Philadelphia School District sues city over law that could disrupt school openings

Philadelphia School District Sues City Over Law Threatening School Openings

The Philadelphia School District has filed a lawsuit against the city over legislation that officials say could disrupt the opening of some school buildings in the fall. The unprecedented move comes months after City Council passed a law designed to strengthen environmental conditions in the district by forming a public oversight board to determine standards and judge whether school buildings can safely house staff and students.

Education Lawyers NEWS: Philadelphia School District Sues City Over Law Threatening School Openings

January 21, 2023

PHILADELPHIA (EducationLawyers.com) — The Philadelphia School District has filed a lawsuit against the city over legislation that officials say could disrupt the opening of some school buildings in the fall.

The unprecedented move comes months after City Council passed a law designed to strengthen environmental conditions in the district by forming a public oversight board to determine standards and judge whether school buildings can safely house staff and students.

It also creates a public fissure between the school board and the city officials who established the board just five years ago after 17 years of state oversight. School board members are selected by the mayor and confirmed by City Council.

School board president Reginald Streater, who said he believed the litigation is the “culmination of decades of chronic underfunding,” noted that the district alone is authorized by state law to determine whether schools open or close, and that children struggle academically and socially when unable to access face-to-face learning.

“Any action, even if well-intentioned, that threatens to remove children from in-person education, will be met with the requisite response from the School District of Philadelphia and its Board of Education,” Streater said in a statement. The law, he said, “could needlessly threaten the opening of many district school buildings at the start of the next school year, jeopardizing the health, safety, and welfare of our students, especially those who rely on our buildings for shelter and services.”

Sarah Peterson, a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney, said that overcoming the challenges of “decades of disinvestment” in Philadelphia schools “requires partnership and problem-solving between the district, city, and other stakeholders. We believe this goal is best achieved through collaboration and not through litigation.”

Council President Darrell L. Clarke and Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, education committee chair, said in a statement that discussions about academic improvements can’t happen if buildings aren’t safe.

“It’s unfortunate that the School District has decided that this must be addressed in court, rather than providing a comprehensive plan to modernize and safeguard our schools,” said Clarke and Thomas, who also noted disparities in building conditions among district schools. “To respond to a plan to get rid of asbestos and other hazards with a lawsuit reinforces that the school district is working to maintain the status quo, rather than working collaboratively to bring our schools into the 21st century.”

Passed unanimously by City Council in May and signed by Kenney in June, the law requires one-third of city public and charter schools inspected for safety issues — including asbestos, water quality, and lead paint — by Aug. 1. The next third would have to be inspected in 2024, and the final group would be checked in 2025. Buildings could not open unless the district accepted the oversight panel’s demands, a proposition that could translate to millions of dollars in repairs.

Historically, the school system has been solely responsible for ensuring its buildings are safe, inspecting possible environmental issues and fixing them. Federal law requires school buildings with known asbestos-containing materials to be examined every three years, for instance; in other cases, people who work inside school buildings flag issues they discover, though the district typically has a backlog of hundreds of work orders, limited resources and staff, drawing criticism from teachers and parents alike.

Ultimately, the new law gives the city’s managing director the final say on whether buildings can stay open, after weighing recommendations from the new advisory board, which comprises environmental experts, representatives from the district, City Council, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and other unions, parent groups, and students.