not allowed to return and that was something I now understand was discriminatory. I carried a lot of guilt. I questioned whether I had placed my son in an environment where he was not safe, understood or valued. It felt like our only option was to keep him home again. After his third birthday, I began searching for a place that would truly welcome him. That is when we found a new preschool. And from the very first conversation, everything felt different. They not only welcomed Romaine and supported him, but they made space for him to be himself for the first time outside of his family and support team. Romaine truly felt safe and seen. With the right supports in place, he began to thrive. His confidence grew and his personality blossomed. I am proud to share that Romaine graduated kindergarten in June of this year. But the impacts of this traumatic experience linger for both Romaine and our family. I am grateful for the opportunity to share our story. I joined the parents here today and other families because we should not have to fight this hard for basic inclusion. No child should be pushed out because they learn differently. No parent should have to question whether their child will be accepted or rejected. We can do better and our children deserve better. Thank you. I would also like to add sometimes we don't recognize answered prayers because they arrive disguised as an invitation. I don't know where today's hearing will lead. Maybe it becomes legislation. Maybe it changes district policy. Maybe another mother hears this testimony and for the first time she feels seen and fathers as well. Maybe a preschool director leaves this room 21 and decides to treat the next child with autism differently. We rarely get to see all the ripples our courage creates. But courage creates ripples nonetheless, and that is extraordinary. In closing, I will say it reminds me of a verse that has been on my heart and it's from the book of Proverbs, Chapter 31 Verse 8, and it says, Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Ensure justice for those being crushed. Today that is exactly what I have tried to do, not just for Romaine, but for every child who deserves to be welcomed instead of excluded. My hope is that when this hearing ends, our voices won't.
Today's conversation becomes tomorrow's action because every child deserves the opportunity to learn, to belong and to thrive. Thank you.
Good morning, Councilmember Thomas and committee members. My name is Andrea Leon. I'm so proud of my son Otto, who graduated from kindergarten in June and was awarded the Biggest Heart award. Otto has always had the biggest heart and he is always happy. He loves playing in the park with his sister, loves his tablet, loves to eat and is very crafty. He is 6 years old and he is autistic. Every day he is now learning and growing and that is because he has the resources he needs. But it was not always this way. I believe he was unfairly treated not just due to his disability, but also due to his race. Let me tell you a little bit about experience getting to where we are today. When it was time for Otto to start preschool, I choose a center because it seems to be structured and it was close to my house. On the first day of school, I took a picture of Otto outside the center and I brought him in and dropped him off. I still had the picture showing him ready to go into school for the first time. By the time I came back to pick him up, the director wanted to meet him and I didn't know why. The preschool director said that Otto was having sensory overload and overstimulation and they didn't have the resources to take care of him, but that she should recommend another place that can support him. I was so scared. I talked with the school a few more times. I was devastated. I was crying. I begged the director. The school refused my offer of support and my ideas for how to best support my child and racism playing a part in my experience. I have to start all over and visit PreK centers near me and almost everything was full, but I finally found a place that told us they will accept my son gladly. Everything was beautiful. They needed Otto's IEP from the preschool center, but the center never sent it and soon the school was full and I had to start all over again. Many months went by when we enrolled into a preschool near my new home. Otto was there with his two teachers and we started to see the light. Both teachers took my kid with love, kindness, and determination to support him in all ways. I'm grateful to them along the way. We have met many people that have supported us, but parents need more information and support. Parents need support and guidance to know what to do when children are not getting the support they are entitled to. We are also happy that he is improving. I'm here today because what our family went through should not happen to anyone else. I'm speaking now because I know how wrong preschool is and I hope that hearing from parents today helps Council understand how serious of an issue this is. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you both for your testimony and sharing your story and being so vulnerable. I think we have one more person for this panel; is that correct?
Please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony.
Good morning, Councilman Thomas and Councilman Phillips and all the people here. My name is Miriam Brown, Pastor Marion Brown. I'm the owner of JTIB Jr.'s Arrow at the Gate Child Care Center.
Hold on. I'm sorry. A little better into the mic because we couldn't hear you when you put your head down and started reading. We can't hear you.
Oh, I'm the owner of JTIB Jr.'s Arrow at the Gate Child Care Center. We stand for Jesus In The building after Psalm 127. Can you guys hear me? I just want to make sure. Today we have more than 100 children, about 40 staff members across two centers. Most recently as a provider, we have noticed the increase of children requiring special needs services. Without additional support from the city, our (inaudible) has a specific requirement about exclusion policy, but we are not giving support to handle certain behavioral situations before it gets to the point of exclusion. PHLpreK tried to help with the problem by working with Elwyn. But students, teachers and parents still face issues. When children require services, parents are referred to Elwyn. The overall experience has not been positive. Too often parents are frustrated by the lack of communication from Elwyn and centers face challenges with having to find a way to support with children, an additional need and the rest of the classroom based on the standard ratio requirement. Finally, there are little resources for providers to meet the need of their students and staff. I have to hire an additional staff beyond our budget to try to overcompensate for children who may need closer attention. We do not receive any additional resource for training staff or how to teach children with special needs from the city or from (inaudible), so we must find our own source. We are also not giving any support for the safety of the teachers in the classroom. Centers like ours work hard to provide quality supervision, but teachers are often dealt with circumstances beyond their control, like behavior challenges with limited support. And as a nonprofit, we go through a lot and I just have to spend more money beyond what I receive as an income do we receive from a subsidy because if we need help for the children not to quit on us. A lot of my staff quit because they can't handle children with special needs because they get through -- one of my staff as an example, a child throw a toy at her eyes and they had to rush her to the hospital. And we're not getting any help from company, from Oakdale(ph). They sent us to a PD registry, which we have to pay for those trainings, and we don't have the budget to continue to pay and accommodate all those trainings for our staff.
Thank you. One or two questions. We have about 17 people signed up for public comment and we want to make sure that everybody who's signed up for public comment get a chance to communicate their stuff on the record. In the earlier panel, we were talking a little bit about how this disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people and I was watching a lot of the faces and some of those faces are now on this panel right now. Talk to me a little bit about what you heard as it relates to this issue impacting Black and Brown young people more than any other demographic. And tell us not only what your opinion is, but what we should do about it. I would like you to go first, if that's okay. Thank you. And everybody doesn't have to answer the question. If you don't want to, you don't have to. But I would love to hear your thoughts first and foremost.
Yes. That's something that the research is extremely clear about. There are many studies, many of which are included in the report in your folder, that make extremely clear that this is not an exclusionary discipline problem that affects all children equally. We know that there is a primary effect on Black and Brown children. We know that this is due to structural racism, implicit bias and also chronic underfunding and lack of resources for programs that lead to this program or it leads to this problem.
That was actually similar to what was said. And so, earlier when I talked about the different types of entities that organizations have, from your perspective does the type of entity matter as it relates to the resources they're able to provide? So are nonprofit child care providers able to raise money from different places and be eligible for grants that put them in a position where for-profits can't do that or, Councilman, you don't know what you're talking about?
Yeah. So first off, it's difficult to say because we rely on this national data that makes clear that this is primarily a problem for Black and Brown children, because there isn't city or state data that we can point to because there is no 19 requirement to keep track or report any data on exclusionary discipline. So it's difficult to say exactly what is happening, at what extent, in which program. What we do have at ELC is parents who call our helpline. We know that that's not a representative sample because not every family is made aware of that resource. But the families that come to us are primarily Black and Brown and this is affecting their children. Many of their children have been excluded from multiple programs because the problem is never addressed. It's just moved down the line. But one thing that we do know is that programs that have more resources and support have resources and support that they can put toward this problem. So it's difficult to say exactly where it is happening, but it may be the type of program can make a difference.
Also, I want to drive the point home. So when a child has a documented diagnosis in a preschool classroom, they do not get any additional funding regardless of the program. If they're in a school district program, there's a little more resources available. But if they're in a child care program --
So if a child gets a documented diagnosis, so they have an IEP or an IFSP, they do not get additional funding to service those children. All you get is documentation and the provider has to figure it out with the same amount of funding. So that's the biggest piece. So it can be they just need an additional teacher coming into their classroom, additional materials. But providers can't afford that because there's no additional money to really support that child.
And just to provide context, the reason that's why that's alarming to me, and I'm looking in the back and folks are nodding their heads confirming that's true, I'm a teacher myself, so I think about when I work in a traditional school setting, a child is diagnosed with some type of disorder, IEP or whatever it is, the school gives more money per pupil to the point where those folks get a little concerned that we overdiagnose our young people just for the revenue. So that is alarming and eye-opening to hear that a child can be diagnosed with a specific disorder and no more subsidies be provided to the providers who are responsible for educating that child. That's a homework assignment right there. Chair recognizes Vice- Chair Phillips.
Chairman, thank you for that. Great question. I just want to follow up because it's clear that providers do not mind educating all children. The problem is I was hoping the Education Law Center can help us with this, is how do you help them educate all children? Because it can be a challenge if their teachers are not certified or trained to work with those children and then they are already underpaid and then they're not getting the resources available, so it becomes a problem. So I just think that if you want this as the Education Law Center, you also have to help us figure out how to make sure that they have the resources to be great at their job. How do you do that?
Yeah, absolutely. So first, I would set some frameworks. So the law is clear that children with extremely intensive behavioral needs who cannot thrive in an inclusive classroom should be in a classroom where they can make progress. The law does not require that children who cannot learn in an inclusive classroom should be in an inclusive classroom. The Head Start policy recognizes that. The law recognizes that. We recognize that. But what we do know is that for the vast majority of children, that's not the case. And the vast majority of children can be educated in an inclusive classroom alongside their peers, sometimes with simple supports. Sometimes those simple supports are not related to special education needs. It might be a child not using nice words, even if that might be a developmentally appropriate process for being a 2-year-old who does not have a disability. It might be that 4-year-old child I mentioned who had a dairy allergy, and the accommodation that we would be asking preschools to implement them is not feeding the child dairy, and we do not believe that's an appropriate basis for an expulsion for a preschooler, a kindergartner or so forth. There certainly needs to be training and resources to help providers to manage these children who may have a disability or need a small amount of support to access that education. That might be flexible seating. It might be more breaks throughout the day. It might be adjusting circle time from the 45-minute time period that we often ask 2-year-olds to sit still for, to something like 30 minutes or incorporating movement into that. This can require training and we think that there is a place for that training, for funding, for resources, but that doesn't undercut the law and the fact that these children can be educated in this program.
And I think that's what probably needs to happen. Because if there are 1700 providers, I know Sean is still in the room as well as the School District of Philadelphia --
Yes. I think what could happen is that if it's training around how to deal with children with special accommodations, that needs to happen during the summertime or weekends, whatever that may be, for those teachers to feel a lot more comfortable and supported to know, hey, as part of your position, this comes with it, but we're providing you with this ample amount of resources that right now it looks like all the providers have to make phone calls and look for these resources as opposed to there being a central space where they know every year they could just go to this training to learn how to work with all children, right, and their needs. And I think that's where the school district and the city can help along with our partners in Education Law Center, you as well can help to.
Can I chime in on that as well? But it's not just the trainings too. It's also coaching and they need that targeted support. So sometimes we have these trainings, we check a box that we want, but what happens throughout the year. So we have to make sure it's very targeted. And we have to make sure the supports are spread out through the year. As you know, this industry is high turnover.
So the question is who can lead that? Is it going to be you leading that with the school district, working with them? Is it going to be the Education Law Center? Someone has to lead that so those trainings can happen throughout the year and that can happen so we could turn this resolution that we have for a hearing into something that could become decent. I don't hear any of the providers saying that they don't want to educate all the children. They just don't want the ability to not have the -- they don't want to fail. If they don't have the ability, it's hard for -- there's some bigger centers that are here today. You'll hear from them. They have those abilities. Some of them don't. So that's the problem. So if you can work with Sean Perkins as well as Christina from the school district. I mean, make it actionable because they need it. Our children need it. Don't just forget about it. Just let's do this, you know. All right. That's all I have to say.
Okay. I know that for me I'm very proactive when it comes to my child. And I would just like to add because every little bit helps. If you can go on Google and you Google the free 40-hour training for RBT, that's the registered behavioral technician. It is a free training that is on the website. And I believe the website name is Autism -- it's like the Autism Foundation. But if you just type in the free 40-hour RBT training, it will be at least one of the first several links that pop up. You go on there, you do your 40-hour training. It has a lot of good and useful information on that website. I am currently also doing that 40-hour training, so that way I can be able to better navigate these challenges with my son as well. Because even though, yes, us as parents, we do depend on the early childhood educational centers and the school district and the beautiful people that decided to take this career path to become teachers to educate, shape and mold these young minds, I do believe that it starts at home first. And you don't know what you don't know. However, once the information is out there, now you can be able to help yourself and help your child and also to become a better advocate for your child as well. And that's the steps that I have taken. And again, like I said, if you don't know, you don't know. So I'm not trying to be rude or mean or anything. But with me now putting that information out there, that free resource, free 40-hour RBT training. If you Google it, it will come up.
I just want to point that out, right. So other providers it could be useful. There's things that people could be using. What are the best ones, right? These are the things that help us solve problems, right. I would say, and it would be advantageous but, oh, yeah all of us are going to go ahead and lead this. Our job is to convene people to kind of do the work that's important because that's what we're trying to do here, help us solve the problems because there's 2000 issues in the city. I wish we can lead them all. But yes?
And one of the problems, they have all these programs and everything to do with mentioning today. But when we reach out to them, they don't help. That's one of the biggest problems child care has. We don't receive the help immediately. And then by the time we receive the help, the child is ready to go to kindergarten. So now we have the child with PreK for two years, which has been calling, trying to get help. Parents are frustrated, we are frustrated and we're not receiving the help to the children's needs. And when they sent a one-on-one, most of the time they are not qualified to deal with the behavior. So now, the one-on- one's sitting there looking at us like, oh, and then the first thing they say, but would they provide a one-on-one, but you provide a one-on-one with no experience. They should send -- oh, I'm not touching the child. I'm just here to note. There's still no help. And I'm a nonprofit. And I hire a lot of staff just to help my teachers because I have good qualified teachers who love their job. I don't want them to quit and just leave in all centers because they don't have no support. So there, I would really love to -- when they send a one-on-one, that they are qualified and they study the child before they even come into the facility. I know how to work with this and I know how to handle this baby.
And I would just like to respond to the last thing that you said. Solving this problem is going to take collaboration. It's going to take creativity, investment and providers, resources for families. But one thing that we have done in your policy memos is outline actionable steps that can be taken by the city. And I also agree that the city's role is partially to bring people together. And this is the first step of that, but the conversation has to continue. We believe that the city's commitment, that exclusionary discipline is not appropriate in city programs is a good first start to getting everyone on the same page so that we can identify the resources that need to be distributed.
30 seconds, give us either the easiest thing for the city to do right now, the thing that's easiest for us to get done or the thing that's most important for us to act on based on your report.
Yeah. The things that should be focused on are one clear rule across the city, that Philadelphia programs do not allow exclusionary discipline for young children. Currently, there are many programs that apply to different programs down the hall and some are basis for expulsion, some aren't. None of this can be accomplished with integrity without the funding and collaboration and investment to support the teachers to ensure that discrimination does not continue to happen for our 2-,. 3- and 4-year-old children. So one clear rule and investment.
There you go. Thank you. I want to say thank you to everybody on this panel for your presentation. I want to especially say thank you to the parents who made yourself vulnerable by telling us your story. We know it's extremely emotional and not necessarily easy. And so, we appreciate you doing that because if you don't do it, we won't know. And we have to hear these stories. I also want to take a moment to thank Ms. Brown, who is the mother of Faith. Faith, you want to stand up? (Applause.)
Faith is one of the interns who help set up our hearing today. And it's not just Faith. Can all eight of the interns who are leading our hearings today stand up. All eight interns please stand up. (Applause.)
These young people are both in high school and in college and they've spent their entire summer putting together this hearing. So that's why when y'all say such-and-such called me from your office and I'm like, what, who. I play too much. They've done a great job as it relates to today. They've helped put together the witness list. They've done all the research. And as you can see, we even have one of our amazing interns who's clerking today. And so, when we're talking about investing in young people, clearly we're talking about kindergarten. We're about to transition to 8th grade. But even after they graduate from traditional K through 12 settings and transitioned into higher academia, you can see that it's still a priority for myself as well as other members of City Council. So you're seeing what my office has done, but I'm sitting next to two phenomenal Councilmembers whose offices do the exact same thing as it relates to making sure young people have the opportunity to serve, work and lead when it comes to their city government. So can we give them a round of applause please. (Applause.)
And so, with that being said, Madam Clerk, if we could thank this panel and we could begin to move into public testimony. And this is how public comment is going to work. Traditionally we try to limit public comment to about three minutes. And so, we're going to try to stick with that today. Please try to limit your comment to three minutes. Remember, this is one of my interns. So don't force my intern to have to tell you to wrap it up. All right. We don't want to put her in that position. And so, with that being said -- and also please give us a little grace. If someone messes up someone's name or their organization that they represent, I want to go ahead and apologize in advance for any error that might be made in that capacity. Madam Clerk.
Robin Reilly, Ebony Baggett, Zena Cahill. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
If you all can come on up, state your name for the record. We're going to try to do this and not time you. But if it feels like folks are getting a little too lengthy, we're going to have to add a timer because we want to make sure that everybody gets an opportunity for their voice to be heard.