Philly school board showdown: 8 nominees move forward, but the fate of 1 is unclear

After a long day of heated questions and public pressure, City Council unanimously recommended eight of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s nine school board nominees for approval Friday.

The fate of the ninth person, veteran school board member and former president Joyce Wilkerson, was unclear — Council, at the eleventh hour, declined to consider or vote on her nomination amid a concerted wave of advocacy to defeat her candidacy. Sources close to the process said that had they voted on Wilkerson Friday, she would not have survived.

Wilkerson, who was present for the entire seven-hour hearing but said nothing publicly, declined comment.

» READ MORE: Are Mayor Parker’s school board picks in trouble? Ahead of a Friday Council vote, there’s pushback.

Ultimately, Parker nominees Reginald Streater, Sarah-Ashley Andrews, ChauWing Lam, Crystal Cubbage, Cheryl Harper, Whitney Jones, Wanda Novales, and Joan Stern were all recommended by Council’s committee of the whole. They are expected to be confirmed at the next Council meeting, and sworn in by May 1, with the ninth seat still up in the air.

After the vote was taken, the eight stood together with Wilkerson, a united front, and a sign of Parker’s desire to have the whole group move forward, even after Council signaled objections..

“We have unfinished business,” Streater said, speaking for the group. “We came as a slate and there’s nine of us.”

Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, chair of the education committee, said Wilkerson’s nomination wasn’t considered because “we felt like it was best to continue dialogue around that particular resolution” and that he wasn’t sure if the May 1 deadline would be met for a full board of nine.

The mayor on Thursday had praised the entire slate as “the best, most diverse group of candidates that we could have assembled, with exceptional credentials, fresh ideas and who share my vision to serve the 197,000 schoolchildren of Philadelphia — whether they be in traditional public schools, charter schools or alternative schools.”

Objections to Wilkerson and, to a lesser degree, Streater centered on their history with charters, particularly Black-led charters.

Prior to the hearing, Council members were lobbied heavily on the subject; one Council source said Dawn Chavous, the wife of Council President Kenyatta Johnson, was involved in the effort to defeat Wilkerson and Streater’s nominations through her role with the African American Charter School Coalition.

Chavous, who serves as spokesperson for the coalition, said it has not taken a position on any school board nominations and has said in an email she has “not spoken to anyone who can infer, imply, or suggest what they should do based on my relationship with the Council President or that I told them what to do based on who I am married to. I am my own person with my own voice, and I do not control anyone on City Council or in the Mayor’s office.”

Kyle Darby, a lobbyist who represents Philadelphia Charters for Excellence, said the advocacy was larger than the charter sector.

“We’re very against this notion of public versus charter,” said Darby. “We just want a board we can work with.”

Here are some takeaways from the hearing:

Though eight of the nine nominees passed, Friday’s hearing was not celebratory, nor particularly warm, to the board members who were considered.

Jones expressed support for Parker’s slate, but said he did not believe the district treated charters and public schools equitably. Jones is an Overbrook High graduate, the child of public school graduates. But his grandchildren have chosen to attend charter schools, perceived by many Philadelphians as safer and better than the Philadelphia School District.

“I’m going with the team Mayor Parker has recommended — if she’s responsible for making the meals, she should be responsible for bringing the groceries,” Jones said. “But I do not subscribe that you’ve been fair. You can’t tell me that.”

Councilmember Anthony Phillips told Streater, Wilkerson, Lam and Andrews, the four sitting board members up for a new term, that “in the real world, if you don’t show results, you don’t keep your job. Some of y’all have been here for a long time. You want people to trust, but trust is built, trust is by collaboration and listening.”

Charters were a particular flash point at the hearing; their supporters engaged in significant lobbying against Wilkerson and Streater’s candidacy prior to the hearing.

The most pointed questioning came from Thomas, chair of Council’s education committee.

“Why don’t we treat Black charter schools the same way we treat white charter schools?” Thomas said. Black-led charters represent 25% of the city’s sector, but 80% of its closures. “How do you look at that number and say that’s not racist?”

Streater stressed that the board is responsible to uphold state charter law, and it closed schools that had deep academic issues over years, engaged in financial mismanagement, and, in some cases, flouted laws. He noted that the board has added charter seats in recent years, and has given grace to schools that it could have closed.

Thomas has long expressed his frustration with the district on its ability to manage facilities. He and others pushed that issue on Friday.

The district has said it has a plan for its buildings “but no councilmember has ever seen this facilities plan,” Thomas said.

Later, Thomas asked Streater if a public facilities master plan would be ready by the end of 2025. That’s partially up to Parker, Streater said, but also, it would be imprudent for the district to impose a plan on communities without getting their input.

Streater said he’d put the chances of a facilities master plan happening by 2025 at 65% to 70%.

Members of the public packed Council chambers for the daylong hearing but were not permitted to speak until after 5 p.m., and asked to cut their testimony to 90 seconds.

“We need a school board that values charter schools,” said Naomi Johnson Booker, founder of the Global Leadership Charter School and a member of the African American Charter School Coalition. “Charter schools are tired of being at the back of the bus.”

Lisa Haver, a retired Philadelphia teacher and founder of the Philadelphia Alliance for Public Schools, decried the board selection process and the “dark money forces” that led to lobbying against Wilkerson and Streater, with whom she does not always agree.

Robin Cooper, president of the district’s principals’ union and a member of the educational nominating panel, urged Council to “please support our mayor and to support the nomination of these nine individuals.”

Inquirer staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.