City Council members threaten to shut down vote on facilities plan that would close 17 Philly schools
In an extraordinary muscle flex, 10 City Council members threatened a broad range of actions, from lawsuits and injunctions to civil disobedience and blocking reappointments of school board members.
A majority of Philadelphia City Council threatened to shut down Thursday’s scheduled school board vote to close 17 schools, encouraging civil disobedience if changes aren’t made to Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s facilities plan.
In an extraordinary muscle flex, 10 City Council members threatened a broad range of actions at a morning news conference outside Paul Robeson High School — from lawsuits and injunctions to vowing to block the reappointment of any school board member who votes for the plan.
“If you take the vote today, you’re not voting for a facilities plan, because we’re telling you it ain’t gonna happen,” said City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, chair of Council’s education committee. “All you’re doing is voting against children. We dare you to vote against children in the city of Philadelphia, and watch what we do. This is a legacy moment.”
Thomas encouraged students, teachers, and parents to bombard school board members with emails and social media messages stating their displeasure with the plan.
“We’re prepared to shut that meeting down. Shut it down. We’re not signing up for no public comment. This is civil disobedience today,” Thomas said.
The school board is scheduled to vote on Watlington’s $3 billion facilities plan, which includes the 17 closings and 169 modernizations, at 4 p.m. The school system has 70,000 empty seats and officials have said while the plan is academically motivated, they can no longer afford to run very small schools.
Every one of the city’s seven at-large Councilmembers, plus district Councilmembers Curtis Jones Jr., Jamie Gauthier, and Quetcy Lozada, appeared at the news conference Thursday before hustling back to Center City for a Council session.
The Council members who appeared Thursday are making a stand for three schools to come off the closing list: Robeson in University City; Lankenau High in Upper Roxborough; and Overbrook Elementary in West Philadelphia.
Wholesale changes are coming to the Philadelphia School District, with Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. proposing a $2.8 billion facilities plan that includes closing schools.
Watlington presented the plan to the school board Feb. 26 and it has already faced strong opposition. It's not yet final. Here's what we do and don't know.
And to see the proposed list school closures and check how your school could be impacted, use our interactive charts.
Each of the schools proposed for closure has its own story. Find them all here.
Council is responsible for about half of the school system’s funding, and has used that as leverage to oppose the school closing plan. Jones, who represents both Lankenau and Overbrook, said he was furious with the district and school board for asking Council to vote for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s $1-per-trip rideshare tax. The mayor has pitched the tax as a way to fill a $300 million district budget gap, while denying them a say in the closing list.
“That’s taxation without representation,” Jones said. “All of us here support public education. But taxation without representation is not going to happen. We don’t all agree on a lot of things up here. We agree on this, and they better read the room. We are 10 toes down.”
Jones said he would introduce a resolution in Council on Thursday questioning how the district spends its $4.6 billion budget and suggesting an independent audit of the school system, which is already audited by the city controller.
Councilmember Nina Ahmad, who has been particularly vocal about Lankenau’s closing, said the district was withholding information from Council and the public around why it made its decisions.
“They’re treating us like we don’t know how to read and write,” Ahmad said. “They’re treating us like we have no power. Well, look at this power.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
