Green out, Neff in as SRC chair

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Mon Mar 2, 2015, 06:22 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Kristen Graham
Posted: Sunday, March 1, 2015, 7:56 PM

Gov. Wolf, in a stunning move, is stripping Bill Green of his chairmanship of the School Reform Commission, Green said on Sunday night. Marjorie Neff will be the new chairwoman of the five-member governing body of the Philadelphia School District. Wolf will announce the move on Monday. Green will fight the move in court.

The move comes less than two weeks after a controversial SRC vote to approve five new charter schools. Citing district finances, Wolf had ordered Green to approve no new charters. Harrisburg Republicans had wanted up to 27 charters approved.

<...>

Green was named to the SRC by Gov. Corbett in 2014. Neff, a retired Philadelphia School District principal, is a mayoral pick, but the governor chooses the SRC chair. Neff did not cast a single vote to approve any new charters.

Sources said that Wolf repeatedly asked Neff to assume the chair; she turned them down until recently. Green said that Neff told him that she believed he was doing an excellent job, but the governor's people told her Wolf couldn't work with Green as chair.

Edit: Fixed link. Sorry!

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/school_files/Green-out-as-SRC-chair.html

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This has to do with the entity ("School Reform Commission&quot that currently "controls" the School District of Philadelphia (since 2001). The District, per the law that originally created the SRC, has the option to break free if they come up with their own plan to return control to the city, and there had been some rumblings around this happening at some point. But in the meantime, it's this back and forth with a "commission" that really has nothing to do with education but focuses more on financial issues... Meaning implementing all the cuts that have happened over the years. They have already been rebuffed for attempting to cancel the teacher's contract this past January (and are appealing).

And as a FYI, this Bill Green is William J. Green IV, and his father (III) was once the (D) mayor and a (D) Congressman back in the late '70s. His grandfather (Jr) was also a (D) Congressman (and has a federal building named after him here), and helped to solidify the city as Democratic during the Richardson Dilworth era in the city (when the civil service went into effect here for city workers).

What a tangled web... Wolf is wasting no time!

[bbgrunt]

1. this needs some more context...very difficult for outsiders to

follow.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. This issue points to the overall debate about Charter Schools

I know there is an active cadre of educators on DU who are following the "Charterization" (in essence, the privatization) of the public school systems nationwide, and this past year, with the election of a Democratic governor here in PA (inaugurated in January) who is committed to public schools, he is trying to reverse the damage that the SRC has done to the Philadelphia School System and the damage that poorly run/managed Charters and massive funding cuts have done to schools statewide. E.g., right here in Philadelphia, this past fall, a major Charter school (both elementary and high school) shut down due to money problems. Other Charters were closed due to mismanagement of money and even for trying to parlay the funding allotted, to use for other business ventures. And because they closed & sold something like 35 school buildings, the children from closed Charters are essentially forced to jam into fewer existing public schools.

In this case, a Democrat, who was formerly a City Council member, was asked by the former Republican governor Corbett, to head up the SRC in 2014. He resigned his Council seat and became the governor's appointee. Now with Corbett out, he was asked by the newly elected Democratic governor (Wolf) to NOT vote for/approve any Charters so that this whole issue could be reviewed. Yet he went ahead and did so anyway. So the (D) governor has removed him as Chairman.

IMHO, I think there should be some Charter Schools for specialty purposes for parents who might want that option, but NOT instead of regular public schools by draining money for the traditional public schools in an effort to demonstrate a "for profit" model for public elementary secondary education.

We need to take the "business model" bullshit out of government, education, and healthcare.

[bbgrunt]

7. thanks for the explanation. I was confused because

it seemed that Green came with Dem roots--and approving the Charter schools certainly seemed incongruent (but who can tell these days) with Dem principles.

Good for Wolf!

[BumRushDaShow]

9. He may have come from Dem roots

but he's apparently a sucker shoot that popped up FAR away from the main tree!

This building, just across from the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia building & the National Constitution Center, and a couple blocks north of Independence Hall, is named after his grandfather!

[DebJ]

2. My hubby and friends work in the York City School District, so I can parallel with this.

Thank you for posting! Good news!

[BumRushDaShow]

10. And Wolf is from York and still lives there

(he opted not to live in the Governor's mansion and will be commuting from his home in York), and he had been livid regarding what Corbett did to the schools there on his way out of office. He asked Corbett to wait and Corbett basically told him "up you". He has his team looking at the issue. Of course the (R)s in the area are pushing him to go all for-profit charters, which is just bullshit. They need to to do the opposite and start taxing that shale oil and restore the funding to all the public schools.

[DebJ]

3. the link isn't working though............... try this

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/school_files/Green-out-as-SRC-chair.html

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Thank you!

I was tied up last night and posted quickly but should have reviewed.

[Demit]

6. I think Green wants to be mayor anyway.

I don't know for sure, but it felt like Green burned his bridges when he accepted that post from Corbett. He's certainly not the Democrat his dad was. Maybe there was some back room talk with him that softened the blow of being pushed out, like later support for a mayoral run. I don't like him.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. He's like Andrew Cuomo is versus dad Mario

like day and night.

The mayoral slate would be pretty rough for him to try to jump in now, although if that is his goal, he might wait until the next go-around (in 2019). He would have had more cred if he had stayed in City Council, which is (along with DA), the typical stepping-stone to mayor.

Since he accepted that position almost a year before the election, maybe he thought that Corbett was going to win (could have been the prevailing fantasy given what eventually happened to other incumbent (R) governors plus the 2-term precedence for governors here, although Wolf maintained a double-digit lead over Corbett after the primaries last year)? He has definitely established himself as DLC-ish/Third Way (like Nutter & Rendell).