Nominating Panel Sends Mayor Second List Of Potential School Board Members
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Education Nominating Panel has sent Mayor Jim Kenney 18 more names of possible appointees for the new school board. This group includes more parents and teachers.
The panel previously handed in 27 names, three for each of the nine seats on the school board, which will take over for the soon-to-be-dissolved School Reform Commission. But the mayor asked for more and specified he wanted more teachers and parents in the mix.
Chairman Wendell Pritchett says the panel went back to its pool of 80 potential nominees to find them.
"There were lots of wonderful people," Pritchett said, "and we had already recognized more than 27 people that we would have been excited to put forward to the mayor."
One result is a group more familiar to education advocates who've been watching the process closely, such as Lisa Haver, though she still dislikes the panel's process.
"The panel has shut the public out of all of its deliberations in clear violation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act," Haver said.
The mayor has said he plans to name the board as soon as possible so they can prepare to take over control of the school district in July.
