Committees on Education, Children, Youth, April 4, 2025

Okay. The District data shows that while suspensions are down, Black and Latino students are still suspended at a far higher rate than White students. If a Black student is more likely to be suspended than a White peer for the same behavior, how is it that anything but institutional racism and what's being done to stop it like immediately?

So we've been doing a lot of work around this as it's not okay. Everything from our Office of Rights and Responsibilities in partnership with our office of DEI have been doing a lot of training and understanding for our leaders as well as our teachers to really understand what's going on and then make sure that, how does that relate to practice, right. How do we again make sure we are not targeting certain groups of kids as we identify problems and issues. How do we look at their own data, how does each school look at their data in terms of who they're identifying, who they are disciplining and what that percentage looks like. So they can have their own checks and balances as it relates to this. So we're doing a lot of training. We are leaning into schools to look at their own data in terms of discipline as it relates to race and gender. And then also, again leaning back into restorative work in terms of when we do have issues is everything -- making sure that things are all counted for the same way, same severity level and not disproportionately saying that something is what it's not.

So my only concern about the evaluation process, some of it is like the wolf watching over the chickens. Only reason I'm saying, as a Black woman the majority of the teachers and principals are White people in the School District of Philadelphia, and we talk about DEI and we realize that racism exists. We realize that it exists amongst leadership in school, it exists amongst our teachers in school, and it indirectly affects or directly affects not just our students, but our climate staff because some of our climate staff are seen as subordinate. Therefore, the racism that they experience does not get reported or recognized or moved up the chain, and that same racism is reflected on our students. And that's why I'm concerned about who's watching over the data that we receive around racist experiences of young people being reported, documented and moved up the chain to even receive a restorative situation, because we realize it will stop at the teacher, it can stop at the counselor and it can stop at the principal. What are we doing to make sure that if a report comes in from a family that a child has experienced some level of racism, that it's actually going to be taken seriously and not just swept under the table?

Yeah. So we also have our bullying harassment kind of complaint system where families can enter in their report there and we have folks at Central Office that then follow it through to make sure that it's not just swept under the rug at the school level and make sure that there's closure to that --

So where does a parent get that? I've been in the school. I've never heard this.

So via our face liaisons, right, definitely helps support and help give that information out --

So you're asking a parent to go to another District staff to report racism?

They can -- I'm saying they can speak to their liaison or on our website again there's a link of how to submit these complaints.

So on the School District's website there's somewhere you can go, there's a link, where you can report a complaint against an administrator or whoever that you consider to be racist or --

There's that and there's our Let's Talk feature which is our newer internal system that a parent can put whatever complaint, concern, question. They can then delineate where they want to go, whether it's the Superintendent office or they know the specific office it needs to go to and that is not only monitored for resolution to see that the entry was dealt with, but also the family can rate the interaction if they felt as if it was resolved or not.

Do you know what the turnaround is from the report being made and someone getting back to someone?

In terms of Let's Talk or --

Yeah, Let's Talk because this is the simplest way I'm hearing.

Right. Let's talk, I mean we're were told 24, 48 hours that there needs to be some response. If not, then the individuals that it went to continue to get notifications. So it might be an initial response. There might need to be further conversation but we're supposed to turn around.

All right. I'm going to test your theory.

Okay.

Were you next? Harrity was next actually. Go ahead.

I just want to ask you this one question. That's it. By the way, my colleagues have asked all the questions honestly, especially Councilwoman Kendra Brooks. Thank you, Chairwoman. Why hasn't the District adopted a standardized SEL curriculum system-wide and what would it take to make that happen?

So we have a couple different SEL approaches. There's standalone and basic kind of social emotional learning knowledge that we push out to schools, but on top of that we have our PBIS which has evidence of being very successful as well as our Restorative Relationships First, which is restorative practices work that our schools really love and has shown successful too. We find that our schools are different communities. And so, we want to make sure that they are picking a curriculum and a product that really is in line with that. We give coaching support for which option our schools choose. But to say universal we only use this, it may not be -- there may be some schools that another approach would be better for them so that's why we give those options. They all have to select an approach in their school planning every year. So every school has to select an approach but we allow them to identify and then we give supports for --

Do you evaluate that approach? Are you the person responsible for evaluating each school's approach?

The approaches, yes. So we have evaluations going on right now for our Restorative Relationships First programming as well as we have kind of ongoing data as it relates to our PBIS.

Interesting. I don't know. That makes sense to me. Everyone's unique, but I feel like there should be some standard things that you just have to have, but I don't know. Actually honestly, I want to thank Councilwoman Brooks for bringing this to our attention because now I'm a little bit more invested in this as a result. So thank you. (Applause.)

Okay. Thank you. Councilmember Harrity.

Thank you all. (Inaudible). All right. I'm good. I think he's got me on the pay no mind list over there, my brother. All right. Listen, first off congratulations to my sister and brothers from UNITE HERE. Council President has left already but we had our hearing standing by just to make sure that they were going to do the right thing, so I'm glad that you guys were able to come up with a contract. I have a lot of concerns when it comes to the school board, but one of my biggest concerns is trauma in our schools and the ability of our children to speak to somebody about that trauma. So, for example, I went to a retirement party last night for John Hundzyson -- Hundzynski, who was the President of 1199C. And I bring it up because while it was a retirement party for him, he didn't really pose it as that. He posed it with him and his wife about the nonprofit that they started that works in the schools. And I'm sorry I don't remember the actual school name they were working in, but it was a school that offers health care as a curriculum. So they started a nonprofit in order to help high school students to get into the medical field. And what struck me was when they -- they honored the kids. You know, we did give him some props and a resolution. But basically his retirement party was about these kids that were graduating this program. And it hit me pretty hard because one of the kids they read a letter that she had written to her teacher Ms. Dee Felice explaining what the program did for her. So to explain it, I have to tell a little bit about the young lady's story. And it basically started out with because of the lack of a father in her life, she resorted to solving her problems with violence and fist fights and she acted out because of that lack of a father, and this is her words, not mine. And while I had a father in my life, I kind of related to that because I actually did the same thing. My father wasn't around a lot when I was young. He got his act together eventually and there was a difference though between when he was going through his stuff and my schooling to when he got his act together and my schooling after that, because that trauma had been lifted and was dealt with. So what struck me was this girl straight up said that she dealt with her problems with violence. She dealt with her violence by lashing out at others, being argumentative and a lot of it stemmed from the fact that nobody actually talked to her. They just kept on reprimanding her and punishing her, punishing her for the trauma that she was facing. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't expect a teacher to know everything about all their students, but there are signs that we can look for and there are things that tell. But what struck me was the difference in this young lady's life from not thinking she had a future to completing that program and having all these opportunities now presented to her in the way of scholarships and offers from colleges. But the fact of the matter is it was only because one teacher took the time to talk to this young lady. And I heard you say that the access to mental health in our school system is accessible for all students, but I know for a fact that is not true. It is accessible online, but the bottom line is I know from my own experience nothing beats talking to somebody one-on- one and in person. So what would we have to do to make it more accessible for kids to actually talk to somebody in person instead of online? Now, listen online may work for some people. It may help, but some of the trauma that these kids are facing, especially kids that come from my neighborhood in Kensington, is real.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Thank you for that. I will say our Intensive Behavioral Health Services that we have in partnership with CBH and DBH are actually in the building. If a student is connected, they can receive inperson support. I also want to lift up that --

Excuse me. Is that in their building?

Yes, every school building has Intensive Behavioral Health Services. Their counselor can help connect them with that service, but that's live in person, not online, right, live in person, home community support, right. Even if they don't want to have the session in the school building, they can have it at home or have it somewhere else, right, because sometimes a kid may not want to have it in the school building. What I also think is very important is every child having a relationship with a trusting adult. That is why lifting up the conversations about partnerships and programs is beyond important because it only takes that one relationship with a trusting adult to help a child through. Mental health needs continue to increase. However, some kids just need to know someone's there for them, right. And so, you don't necessarily always need a therapist to do that. So continuing to connect our kids and continuing to connect the programs for inschool, afterschool, summer breaks is beyond important because that's how we get to even more children in terms of supported and connectiveness.

So you're saying that we have 100% staffing in counselors in all of our schools in Philadelphia?

All of our schools have at least one counselor and the percentage I might be a little off, but 40% to 50%, and I'll have my team members come back to confirm, have more than one counselor.

I would hope so --

Yeah, no. 7 Most people --

Here's another question for you just so we can visualize this: How many kids on average in a school?

So with that said you're talking about the ratio. And so, there's one counselor per couple hundred kids, right. And so, it's still a lot and that's why I say counselors are needed. We will continue -- and we have increased the number of counselors we've had, but we need more.

I'd like to see the mental health of those counselors. If you got counselors who are dealing with the trauma of hundreds of kids at one time, that's got to be traumatizing in itself.

We pour into them as well, right. So we have a lot of -- next week we have another counselor convening where we pull them all together to not only increase their training but also touching base as it's a lot of work, right.

Could I ask what the average salary of a counselor is?

I do not have the salary information. Counselors, it's --

It's the same pay scale as teachers.

Same pay scale as teachers?

Teachers is 55,000 to start and then the top salary is 107.

There you go. So 55 to 107 depending on where they are.

I'm sorry. I do have to excuse myself for another commitment. Thank you guys for having us.

As you can see, our children today are dealing with so many different issues. Most of them haven't actually even dealt with the issues of COVID that sent them into isolation and fear of the possibilities of that disease and we need to do better. Our kids deserve a healthy joyful place to go to school. I talk about it all the time. There's studies that show things as simple as building a new school in a low-income neighborhood can drop crime by 10% because the kids feel as though we believe in them. They feel as though somebody believes in them and it gives them a sense of pride in their school and in their neighborhood. And our facilities plan, as Councilman Isaiah Thomas has stated, I'm very curious to see that. We've been asking for it for a long time. I've been here two years and we started asking for it soon as I got here. So I'm not saying that the school board is not trying and they're not doing the best that -- well, I don't even want to say the best that they can. I believe that we need a lot of things in our school board. And as I've been sitting up here listening, I'm actually starting to think that maybe we need to do something similar to the Police Oversight Committee and do a citizens oversight committee of the actual school board so that they can come back here and tell us what the school board is doing, so that the actual families of the students could actually have a say or at least know the direction that our school board is taking. So maybe that's something I need to look into, trying to see how we get some more parents having a little bit more say in what happens in our schools. Thank you. (Applause.)

Okay. I just wanted to recognize Jamie and the students real quick. Thank y'all so much. Councilmember Harrity said he has one more question.

Just one more question. And I'm sorry. I'm not trying to pick on you. But I asked the last panel so you're the school board. I might as well ask you. When you get a Joy Officer in the District, how do you see that position interacting with the parents and with the children?

I think the interaction with the parents and children is vital. I believe it's compiling the information we already have, the data we already have, making sense of it, looking at the data that we don't have and figuring out ways to kind of collect that information. Across the district sometimes, again giving the number of schools we have it's around implementation, so fidelity of implementation and looking at barriers and coming up with recommendations so that what can be -- for the things that we already have policy and procedure for, we can continue to make sure it's actually happening. And then, identifying the things that we don't and making procedures and protocols to address as well as just kind of making sure there's open communication between what we're doing in the district with our parents and students.

Thank you.

I want to recognize Councilmember Gauthier and the young Democrats from the University of Pennsylvania here watching our democracy in action. (Applause.)

Are there any other questions or comments from --

I want to ask (inaudible).

Okay. All right, Thank you. I'm sorry. Next, Councilmember Rue Landau.

Thank you. I want to start by saying I realize that we've had so many questions for this panel that we're running over and I want to make sure that we hear the voices of all of the other panelists so I will try to keep my questions directed just to make sure that we can move on. But, Dr. Banks, thanks for being here. You're the only school district official testifying today so I do have some questions for you. Thank you UNITE HERE and PFT also for being here as well. So, Dr. Banks, thank you for the work that you do. My understanding is that you have been very responsive to Lift Every Voice and been very helpful, but it's very hard to get what you're saying or you're doing or the policies that are in place trickle down to the individual schools. And it seems to me it's something that we have to work on. I think it happens from all of our decentralized departments and partners in the city. But I do want to get back to the code of conduct. I found two documents while I've been waiting. One is the policy that establishes a code of conduct, Policy 218, and then the 2024-2025 code of conduct itself. And nowhere in that document have I been able to find anything that is close to the words collective punishment, where we talk about don't punish an entire class for the actions of one student. Am I missing the words or is there the absence of that language in the current code of conduct?

So I slightly misspoke. So in the revised copy they're working on right now we are putting those words to make it clear that again you should not punish the collective for the -- I don't want to say misdoings, just for the occurrence of the behavior of one.

Thank you. And is that for this current year or for next year?

Sorry. We're already in this year. So this year, the one you're looking at, is what our schools are following. This will be put out this summer for next school year.

Great. I can't wait for you to have your partner, a Chief of Joy, who I think could help support you. You shouldn't have to lift all this up yourself. It's going to be so great to have a partner. I would also suggest that this partner really hear and listen to the voices of the parents and the students. The fact that there is something occurring that is not explicitly denoted in a code of conduct doesn't mean it doesn't exist and that we have to constantly be refining what we're saying and doing in the schools to make sure that our standards reflect exactly what we want to see in the schools. So thank you for your openness to that.

Of course.

I have a couple of questions that I think are specific to you. I'm going to hold the rest of the 29th. Well, now I can't wait for the 29th. The school district has a lot of vacancies. And because of the vacancies it by default saves money, because it hasn't filled the vacancies so it has staffing surplus. What does it do with that surplus? Is it collected for the entire school district or is it held for each individual school?

The CFO -- that's a CFO answer unfortunately.

My apologies. All Chief of Joy questions then. I got you. I wanted to know -- let me get to my Chief of Joy questions. What is the district's plan to ensure every student has access to both art and music?

So we really believe that art music as well as recess as well as anything that continues to build the whole child, right, it's not just the academic content in isolation. And so, we continue to, in terms of budget as well as partnerships, look at how we can continue to infuse it in our schools and looking at the discrepancy, as you said, or one of your colleagues shared around schools that have it versus schools that don't, so continuing to kind of address that issue with both what we are budgeting as well as the partnerships that we bring into the schools.

Thank you. Is anybody keeping track of what schools have field trips and which do not and how to make that more equitable?

I'll have to get back to you on that one as well. I'm not sure if the school trips are -- the data is kept centrally or not, but I will respond with a better, more clear answer.

Thank you. Will we see you on the 29th as well?

I am not sure.

The 2023 Schools Experience Survey showed declines among all key indicators, including belonging, building conditions, pure conflict and safety compared to 2020 with only 31% of students reporting they enjoy being at school, 36% consistently feeling like they belong and 45% feeling welcome. What specific actions has the district taken in response to these results and how are the school level survey results being used to drive change?

So in addition to those results, we also have a well-being survey that we have our students take a couple times a year to also see how students feel as it relates to overall well-being. We have been working with schools on an individual level to make sense of that data and to think about school community belongingness, what supports and how schools are implementing those supports in the buildings. So we've been -- our team members have been working with the individual schools to kind of make sense of it and then support them in recommendations to improve.

Okay. I think I'll stop there just so we can move on. Thank you so much. I have more questions but I'm going to save them for the 29th. Thank you for your answers and we want to move on with this. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr. Banks, for your patience. (Applause.)

If there aren't any more questions, Mr. Gur, can you please call the next panel to testify on the bill.

Will Carla Brooks Hartsfield, Donna Cooper, David Laver, Julie Krug and LaTi Spence please come up. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)

Good morning.

Good morning. Can you please state your name and proceed with your testimony.

My name is David Laver, and I'm Principal at Bayard Taylor Elementary School within the School District of Philadelphia. So good morning, members of City Council. I've been a school administrator for the past years, including four years as 7 an assistant Principal of Frankford 8 High School and now 11 years at 9 Bayard Taylor School. 10 When I chose to 11 originally become an educator, it 12 was my passion to create school 13 environments where students feel 14 safe, loved and ready to grow into 15 their best selves. Taylor is a 16 PreK to 5th grade school with 17 approximately 440 students. We're 18 located at 6th and Erie in the 19 Hunting Park section of North 20 Philadelphia. And as I'm sure 21 you're aware, it's a part of the 22 city that's had its share of challenges, crime and poverty and others, while many of our students have challenges that they face at home in the community. Taylor has become a joyful safe haven for them. And one of our core values at Taylor, we have five core values, and one of those is joy. So what is it that makes Taylor such a special and joyful place that prompted the good people of Lift Every Voice to invite me here today to share with you? For starters, all of the adults at Taylor believe that all children deserve a fun, safe and enriching school experience from the earliest age. In order to make this happen, we have made a lot of intentional decisions about what the school day, week and year will feel like for our students. While some have said that joy feels like one of those kind of esoteric values, it's really serious the work of joy. And if we're really going to have school environments, we need to be very intentional at the school level as well as at the district level of course. So I'd like to start by sharing a bit about what a typical school day for our children at Taylor is like and then highlight some of the things that happen throughout the course of the school year. At Taylor, our official school day runs from 9:00 to 3:39. While many schools in the district open their doors right before the opening bell, we open 30 minutes early for every student to have breakfast and a morning recess. Every morning we have many students waiting the gate right at 8:30 excited to play and to see their friends. And I can tell you without exaggeration this is the favorite part of my day, those first 30 minutes. At o'clock when 4 teachers pick up their students, 5 all classes engage in a morning 6 community building circle. This is 7 a crucial component of our 8 restorative practices also known as 9 Relationships First. The morning circle is a vital component of our Tier 1 efforts to create school community and a sense of belonging for all. The morning circle is often led by student circle leaders and includes time for students to share how they are feeling, what's important to them that day, perhaps answer a specific question and then play a short game. While some would think these 20 or so minutes should be used in another manner, we feel it's a most important component of our focus on creating classroom communities and learning spaces where students develop a sense of belonging and feel safe enough to take chances with their learning. As Dr. Banks mentioned a few moments ago, the principals in the district have choices that we make in terms of our approaches to SEL, and that's one area that I would hope and wish that as we move forward since we know better, we will do better. And with a Chief of Joy, we can make sure that there are certain practices that they're consistent through all 215 schools. And I'm just digressing for a moment from my prepared remarks, but I want to give you this example under the Dr. Hite's leadership and now with Dr. Watlington. We decided to tackle early childhood literacy, right?

And so, we built a Read by 4th campaign, and we made sure that every school in the district, kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade is systemically teaching phonics, phonemic awareness, those foundational skills that all kids need to learn to read, right. So in the last years 9 as an administrator in the school 10 district, I've had countless 11 walkthroughs of my bosses coming 12 through and they're looking at are 13 my 1st and 2nd grade, are they 14 teaching phonics and phonemic 15 awareness, is the 3rd grade teacher jumping into multiplication on the math side of things. If those folks that came through, if they saw that we weren't doing those things, we certainly would hear about it and then the guidance and the support would come to make sure we are doing those things. But in my 15 years as administrator in the district, I've never had one walkthrough where folks were looking at climate and culture. And so, when we talk about potentially what's in our code of conduct, what our policies are, and those are well and good, and I'm sorry Councilmember Thomas wasn't able to be here because I know as a former teacher he understands the inner workings of a school and how a principal really dictates a lot of how that school building goes and the experience for the children in that building, and currently at the district level, principals can choose. We can do PBIS, we can do SEL, we can do community building, we do Relationships First or maybe we're not really doing much of all of that. So one of my hopes is that a Chief of Joy would help to be able to make sure that these things are happening in all 215 schools. )

So to continue, students obviously continue their school day, engage in academic subjects as well as a variety of enrichment activities. These include at Taylor at least two periods a week of physical education classroom and instrumental music lessons, computer classes where students learn coding skills and are manipulating robots, an elective period where students get to choose what they would like to participate in, which has included lacrosse, basketball, baseball, music, technology, the arts, chess, Scrabble and other activities. Giving students choice in what they want to learn and be engaged in even at a young age goes a long way to building students' sense of ownership of their own learning. Students also have two other recesses during the day. Through a long-term partnership with Play Works, who should be involved with every elementary school in the district in my opinion, students have learned a variety of games and activities along with problem-solving skills for when conflicts arise. Rock Paper Scissors is a common occurrence on the playground. Since the pandemic, it's become common knowledge that many of our young people struggle with playing and getting along with their peers. By having three recesses a day, Taylor students have grown their ability to play with each other. And as the weeks and months go by, we have less and less conflicts on the playground and more students enjoying their time playing with friends. We also have a wide variety of afterschool clubs that are both led by teachers and support staff as well as a longstanding partnership with the Boys and Girls Club that provide before and afterschool care and activities for the families that need that. In addition to ensuring that students experience fun and joy at school each day, we're also very intentional about holding schoolwide community building events that bring joy and spirit to the school. Now, these are not events where children need to earn their way in, as many of the PBIS kind of events happen. And in those schools, often times those kids who are coming to school every day doing well already are the ones participating in those events. At Taylor, we have schoolwide events that if you're in school that day, you're participating, you're here. So these have included a meet your teacher water ice social before the first day of school, Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations, a fall festival featuring a costume parade, crafts and a juggler on stilts this year. We also celebrate Three Kings Day, hold Black History Month assemblies and performances. We celebrate Pie Day and march with both pies to eat and pies to throw at staff, including myself. We celebrate autism awareness activities. We've had performances by the Walnut Street Theater, a student talent show and our end-of- year fun day. In addition, we make field trips for all students a priority, as Philadelphia has so much to offer our children. Each grade takes at least two field trips per year, and that's from my direction so that's not left up to discussion yet. Most grades take more than two field trips a year. These have included the Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Zoo, the Barnes, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Lincoln Financial Field where we got to go into the Eagles locker room with our 4th graders. This year, our 5th graders have been on more than 10 field trips already, which have included participating in the History Hunters program where students visit a historic mansion throughout the city. And to the best of my knowledge to answer a previous question, I do not think the district has a database or any kind of grasp of which schools go on field trips and which schools do not. These are all very school-led and not really a district initiative. So these are just some of the things that the Taylor team does to make our school a place where students want to be and where they can feel safe and comfortable enough to grow into their best selves.

With the right support, guidance and oversight, I believe all of our schools can be joyful and safe spaces where all children and adults thrive. And I would look forward to continuing this conversation with you. )

We're going to go through the complete panel and then we'll start with questions, but thank you so much.

My name is Julie Krug. Can you hear me -- yeah. Okay. My name is Julie Krug. I live in the 2nd Council District and I'm the parent of two children, one at Greenfield Elementary and one at CAPA. I'm here today as a member of Lift Every Voice, a Black-led parent membership organization united across race, class and neighborhood to demand urgent action in our schools. We represent schools across the 15 city and we are resolute in our 16 commitment to systems change led by 17 parents. 18 I've lived in Philly for most of my adult life. I first got involved in advocacy through the fight for fair state funding. I'd go to Harrisburg sometimes. But what I've seen in our city schools goes beyond budget gaps. I've seen a pattern of policies that prioritize control over care, policies that ignore what we know about child development. I'm speaking about punitive discipline, recess being used as a punishment, lunch and recess pushed to the end of the day and rules that don't even allow snack breaks. m. as it is for my 8th grader, my son loves recess, it helps him focus, but he's often hungry by noon and earlier this year, he got in trouble for eating during class. When I asked about snack breaks, his teacher told me, Their bodies will adjust. That's simply not acceptable. And my school is also a PBIS school. He's been given yellow cards for talking in class, warnings that lead to losing privileges, including recess. The times he struggles the most right before lunch and recess after sitting for hours. One day his teacher threatened to cancel recess for the entire class because somebody sprayed perfume. That's collective punishment. It only changed because parents spoke up. And it's not just about recess. In many schools kids are denied the basic right to use the bathroom. If I refused to let my child use the bathroom at home, I would be reported to Child Protective Services, so this is abusive. Some LEV members have sent their daughters to school in Depends out of fear that menstrual products would fail before bathroom breaks. Yeah, just sit with that for a second. Others have had to leave work to pick up their children after bathroom accidents that should never have happened in the first place. Imagine being told to ignore your hunger, sit still for hours and hold your bladder and then being punished when your body says otherwise. This is what we're asking children to do every day all throughout the district. These are not isolated incidents. They are systemic. They're part of what over 600 parents have named the Dirty Dozen, 12 widespread harmful practices that we can and must end. We need district-wide standards rooted in child development. Kids need to move. They need play. They need dignity. And yet, in a district serving over 117,000 students there is still no 21 guaranteed recess policy. In some schools, recess is rare or nonexistent. In others, it's consistently too short. Denying bathroom access and play time causes physical harm, emotional stress and humiliation. No child should experience that in school. That's why Lift Every Voice Philly has submitted national best practice recommendations calling on the district to add recess with clear and forcible standards to the wellness policy. While that policy moves through internal review, we need City Council's support to make recess a guaranteed right, not just a procedure. LEV has been meeting with Dr. Jayme Banks and Logan Peterson. They've listened and committed to including recess in the policy. But we still don't know if our recommendations will be fully adopted. We're not asking for anything radical. We're asking for what every child deserves, time to move, time to eat, time to breathe and the dignity to use the bathroom when they need it.

We are recommending a minimum of 30 minutes of daily recess, with 60 minutes as the goal, trained staff and supervision, recess held separately from lunch and never used as a punishment and prioritizing physical activity over screen time, also inclusion for older students and those with disabilities. We're also urging bathroom access at all times with two dedicated breaks per day and additional access as needed, not combined with lunch. Clear posted school bathroom policies and a safe, clean and fully stocked -- safe, clean and fully stocked facilities with hygiene supplies. These are basic needs. Our kids deserve better. This moment calls for leadership that listens to parents, respects children and acts with urgency. Let's give our kids the dignity, care and joy they should be able to count on at school every day. City Council has a critical role to play with the district when the district appears before you on April 29th and during public comment on April 30th. We're asking you to use your power to hold the district accountable. End the Dirty Dozen. Harmful practices like silent lunches, collective punishment, public shaming rob our kids of joy and dignity. These are preventable patterns. Demand the district end them now. Up to this point it has sounded like magical thinking coming from the district about joy, that there's no accountability. We need to appoint a leader. We need to call for a Chief of Joy. We need to appoint a leader to audit school culture and harmful practices and make joy a measurable goal. Expand what's working, fully staff STEP teams in every school, starting with those in the greatest need. We need leadership that sees our children's potential, not just their problems. Stand with us, help us turn the toward healing, accountability and joy. Thank you. )

Good afternoon. My name is LaTi Spence and I live in the 8th Council District, and I have a daughter who currently attends Houston Elementary. My son will be joining her next year. I want to address first Council -- Congress member Landau's question regarding the response for our Chief of Joy role. Not only were we told no, we were told that there were existing avenues that could be leveraged. This is unacceptable because this reflects the message that Thomas conveyed at the top about a lack of accountability. Today I'm speaking as a member of Lift Every Voice Philly, a Black-led parent membership organization. We are united across race, class and neighborhoods to demand urgent action in all of our schools. We see it as a duty of our parents, voters and community leaders to push for systems to change by leading together. Currently we have members representing 18 schools across the city. Standing behind me are our members and supporters who are resolute in our commitment to fundamentally change our schools. Now, unlike many of the LEV members who have been before you, I did not grow up in Philadelphia. I attended public school in New Jersey. While there were many different challenges, fully-funded public schools that provided access to the arts, a solid curriculum and engagement with families was not among them. With conscious decision to raise a family in Philadelphia, my husband and I committed to each other that we would send our children to public schools because we believe in a diverse, safe school system that works for all kids. Unfortunately, over the last three years I have witnessed the adultification of our children, specifically Black children. This is seen in moments where my daughter's lunch bag strap accidentally hits another child and the lunch aide's threat was that she would no longer be able to sit next to her friends during lunch. I say threat because although my daughter came home incredibly upset, as any child would be, the next day she was able to sit with her friends, but she carried it with her home and through the night. Once my daughter and her friend had a disagreement and rather than asking the girls what happened, I received a call from the teacher criticizing my child's misbehavior with no understanding or context of what happened. As the parent, I was not there and it felt demoralizing to have to request that the teacher ask the girls how they are feeling and what happened. Another time I received a message from a teacher that my daughter was dancing during her special. The punishment, exclusion from the entire special left to feel shame and isolation while other kids were able to participate. When I reached out to learn more about the incident and scheduled time, I was ignored. What my daughter experienced is not uncommon and it is a harsh environment to have 2nd graders try to exist and learn and grow. These moments reflect a consistent practice that can have a devastating impact. These incidents highlight how staff and teachers are often so quick to shame and execute the punishment that they forget to ask does isolating a child from an accident make sense, did I ask the girls who are attached at the hip every other day what happened, what's going on. Did I think about how our kids who are expected to sit for most of the day look forward to their specials, for times to play, to be silly, move their bodies. So much of this is rooted in the lack of resources and support we give to students and to our schools teams. As adults, we are so entrenched in our own worlds that we forget to ask people how they are doing. Our kids deserve better. They deserve to have the best version of us. As a parent when these moments happen, I reflect on whether we made the right choice. Has my commitment to working towards a better school for all been costly? In a world that looks a lot different than when we were kids, we must be intentional about actively creating joyful moments for our children.

City Council has a critical role to play in supporting our schools when the district comes before you on April 29th and April 30th. We're asking you to be intentional and hold the district accountable. End the Dirty Dozen. The district must put an immediate stop to the harmful practices we call the Dirty Dozen. These practices strip joy, dignity and that opportunity from our children. Get the district on the record. Demand they end the Dirty Dozen now. These aren't isolated stories. These are patterns. These are policies. These are preventable. Call for a Chief of Joy. Appoint a Chief of Joy to lead a district-wide joy audit, someone focused on ending harmful practices, supporting student wellness and making joy a real priority in every school. In a district with a $3 billion budget, investing in a senior level role to transform school culture will pay for its times itself many times over. Expand what's working. Bring DBH, CBH and the district together to expand STEP teams, school-based mental health teams that include social workers, behavioral health staff and family support. Start with the schools that need it most. We need leadership that sees our kids potential, not just their problems. Stand with us, help us move toward healing, accountability and joy. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. Can you hear me -- yeah, okay. I'm sorry. Hello, everyone. My name is Carla Brooks Hartsville, and I've dedicated at least 4 years to serving our students, 5 starting as a paraprofessional, 6 then the teacher and now as a 7 program coordinator. 8 Looking back at my own 9 school experience, I realized I 10 never had that one teacher that 11 truly saw me, that truly ignited my 12 passion. I was just another name 13 on a roster. That changed during 14 my senior during my senior year as 15 George Jenkins High School in 16 Lakeland, Florida. When my counselor looked at me and told me I wasn't college material, those words, though painful, sparked a fire in me. I returned to Philadelphia and I earned my Master's degree and vowed to make sure that every student felt seen, heard, and experienced joy. My first year teaching at Edward T. Steel School in Nicetown was a reality check. Despite growing up in the same community, I witnessed stark differences between my life and my students' lives. I saw the challenges they face, foster care, unstable housing, food insecurity and the impact of addiction. I asked myself, how do I bring joy into this environment. Joy became my focus. I knew creating a positive environment was crucial, so we transformed our classroom into a safe space, a family. We had morning meetings where students shared their stories, their feelings and jokes. We learned to celebrate our community even it struggles. I modeled pride by participating in community cleanups, sharing voting information and just highlighting local heroes like Ms. Bagby, who always picks up the trash and says kind words in our streets or Mr. Cowboy in the men who cleans up our local playground, Staunton Park. I wanted my students to see that even in the face of adversity, there is beauty and strength in our neighborhood. After Steel -- I'm sorry. I'm getting a little -- after Steel, I moved across Rose Academy at Hunting Park. My first experience with alternative education. These students came from diverse backgrounds, each carrying their own trauma. Building rapport was essential. I learned to be strategic to understand their experience and to create a space where they felt valued. We focused on positive engagement -- excuse me. We focused on positive engagement with families, creating joyful experiences they had had before. We hosted events like Winter Fest, Spring Fling and we connected them with resources like food banks, housing assistance and agencies like Hey Kids, which is a student assistance program by the way. Our spring showcase on May 7th is going to celebrate our students' achievements in the arts. We have dance, we have clay mobile, and we have improv acting, offering these opportunities. These opportunities are many that my students have never experienced before. These events changed our -- these events changes the school's reputation and transforming it into a space where families felt seen and her. At (inaudible) and crossroads, we continue to build the community where teachers, students and families genuinely want to be. We prioritize open communication, sending positive notes home and celebrating every student's success. We are creating a legacy of joy, proving that even in immense challenges, we -- I'm sorry, even in immense challenges, hope and happiness can thrive. Thank you so much. (Applause.)

Thank you so much for the testimonies. I have a few questions and then I'm going to pass it on to Councilmember Landau. I'm going to start with Principal Laver. Did I say your name right?

Yes.

Okay. I had to write all this down. Water ice social, love it. Three recesses, love it. Morning circles as a restorative practitioner, love it. Two mandatory field trips, who is your Chief Joy Officer?

I am. I am. (Applause.)

So as in many school districts, I would assume, especially in a school district as large as ours, with 215 schools that means there's 215 principals. And so, much is left to the devices of each and every individual principal. Well, I come from a background of mental and behavioral health. I come from a background of creating joy and environments where children can thrive where I was lucky enough to experience a little bit of that when I was younger. So your answer is the principal is the Chief of Joy for better or for worse.

So now, here's my written remark questions. You testified about using, utilizing restorative justice principles in starting your school day. And since you began starting your day with your circles, what kind of changes in students' behavior have you seen and how do you envision a Chief Joy Officer being part of or supporting that work citywide?

Okay. So in terms of Taylor this has been -- I've been with Taylor now for 11 years, and just to give a little background, when I first came to Taylor I was hired, they were six months into a partnership with CHOP and Devereaux, the behavioral health organization, for a five- year PBIS grant. And I knew a little bit about that from my background and whatnot. And so, we came in and at that time, Taylor, you know, we had our struggles. We were a school that definitely had more suspensions than we should have, definitely had more issues, conflicts in between the students than we should have. And so, we started off as a PBIS school. And there's some great things about that, some school-wide norms, right, that we be responsible, be respectful, be safe. We taught students was does that look like to be respectful and be safe in the classroom, in the hallway, in the bathroom. But as time had gone by, our students were just getting for a lot of reasons, not so much about just that, but for a lot of reasons our overall school climate was just getting better and better. And what we realized was 80% or 90% of our students didn't need all of that Tier 1 PBIS with tickets and incentives and all that kind of stuff, because 80% or 90% of them were coming to school and they were coming to a classroom where their teacher loved them, where it was structured, it was safe, it was enriching. And so, we didn't need all that. So we phased all that stuff out, the tickets and the prizes. We held on a few of those core principles about school-wide norms and explicit instruction on that. Around that same time -- well, there was a few years' gap there, where the district started to implement Relationships First. I come from a background that just is very much in sync with restorative practices. So we were one of the first schools to jump on board with the folks that were running that office at the time for Relationships First, and we started with all of our Tier 1 work, what are we doing with all of our students? Well, every classroom has to have a morning meeting. Just like I was talking about with phonics or phonemic awareness, the district or myself, we couldn't have a teacher just say, you know what, I don't think my kids need phonics. No, you're a 1st grade teacher. Of course, your kids need phonics. And by the same token, we shouldn't have principals or teachers that could say, you know what, my kids don't need to circle up in the morning. In my opinion, if you are a school that is made up of a community of human beings, we got to develop relationships and that's all of our schools, right. And so, this notion that some school communities are different than others, yeah, we might look a little bit different, we might celebrate some different holidays, but we're all human beings. And in the core of -- we're social creatures as human beings. And all the research is there that the academic achievement is going to come when students feel safe and loved and a part of a caring community. So we embraced restorative practices and Relationships First. And since then, we've had folks come in to visit Taylor. We had folks from Camden. We've had folks from other parts of the city coming to visit Taylor to see what we do. Because when you walk through the classrooms and the hallways of Taylor, kids aren't running around, they're in class, they're learning, they're at recess, they're going on trips, they're having fun. Do we have our interpersonal conflict? Of course, we do. We're 500 human beings that are coming into a building every day, but we handle those interpersonal conflicts in ways that are respectful and kind yet firm. We have consequences at Taylor because that's part of life, but we've seen dramatic increases in just overall school climate and decreases in suspensions and all of those kinds of negative metrics, increase in attendance as well.

Thank you so much. So what additional mental health support would schools need to accomplish this mission? And anyone can answer this. What do you think would be made up into this mission of a Chief of Joy even by school or district-wide. I agree it should be a district-wide move. But you've seen it created there at Taylor. I wonder for like other schools and other parents what do you think are the components to make up a Chief of Joy?

Can you repeat the question?

Sorry. So what components would make up a Chief of Joy in your mind, in your vision?

I actually would love a Chief of Joy to talk to Principal Laver really. Like when we met with him, I was thinking about the standards that he holds for his school and that was a really good model. But accountability, just really caring about auditing what is happening in each school and, you know, having a record of what's happening and figuring out where there are problems and where there are good solutions, but we have to have someone in that position in order to do that.

I would just add that I think we've gotten to a place where we're pretty prescriptive or methodical about how we view the education system. I think it's really important to bring in someone that is inspiring, that brings life and joy back to teachers and staff and kids. And I think that level of expertise is really important and I think we need to get out of this idea that test scores are top priority when we all know the studies show that happy kids perform better. They want to be there at school. And I just think it's really important that we take this role that I know this school district will commit to be one that takes a step back and really looks at how we're creating a great environment for our kids.

Thank you.

And if I could add, just as I was thinking about a Chief of Joy and looking at some of the questions that either came from yourselves or from Lift Every Voice around the Chief of Joy, what I wrote was a Chief of Joy is needed to ensure every school puts joy at the forefront of their work. There's currently very little or no oversight for principals and leadership teams in the areas of climate and culture. While I truly believe most of my principals, if not all of my principal colleagues, want their students to experience joy on a regular basis, they're often overwhelmed with the many responsibilities on their plate and climate and culture often take a back seat to instructional initiatives. In terms of supporting a Chief of Joy, I would 100% support that with the following caveats: Caveat number one is that this position would have real authority to implement change and is backed by Central Office leadership. (Applause.)

That district leadership, including associate superintendents and assistant superintendents to visit schools for climate and culture walkthroughs in addition to the instructional walkthroughs already occurring. And finally, that the Chief of Joy should be a Philadelphia principal with a proven track record of bringing joy to their school community. (Applause.)

We're going to have questions from Councilmember Landau and then we're going to go for like a 10-minute break because I stenographer needs a break.

Thank all four of you for your testimony. This has been extremely important and every time I had a question you answered it. My last question was going to be what do we need to move other principals along to be like you, Principal Laver, so I appreciate that you think that putting the right supports in place and putting the right tenor and tone out there, especially with the Chief of Joy as the leader, would be the step in the right direction to get everybody to be more like you. Thank you for the on-the-ground testimony also from the parents. It is essential that we are hearing what's happening in the school directly from you. And I had one thing to say to Parent LaTi Spence. There's a very simple term that -- I don't know if Dr. Banks is still here, I hope you can bring back to the school district. And if not, I know Laurel will. Curious, not furious. Ask questions first before you come up with whatever your response is going to be. The kids should have been asked what was going on before there was any action. Curious, not furious. Thank you all so much. Thank you.

We'll return at 1:35. A quick recess for -- I mean, bathroom break for our stenographer. Thank you. (Brief recess.)

As you guys get settled, Mr. Gur, can you please call the next panel to testify on the bill?

Will Naimah Hargrove, Jornaysha Sowell and Iman Byrd please come up. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)

Thank you so much for being here. Can the first person state your name for the record and continue with your testimony.

Okay. Good afternoon. Hello. My name is Naimah Hargrove. I am a junior at Academy at Palumbo and also an intern at We Reighn. We Reighn is a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping Black girls advocate for themselves and others. And I am here to support the Joy Campaign. I have collaborated with We Reighn on a town hall that was hosted in West Philadelphia, which allowed Black girls to come together from different parts of the community so we could discuss and learn and listen to the important issues that Black girls are having. Listening and talking to different Black girls really helped me understand the impact of mental health issues in Philadelphia like depression. I am an athlete and I have not experienced mental health issues, but I watched my teammates struggle with depression after the loss of a loved one. I do not think they wanted to talk to anybody in the school because it seemed like when you tell one person, adult or counselor about your problems, it gets around. So I can see why students will not trust their feelings with an adult in school. This connects to my issue of Black girls wanting to feel safe and have access to mental health and support in school. The Joy Campaign is focused on quality mental health in schools. In my school, we have one Black female counselor. I think having more Black counselors will create a safer environment first because this may have some -- some may have the same experience, which could lead to more trust and better relationships with students. We need more time for learning about mental health in school. Sometimes it seems that Black girls are getting into fights. But if we had the time, we could hear, we could talk and learn about feelings. This could help Black girls come together and build relationships with each other. We need small groups that focus on teaching about mental health during or after school hours. We need funding for school programs that's focused more this. Then we need funding for school programs that's focused on more than reading and math. This is why I'm here. I represent myself and other Black girls, We Reighn and the Joy Campaign. (Applause.)

Good afternoon. My name is Jornaysha Sowell. I'm a 17-year-old Black girl, a high school junior at Sayre High School, a future voter and an intern at We Reign since 2021, an organization dedicated to empowering Black girls to advocate for themselves and their communities. Today I want to talk about an issue I've been working on that affects Black girls like me every day, education. Black women are unrepresented in schools, which limits the role models Black girls have and makes leadership positions feel out of reach. On top of that, many Black girls attend underfunded schools that lack resources and impose harsh bias discipline policies. These issues shape the way Black girls experience education and their future opportunities. So I'm here today to support the Joy Campaign. As a Black girl attending a school in a low-income neighborhood, I've seen firsthand how these issues play out. I've only had one Black teacher, Ms. Neal, whose presence in my life made a huge difference. She shared her experiences as a Black woman, helping me realize the challenges we face and making me feel safe enough to open up about my own struggles. But not many Black girls get that experience. Instead I've seen us face biased teachers and counselors who decide which students deserve opportunities, leaving many of us without access to advanced classes, extracurriculars or even basic creative outlets like art and music. I personally only had one art class throughout my time in school even though it was my favorite. On top of that, Black girls are disproportionately disciplined. I've seen many Black girls in my school suspended, expelled or even arrested, while teachers justify by claiming we are "worse than the boys fighting." These harmful biases push Black girls out instead of giving them the support they need to succeed. These issues connect directly to the Joy Campaign's goals, which is ensuring all students experience joyful learning, fair discipline, mental well-being and opportunities to succeed. Through my work at We Reighn, I advocate for these changes by pushing for more qualified and properly-trained Black teachers and counselors, increase access to extracurriculars and advanced classes and the reduction of harsh and biased discipline policies. Schools need to hire and retain more Black educators who can guide and uplift Black girls. They need to provide more opportunities like the arts and field trips that make learning engaging. And most importantly, they need to replace harsh punishments with supportive interventions that help Black girls stay in school and thrive. By addressing these issues, we can build a school system that empowers Black girls rather than hold them back. Thank you for listening. (Applause.)

All right. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Iman Byrd. I am a 16-year-old junior at SLA Beeber and an intern at We Reign, a nonprofit empowering girls through advocacy and activism. I'm here to support the Joy Campaign. I believe schools should be places where Black girls were inspired, supported and seen. But too often our schools don't reflect our needs, our culture or our potential. When we walk into our schools, we should feel proud, not discouraged by broken facilities and underfunded programs. It hasn't always been this way. My grandfather had had access to all kinds of sports and well-maintained facilities. My mom's school had a full-size swimming pool and home economics. Students had space to explore their interests and learn practical skills. Even in recent years I've done programs where students led their own newsrooms, created video games, produced films and learned broadcast journalism. These programs made learning feel alive. But now, many of those opportunities are gone and we're left to fundraising just to have basic needs met, like decent sports uniforms or working equipment. We've lost not only resources but creativity. Where are the spaces for Black cultural expression, things like double dutch, step teams, majorette dance and gymnastics should be celebrated and supported, not treated like extras. These activities build community, confidence and joy. And while we're losing these outlets, we're also losing access to hands-on career building skills, wood shop, home economics and vocational programs have been stripped from so many schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, career and technical education enrollment dropped 13% between 2008 and 2018. That's not because students aren't interested. It's because those options aren't being funded. First, invest in our schools, not just to repair buildings but to restore opportunity. Every student deserves a learning space that's clean, safe and full of possibility. Second, fund culturally relevant student center programs from dance and double dutch to video production, journalism and tech. These are not luxuries. They are essential. Third, bring back hands- on learning, wood shop, fashion design, culinary arts and other trades so students can dream big in many directions, not just one. Black girls deserve schools that reflect our brilliance and support our growth. When we are seen, heard and invested in, we don't just survive, we lead. And when Black girls rise, everyone rises with us. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. And just hearing you speak, as a girl mom and a girl grandmom, I was thinking about so often everyone would talk about Black girl magic. And to get to the magic, you need the joy and we need to make sure that we're investing in that joy because joy leads to opportunity for us to get the magic happens because people didn't expect you to. Why can't we be magical and have joy and opportunity. So I want to thank you for your testimony. And I want you to talk about the unique mental health challenges that comes or Black girls experience uniquely in schools today. And what would a fully funded school district program focused on joy, how would that impact Black girls in particular? Y'all got it. Y'all know.

I'm sorry. Can you repeat your question?

So what would a fully funded program specializing in bringing joy with the mental health supports look like for Black girls? Like, what is your unique challenges and what would need to be in place for those things to be met from your experience, even with friends? And I can see you guys are leaders. What do you know? I want to hear from your perspective.

Personally, I believe we need more qualified and trained counselors that are culturally sensitive for one. And when it comes to discipline, like to have daily check-ins with students and -- sorry. And basically have a group that focuses on supporting Black girls and other students too, but specifically having groups that focus on Black girls by having weekly check-ins, mentoring and counseling that are culturally-sensitive and are, you know, Black girls -- well, Black women or Black teachers, not Black teachers, Black people themselves. (Applause.)

Yeah. And even going back into that training of having culturally-relevant lesson plans that are, you know, getting into because like teachers have to submit lesson plans and the unit plans, and the unit plans and making sure that those lesson plans and unit plans are culturally relevant to their students. So not even just Black girls, but all of us and making sure that the teachers appropriately aren't showing what they know and showing the lesson through the needs of the students and what their classroom looks like. And in our environments, we need like I said funding of course. So a lot of our sports programs, a lot of our extracurriculars, they're lowly funded. We can start our own clubs, but it's from the students. We don't have much money that we can give. We don't have much that we can do. We just say, oh, we want to start a club for dance and boom, we have a room, but we don't have events that we can go to. We don't have leotards, we don't have certain things. And so, where are those things coming from and how can we get them. A lot of our sports programs aren't funded. For my track team, we have to go start funding ourselves, beg on the street -- not beg, but we have to go out of our way to get this money for basic uniforms, for warm-ups, for hurdles, which are things that should be provided from our school, from our home and school for money that we should already have for sports and extracurriculars. (Applause.)

Yeah. To basically add what Iman said, how our school should give us uniforms and stuff like track. If you look at it, it's different from the public school and charter schools and stuff like that. Because when you look at it as the charter schools, like the Black kids, like the Black girls are giving, like, their uniforms, their warm-ups, all of that, and then it's like the public school Black girls, they have to do fundraisers. It was just one free fundraiser that we did for basketball, and it was we had to push and get a goal for us to have new uniforms, new warm-ups. And I feel like that stuff's not given to us, but it should have been provided because we're all coming together and doing the sport for the school. (Applause.)

How does the inability to go to the bathroom when you want to impact you and your mental health?

I'll start. I feel like it impacts us and our mental health is like, it could become -- number one, holding your bladder all day does not feel good. And then it also could become effective like when you're trying to focus in school and on a lesson and stuff, so it's like you could get distracted of not like having a feeling to use the bathroom, not really paying attention in the classroom. And that could affect you in the long run. Because I know some people be teaching and then the next day or the next couple of days, we will have a quiz and we will not know what was -- not know what wasn't on the quiz, but not really focus on it because we was focused on having to use the bathroom and not being allowed to use it.

Yeah, I was going to expand on the impact it has on Black girls as it can get rid of your dignity. It leaves like this inhumane feeling of them like restricting bathrooms, saying basically not giving you your right to just use the bathroom as anybody else would outside of school.

Yeah. In my school, I have a history class right after lunch and I love history so much, but particularly after lunch I'm tired. I have to use the restroom because our lunches are -- on certain days our lunches are very short. So I don't have much that I can do during lunch to get everything I needed before the next four classes. So he would say, oh, you don't know how your body works by now. Like, when you have to use the bathroom, yes, I do, but I don't have many opportunities to use the bathroom. At my school, we have -- the first 15 minutes you can't go. In the last 15 minutes you can't go. So you have that in between time. But in that in between time I'm trying to learn. I'm trying to express my thoughts. I'm trying to take down notes and do all these other important things, so it restricts my access from, okay, learning and being in class, being present. And then okay, even if I'm on my menstrual at the time, making sure I do certain things it holds me back. And like Jornaysha said, makes you feel dehumatized or less than at certain times.

You have something else you want to share?

I just my train of thought.

Well, while you think of it I just want to say one thing I heard in all your testimonials, and this is more of a words of wisdom. You have the ability to only advocate for yourself. You don't have to be apologetic about saying, I think Black girls deserve this. You are a young person and your advocacy for you starts first. So I'm begging you when you get in front of another panel, be unapologetic about advocating for you, yourselves and your friends without mentioning anyone else. Because if we don't fight for us, no one else is going to fight for us. (Applause.)

Your thought came?

Yeah. I was going to add on to restrictive bathroom time. Like holding your bladder or even leaking from menstruation can lead to health issues. In fact, it can lead to health issues and that can affect your mental health, because now you have to deal with all these health issues and stuff that you shouldn't have to do in the first place.

Thank you so much.

I also want to expand it on what I said about more qualified and trained culturally sensitive Black teachers and counselors. There needs to be also more of them in schools. Like in my school there's only one counselor for about six students. That's not enough for a lot of students that have a lot of issues and stuff. Also, those counselors also aren't knowledged on other resources for those students to go to if there's not enough counselors in the school for students to go to. Not only that, in the U.S. only 7% of like teachers and counselors like are Black. And a smaller percentage of that is Black women. So we don't have a lot of Black representation in those roles that can relate more to us.

Thank you so much. Any of my colleagues have any questions?

Just real quick you. First of all, thank you so much. I did read your testimony. I'm sorry I had to be out for longer than expected. Just two things I want to say. One, I've heard that not only do people hold their bladders for not going to the bathroom, but they dehydrate themselves in order to make sure they don't have to go and that causes other physical issues as well. So we certainly don't want to make let that happen either. I apologize for all adults in Philadelphia that we're even having this conversation about when you should go to the bathroom. This is silly little stuff. This is basic bodily functions. We need you guys to have all of the resources you need to support you in school to make sure that you are thriving in the best way possible. And also, want to just tell you that there are a lot of White people also who will support absolutely your requests and your demand and it is absolutely essential to have spaces for Black girls, to have spaces with adults who resemble you or exactly the same as you to make sure that you are getting the most out of your school district, so I'm 100% for it. Thank you.

First off, thank you for coming in here. I'm proud of you. And I want to echo you the sentiments of my colleague, never apologize for sticking up for yourself. That's what it is, you know what I'm saying. You will learn in life that if you don't, ain't nobody else going to stick up for you. You need to do it. And you need to be organized like you guys are doing right now. That's how you get things done by organizing. And I appreciate -- and that bathroom issue thing is personal for me. I have a grandchild who, as we would say, is a big boy. He's 14 but he dwarfs me in size. And because of that, he has issues that come with being a big kid, restroom issues, stomach issues, things like that. And I experience it firsthand. They actually were reprimanding him for having to go to the bathroom too much when it was an actual medical condition. And it also brings other stuff. Kids are cruel, you know. They tease, they pick on people and something like that is just something added to bring more trauma. This all comes back to trauma. So I'm proud of you for sticking up for your rights and don't ever apologize for that. I've asked everybody that's come up here and testified what they envision the Chief Joy Officer being. I'd like to hear from you what you think this Chief Joy Officer would be.

I personally imagine that person as someone who is comforting, someone who is not ashamed of sharing personal experiences, not ashamed of getting down and getting on the same level as someone else, understanding what it's like to be a child again, understanding what it's like to go through elementary, middle and high school in that process and not wanting to be an adult all the time, understanding that we're the same, and I'm not going to treat you like you're less than me just because you're a child, you know. So someone who is able to really get in touch with the students and understand what's going on. Much of a counselor even at times but on a different level of overseeing what all the students have to go through in the process of what the school building looks like and the classes look like, and then how can we incorporate certain policies into the classrooms and talk to the teachers specifically about how they run their classrooms and what they see in their classrooms and what they can do incorporate joy into the policies and teachings and how they run the school.

I agree with Iman. Also, having an adult there that would listen instead of jumping to conclusions and basically putting a thought in their head that they thought was right instead of taking into consideration what was the actual problem and finding solutions to it. And also, like Iman said like you were once an adult, like once were a kid. So if you were once a kid, you could kind of relate to us doing kid activities and us being a kid and not us automatically jumping from a kid to adult, like moving too fast.

Yes, I agree with both. As I believe a Joy Chief is supposed to be someone who's motivating, encouraging, understanding with calm with students. And being a team means -- like having a team or having resources and stuff, so even if they're not -- if they believe they cannot be as helpful as they imagine, they should always have an idea of who a student can go to. (Applause.)

That's very good. Sometimes just having somebody to talk to is good, right. Even if they're not doing anything, they might not have said a word, but they listened. You felt heard and you felt like somebody cared about you. That's what it's about. Again, I'm glad that you're sitting here today. I'm glad you're fighting for yourselves. Keep that up. Life's rough. And we as adults have to learn that kids that are coming into school are bringing other things with them. School may be their only peace, you know what I'm saying. Some of us don't have that home life and we get it in other places, and sometimes those places are not good, sometimes those places are good. We need to make sure that those kind of things are happening in the places that are good. So thank you.

In my point of view, honestly I think that the Chief of Joy should be a department in a sense, where you have the head of department and then multiple roles. So those roles can be people going into the classrooms and visualizing what's going on, seeing what's happening, people who talk to the principal, people who are in a counselor role. So different types of overseers for each part. That's why I think it should be more instead of just one person controlling it.

Yeah, I agree with Iman. Back to what I said about having a group of staff who focus on counseling, like mandatory daily check-ins or weekly check-ins. That's what I think a Joy Chief should be like.

Thank you so much for your testimony. Does anyone else have any questions? (No response.)

(Gestured). (Applause.)

There being no further questions, Mr. Gur, can you please call the next panel.

Will Priyanka Reyes Carroll, Stephanie, Schechner, Kimorra, Susu McLeod and Lizzie Rothwell please come up. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)

Thank you guys for being here. Can you please state your name and proceed with your testimony.

Yes. Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Priyanka Reyes-Kaura. I'm with Children First. I'm our K-12 Education Policy Director and I'm here to give testimony from both me and Donna Cooper. She apologizes that she had to leave to speak at a press conference. So thank you for the opportunity to testify at this hearing that is finally shining a spotlight in our schools where our children are subjected to experiences that take away their joy. Children First is fully in support of the Joy Campaign, because we know that joyful school environments promote student learning, positive physical and mental health outcomes and safer communities. As a former teacher at an underresourced urban school, I know how common it is for classrooms to become stripped of their happiness. When schools are running on shoestring budgets and they're short-staffed, school administrators can prioritize order, structure and a desire to just get through the day, and this comes at the expense of nurturing young minds with creativity, love and age-appropriate fun. I've personally witnessed and had to enforce silent hallways, silent lunches and police-like disciplinary practices that broke my heart and pushed me out of the classroom and into advocacy. These are inhumane practices that would never happen in the well-resourced school districts a few miles outside the city, and they run counter to our shared goals of welcoming schools and well rounded students. One of the ways that we need to cultivate joy is by investing in our teacher workforce. So allow me to share some data on a few elements that are currently preventing Philadelphia schools from being characterized by joy. Some of the former testifiers have spoken on as well. First, we have high student teacher ratios. The maximum number of students allowed in classrooms in Philadelphia is 30 students for Grades K through 3, and 33 students for Grades 4 and above. These are enormous class sizes that must be reduced, as the PFT representative testified earlier. In many sections of the city, overflowing classrooms are the reality. And when teachers are struggling to manage over 30 students, they will often rely on harsh classroom discipline and they will struggle to build meaningful student teacher relationships that could unlock deeper learning. Smaller classrooms are often more joyful because students have better relationships with each other and with their teachers. And so, we need to support measures that will reduce the size of our elementary school classes, especially to create more joyful learning environments. Doing so will result in happier teachers who want to teach in our schools for the long term and happier students. Secondly, we have low teacher salaries relatively. Children First's recent report, a Decade of Solid Progress, found wide gaps in teachers starting pay between school districts, ranging from around 54,000 at the School District of Philadelphia to over 63,000 in nearby Wallingford, Swarthmore, and over 63,000 in Upper Dublin. And of course, those salary discrepancies only get larger the further up you go into pay scales. The differences in salaries make it much more attractive for teachers to choose wealthier school districts when we need those teachers to stay here in Philadelphia. We also have shortages of teachers who are qualified to meet student needs. Philadelphia has a severe teacher shortage and needs more than 2000 new teachers to meet all students needs. The supply of teachers decreased 31% in the last years. 6 And currently, 19% of teachers are 7 on emergency permits with another 8 16% teaching outside of the area 9 that were certified in, according 10 to the PA Needs Teachers Campaign. On the last panel, we heard some students talking about cultural relevance of teachers and Black representation, but we have high teacher attrition, especially for Black teachers.

As these brilliant students testified, having a teacher who looks like you has positive impacts on student learning and it reduces the use of exclusionary discipline, not to mention it can be an infusion of joy when students can relate to their teachers on this level. But Philadelphia is losing Black teachers at alarming rates. Between 2001 to 2021, the number of Black teachers in Philadelphia schools decreased by almost 1200 teachers, according to Research for Action. So the absence of joy in our understaffed and underresourced schools is as plain as day in the Philadelphia School Experience Survey that last year 94,000 students, teachers, parents and other key stakeholders completed. These school climate surveys offer a clear window showing us the depth of joy or sometimes joylessness. The components of the school climate that students and other stakeholders evaluate include belonging, building conditions, peer conflict and school safety. In every indicator our students told the district that things were worse in the last year 2024 than they were in 2020 just before the pandemic. In fact, the situation might be the same in every school but our students are experiencing things as worse and clearly less joyful. It's too hard to learn and it's too hard to be prideful in yourself and your school when there aren't enough teachers to help you succeed. That's why this Council wants to be able to take pride in a joyful school district and there's no more urgent cause than ensuring the school district has the funds to reduce the size of our classes, especially at elementary school. And it's not just about traditional classroom teachers. Beyond having enough traditional teachers who want to be there with students in classes where they can connect and help learning thrive, the common thread of research on education reinforces the notion that schools that tap into a child's passion are schools where kids are passionate being in school. That passion might be academics and the potential of that passion rests with their capacity of their classroom teacher or their passion might be arts and sports. So many educators that I know say it was art class that got them to school every week when they were a kid or playing football got them to attend school regularly and graduate. Art teachers and coaches are essential players too in helping students stoke their passion and stay focused on academics enough so that they can do what they love. Tapping passion is all about joy. For the kids whose passion is unleashed by the arts, our district is doing what it can with limited resources. Let me break that down with some numbers: There are 424 art teachers in the school district, some music, some visual arts, and there are 75 itinerant art teachers who roam among schools for music specialties. For the arts teachers working full time in the schools, that's one art teacher for about every 400 students. That's not enough. Fortunately, the school board has made tracking progress to increase access to arts education as a priority in its guardrail number two, creating enriching and well-rounded school experiences. The district's data tracking on that guardrail from 2022 indicates that 103 out of the 170 schools educating students in Grades K through or about 60% of those K through 8 schools offer only art or music to students, not both. That's not a recipe for joy. When it comes to athletics, one of the biggest motivators to keep our students close to their schools, we just don't have any data. A cursory review of the high school inventory published by the district shows that the sports options at most high schools are depressingly limited. Let me conclude with two big takeaways: First, the parents and students testifying today made it clear that policies that promote joy are needed. Happier students means happier faculty and together, they create a virtuous cycle of reinforcing the love of being in school.

This Council should do all it can to encourage the district to adopt these policies to the extent that they don't require a substantial new investment. Second, most of the policies that Children First and many of the parents today have outlined require that the state and the city step to the plate and boost funding for the district. 1 billion underfunded. That is not Children First's estimate of what's needed. That is a conclusion of the school funding formula enacted with bipartisan support last year in the PA state legislature. We're thrilled to be a member of an effective statewide advocacy campaign that delivered nearly $300 million in new state funds to the Philadelphia School District last year and we hope to do the same again this year. Those funds are one half of the ingredients needed for a school district full of joyful students, and the other half comes from this esteemed body. Based on the testimony presented today, we hope that this Council will add additional funds for the Philadelphia School District to the budget and not take any action on taxation that now or in the future would restrain your ability to invest more in our students. Please consider two facts: Number one, the full elimination of the Business Income and Receipt Tax or the BIRT would take $726 million off the table, restraining your ability to meet the needs of our students in the future. Number two, before 1976 the share of millage transferred to the district was 60%. Today it stands at 56%. If Council returns the City's contribution to the 1976 level, more than $80 million could be invested in our students annually. We urge you to keep the needs of our students and their joy as your North Star. They are key to a vibrant future of this city where poverty and crime is low and prosperity and joy are high. Thank you. )

Hello. My name is Stephanie Schechner. I'm a resident of the 5th Council District and a registered voter. I'm a retired college professor from Widener University where I worked for the last years. I 20 now work at Yeah Philly, a 21 nonprofit in West Philadelphia that 22 works with young people age 15 to 23 24 who have been affected by 24 violence. Yeah works to create safe a safe and authentic hangout spaces by providing culturally- relevant engagement and implementing teen-led interventions to address the root causes of violence. Utilizing teen action, Yeah works to interrupt the cycle of youth community violence in West and Southwest Philadelphia neighborhoods through peer-led mediation and conflict resolution, community engagement and economic opportunities. It was founded in 2019 by Kendra Van de Water and James A. At Yeah Philly, I am the school engagement specialist. In that role I work with young people to make sure they are not only enrolled in school, but attending and progressing through the curriculum. I work with students in neighborhood schools, charter schools, cyber charter schools, credit recovery schools, adult night school and GED prep programs. In addition, I oversee the Yeah Philly literacy program that we've launched in partnership with Lindamood-Bell. I'm here today to talk about the shortfalls in the existing school disciplinary system. Too often this system serves as a fast track to the criminal justice system. I've seen this most recently in Kimorra's case. Here we had a student who had been an honor roll student. Within less than one month at a new school in which her IEP was not being implemented, she was suspended and arrested due to a single incident at her school due to the incompetence of school administrators. She was kept out of school for three months. We at Yeah Philly were able to enroll her in online school after three months of missed instruction. Despite this, Kimorra now has perfect attendance and straight A's. Her case was dismissed from court. Discipline should be a learning experience for all students. It needs to be developed from a trauma-informed perspective and should seek learning, healing and improvement rather than punishment. Teachers, administrators and staff need to work with students to create a meaningful disciplinary system. Students should be involved in the drafting of the rules, the creation of policies and procedures and should be actively involved in reviewing infractions. Students need to learn to weigh the consequences of their actions. If students are involved in the discipline process, they can begin to take responsibility for themselves and their peers. Too many of our young people are coming to school already traumatized by things happening at home, in the streets and in the communities. If school just replicates these systems of harm, no wonder each year over 3000 kids drop out or are pushed out of school. And I've seen kids drop off the radar while still in elementary and middle school. In my job at Yeah Philly, I've seen students turned over to the police for minor infractions with no 18 effort on the part of school administrators to understand what has happened to the student. I've met with multiple young people who have been out of school for years at a time with no apparent follow- up from the district. In addition, the re-entry process when young people return from detention or incarceration needs to be streamlined. We need to work together to reimagine school discipline in a manner that puts the student at the center and prioritizes learning and healing. I'm here today to testify in support of ending the highly punitive and anti-Black processes that we currently have in our schools. Thank you. (Applause.)

Good morning. My name is Kimorra and I'm 16 years old. In November I had only been in my new school for three weeks and I had just been taken off the IEP list, during which that time an unfortunate altercation had occurred between me and the school climate manager, which led to legal consequences. As a result, I was unable to attend school for three months. Waiting that long without knowing what happened to me was hard and stressful. I was told that a disciplinary hearing would take place in January, but I didn't find out until about two weeks after the scheduled hearing. As a result, I moved to online school in March, but the transition wasn't easy. Looking back, I believe that there needs to be a more timely and supportive approach to discipline. The waiting period for a hearing was too long and I didn't feel that my needs were taken into consideration. But I think school discipline needs to change as well. Right now it feels like punishment is the only focus, not helping us improve. Also, some roles don't consider what we're going through outside of school, stress, family issues, mental health. When we mess up, we often get suspended or get given detention. But that doesn't solve anything. We miss school, fall behind and feel more disconnected. Instead school should help us learn from our mistakes instead of suspensions. Maybe we should talk to a counselor or do something that teaches us why our actions were wrong. Better policy would offer support, not just punishment or consequences. Discipline should help us grow, not just punish us. We need understanding, not more punishment. Thank you. ) MS. McLEOD: Hi. I'm sorry that came out like that. I'm the energy bringer. There we go. I just want -- there we go. ) MS. McLEOD: It's late. All right. Joy, joy, joy. My name is Susan McLeod. I live in the 4th Council District and I'm a parent of a daughter who attends Barry Elementary. I'm here as a proud member of Lift Every Voice Philly, a Black-led parent organization united across the city to demand what every child deserves, safety, joy and dignity in our schools. I am proud to be a part of this community and I'm committed to fighting for change. Today I'm speaking about what our school system is doing to Black girls. My daughter is smart, expressive and full of life. She has a voice like Jasmine Sullivan's little sister. She used to track her own grades. She used to be excited to learn. But over the years, I've watched that light dim. Her school is overcrowded, understaffed and stripped of everything that brings learning to life, music, karate, field trips, art. She's in a classroom with 30 students and one teacher. The work is repetitive and disengaging. She finishes early, gets bored, gets restless and then she gets punished. She's been labeled, written up and pushed aside, not because she's doing something wrong but because the school is not set up to support who she is. What she need is an engaging curriculum, not to be bullied, labeled or ignored. And this is not just happening to her. We've heard of the same stories from parents all across the city. Black girls are being overdisciplined and undersupported. They're treated like they're grown when they're just trying to be kids. If you express yourself, you're called defiant. If you speak up, you're called disrespectful. If you move too much, you're labeled a problem. Our kids are struggling. They are used to schools where they are punished and yelled at. They learned that going to an adult in the building usually means one thing, punishment, not support. It's dangerous. When schools don't step in early, when harm and bullying gets unresolved, those issues don't stay small. They grow. The pressure lands on our families, the tension spills into our communities and we live with the constant fear that something or someone will be hurt or worse. This is not a one school problem. This is a district-wide problem, but that, as always, means it's one we can solve.

Lift Every Voice Philly has spoken with over 600 parents. We've identified what we now call the Dirty Dozen, of the most 8 harmful and preventable practices 9 in our school and we offer real 10 research solutions to replace them. 11 One of those solutions is a Chief 12 of Joy. A Chief of Joy will lead a joy audit across the district, listening to students and families, ending harmful practices and setting real standards for students wellness. They'll make sure each child has access to what makes school worth showing up for, recess, movement, creativity and care, because joy isn't extra. It's an essential. We're not asking for anything radical. We're fighting for basics, recess that's long enough and never taken away as punishment, bathrooms that are safe, clean and always accessible, a system that sees our Black girls and all our children as brilliant, not broken. I'm standing here as an example for mothers and daughters all across this district. We need to unify. We need to fight for better and we need our elected officials to back us up during this budget season. We can change this. We already started. And when parents get organized, systems move. No tax breaks while we're struggling to get medication. No tax breaks while we are working every day and still fighting off evictions. No tax breaks while our children are sitting in classrooms without nurses, without recess, without safety. No tax breaks when our district is facing a massive financial crisis. I am proud to be a member of Lift Every Voice Philly. I'm proud to stand with parents across the city, and I'm committed to building schools where Black girls are protected, uplifted and free to be themselves every single day. We need you to tell the district you support the Chief of Joy, and we need you to bring DBH, CBH and the district to the table to expand the STEP team program, which provides critical mental health care and support for our children. Thank you. )

Hello. My name is Lizzie Rothwell. I'm a parent of two Philadelphia public school students. I'm an architect and a resident of West Philadelphia. I was glad to be here today with a group of parents demanding an end to collective punishment and punitive policies that disproportionately harm Black children and an emphasis on joy and humanism in our classrooms. Both of these issues are top of mind at Lee Elementary, where my 7-year-old dreads the silent lunchroom and the possibility of losing recess each day and where we found out this week that their favorite class drama will be replaced by a computer technology class, more screens next year. These demands that our schools affirm the dignity of every student through a robust curriculum and humane policies exist alongside an ongoing crisis in the state of our school facilities. How can we convince our kids to value their education when the material conditions of obtaining it ooze with neglect and disinvestment? For the past several years, I've been working with Philly DSA Safe Air Campaign to raise awareness about the harms of poor indoor air quality in our schools. At Lee, we're lucky to have adequate air-conditioning provided via window units in most classrooms, but our century-old building has not been retrofitted with a ventilation system with adequate HEPA filtration and fresh air intake, leaving students and teachers in stagnant classrooms where viruses spread quickly and building-contaminants drive up asthma rates. And at Comegys Elementary one catchment over from us, they're still waiting for air-conditioning and may not get it for another couple of years. Our school buildings are riddled with a host of other problems caused by years of deferred maintenance, dust, mold, rodent infestations. These all trigger asthma attacks and cause them to be more severe. It's not uncommon to meet kids who are frequently pulled out of school for asthma but rarely experience attacks at home. Between 2011 and 2016, a CDC NIOSH team took measurements of temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide in 50 of our school buildings. They collected dust samples, carried out mold and moisture assessments, conducted surveys of the health of teachers who taught in these buildings and concluded that their health was being adversely affected by the building conditions. Rebuilding our schools to create safe and healthy learning environments is good policy but also a matter of racial justice. As Councilmember Brooks noted earlier, asthma rates in Philadelphia are more than triple the national average, and a Black child in Philadelphia is more than four times as likely to be hospitalized for asthma as a White child. None of this information is new. What's new is that under the current federal administration the CDC no longer has an asthma and air quality team. NIOSH has been all but disbanded and the FDA and NIH are similarly gutted. So it is now more important than ever for local government to lead on these issues. I do want to recognize the efforts of the current Superintendent and his team at the School District of Philadelphia and grappling with the problems caused by decades of disinvestment in our school buildings. Installing a fully functional HVAC system in every school with a proper fresh air supply to every classroom will take time, and I hope to see a detailed plan for doing so as an outcome of the current facilities planning process. The district took a bold step toward powering our schools with renewable energy when it installed a geothermal HVAC system at Kensington CAPA, which is saving the school money. And I applaud the district for working with PGW on a feasibility study to do something similar at McCloskey. The school facilities plan should include, at minimum, full electrification of any new school buildings or retrofits, and ideally a study for using renewable energy in these buildings.

In the meantime, we're asking the school district to take urgent action and provide funding in this year's budget for HEPA filters in every classroom alongside the equally essential demands of more art, more music, more field trips and more joy. )

I want to begin and thank everyone on this panel for their testimony. Thank you for sticking and staying. It's been a long hearing. I really appreciate you guys bringing just as much joy at the end as it was in the beginning. I have a few questions. First for Kimorra, I'm so sorry about what you went through and I know it's incredibly brave of you to come here and share your story. And it's inspiring to see an intelligent, inspiring young person, resilient just show us here in City Council what the stakes are and the things that you're fighting for yourself and others. And I thank you for sharing your story. And I want to give you space to talk to us about what was it like for you when they canceled your IEP? I heard that as part of your testimony. And how did that impact your ability to learn and transition to a new school, like they canceled your IEP --

Yes, they did. So --

-- then you ended up suspended -- just help me understand this story a little bit more.

So basically, I had an IEP for behavior. They diagnosed me with ADHD so I always had trouble with staying in class. And they had took -- when I had first switched schools, they said I was ineligible for the IEP list. And following that, that's when I met the climate manager and he caught me actually -- while I was taking one of my breaks because I wasn't eligible for the IEP list anymore, I actually had a hall pass and he caught me in the hallway while I was on one of my breaks, because sometimes when I have trouble with my work, sometimes I take a break and I'll just take a lap around the hallway and I'll just get back to class.

What grade were you in when this happened?

What grade was I in?

Yeah, when all of this happened.

This happened 10th grade, yeah.

So how did it impact your ability to learn and your transition to a new school? Because you're a sophomore you still have two more years to finish out, so I'm just trying to understand how you were impacted.

I easily get frustrated. So how was I impacted? I would say it definitely made things more difficult for me because I know that I'm used to having breaks. And if I need help, I could get my help with my case manager. So having classes just regular now after having an IEP for, you know, most of my school years, I had it, since the 2nd grade, yeah -- so they just had took me off and I'm just at a new school and I have no 24 clue about anything.

So I'm trying to figure out how you got kicked off?

I guess it was because I was moving schools that they had found out I was ineligible. Because my last school I wasn't ineligible. I was still on the list. And my current school, I'm back on the IEP list and I have a 504 plan now.

Okay. I still -- you don't have to explain this, but it does not make sense regardless of what happened why would you just get kicked off your IEP.

I never got an answer. They just said was I Kimorra, gave me a paper, said I'm ineligible for the list and I got to get my mom to sign it.

So that's basically like you just woke up and you were (inaudible).

Yep, I woke up and I just got told I'm ineligible.

And then get immediately punished for carrying out the things that were a part of your IEP at the same school?

Correct.

I think the technical word is incompetence.

All right. Thank you so much for sharing and helping me kind of process this in my mind. I'm even more disgusted that that happened to you. That's not even --

I was actually shocked when I was like -- when they told me I was ineligible, I was like, what. I had it all my life. It was like a new school. I went to a new school like every year, but my IEP never went away. So it was just like I'm ineligible all of a sudden?

All right. That's a separate -- we'll talk about this at Council. So your organizations -- this is not for you. This is general. Your organizations have been working on school discipline issues for a long time. Can you tell us about the changes you're seeing in disciplinary practice and how has it impacted student behaviors and outcomes?

I'm not in a good position to speak on that. I'm new in my position and our organization has focused on the criminal justice system, and my position started seven months ago and I was the first person in that position. So they were coming at it from, you know, part of me says, like we've heard from girls today, we haven't heard from boys. And a lot of those boys are locked up. They are on GPS, they're on house arrest, they're dead. There are I think real reasons why we didn't hear from young men here today. And I think school discipline has, as I said earlier, served as a pipeline, literally like walk you out of school into prison essentially. Yeah, I think that's what I can add. But I'm going to turn it to others who have more experience.

Well, I'll just say I've noticed over the past 10 to 15 years more talk, more general understanding about school discipline and its connections to the school-to-prison pipeline. And I think that that discourse is great and we're moving in the right direction as far as outcomes and data on practices. I'd have to go back and get you some concrete numbers.

My other question is, what does treating students with more empathy and less harsh discipline do for students and how does it nurture the growth of young people? Anyone can answer this. MS. McLEOD: Can you repeat that?

What does treating student with more empathy and less harsh discipline do for students and how does it nurture growth? MS. McLEOD: I think someone up on this panel has said it before that for some children, the only safe space they have is school. They leave a home that's full of trauma, drama, drugs, domestic violence and they come to school looking for someone to understand them while they try to learn, you know. So if we can -- just remember that part. Remember that they're coming in with baggage that we cannot fathom. Some of these kids haven't eaten in two days or whatever they ate was bread and lunch meat and it's real, you know. They're coming in hungry. This is not a mind ready for learning, and we need to keep that first and foremost. So if you really want to teach them, which is the goal, you're going to have to empathize with what they're going through and figure out how you can teach them through that. (Applause.)

Absolutely. All right. I'm going to try to lump this last question together and a few folks spoke on this, I think maybe one or two. Great testimony in connecting the issues around taxes and a discussion around taxation. So we're in the middle of budget season where all of these things are under discussion. We also are seeing historic undermining of public education in our system from the federal government. Are you seeing any impacts from the new financial environment yet? Have you seen anything? I think this is more for Children First, Yeah Philadelphia.

I can start. So far there have not been any federal cuts directly to schools yet. They could be coming and we're worried about that, and Donna is actively speaking about that right now somewhere in the media. However, education funding has historically always been more of a state and local issue. State and local contributions to schools is where we get 90% of our funding. And so, we have and will continue to advocate for that to be where the bulk of increases to school funding comes from. In the context of federal funding changes, it only becomes more important that this body and our state legislature find ways to increase revenues for our schools.

Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that from our Council body. I think we're committed to protecting our city and our city includes our young people, our education system, all of those things. So we're up for that particular fight. We won't cut any funding that goes directly to the school district.

I think too keeping in mind, you know, hierarchy of needs. When children come to school hungry, when children come to school from a house that's not properly heated or cooled. I just saw today that the LIHEAP program at the federal level is being gutted. Supposedly, the rationale is that many of these things are supposed to then be taken care of at a state level. And so, I think that as these things are cut, we need to be loud at the state level to claim the funds and to demand the return of funds that had been sent to Washington for particular programs. And if those programs are being cut at the federal level, then send our money back.

Thank you. Councilmember Harrity and then Councilmember Landau.

Thank you. And you brought up the food insecurity. That's real. I went to Memphis Street Academy and talked with the kids there about the issues they see there. 90% of the kids come from Frankford, Kensington and Harrowgate area. And we were talking about, you know, what they see on their way to school on a daily basis and things like that. And through our conversation, we came up with -- the kids brought up that food insecurity was real and I see it firsthand. I know we do lunch program, especially in the summer of my neighborhood. And some of those kids, if we don't feed them, they're not going to eat that day. So that's real. That's why the school board frustrates me on so many levels. I tried to get a meeting set up to pitch an idea for pantries in our schools. A couple of them have some that were started by the school already, but I wanted to put a basically store in a public school. Just asking for a meeting, they gave me a thing that they would get back to me and they said probably three so months before they could meet with me. And I went to Memphis Street Academy in my neighborhood just to visit with the kids and started talking to them, and I brought it up when they brought up the food insecurities to me. And the difference between the steps for the school board and the charter school so much different. They said, this is your room, can you do it here. And we are. We just got the refrigeration donated by the unions. They have full supermarket refrigerator and freezers. We're going to start one day a week and we will be giving full meals, family meals out on Fridays for the weekends. But that's a real, real thing and that's something that we started this. And I can be honest with you right now it hasn't cost the City $1. It was all done with outside stuff, nonprofits, the Tuttleman Foundation, Caring for Friends, Steamfitters 420, not $1 City funding. So I know we can do it if people have a thing to do it. I still can't wrap my head around what you went through, how somebody could be diagnosed and go through nine years of school with a diagnosis and then get to 10th grade and all of a sudden that diagnosis is gone. That's not the way this stuff works. And I get it. I was that kid. I couldn't sit still. My teachers would say I could fall out of my desk sitting because I couldn't sit still. I was antsy. And you're right, if I could get up and move a little bit, it made me feel better. So many things went wrong with that situation and I apologize to you for that. Fact of the matter is we need to change our whole school system. We're still going on a Rockefeller school program, modification, which was not made to make free thinkers. He actually educated his kids differently and said that he was going to educate his kids differently, because the school system that he brought and made up his people, that's where our national school model came from, was made up to make good employees. That's why we have eight-hour days in school. That's why you have a lunch break. That's why you have a break, to get you used to going to work. They didn't want our kids to be business people. They don't want them to be free thinkers. There's studies now that show that kids that are home- schooled are better at free thinking than kids that are in the public school because they're allowed to experience that, wherein our public school system it's do this, do this, do this, do this, makes no sense. I'm not going to say what they're learning they don't need to know. We all need to know things to succeed, but school needs to not only be an education thing. It needs to be a safe place, because that's what it is for so many kids that don't have the lives of other kids. It's a safe place. It's where they get away. It's where they can actually be a kid, because so many of the kids, especially in my neighborhood, they're freaking adults. And I'm sorry but it pisses me off. But we need to know that.

Like you said, if we just talked to a few of them, figured out what the hell's going on with them, we could have better adapted kids doing better. Right there, that's our proof, right there. They took away what was working and she automatically failed. They brought it back and now she's succeeding again. This ain't rocket science. Thank you. )

Thank you all for bringing your brilliance to this hearing today and for your patience of waiting this long. Every word that you said was so important for us to have even a greater understanding of what's going on with schools. Kimorra, I'm sorry on behalf of -- I apologize on behalf of all adults in Philadelphia. None of this should be happening. There are better and easier ways for us to do things that would just really support and benefit all of you. So I also suggest you reach out to the Education Law Center -- Education law Project. I'm not so sure, there wasn't something there about your IEP. But I guess I just have one question for all of you, which is it's very similar to what we were asking of what do you think the Chief of Joy would do, but I have to ask after listening to all of this all day long if so many principals and adults in their schools think what's happening right now is not working, what are their barriers for them to make change, to add recess or longer recess, to give more bathroom breaks, to make sure that we're supporting the kids in the way that they need, that we have more restorative justice and more restorative practices? Why do you think they are not making the change they need in each school? MS. McLEOD: Well, for one money, we know people who are paid well do their job well. A lot of people in the schools are underpaid for what they're expected to give to the school. And as a person, you can only give but so much of yourself. You still got to go home and manage your own family, your own life. So if we want people to take our kids serious, I think we need to take their job positions more serious and what they deserve as a pay.

I would second that. I think that the pay and the training for teachers and for staff needs to be improved across the board. At this stage, the pay and the conditions are such that the best and the brightest are not considering this as a viable path. And those who do after several years of sort of martyring themselves are so burnt out and so in need of sustenance for themselves and their families that they have to pursue other paths. When I was in school, the bulk of my high school teachers had Master's degrees. They were coming to the table with content knowledge in their field. We're sending in people who have just finished college themselves. As a college professor, I can tell you that those kids are not ready to be the teachers of tomorrow. They're not. They're young themselves. They need mentoring. They still have growth that's needed. We need more experienced adults as teachers and with what we're paying, we're not getting that. (Applause.)

So my catchment school is Lee in West Philadelphia, and Lee is a very diverse school in terms of it's racially diverse and it's socioeconomically pretty diverse. And I think that in a situation of scarcity on what the school can provide, there's a lot of breakdown in trust between those kind of different groups of stakeholders at the school. And I think that there are times when the school community comes together quite well and other times where if anyone feels like something's being taken away, it's hard to have conversations about what's most important. So I think that, you know, not losing what we have and building on it is really important. (Applause.)

All righty --

I'll add to that too just briefly that when you ask, why can't recess happen sometimes in schools, sometimes it's just because there's not enough adults in the building to make it happen. So we need more teachers and more qualified adults to be there, to allow for flexible scheduling, to allow for the breaks that are needed with safe monitoring of all the students. And lastly, that it goes hand-in-hand with that, so that costs money and we need the teachers that are there to get compensated more fairly, and the things that are not money are the practices of joy that make a teacher and families want to be there. When you walk into a school building where there's recess and the kids are smiling and everyone is happy and class feels fun, those teachers want to stay there and that retention will pay dividends for our schools. So it's really a virtuous cycle.

Thank you all so much. Appreciate it.

Do any of my colleagues have any more comments or questions? (No response.)

All righty. Well, that concludes the panel testimony for this resolution. We will now begin a hearing from individuals who registered to provide public comment. Okay. Please keep your comments to no longer than three minutes. Mr. Gur, will you please read the names of the first people registered for public comment.

There is no 12 one registered for public comment.

There being no questions from members of the Committee and no 16 other witnesses to testify, is there anyone else present in the hearing whose names have failed to be called and wish to offer testimony on the resolution being considered today? (No response.)

Hearing none, I want to thank all the panels and witnesses for their participation today. We value your opinions. This concludes the public hearing of the Committee. We will now recess this hearing until the call of the Chair. Thank you all so very much for your attendance. (Joint Committees on Education and Children & Youth concluded at 3:05 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL