City Council is set to consider whether Philadelphia should have an elected Board of Education, following the body’s April 30 vote to approve a controversial facilities master plan that recommends the closure of 17 schools.
Lawmakers passed a resolution Thursday authorizing hearings on the matter, exactly a week after they twice interrupted a raucous meeting that ended with BOE members voting over Zoom.
As it stands, all nine school board members are supposed to be nominated by the mayor and approved by Council, though one, Joyce Wilkerson, is currently serving without the confirmation of legislators.
The resolution adopted Thursday instructs Council’s education committee to organize meetings “investigating concerns around School Board governance, decision making processes and exploring the options for an elected or hybrid School Board.”
A hybrid model would likely involve voters choosing some members, while others are appointed.
The BOE, by a margin of 6-3, OK’d the School District of Philadelphia’s “Accelerating Opportunity” plan, a 10-year, $3 billion initiative that Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. argues will allow his team to concentrate the school system’s limited resources to advance educational outcomes.
No closures or other major shifts associated with the plan are scheduled to go into effect until the 2027-28 academic year, and opponents, including lawmakers, have vowed to continue fighting.
“No one can justify closing Lankenau or Robeson,” Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who introduced the resolution, said, referring to two proposed high school closures that have generated significant outcry.
“We can go into other schools, and I think the frustrating thing is, we all know what it really is, especially if you’re a Black person,” he continued. “Black people don’t have value for some reason in this country. We just don’t.”
Thomas and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said the BOE and district did not engage in good faith with legislators before the facilities vote. Thomas accused Streater of ignoring text messages and calls in the days leading up to the decision, and Gauthier said she received no response when she offered an alternative set of proposals for her West Philadelphia-based district.
“What people saw in that meeting last week, the frustration, it was the culmination of a very long process where people were ignored,” Gauthier said.
After both of their comments, made during the “speeches” section of Council’s regular weekly session, Council President Kenyatta Johnson commented approvingly: “Very well said.”
Streater, in a statement Thursday, said the BOE "had to make an incredibly difficult but necessary decision to address decades of systemic underfunding and longstanding structural challenges that we simply can't ignore."
"Throughout this process, we have remained focused on doing what is in the best interest of all of our students," he continued. "As a Board, we will continue to call on our city and state partners to work alongside us to ensure that every student receives the investment and support they deserve."
Hours before the April 30 BOE meeting, Council authorized hearings to look into the possibility of establishing an independent financial agency to oversee and audit the school district.
MORE: Decorated Robeson High teacher celebrated as planned closure looms
