‘It can be scary.’ Philly school board talks about the recent shootings, and other takeaways from its meeting

An emotional school board on Thursday night addressed a week of gun violence that saw 11 Philadelphia students shot, including eight Northeast High pupils at a Burholme bus stop.

“No parent in Philadelphia should send their babies to school and their children not make it home,” board president Reginald Streater said at a special action meeting.

Cavance Snaith, a junior at Constitution High and student board representative, played baseball with one of the students wounded in the Monday shooting that killed one Imhotep Charter High School student.

“As the voice for all students, it is very sad that people my age — I am 17 years old — and there are 17-year-olds, 15-year-olds, 14-year-olds in the city of Philadelphia who are getting murdered, often,” Snaith said. His parents drive him to school because they worry for his safety, but aren’t able to pick him up, so he relies on SEPTA to get home. “It can be scary to be on SEPTA sometimes.”

Snaith himself was once a victim of violence, robbed at gunpoint.

“It was a very scary moment, to see my life literally flash before my eyes,” said Snaith, who grew emotional as he talked about his experience. “So I understand the need to improve student safety. I experienced something like this. I wasn’t physically hurt, but it really does mess with you mentally.”

Vice president Mallory Fix-Lopez said she was struck when listening to Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel speaking at a news conference after the Burholme shooting Wednesday night: When he was a young man growing up in Southwest Philadelphia, attending Bartram High, he and his family knew school was the safest place.

“The game has fundamentally changed,” said Fix-Lopez, tearing up and addressing Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. “Dr. Watlington, when we interviewed you for superintendent, we never asked you what your transferable skills are to deal with the shooting deaths of dozens of children in a week, a week — children — because it’s not normal,” Fix-Lopez said. “This is not OK.”

Watlington said he was “absolutely mind-boggled by how a nation that can produce the world’s largest economy and the strongest military can’t seem to get our arms around this problem with the unchecked availability of guns to minors.”

The board had just one item on its action agenda Thursday night: approving a Philadelphia Federation of Teachers one-year contract extension. It did so unanimously, a day after PFT members endorsed the deal themselves.

By virtue of the vote, 13,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses, counselors, secretaries and other workers will get a 5% pay raise in September and a $1,200 bonus in June. The new contract will expire Aug. 31, 2025.

The deal was sealed six months before the PFT’s prior contract was set to expire, a factor that was not lost on Watlington, who thanked the union for its partnership.

The contract extension “saves us time, it saves us some resources over time, and it shows a good faith partnership,” said Watlington. “In a good partnership, you don’t always have to go up to the very last minute.”

Board members asked how much the deal would cost the district, which has projected a deficit as federal COVID relief funds expire.

Chief financial officer Mike Herbstman said the information was “proprietary to negotiation” but “larger than we’ve seen in recent contracts.”

Herbstman said the information would emerge as the district built its 2024-25 budget.

Deputy Superintendent Jeremy Grant-Skinner, whom Watlington praised for striking the early settlement, said the district hoped to use the 5% pay raise as “a marketing tool” as the district goes into hiring season.

Fix-Lopez announced this week that she was resigning from the board, effective April 18.

Her resignation shocked many; until recently, Fix-Lopez had said she hoped to remain on the new board that will be seated by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker in the spring.

But Fix-Lopez said she had recently come to a realization that the demands of the board work were too great as she juggles a full-time job, owning a small business, and parenting two young children. Last week, she spent 26 hours in board or board-related meetings.

Though she will remain on the board until she has ankle surgery in April, Fix-Lopez gave her farewell speech Thursday night.

“I’ve given all of me the last six years,” Fix-Lopez said. “But what allows me to leave so confidently and peacefully is knowing that you, Dr. Watlington, are here. I believed in you when we hired you, but I believe in you so much more now. No one is perfect; there is no perfect person for this impossible task. But Philadelphia hit the lottery with you, and I have full confidence that if you are given the space to do your job for the best interest of kids, Philadelphia will soar, our young people will soar. I fully believe in you, and with President Streater by your side, I have no doubt you will succeed.”

Fix-Lopez earned praise from her colleagues on the board.

De’Naiza Watson, another student board representative, said Fix-Lopez, an original member of the school board that returned the district to local control in 2018, was brave.

“You say the hard things,” said Watson, a student at Science Leadership Academy. “I just want to thank you for your courage to do that.”

Watlington praised Fix-Lopez, a certified teacher who once worked at Edison High School, for her unflagging focus on educators through the years. The superintendent often repeats how the No. 1 factor in student success is a well-supported, well-qualified teacher.

“You’re always advocating for the well-supported part,” Watlington said. “Thank you very much. It’s my honor to work with you.”