Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are 0. The majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. This concludes our consideration of the calendar.
Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? SPEECHES Are there any speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. Three or four years ago, the family of a disabled student in the School District of Philadelphia filed a federal lawsuit in conjunction with the Educational Law Center in Philadelphia because their son had been denied admission to a vocational high school of his choosing. This young man wanted to attend either Bache or Mastbaum and was turned down. His family believed that it was because of his disability that he was turned down and rightfully filed a federal lawsuit to attempt to rectify that situation. As a result of that lawsuit, which no judge ruled on, there's been no law set on this case, the School District entered into a consent decree and began the process of agreeing to dismantling of special admission criteria, not only for vocation schools, but all the magnet schools and all schools in the school system that require special criteria to be met before individuals are SPEECHES admitted to the schools. As we all know, those magnet schools are very popular institutions in our school system; as a matter of fact, probably the most popular in our system. And of course, there was a great human cry from parents in a number of the immediately affected schools about the changes in standards that they believed were being put into place to accommodate this consent decree. And let me remind all of us again, this consent decree was not a court order as the Mayor yesterday in his press conference intimated or said. It was an agreement. And the agreement was made without the consent or consultation of this legislative body or without the agreement or consent of anyone, as far as I understand. That began the process of this dismantling. Now, I guess I got to wonder why we didn't fight the case, number one; or more easily, why we just didn't accommodate the family of this young disabled individual and allow, as the superintendent is permitted to do, special admission for any school in the system. He could put any student at any school at his discretion. SPEECHES Being the suspicious type that I am, I wonder whether or not the superintendent viewed this opportunity as a vehicle to begin to attack the special admission criteria in all magnet schools. Again, this vocational high school that we are talking about, it had nothing to do with the magnet schools that are now in consideration and discussion in the public view. I personally believe, my personal opinion is that Dr. Hornbeck has been in here before, has made it clear he does like the magnet system, he does not like the special admission criteria, and is using this and has used this vehicle, this consent decree, as a way to dismantle the entire system to his satisfaction, but much to the dissatisfaction and chagrin of many parents and many citizens within this City. As a result of vociferous complaints from parents from Roxborough and from Walter Bittle Saul Agricultural School, a special admission committee was set up. On that committee served various members of the School Board and members of this Council. I think there were two members, and I also was originally a member of that committee. I attended three or four meetings, and it may be as a SPEECHES result of my impatience, I decided that I didn't think it was worth attending these committee meetings because in the end what I viewed the ultimate end game and goal was to, again, dismantle the special admission criteria for magnet schools. I commend my colleagues Councilmember Nutter and Rizzo and State Representative Manderino and members of the School Board for their patience, because they continue to meet and try to deal with these problems. And they, in some cases, have replaced and restored some of those special admission criteria that parents in Roxborough and Saul and a few other schools were demanding. But the question I have is why? Why do we have to be here today with a special admission committee trying to work through all these issues?
Why do we have to be at Northeast High School listening to parents complain and agonize over the future of their children? Why do we have to be in a situation where internal choice within this system is being systematically and unilaterally taken away from parents from the school system? This is not an issue of school choice where we want to move kids from one area of the City SPEECHES to another or vouchers or charter or anything. This is a system within the School System of Philadelphia that works, that's popular, that sends kids on to higher education, that is sought after by parents, not only in Philadelphia, but in the case of the High School for Creative and Performing Arts, parents from the suburbs are trying to get applications to get thier kids into a Philadelphia school. Why is it that the superintendent is intent on making all schools the same, and in this case in the short term mediocre? Why can we not have excellent schools? Why can we not have special admission criteria whereunder children achieving, as I understand that system as it was brought to me a number of years ago, is that parents, administrators, students, faculty members in that particular neighborhood decide what the school is going to be and how that school is going to be governed. Children achieving in that respect only works when you happen to agree with 21st and the Parkway. So this continual central operation and central administration of the school system continues to be in place, and it's clear to me SPEECHES because the parents and teachers and administrators in the schools want to keep the system the way it is. They're taking away choice with the system, they're diminishing the entire issue of reward for performance, for attendance, for behavior, and for hard study. They're taking that entire framework with which we deal with in this country. I went to St. Joseph's Preparatory School. I graduated in the middle of the my class. I graduated in the middle of my class because I didn't study hard enough to get into the top part of my class. That limited my choices on universities that I could attend. I perhaps would have wanted to have attended Harvard or Yale, but I couldn't get in there. They would have turned me down because I didn't work hard enough to get there. My choices were limited because of decisions that I made in my life. I also think that what we are doing in this situation and what Dr. Hornbeck is intent on doing is making families of 6th, 7th and 8th graders make decisions about life choices they have to make SPEECHES on whether or not they should stay in the City or whether or not they should leave. If I have a magnet school that I have been looking forward to my child attending, striving and pushing them to succeed, pushing them to do well, and then know that in the end their name is going into a fishbowl to be pulled out as a lottery, maybe I'm going to make a decision to go to Montgomery County, maybe I'll go to Bucks County, maybe I'll hop over to Jersey because I want what's best for my child. And this administration of this school system is, again, taking away choices that parents can make and should be able to make in an effort to educate their children. Madam President, I just do not understand where Superintendent Hornbeck has been coming from in this regard. I do not understand why the Mayor continues to stand up and support some of these decisions that fly in the face of any sensibility and why parents in this school system and children in this school system cannot do the best and get the best that's available today; not 5 years from now, not 10 years from now. Dr. Hornbeck said to me that he would SPEECHES like to see all comprehensive high schools be as successful as the Cappas in the Northeast and the Roxboroughs, and I agree with him. But he said it's going to take him three to five to seven years to do it. What do we tell those parents of an 8th grader now? "Wait four years? Wait five years? We'll fix it soon.
" Those children's parents are going to make decisions to get out of the system, to send their kids to parochial or private school, or worse yet, to move out of this City. And I think that the superintendent and the Mayor ought to revisit and rethink and reevaluate this decent decree to get us back to where parents want their children to be. Thank you, Madam President. )
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Clark.
Because I'm not sure I really understood all of your comments. Is SPEECHES it fair to assess your comments as being complementary to some school systems, some school programs in this system that are presently operating?
Because I have been attentive to your comments over the last eight years, and this is the first time I ever heard you say anything good about the Philadelphia School System.
The first time I ever heard it. I did not say it was the first time you said it. It's the first time I ever heard it.
I'd like the record SPEECHES to reflect that on numerous occasions I have complemented and have had nice things to say about many areas of the school system. And I think it's unfair and untrue for Councilmember Clark to characterize my comments in the past seven years in this Council as anything other than that. And I am one who has stood up and said what I think is wrong, and if that is the case, then so be it. I hope I haven't offended. But I have also said what is right. I would like the record to reflect that what Councilperson Clerk has attempted to characterize is not in fact true. Thank you.
I will characterize my own comments. And what I said is this is the first I ever heard Councilmember Kenney say anything that could be flattering to or complimentary to the Philadelphia School System, so I wanted to star these comments today. Now, the next thing I wanted to ask, sir, is whether in your initial comments the complaint made by the parents with respect to a physically handicapped child had to do with mainstreaming rather than, as you say, selecting or school choice? SPEECHES
My understanding of the lawsuit is that the parents of this child rightfully wanted their child to attend a vocational high school, which is not -- I don't know what you mean by mainstreaming. But they wanted him to go to Bache or Mastbaum and believed that -
Well, you've clarified my question, so you need to talk to me. Are you saying -
Madam Chair, it's very difficult to answer a question once asked.
I think a question was asked and I think we ought to give the Councilman an opportunity to respond.
Thank you. It's my understanding from the lawsuit that was filed that the parents felt that his denial of admission was based on a disability. And I believe and I said in earlier comments that I believe that they had a SPEECHES point there and an accommodation to that child could have been made and was made without opening up this entire issue.
Well, Madam Chair, the reason I asked the mainstreaming question is mainstreaming integrates youngsters with physical and mental handicaps into the regular population and in segregation by their special class, such as for the physically handicapped or for the mentally handicapped. That term "mainstreaming" is an inclusive term. So I was sharing a definition with you, and that's what I was trying to do there. If the issue is mainstreaming, that's totally different from whether special interest schools that require certain interests or skills. You have named some of the outstanding special interest schools in this City, and they do give public education a good name. However, I would request that you look at the Educational Supplement to the Home Rule Charter and see whether our injecting ourselves into this issue contravenes the Educational Supplement which was put into place for the expressed purpose of preventing politicians from micro-managing the School District. SPEECHES Now, there are ways to have your thoughts heard, understood, and respected. But we as a legislative body are expressly foreclosed from and prohibited from telling the School District what they must or must not do. That is what the Educational Supplement sought to avoid, and I believe that our interjecting ourselves as the legislative body contravenes it.
That is a statement. You are certainly free to have a comment.
I was open for interrogation. I thought that was a question.
Let me make just make one final comment, if I may, on that particular point. I was very happy and pleased to co-sponsor a charter change recommendation sponsored by Councilmember Nutter which would require or allow the mayor, the next mayor, whoever he or she may be, to appoint all the members of the School Board to SPEECHES run concurrent terms with the Council and with the Mayor. The reason that I support that charter change amendment is because I believe for too long and much to our detriment and much to the chagrin and to the flight of working class parents in our City into the suburbs, someone needs to micro-manage this school system. I believe for too many years, professional educators, quote unquote, have taken taxpayers' dollars, have used those dollars as they see fit and have, in my opinion and the opinion of thousands, thousands of transplanted Philadelphians, have not served the interest of the children who live in this City for many, many years. And that is why I am looking forward to our next term when we have the opportunity with our new mayor to sit down and talk about educational priorities, the School Board in toto and what their responsibility is to serve the citizens and taxpayers of this City when it comes to educational services. Thank you.
Unless and until such a charter change is put in place, we, all of us, those of us who agree and those of us who disagree, are held to the terms of the charter as it is presently written. As it is presently written, SPEECHES the Educational Supplement stands as the bar to our leaping across those barriers which we believe are poorly serving youngsters. Until that is changed in writing and affirmed, what any one of us believes individually or collectively is no more than precatory language. It will not change the duties that we are here to determine and then to enforce the duties of a legislative body, not individual members' whims. Thank you.
Madam Chair, again and finally, this could be the end; I'd be happy with that, too. But there's one thing we can make legal arguments about the Supplement to the Home Rule Charter, we can talk about barring political activity within the Supplement of that Home Rule Charter, but I'll tell you one thing that's not arguable; we are losing 400 people a month. And 400 people a month who are leaving this City are leaving it primarily, not always, but primarily because of their lack of educational choices within this system and the tax burden that they bear to pay for a system that they're not comfortable with. That is unarguable. And until we reverse that trend, the 400 a month, this City will continue to shrink its SPEECHES tax base and not be able to provide the services for the majority of the students and citizens who need them.
I hope this will be my last comment. Good intentions do not excuse lawless behavior. I don't care how many people are going because of what one individual thinks the School District is doing to drive people from Philadelphia. Unless and until we have documents that support our interfering in the way the school district is run, we can do no more than make suggestions, and I think those suggestions are to be appropriate. Those of us who know the right ought to do the right.
That last comment about not caring how many people leave this city, speaks for itself. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Madam Chair, my last comment is that I will not have my comments characterized. Now, if Mr. Kenney has something he SPEECHES wants to say, he is perfectly free to say it in and under his own name. I can and do insist on speaking for myself and by myself.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam President. I do not wish to interrogate anyone. I do want to say on this particular issue that I appreciate Councilman Kenney's comments with regard to my service, both past and continuing with the admission selection criteria committee. I was the co-chair of that committee with Board Member Pedro Ramos. It was a long and grueling process. The facts in this particular matter are that vocational high schools and what are called comprehensive high schools were the focus of trying to reestablish admissions criteria that had been taken away, in my view, inappropriately by the School District. The Northeast High School and Overbrook High School had, for many years, their own process and their own criteria and initially were not the subject of the deliberations of the committee, although issues surrounding those schools did come up. When we SPEECHES finished the work on the comprehensive high schools and the vocational high schools, an agreement was made by the committee, that agreement then forwarded to the Board and ratified by the Board. The question still remained as to whether or not Northeast High School as a regional high school and Overbrook High School -- I'm sorry, as a comprehensive high school, whether they would be subject to the same process. For conformity sake, I believe the decision was made that they should comply because they are also comprehensive high schools. For the parents of students present or future at Northeast High School, I would say that we have additional work to do. It was never any intention to negatively impact Northeast High School or Overbrook High School, and it is unfortunate that many people feel that someone is trying to do something to them. Change is hard; it is always. But I believe in selection criteria, admissions criteria. I believe it should be beyond mere interests. We should look at attendance, behavior, performance as well as interests. I'm hopeful that we will get an appropriate resolution to this SPEECHES particular issue, maintain high standards at Northeast High and any other school in the City because I do believe in high standards for our young people and for their parents. Their concerns are appropriate. And I am, again, hopeful that shortly we'll resolve this to their hopeful satisfaction or at least in an amicable manner. And I will stay involved in the process. Those are my last comments on that particular point. I would also say, though, for the record, that it is true that Councilman Kenney did not study very hard or as hard as he should have. I saw him many days when I was in the library, he was at the gym and in other places. And so I apologize to his parents for not making sure that their tuition money was going to the highest and best use, but it seems like he did okay. (Laughter.)
We have a lot of work to do on the education front. I will stay involved in the Northeast High matter. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much. SPEECHES The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Thank you, Madam President. The fact is that the people who go to the public schools by and large are Philadelphians, and I don't think there can be any reading of any charter which would negate the right of Members of City Council to discuss the issues of the school system and to try to bring about change whenever they believe that change would be in the best interest of the public citizens. I agree that we cannot in City Council micro-manage or direct the School Board to do anything, but that's not the issue here. And I was very heartened to hear from Councilman Nutter the fact that he's remaining active in this area, and I hope that's not a violation of the Home Rule, the school amendment, the Home Rule Charter because I think it's an appropriate appointment and I'm very pleased that he and Councilman Rizzo and City Council is much involved in the school issues. I speak both as a graduate of Northeast High School, the original Northeast High School at Eighth and Lehigh which then had high standards, though we didn't dignify it SPEECHES by talking about special admission criteria. I think this discussion is very good. I was at the meeting last night at Northeast High School, and I feel very strongly that the people there feel threatened by what they perceive as changed standards. And I'm hoping that Councilman Nutter is right and that the matter is going to be resolved shortly in a way that gives reassurance, not only to the parents of Northeast High School and to the students, but all people in Philadelphia that Philadelphia schools are going to maintain a very high degree of excellence. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.
Thank you, Madam President. I just want to say thank you to my colleagues for bringing so much attention to this matter, and I would like to thank Councilman Nutter for the information he has given me on this. I introduced a resolution today asking for the Committee on Education to have hearings on SPEECHES this very matter. I was at that meeting also last night with Councilman Cohen, although I graduated from Northeast that was Northeast Catholic and not Northeast High School or St. Joe's Prep, and I also felt the pain in that room and I felt Councilman Kenney's concern when he spoke. There was a lot of people there of all races and ethnic diversity speaking that they were concerned to keep this program the way it was. The children that I spoke to there, the actual students, were concerned that they worked hard to get something -- and I've been in Council for going on four years now, and seems every time something comes down with the School District, I have learned from Councilman Cohen and Councilwoman Clark, as I look at her, we are bully pulpit, a forum of public opinion. So we will have this hearing. Hopefully, we can have it up at Northeast High School, and we'll see what the people want us to do. But the children that were there last night were concerned. And I have to wonder about the message that we're sending kids. I mean, Councilman Kenney and all the other Councilpeople in this room, we deal day to day with the issues of children. SPEECHES I have two children. I have a 14-year-old son who's an 8th grader in public school. And those decisions that Councilman Kenney spoke about are grave decisions that, I don't know, at this point of my life it's hard for me to make that's going to affect my son's life and career for the rest of his life. I have a 18-year-son who's in the room here who attends private school. If I had known that Northeast Magnet School was the good institution that it was, he may have attended that school. One of Rick's friends, Donnie Gould (ph) attends that school, and Donnie would not have been able to attend a private school or a parochial school. So therefore, if that choice or that decision isn't there for that school, it's not fair to the Goulds. They work hard, they pay their taxes, they run a small business in Kensington, and they need to be able to send Donnie to a school. Don's been admitted to some really good colleges, probably the same decent colleges that Rick's been admitted to and he went four years to a private high school. So we will hear this, and it's just SPEECHES great that everyone is interested in this issue. And I'm glad and I hope it all comes out in the public opinions. The last thing I will say on this, anything that ever happens with the School Board always goes back into how naive the superintendent of the School Board is. Now, I thought the superintendent was naive when he knew that possibly the next two people that would be president of the City Council had two schools that he was making Keystone schools without discussing it with either one of those people. That was naive in my political realm of the world. But hey, who knows? That's what I thought. So we go on and he keeps doing these naive things. It may turn out that the superintendent isn't naive at all. We may be the naive ones to believe that he's naive. He knows what he's doing. And Councilman Kenney may be absolutely right. And even Councilwoman Clark's right on these things. It's Hornbeck and the School Board making these decisions. And who knows where he'll be in four or five years? They're not going to be sitting in Northeast Magnet School. They're not going to be sitting in Amy Public School or SPEECHES Edmonds or any other school. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. Are there any other speeches? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I want to first thank more than a thousand people who came out last night in West Philadelphia for us to announce our West Philadelphia On The Move Economic Development Plan. And we were well received by people from the community, community leaders, and committee persons and block captains and town watch people across the Third District came out, and certainly we want to thank all of them for doing that. On the second note, we would like to invite all who are here to partake of some of this cake that we have that is in the Caucus Room. And Madam Chair, I wish you would help me aid to help cut this cake so that everybody will share in the positive atmosphere of having a new plan and ADJOURNMENT certainly to enjoy this wonderful absolutely great spring day. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Clark for the purposes of making a motion to adjourn.
Madam Chair, I move that this Council be adjourned until the 15th of April, tax day. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Council stands adjourned until Thursday, April 15, 1999. All in favor will signify by saying aye. Those opposed, say nay. The ayes have it. Council stands adjourned until Thursday, April 15, 1999. Thank you. (Council adjourned at 11:30 a.m.) ¡›î› C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of April 7, 1999, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ___________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR and Notary Public