The School District of Philadelphia Board of Education Public Meeting Minutes July 14, 2022 A public meeting of the Board of Education was held in hybrid format on July 14, 2022. Some Board Members, select staff, and some registered speakers participated in-person, while others participated remotely. Members of the general public who did not attend in-person participated via Zoom meeting platform. The meeting was convened at 4:00 p.m., by Joyce Wilkerson, President. President Wilkerson expressed excitement with the state budget which was approved by the Pennsylvania House and Senate and signed into law by Governor Wolf, noting that the budget included a $525 million increase in basic education funding.Lastly, President Wilkerson shared that if Action Item 1 passes, there will be a brief recess after the vote to sign the TRAN document. Vice President Egea-Hinton made announcements concerning recording, copyright, participation in, and viewing of the meeting.
Board Member Fix-Lopez provided a brief legislative update: ● Thank you to Governor Wolf and our state leaders for adopting a historic state budget that includes important policy changes that we have advocated for over that last year that will help our School District ensure high quality educators are in every classroom: ○ House Bill 1642 updates the state’s Educator Reciprocity Law and creates a new educator recruitment program Roll Call, Minutes, Announcements Lynn Rauch, General Counsel, announced that the Board of Education met in Executive Session on July 14, 2021, to discuss privileged and confidential labor relations matters. Ms. Rauch conducted Roll Call. Members Present: Ms. Andrews, Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Lam, Ms. Fix-Lopez , Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson (remotely), President Wilkerson – 9 Members Absent: 0 Attending: Tony B. Watlington, Ed.D, Superintendent
The minutes of the Action Meeting that started on June 23, 2022 and concluded on June 30, 2022 were presented for approval.
Yes: Ms. Andrews, Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Lam, Ms. Fix-Lopez , Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 9 No: 0 Committee Reports Board Member Thompson provided a report from the Parent and Community Advisory Council, including: ● Advisory Council members are participating in Dr. Watlington’s Transition Team which has over 80 participants to provide their lived experience in the five subcommittees which are: Student Achievement, Operations, Anti-Racist District Culture, Community Engagement and Communications, and Enriching and Well-Rounded School Experiences. ● Advisory Council members are assisting in the call from Dr. Watlington by providing names of families to participate in the Transition Team. ● Advisory Council members are helping to gather information from their communities, such as assisting families who do not have internet access and filling out surveys at the schools they have relationships with. Superintendent Remarks
President Wilkerson invited Dr. Watlington to provide remarks. Dr. Watlington reported/commented on: ● The Superintendent’s Transition Team Dr. Watlington invited the following staff to provide reports on the following topics: ● Larisa Shambaugh, Chief Talent Officer, Staffing Update ● Uri Monson, Chief Financial Officer, Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes The full presentations are included with meeting materials. Presentations President Wilkerson invited, Uri Monson, Chief Financial Officer, to provide key updates since the adoption of the District’s budget and to provide a presentation related to Action Item 1 - Authorization of the Issuance and Sale of Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes of The School District of Philadelphia, Fiscal Year 2023. Mr. Monson reported that the District secured $500,000,000 in Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes through a competitive process from Bank of America and PNC Bank, at a rate of
2.89%. The interest cost is $13,770,000. The Notes are being issued to address District cash flow throughout the year, and are to be paid back in the current fiscal year. Public Testimony and Registered Student and General Speakers The meeting was opened to the public for presentation of statements by registered student speakers and general speakers. Ms. Rauch provided the applicable provisions of the speakers’ policy for the meeting. The following individuals spoke:
Shanisha Mitchell, community member, spoke about the importance of school partnerships, such as CEA, and their impact on Belmont Charter School and Inquiry Charter School to provide services for students and families that model a community school. Leah Clouden, community member, spoke about the importance of junior high schools, the need to have seven swimming pools reopened, the need for building engineers, and urged the Board to hold department heads accountable and to not only listen to the communities concerns but to act upon them. Gail Clouden, community member, spoke about the importance of looking within our communities for the talent that we desire to attract and urged the Board to focus on the students that the District is currently educating and educate them to fill the positions that the District so desperately needs. Kristin Luebbert, parent, spoke about the many reasons she believes teachers are leaving their jobs as educators.
Barbara Dowdall, Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, spoke about her experience at one of the superintendent listening sessions. Erin Moody, parent, expressed concern regarding the new 7:30 a.m. school start time and noted that the school community was not informed of the change in start times until after the school year ended and asked for an explanation on why the school start time was changed. Consideration of Action Items President Wilkerson introduced Action Item No.1 for consideration by the Board of Education.
Item No. 1 - Authorization of the Issuance and Sale of Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes of the School District of Philadelphia, Fiscal Year 2023 (Updated 7.14.22) Yes: Ms. Andrews, Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Lam, Ms. Fix-Lopez , Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 9 No: 0 The meeting was recessed at 6:07 p.m., and reconvened at 6:21 p.m., following the signing of the TRAN documents. Goals and Guardrails Board Member Thompson introduced and she and Board Member Fix-Lopez facilitated the Board’s Goals and Guardrails monitoring session to review progress toward Math Goal 3: The percentage of students in grades 3-8 who are proficient on the state Math assessment will grow from 21.6% in August 2019 to 52.0% by August 2026. Board Member Thompson provided an overview of the development and adoption of the Board’s Goals and Guardrails, along with the process for monitoring. Board Members and Superintendent
Watlington presented an overview and engaged in an in-depth discussion of the Goals and Guardrails monitoring session, including as summarized below. Dr. Watlington provided an assessment of progress towards Math Goal 3, noting that July will serve as the fourth progress monitoring cycle for Goal 3 - Math Grades 3-8. Dr Watlington noted that in April 2022 staff presented the initial review of student math performance for the 21-22 school year and reviewed limited historical student performance data, identified where the District was not on track, and unpacked why certain schools were performing differently than others.
The following staff provided reports: ● Dr. Tonya Wolford, Chief of Evaluation, Research, and Accountability ● Dr. Malika Savoy-Brooks, Chief of Academic Support ● Dr. Evelyn Nunez, Chief of Schools Following Dr. Watlington and team’s presentation, the Board engaged in a discussion and question and answer period. Board Member Fix-Lopez stated that the Board accepted Dr. Watlington’s evaluation of progress on Math Goal 3. Board Member Fix-Lopez summarized action steps that were outlined during the meeting that the District will implement to progress towards Math Goal 3. Board Member Fix-Lopez summarized the District’s report, noting that there have been small gains in proficiency for students in grades 3-8 and although small, the District is trending in the right direction. Board Member Fix-Lopez stated that the Board would like to see if the data shared serves as a predictor to the summative data and
that the Board remains concerned with the off-track data, given that there are significant gaps in the data. Board Members requested that the District show how they are working to target specific groups beyond the larger macro strategies and provide information on how the District is working to be culturally and linguistically responsive. Board Members engaged in extensive discussion regarding the District’s current staffing challenges and spoke of the impact of staffing on the success of the strategies being implemented. Board Member Fix-Lopez recognized the District emphasis on the need/usefulness of professional development but asked that staff provide additional information on what is being done to support school-based staff in addition to the professional development provided. Board Member Fix-Lopez noted that the district will hold a 10-week professional development learning cycle for teachers beginning on August 1st and
requested, on behalf of the Board, that the District track attendance and participation of teachers and administrators who participate in professional development. Lastly, Board Member Fix-Lopez identified several follow-ups that the Superintendent or his team should bring forward at the next monitoring session of Math Goal 3. Board Member Fix-Lopez shared that the Board would like to better understand how the District is ensuring T1 instruction to students if there is not a dedicated/certified teacher to teach the course, further highlighting the impact that the District’s current staffing challenges have on the success of strategies being employed. Furthermore, during staff presentations, Dr. Savoy-Brooks mentioned “5 variables and predictors,” to which Board Member Fix-Lopez flagged that the Board would like to see a list of what the “5 variables and predictors” refer to and better understand the framing. Additionally, Board Member Fix-Lopez shared that the Board expects
to continue to receive more regular updates on how staffing challenges may be hindering the District’s progress toward Math Goal 3, while providing additional information on the more specific “hows” for our most marginalized groups, beyond the Tier 1/CPT macro strategies, and what is happening on a more targeted level for Black and Brown students. Adjournment President Wilkerson announced that the Board will be holding its next regularly scheduled Action Meeting on August 18, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. On motion, the meeting was adjourned at 8:28 p.m. Joyce S. Wilkerson, President Board of Education
Tony B. Watlington, Ed.D. Superintendent