{"id":41845,"date":"2025-11-22T18:56:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T18:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/41845\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T18:56:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T18:56:29","slug":"philly-school-board-pressed-on-contracts-closures-student-wellness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/41845\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly school board pressed on contracts, closures, student wellness"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Principal contracts, facilities planning and student wellness concerns were among the key issues discussed at Thursday night\u2019s Philadelphia Board of Education meeting.\n<\/p>\n

Members of Teamsters Local 502, which represents nearly 1,000 principals and other administrators, packed the room, calling for fair contract negotiations. They said that administrators have been working for three months without a contract. Union President Robin Cooper said she had never experienced a moment like this one.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI find myself not advocating for our students, not advocating for public education, not advocating for unconstitutional funding formulas, but rather advocating to pay leaders their worth,\u201d she told the board.\n <\/p>\n

She said administrators have driven improvements in attendance, academics and school climate, but have been met with the same district salary and benefits proposal after a 12-hour bargaining session.\n<\/p>\n

Board President Reginald Streater said the board could not discuss negotiations, but remained hopeful.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a family, and sometimes families have disagreements,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

Superintendent Dr. Tony B. Watlington Sr. added, \u201cYou are valued, and we\u2019re going to get this done.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Watlington also delivered a detailed update on the district\u2019s finances and its facilities planning<\/a> effort. He reminded families that Philadelphia remains a \u201chistorically underfunded school district.\u201d Even so, he said the district\u2019s financial discipline had led to a major milestone.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week, Moody\u2019s upgraded the School District of Philadelphia\u2019s credit rating,\u201d he said, saying it was the third increase in three years and \u201cthe best credit rating in the district\u2019s history.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He credited the board\u2019s governance and Chief Financial Officer Mike Herbstman\u2019s financial stewardship for strengthening the district\u2019s rating.\n<\/p>\n

Many parents and educators raised concerns about school closings<\/a> and the process.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need another survey. We don\u2019t need another meeting,\u201d said Lisa Haver, of Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, to cheers in the room.\n<\/p>\n

Watlington said the administration is extending its facilities planning timeline to ensure accuracy and community input through the survey. The facilities work, he said, is aimed at expanding access to high-quality academic and extracurricular programs, and investing in career programs that lead to higher-wage jobs. He said the plan aims to resolve enrollment imbalances, with some schools overcrowded and others far under capacity.\n<\/p>\n

Four themes have emerged from the process, he said: reinvesting in high schools, expanding access to criteria-based and Career and Technical Education schools for grades five through 12, reducing school transitions and increasing building utilization. Wallington said 1,700 parents had already taken the survey, which will remain open until Dec. 11. He said he expects to have nearly 6,000 others complete it.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[223,69,25116,71,70,8973],"class_list":["post-41845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-pennsylvania-education","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-board-of-education","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-school-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}