The School District of Philadelphia Board of Education Public Meeting Minutes March 24, 2022 A public meeting of the Board of Education was held in hybrid format on March 24, 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 4:02 p.m., by Joyce Wilkerson, President. President Wilkerson reported/commented on the following: ● Announcing that applications for the 2022 - 2023 Non-Voting Student Board Representative position will open on April 4, 2022 ● Congratulating Sonya Brintnall, a speech language pathologist at Albert M. Greenfield School, who was recognized in February as an “Honored Innovator” by the nonprofit group “Honored,” that recognizes teachers across the country who are changing students’ lives
● Congratulating Linda Schmid, a Certified School Nurse in the Office of Early Childhood Education who will receive the “School Nurse Excellence Award for the Philadelphia Region of Pennsylvania for 2022” ● Acknowledgment of Denise Ruggianno, who is retiring after 39 years of serving as Executive Assistant in the Office of the Board of Education Vice President Egea-Hinton made announcements concerning recording, copyright, participation in, and viewing of the meeting, and provided an update on the Superintendent search as follows: ● Thank you to everyone who participated in town hall meetings with our three superintendent finalist candidates. ● The Board is moving forward with naming the next Superintendent, and hopes to share more about this decision next week. Board Member Fix Lopez provided a brief legislative update which included the following: ● The Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved Governor Wolf’s new charter school regulations.
● Board Member Fix-Lopez thanked Governor Wolf for taking this important and significant step and highlighted House Bill 272 and Senate Bill 27, legislation in the State House and State Senate, that focuses on quality and provides both authorizers and charter schools with clear expectations and certainty at every point in the process. ● Board Member Fix-Lopez announced that Board of Education members will be heading to Harrisburg in April to encourage the General Assembly to pass comprehensive charter
school reform legislation as part of the State’s 2022-2023 budget and encouraged community members to call their state representative and state senator and urge them to pass House Bill 272 and Senate Bill 27. Roll Call, Minutes, Announcements Lynn Rauch, General Counsel, announced that the Board of Education met in Executive Session on March 3rd to discuss privileged, confidential, personnel and quasi-judicial charter matters, on March 10th to discuss privileged, confidential, and personnel matters, on March 17th to discuss privileged, confidential, and personnel matters, on March 21st to discuss privileged, confidential and personnel matters, and today to discuss privileged, confidential, personnel, labor relations, and investigation matters. Ms. Rauch conducted Roll Call. Members Present: Ms. Danzy (remotely), Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez , Dr. McColgan (remotely), Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson (remotely), President Wilkerson – 8
Attending: William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D., Superintendent, and Armando Ortez, Student Board Representative The minutes from the February 24, 2022 and March 3, 2022 meeting of the Board of Education were presented for approval. Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0 Committee Reports Board Member Thompson provided a report from the Parent and Community Advisory Council, including: ● Parent and Community Advisory Council Members were active participants in the Superintendent Search finalists activities and town halls. ● Parent and Community Advisory Council members met and engaged in rich discussion at a session on the School Academic Calendar where there were breakout activities on this important topic. Their concerns were answered, and they were able to share this information with their school communities. Likewise, Advisory Council Members participated in district sponsored activities
through the FACE office on the School Calendar and provided constructive feedback for next year. ● Parent and Community Advisory Council met with staff from the Charter Schools Office to discuss the charter school application and renewal process, timelines, renewals, and non-renewals. Student Board Representative Armando Ortez provided a report on his and fellow Student Board Representative Rebecca Allen’s activities, which included his and Rebecca’s participation in the Superintendent search process as members of the Superintendent Search Advisory Committee and attendance at two of the three superintendent town halls where we got to hear from each of the Superintendent finalists. Armando also shared he and Rebecca’s support for Action Item 1, Action Item 2, and Action Item 15. Armando ended his report announcing that applications for the 2022 -2023 Non Voting Student Board Representative positions will open on April 4, 2022.
Superintendent Remarks President Wilkerson invited Dr. Hite to provide remarks. Dr. Hite reported/commented on: ● The Facilities Planning Process ● Action Item 19 - Authorization to Enter into Agreements and Leases with the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) to Fund, Contract and Sublease with one or more Developers or Construction Managers for the Development, Construction and Equipping of one or more Capital Projects for the School District ($145,000,000) Dr. Hite invited the following staff to provide reports on the following topics: ● Dr. Evelyn Nunez - Academic Calendar ● Uri Monson - Lump Sum Budget for FY23 Public Testimony and Registered Student and General Speakers Board Member Salley acknowledged the receipt of, and summarized written testimony submitted to the Board, noting that the Board received six (6) pieces of written testimony from: ● Sarah Kloss ● Kelsey Romano and Lynn Schwartz ● Barbara Dowdall ● Karel Kilimnik ● Jennifer Aiello
Complete copies of the written testimony are included with the meeting materials. 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: The following expressed satisfaction and support for Mastery Cleveland Charter School urging the Board to approve the renewal of the charter: ● Dayciana Selby, student ● Maurice Jenkins, Parent/Guardian The following expressed concerns regarding the air quality at Franklin Learning Center: ● Emely Seda ● Cianni Craig ● Dasmil Shantal Helen Gym, City Councilwoman At-Large, urged the Board of Education to partner with city partners to engage in a Re-Engagement Plan and not to accept the current proposed budget that is built on a decline in enrollment of about 7,000 students. Lynda Rubin, community member, expressed concerns regarding the district’s management of asbestos
in school buildings. Ms. Rubin expressed support for Action Item 27 - Contract with Tetra Tech Inc for AHERA Program Development Management. The following expressed concerns regarding the proposed school budgets for the FY2023: ● Lauren Overton, District Staff Member ● Julia Graham, District Staff Member
● Rochelle Nichols-Solomon, Community Member ● Reverend McKinley Sims, Community Member ● Tangela McClam, District Staff Member ● Angela Ryans, District Staff Member ● Kahlia Lee, District Staff Member ● Ivey Welshans, District Staff Member ● Philip DeLuca, District Staff Member Laura Johnson, community member, urged the District to partner with community based organizations to ensure that families have their needs met through after-school programming in order to carry out professional development. Julio Nunez, district staff member, expressed concerns regarding standardized assessments and urged the Board and the District to put a moratorium on standardized testing, citing the inequities that standardized assessment causes for underprivileged communities. Amara Rockar, parent/guardian, expressed concerns regarding school leveling and the impact that it has on school communities. The following expressed concerns regarding lead in drinking water in schools and urged the District to
install hydration stations in schools: ● Greg Windle, Community Member ● Mitch Chanin, Community Member ● Alison Dilworth, Parent/Guardian ● Molly Rose Post, Parent/Guardian Lizzie Rothwell, parent/guardian, expressed concerns regarding building conditions, air quality, and carbon dioxide findings in school buildings. Heidi Allen, parent/guardian, expressed concerns regarding equity in funding for Intermediate Unit 26 and encouraged the Board of Education to examine IU plans of neighboring districts and consider ways to ensure that students who receive special education services receive the fair amount of funding needed to provide adequate services. Rebecca Mackin, community member, urged the District to partner and coordinate with community based organizations to support Guardrail 2: Enriching and Well-Rounded School Experiences and immediately convene an advisory group focused on areas in the city who have been most affected by gun violence and
creating a department solely dedicated to out-of-school-time programming. Robin Lowry, district staff member, requested clarification around Action Item 10 - Ratification of LCA with FS Solutions, Inc. - Health Services Drug Testing. Ms. Lowry also shared photos of building conditions in her school building. Goals and Guardrails Board Member Fix-Lopez introduced and facilitated the Board’s Goals and Guardrails monitoring session to review progress on Reading Goal 2: the percentage of students in grades K-3 who are proficient on the state ELA assessment will grow from 32.5% in August 2019 to 62.0% by August 2026. Dr. Hite provided a review of information that influenced the development of this Goal and these specific indicators to measure the District’s progress on Reading Goal 2: the percentage of students in grades K-3 who are proficient on the state ELA assessment will grow from 32.5% in August 2019 to 62.0% by August
2026. Dr. Hite noted that the initial review of student reading performance included a review of historical student performance data, identified where the District was not on track, and unpacked why certain
schools were performing differently than others. Additionally, the initial review included a description of root causes impacting student reading achievement in our schools and a series of actions identified to address the root causes, which teams at the District have made progress towards implementing. Dr. Hite provided a review of progress made on Reading Goal 2, including a review of Reading Goal 2 leading indicators based on the Fall and Winter performance data for the 2021-22 school year and provided an update on the implementation of strategies identified by the Leadership Team to address the root causes related to reading performance. Dr. Hite began his review with a report on Goal 2 Leading Indicator 2.1 which measures the percentage of students in grades K to 3 who are reading at grade level, as measured by the Star Reading assessments,noting that the District is currently off track towards
meeting our Reading Goal 2, Leading Indicator Annual Target. Dr. Hite noted that there was little change in the percentage of students scoring at or above grade level from Winter 2020-21 to Winter 2021-22 due to students shifted from taking aimsweb to Star and that there was an expected decline in grades 3-5 when we reviewed Goal 1. Dr. Hite stated that there was an increase in the percentage of students scoring at or above grade level from fall to winter this year, from 26% to 33% and that the District is currently about 14 percentage points below the annual 2021-22 target of 46% of students scoring at or above grade level. Dr. Hite continued his review of Reading Goal 2, noting that participation slightly increased across most race/ethnicity groups from fall to winter, with a very small decrease for White students; noting that all school performance groups had increases in performance, with schools that were on track seeing a 9 percentage point increase from fall to winter.
Dr. Hite provided an overview of Implementation Monitoring noting that at the February 24, 2022 Board of Education meeting the District reviewed all of the strategies, the activities to date related to each strategy, and major challenges to implementation. Dr. Hite shared the first standardized implementation report to discuss progress on the implementation of our ELA curriculum noting that the academic framework and related actions were identified as a “HOW strategy” for goals 1-4 in response to several root causes identified by the District leadership team as part of the progress monitoring process. Root causes that were identified as barriers to student achievement were identified as: (1) inadequate expectations related to how students, particularly our most marginalized students, engage in Tier 1, grade-level instruction using consistent and appropriate scaffolding; and (2) inadequate emphasis on building critical early literacy skills. The following staff reports were provided:
● Dr. Tonya Wolford, Chief of Evaluation, Research, and Accountability ● Dr. Malika Savoy-Brooks, Chief of Academic Support Following Dr. Hite and team’s presentation, the Board engaged in a discussion and question and answer period. Highlights of areas addressed included: Board Member Fix-Lopez stated that the Board has accepted the Superintendent’s report on the progress towards Reading Goal 2. Board Member Fix-Lopez summarized action steps that were outlined during the meeting that the District will implement to progress towards Reading Goal 2. Action steps are: (1) the Board of Education should currently be considering the academic calendar designed specifically to provide more time to appropriately train and support staff; (2) the Board of Education’s support will be needed for instructional materials giving all students access to grade level instruction. Board Member Fix-Lopez noted
that the Board acknowledges an increase in all grade levels, demographics and tracks of schools, noting that the District has focused on developing and implementing high quality, culturally and linguistically relevant, standards-aligned curriculum for core subjects, ELA specifically for Goal 2, as well as evidence- based professional learning cycles. Following Board Member Fix-Lopez’s summary of the Progress Monitoring session, Dr. Hite provided an overview of upcoming implementation presentations noting that in the next three Board of Education meetings the District will be discussing the implementation of each of our strategies in greater detail
including 1) the introduction of the District’s implementation monitoring report which showcases the data collected on implementation of each strategy to date, 2) what is planned for the remainder of the school year and preview of the District’s implementation goals for next school year, and 3) common planning time and implementation of MTSS as a whole, with a deeper focus on climate programming and Tier 1 meetings. Consideration of Action Items President Wilkerson described the process of how Action Items will be presented for consideration. ● The personnel Action Items, Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6; and Action Item Nos. 19, 25, 28 would each be presented separately. ● Action Item Nos. 1-2, 7-18, and 20 -24, 26- 27 would be presented together.
Item No. 1. Acceptance of Donation from Philadelphia Eagles Annual Day of Service - James Rhodes Elementary School Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 2. Acceptance of Services from and Memorandum of Understanding with Philadelphia Youth Network ($115,000) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 3. A pproval of Personnel Hires - Updated 03.17.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 4. Administration's Recommendation for Termination of Professional Employees - Updated 3.24.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 5. Approval of Personnel Terminations - Updated 3.24.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 6. Approval of Retirements and Resignations - Updated 3.24.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Mr. Streater, President Wilkerson – 6 No: 0 Abstention: Ms. Salley, Ms. Thompson - 2
Item No. 7. Contract with Corporate Cost Control Inc. a part of Experian - Unemployment Compensation Third Party Administration ($72,807) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 8. Ratification of Contract with Conner Strong & Buckelew for Fiduciary Insurance for 403 b & 457b Saving Plans Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 9. Contract with Teaching and Learning Solutions ($353, 275) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 10. Ratification of LCA with FS Solutions, Inc. - Health Services Drug Testing ($20,000) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 11. Authorization of Education Payments to Other Educational Entities ($21,100,000) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 12. Contracts with Various Vendors - Use of Title I, Title II, Title III, and CARES Act Grants for Non-Public Schools ($40,000,000) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 13. Authorization of Increased Outside Counsel Fees for FY22 ($950,000) and to Extend Authorization for FY23 ($5,000,000) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Dr. McColgan,Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 14. Change Orders with Various Vendors ($551,178) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 15. Contract with Institute for the Development of African American Youth, Inc. for Safe Path School and Community Safety Corridor Program Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 16. Contracts with Various Vendors for Electrical Repairs and Service ($6,500,000) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 17. Contract with School Specialty Inc. and MeTEOR Education - Classroom Improvements - Early Literacy Initiative Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 18. Contract with MeTEOR Education for Furniture and Equipment at Mary M. Bethune Elementary School ($1,400,000) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 19. Authorization to Enter into Agreement with Leases with the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) to Fund, Contract and Sublease with one or more Developers or Construction Managers for the Development, Construction, and Equipping of one or more Capital Projects for the School District ($145,000,000) - Added 3.3.2022 (Updated 3.22.2022) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8
Item No. 20. Capital Award for Wright, Richard R. School, Bryant, W.C. School, Taylor, Bayard School ($11,967,525) - Added 3.4.2022 (Update 3.18.2022) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 21. Contract Award with Weatherproofing Technologies (WTI), Inc for Roof Replacement at Various Locations ($9,639,311) - Added 3.4.2022 (Updated 3.22.2022) Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 22. Acceptance of services from and Memorandum of Understanding with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and Neubauer Family Foundation - Added 3.11.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 23. Amendment of 2022 Board of Education Public Meeting Schedule - Added 3.11.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 24. Contribution Agreement for Design and Construction of Dental Clinic Build Out and License Agreement with Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry ($390,000) - Added 3.14.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 25. Request for Excusal of Compulsory Education - Added 3.16.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, President Wilkerson – 7 No: 0 Abstention - Ms. Thompson - 1
Item No. 26. Adoption of the Lump Sum Statement - Updated 3.22.2022
Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 27. Contract with Tetra Tech Inc for AHERA Program Development Management - Added 3.18.2022 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0
Item No. 28 Adoption of Academic Calendar SY22-23 (As Amended) - Added 3.22.22 Yes: Ms. Danzy, Vice President Egea-Hinton, Ms. Fix Lopez, Dr. McColgan, Ms. Salley, Mr. Streater, Ms. Thompson, President Wilkerson – 8 No: 0 Adjournment President Wilkerson announced that the Board will be holding its annual Budget Hearing on April 21, 2022, at 3:00 p.m., followed by the next regularly scheduled Action Meeting on April 21, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. or 15 minutes after the end of the budget hearing if it runs passed 4:00. On motion, the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Joyce S. Wilkerson, President Board of Education William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D. Superintendent