If this week is any indication, the communication between Philadelphia City Council and Mayor Cherelle Parker’s office is more than a little out of sync.
By Denise Clay-Murray
During Thursday’s Philadelphia City Council meeting, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas introduced a resolution calling for the education committee to hold hearings on possible changes to governing the school board.
Thomas, the committee’s chair, campaigned on making changes to the school board, which the mayor currently appoints. Philadelphia is the only school district in the Commonwealth that doesn’t pick its school board via the popular vote.
He believes that it’s about time that the city at least considers joining the rest of the Commonwealth in that regard, if for no other reason but the voters deserve to have a say in who determines educational policy for their children.
“I think that most people in our city would agree that a different model of school governance is probably the direction that they will want to go in,” Thomas said. “The point of the resolution is to explore that, right? What are we talking about? Are we talking a hybrid school board?
Should we keep the model that we have? I think that this is the time to have the conversation. And I think the constituents of Philadelphia deserves an opportunity to weigh in, communicate their opinion, and assess what we have and determine what’s best moving forward.”
Under the current form of school board governance, which has been in place since 2017, the mayor sends recommendations to City Council, who then decides whether or not to approve the nominees.
But the fact that Mayor Cherelle Parker decided to reappoint Joyce Wilkerson to the school board, despite Council’s decision not to take a vote on her nomination, shows that this system isn’t foolproof.
It’s also one of two examples that show that the second and fourth floors of City Hall might not be communicating as well as they should and that the path to a 2025 Budget might not be as smooth as it could be.
After Council voted to withdraw Wilkerson’s nomination during a Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, she received a letter from Parker asking her to continue her service on the board.
And when I say after, I mean right after. Wilkerson, current board president Reginald Streater, Parker’s chief of staff Tiffany Thurman, and Joe Grace, Parker’s director of communications huddled together to talk. She was handed the letter then.
But that wasn’t the only way in which Council found itself surprised by the Parker administration this week. On Wednesday night, it was announced that the Parker Administration was going to use the former Philadelphia Nursing Home at 21st and Girard as a space to try and connect those trying to get help with addiction to the help they need.
In a press conference following City Council’s weekly meeting on Thursday, Managing Director Adam Thiel said that the space, which is currently being used as a shelter space for the Office of Homeless Services, would expand to include 75 new beds for those in search of help. While there wouldn’t be medical services on campus, access to them would be provided, he said.
Councilmember Jeffrey Young found out about the plan for the building, which is in his district on Wednesday night.
The problem? He found it out the way that many of us did, which was through an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Councilmember was not amused.
“Throughout the budget process, I have been concerned about the lack of transparency from the Parker administration on the proposed plan for triage centers to combat the addiction crisis in Kensington,” Young said in a statement. “The Inquirer article discussing a proposed location at 2100 W. Girard — a facility owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — is deeply troubling because there has been no engagement with my office, the Fairmount community, and surrounding neighborhoods. This facility is in close proximity to four schools, including my alma mater, Girard College, that is directly across the street. It is unacceptable to undertake such a significant project without consulting the communities and stakeholders who will be most affected.”
Okay.
Now, I get it. Mayor Parker has a lot of things she wants to do and a certain way she wants to do it.
But let’s be honest here. She’s not going to be able to do anything if the people in charge of the legislation needed to make things happen feel like they’re being steamrolled.
You might be able to get away with doing that once. But twice? That’s pushing it.
It might be time for everyone involved to sit down and have a conversation that puts them all on the same page.
Because while “Ill Communications” was a great Beastie Boys album, it doesn’t work for City government, especially in a city where poverty and drug addiction seem to be sharing a space.
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