SRC unanimously passes suspensions of state school codes

IN THE FACE of a fed-up Philadelphia community carrying insulting signs, the School Reform Commission voted unanimously yesterday to suspend school codes that affect employees' seniority rights and wage increases, as well as charter-school growth.

The district now will have what it calls "flexibility" to bring back whomever it wants and to "place resources where they are most needed," Superintendent William R. Hite said in his presentation to the SRC. (Members Feather Houstoun and Wendell Pritchett were present by phone.)

Charter schools no longer will be allowed to turn to the state for funding, a practice that some local charters have employed in the past. That practice resulted in unexpected costs for the district.

A request to suspend a code requiring hiring certified school nurses was withdrawn before the meeting, district spokesman Fernando Gallard said.

Hite at times had to pause due to interruptions by the rambuctious crowd. He was jeered and booed almost from the start of his presentation.

"Go back to Maryland!" one audience member said. Another yelled, "Spare me!"

Another person asked about Hite's compensation. After the meeting, he announced that on Oct. 1, he and nine other members of his senior team will be getting 10 percent pay cuts. He earns $300,000 a year and his deputy, Paul Kihn, has a $210,000-a-year salary.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan spoke, as attendees cheered. "I am especially concerned that you have suggested that after laying off 3,859 PFT members that you want to suspend the code so that you can bring back employees based on the needs of the students," Jordan said.

"What do you think PFT members have been doing for years in the schools?" he asked. "Our members have been telling you that our children need more, not less."

The district and Hite have used guidance counselors as examples of how the lack of seniority rules would work. If the district can recall only 100 counselors, "they should return to schools where they know the students," Hite said after the meeting.

Helen Gym, a public-school parent and head of Parents United for Public Education, saw it differently.

"The selective elimination of seniority also goes by another name - justification for institutional inequity," Gym told SRC members and Hite. "Your job is not to make arbitrary calls on which students are needy enough for a guidance counselor. Every child deserves a guidance counselor."

Later, Gym said Hite and the SRC "demand standards for children to be college- and career-ready but deny them the resources to open functioning schools.

"You talk about a war for education, yet you fire on your own soldiers who are going to fight it for you," she said.

Online: ph.ly/DNEducation