A reader responds to Lisa Haver’s post about the urgency of abolishing the authoritarian and unaccountable School Reform Commission, and also corrects my statement about “restoring democratic control.” An elected board could not do any worse than the appointed SRC, which has run the public schools into the ground and led the way to their demolition.
“I used to teach in Philadelphia, before my move to NC. I can vouch for everything Lisa Haver wrote and more. The SRC has systematically starved the public schools while making sure that the charters are favored in all things. It takes serious corruption (and the public revelation thereof) to get a charter school closed down, but any hint that a public school might be a “failure” and it will be a target of conversion before you can say “Jack Robinson”.
“The SRC has no accountability to the public, and virtually none even to the politicians who technically appoint its members (the governor and the mayor.) They are free to pursue whatever “reform” they want and even have exemption from the School Code (that is, the laws passed by the legislature that govern all other schools in the state) if they want to execute a policy that the law does not normally allow. This was the body that was going to fix the financial mess the schools were in, yet they have been party to their hand-picked superintendents sending the district into deeper and deeper financial crises as the years go by.
“One thing that does need a bit of correction (or, at least, clarification) from Lisa’s article is that it inadvertently leaves the impression that the school district needs to be returned to popular control. Unfortunately, the district has never had a democratically elected school board, not since its founding way back in 1850. Originally, the board was appointed by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, then by the mayor until the 2001 state takeover. It is long past time that the founding city of American democracy had a democratically elected school board that might just look out for the city’s public schools instead of narrow partisan or private interests.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is absolutely ridiculous:
“— Asked how Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would be received when she speaks to the group on Tuesday, Rees said, “That’s a good question.” DeVos has put some charter advocates, especially those on the left, on the defensive. For instance, labor-backed Democrats have sought to tie pro-charter Democrats to the controversial secretary in primary races. But, Rees said, DeVos is “a really good listener” and she hopes people will give her a chance. “There are some silver linings here that we hope to leverage,” Rees said. “It’s incumbent upon us, because they like charters, to use this to bring them closer to the larger discussion around public education”
Kids in public schools are now dependent on Betsy DeVos “liking” charters in order to get her to support their schools?
The US Secretary of Education has to be persuaded to discuss public education?
Unless it’s charters or vouchers she’s not interested? Why did she take this job? Can we get a federal employee who “likes” public schools, please, or is that too much to ask?
If DeVos and the US Department of Education plan on supporting only 10% of schools maybe they should collect only 10% of their pay. We hired them assuming they would do 100% of the job, not the 10% they “like”.
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As a student and then teacher, now retired, the SDP was much better off under the judges than under the SRC which has been a disaster, even worse than under mayoral control. The last superintendent to do a really good job was Connie Clayton. I remember her speaking at our school and personally thanking each one of us for a job well done. It went downhill after that. Five years after the state takeover, and over 4 decades on the job, I wasn’t able to be a real teacher. I loved the kids; it was the ignorant “experts” sent from the SRC that kept me from doping my job.
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Your words “I wasn’t able to be a real teacher” really hit home. My own experience with the chaotic invasions brought by test-score fanaticism/funding in our district was that, little by little, my strengths as an educator were being chipped away until I was no longer teaching.
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Time for DEMOCRACY … period. No kidding. DeVoodoo is ridiculous.
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I am no supporter of the inept SRC but, if we open the school board to publicly elected members, we open the elections to billionaire funded candidates, and the divisive and dishonest fights they bring.
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…and, of course, the disproportionate campaign funding.
Some kind of blended board selection by elected officials from within Philly (Mayor, City Council) and some seats by community popular vote.
Or maybe, rules insuring that the people who run for the community board, are actually community members, and the campaign funding is regulated in a way that stops out of town billionaires from buying board seats like little green houses from the game of Monopoly.
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