A $6.9 million sexual-abuse settlement and a new charter application: Philadelphia school board roundup

The city school board on Thursday voted on a $6.9 million sexual-abuse settlement, heard about an application for a new charter high school, and listened to members of the public who want voter education mandated in the Philadelphia School District curriculum.

Here’s a rundown of Thursday’s school board meeting:

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The school board voted to pay a former student $6.9 million over reported sexual abuse that happened in a district school.

The student, whose name was withheld, was repeatedly abused at Parkway Center City High School by a teacher between 2006 and 2010, according to a suit filed in federal court.

The district and then-Parkway principal Catherine Blunt, the suit says, knew that Larry Perry “was using his authority and power as a teacher to sexually abuse minor-female students such as Jane Doe but despite this knowledge, the defendants continued to employ and certify Mr. Perry as a teacher thereby allowing him to commit his horrific acts and abuse against Jane Doe.”

Perry, a popular English and social studies teacher, struck up a relationship with a 13-year-old through “flirtatious emails and text messages,” according to police records. Once she turned 15, Perry began driving her to his home in Willow Grove, where they had sex.

He also gave the girl a prepaid cell phone and solicited nude photographs of her, according to the lawsuit.

The district “failed in a myriad of ways to protect” the student, the lawsuit states.

Teachers who associated with Perry knew about his relationship with the victim, the suit says, but did nothing despite being mandated reporters. A noontime aide once saw Perry driving the victim on I-95. A school police officer began noticing Perry spending significant amounts of time with the victim and brought his concerns to the school principal, who responded by bringing the police officer to a meeting with her and Perry.

The principal told the school police officer that Perry “had been investigated previously regarding similar allegations, and that nothing happened to him.” The principal took no further action, the suit says.

The district had been warned about Perry before — in 1998, Perry’s then-girlfriend discovered him naked with another underage student at their home. She kicked him out of the apartment and reported the inappropriate contact to Parkway Center City officials, handing over letters and cards Perry wrote to the girl.

The school system conducted no meaningful investigation at the time, the suit said; Perry was removed from the classroom for a few days but no notation was made in his personnel file.

In effect, the district “allowed and permitted a predator with an insatiable appetite for minor female students to roam the halls of Parkway School, in the guise of a teacher, so that he could continue to prey upon vulnerable, minor female students,” according to the legal filing.

The student’s “entire life has been upended and permanently damaged,” the suit says.

Perry, 55, is currently serving up to eight years in state prison. He pleaded no contest to charges of statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor.

The board made no comment about the legal payout, but voted unanimously to endorse it. In board documents, the settlement was described by the Office of General Counsel as “a fair and appropriate resolution of contested litigation.”

Charter chief Peng Chao told the board that it had received an application for one new charter school.

The Global Leadership Academy International Charter High School would open in 2024 and eventually serve 600 students in grades 9 through 12.

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No other details were forthcoming, but though the application is new, the name is not. Naomi Johnson-Booker, a longtime district educator who founded and runs Global Leadership Academy and Global Leadership Academy Southwest, has twice applied to open a Global Leadership Academy high school. Both applications were denied.

The 2023 denial drew sparks; board members Lisa Salley and Cecelia Thompson said at the time that they believed the denial was based on “personal bias,” a notion that was roundly rejected by other board members.

A recent independent investigation of alleged racism and bias in charter authorization and evaluation found no overt bias on the part of the school board or charter office, though it did enumerate multiple issues, including conflicts of interest, a lack of transparency, and no training on implicit bias and antiracism, all of which “contributed to concerns of racial bias and inequity,” the Ballard Spahr report said.

Hearings will be held on the proposed new GLA High School in December and January, with the board voting on the application soon after.

Students, a teacher and community members urged the board to make voter education a part of the school system’s curriculum.

Thomas Quinn, a teacher at Central High, said that efforts to increase voter registration and civic engagement among district students have been so successful that voter turnout among 18-year-olds in Philadelphia has jumped by 157%.

“Who says teens don’t care?” Quinn said.

Justin Villere, who coordinates civic engagement for the nonpartisan Committee of Seventy, said the district was in a position to make meaningful change by codifying voter education.

“We believe learning how to be a voter is a core principle of well-rounded student learning,” Villere said.