Philly City Council confirms 8 school board members, but Joyce Wilkerson’s fate remains up in the air

Eight of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s nine school board picks were unanimously confirmed by City Council on Thursday.

Whether the ninth, Joyce Wilkerson, moves forward, is still up in the air. Sources close to the situation said Wilkerson did not have the votes to advance.

Approved by Council were Reginald Streater, Sarah-Ashley Andrews, ChauWing Lam, Crystal Cubbage, Cheryl Harper, Whitney Jones, Wanda Novales, and Joan Stern.

In advance of Thursday’s Council meeting, there was a full-court press on Wilkerson’s behalf, with a diverse coalition of supporters stepping up to speak out for the former board president, hoping to counter the extensive advocacy against Wilkerson, mostly by charter school supporters.

A school board must be sworn in by May 1; it’s unclear whether an incomplete board will be seated, or whether Wilkerson or another candidate will be hurried through by the deadline.

Parker said in a statement issued Thursday that she will continue to support her slate of nominees, including Wilkerson: ”I selected nominees who wholeheartedly share my vision for public education in our city,” Parker said.

An administration official, who was not authorized to speak about the status of negotiations and requested anonymity, said Wilkerson’s nomination was potentially still alive.

“We don’t think this is over,” the official said.

» READ MORE: Philly school board showdown: 8 nominees move forward, but the fate of 1 is unclear

The current school board appointed by former Mayor Jim Kenney met late Thursday afternoon, its final session before the new board’s May meeting.

Wilkerson has not spoken out about the matter; Streater, the current board president, said in a statement after the vote that while he appreciated City Council’s endorsement, he looks forward to the confirmation of “the full slate.”

“Respectfully, there is unfinished business,” Streater said. “It’s the slate, not just the eight.”

After they cast votes to move the eight forward, top lawmakers cast doubt on the future of Wilkerson’s nomination.

Council President Kenyatta Johnson said while negotiations with the administration are ongoing, Wilkerson does not have the support of a majority of Council, and “at this current time, the nomination will not be moving forward.”

Asked multiple times by reporters Thursday, Johnson and Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who chairs the Education Committee, refused to offer specifics as to why members are opposed to Wilkerson.

Thomas said only that the opposition “has nothing to do with charters.”

”Everybody is allowed to have the position and the philosophy they have,” said Thomas. “We are trying to put ourselves in a position to move forward that’s in the best interest of children.”

Among those speaking out for Wilkerson in recent days was Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan, who urged his members to call their City Council representatives, and told Council in a letter that Wilkerson played a large part in the district’s rebound in the last decade.

“As evidenced by the support of her colleagues and a host of education advocacy groups, Ms. Wilkerson’s nomination is of critical importance,” Jordan wrote. “I want to be clear that the PFT support of Ms. Wilkerson’s nomination is not because we are always in agreement. Healthy disagreement and debate is crucial to the success of our district. But rooted in that can, and must, be a shared collective commitment to the success of our district — and that means the success of our students and staff.”

Danny Bauder, president of AFL-CIO Philadelphia Council, told Council in a letter that Wilkerson “has a wealth of extensive knowledge, dutifully earned from her years of experience in numerous capacities and a clear passion for educating the children of Philadelphia. Because of her years of experience and her devotion, she knows the value of engaging with stakeholders with all levels of interest in the Philadelphia Board of Education.”

The Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America asked members to call Council on Wilkerson’s behalf, saying that the campaign against her was “dangerous” and that she ought to be confirmed to “uphold the integrity of our public schools to protect the interests of all students.”

And Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, a Public Interest Law Center lawyer who was part of a team that successfully had Pennsylvania’s education-funding system declared illegal, appealed to Council, too.

Both Wilkerson and current board president Streater — who was ultimately moved forward by Council despite some opposition — are, Urevick-Ackelsberg said, “dedicated public servants, who act with integrity, and who have a record of caring for all the children of Philadelphia.”

There is, Urevick-Ackelsberg wrote, “an inevitable push and pull between charter schools and the board that is supposed to provide them oversight,” but while some charter schools are excellent, others have produced federal convictions, abrupt, unprompted closures, and admissions processes that discriminate against students of color and those with disabilities.

“Each member of the board has a legal, ethical and moral obligation to protect charter students by providing effective oversight to charter schools.”

Some charter supporters have said they had concerns about both Wilkerson and, to a lesser extent, Streater.

One version of a letter received by numerous Council members said Wilkerson’s “track record demonstrates a disregard for the educational welfare of Black children in our city.” The writers took issue with her decision to non-renew some Black-led charter schools and deny applications from Black-led charter providers.

Streater has said that the board is responsible to uphold state charter law, and has only closed schools that had significant academic issues over years, engaged in financial mismanagement, and, in some cases, broken laws. He pointed to the board’s expansion of the charter sector in recent years and its decision to hold off on closing schools it could have moved to shut under the law.

Several advocates for traditional public schools testified during the public comment portion of Council’s session Thursday. Lisa Haver, a retired teacher and cofounder of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, said she has in the past criticized the board and Wilkerson but believes the opposition to her nomination is “not about any one board member.”

”Scapegoating one of the mayor’s nominees is really not about the best interests of the children and the city,” Haver said. “It’s a show of strength by those who want to push for free-market approaches to public education.”

Symbol Lai, policy director at the advocacy organization Children First, testified that Wilkerson brings needed experience to the board.

”Without Ms. Wilkerson’s experience, we’ll have a school board where the longest-serving member only has two years of experience,” she said. “Fiscal stewardship becomes that much harder with a board that’s comprised of largely new folks.”