Shakeup at SRC: Former city bus aide appointed
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Shakeup at SRC: Former city bus aide appointed
Kristen Graham
A shakeup is coming to the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, the Inquirer has learned.
Commissioner Lorene Cary, who had taken a leave of absence for medical reasons, will not be reappointed. Her term is up at the end of the month" . In her place, Mayor Nutter will appoint Sylvia P. Simms, a parent advocate.
Wendell Pritchett, whose term is also up this month, will be reappointed to the SRC.
Both Simms and Pritchett will serve four-year terms. Mark McDonald, a spokesman for the mayor, confirmed the appointments.
Until recently, Simms, 52, was a bus aide working with special needs children for the district. She is a North Philadelphia resident, graduate of Simon Gratz High School, and the mother of two children who graduated from Dobbins and University City High Schools. Her granddaughter currently attends T.M. Peirce Elementary, a North Philadelphia school slated for closure.
Simms is the founder of Parent Power, a parent empowerment organization.
She said she was surprised to be asked by the mayor to serve on the SRC, but honored.
"My focus is parents, families, and community engagement, and actually listening to the people," Simms said.
Simms, who will be sworn in by the next SRC meeting, on Feb. 21, said she knows she represents a new direction for the SRC, which has traditionally been made up of lawyers and other prominent Philadelphians.
"I'll be a voice at the table that's currently not at the table," she said.
She wades into an SRC that's facing enormous fiscal challenges, and will help determine the future course of the district. The SRC will vote on 37 school closings on March 7.
Simms said she has not yet fully evaluated the district's closing plans.
"But I will," she said. "I want to see how they determined the schools they're closing, to make sure it's a fair process."
One thing is sure, Simms said: she wants to make sure all Philadelphians are heard by the powers that be.
"They have to find a better way to talk to the people, and have those crucial conversations that people want to have," she said.
McDonald, the mayor's spokesman, said that Cary was not being reappointed for medical reasons, but said the mayor had the highest praise for her tenure on the SRC. Her focus on safety will be continued, McDonald said.
"Enough nice things cannot be said," about Cary, said McDonald.
As for Simms, "the mayor is very pleased," he said. "I think the mayor believes he's secured a very excellent person who will do what's best for all children."
In a statement, Nutter said that "Sylvia will bring an incredibly important and unique perspective to educational advocacy to the School Reform Commission.”
Someone who actually understands what it's like on the ground. Great appointment! Good luck, Ms. Simms.— Stand for Something- I needed a good laugh for the day!— sueN
- While she may be an advocate for parents, what experience does she have in fiscal management and is she truly qualified to make decisions whether schools close? Couldn't Nutter have found a parent with a college degree to hold this position?— catnameddomino
Comment removed.- is it just me or does she have a lil mustache?— Zero
- I am speechless. (THUD!!)...(the sound of cgraham falling on the floor) A bus aide on the SRC. You can't make this stuff up.— cgraham
- It is time to end the fiasco that the state takeover has begotten, disband the SRC and move to a democratically elected school board elected by the people. It is amazing that in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, we have one of the least democratically governed school systems in America.
Did anyone stop to realize the correlation here? Wherever there are unelected school boards in America, there is the lowest achievement level of its students. The proof is in the test scores of systems run by unelected boards -- they are the lowest throughout America.— readingspecialist 1 - To "bi,ll atkins", you do seem to make a job out of complaining about Ms. Gym in these comments. Despite your scary stalker tendency, your constant barrage of comments about Ms. Gym only illustrate that you really don't have a clue about her and her 15 years of work in education. In two minutes of internet research, there is a wide variety of examples of Ms. Gym "solving problems" (to quote you). One thing I discovered in those 2 minutes, in 2007, the Inquirer awarded her their 2007 Citizen of the Year because -- wait for it -- "The award goes to Gym because Parents United's grassroots efforts reach across economic, political and racial divides, and because those efforts produce results." Sounds like a "problem solver" to me. I think you need a different obsession and not one that clearly out classes you, out thinks you and actually works to improve students lives instead of merely trolling the comments section of philly.com to post negative items about a person.— dafla67
- Comment removed.
- Do I have to do all your research "bi,llatkins" and provide you with information? From the very first paragraphs of the article announcing her as Citizen of the Year award -- Ms Gym was responsible for forcing the PPA to honor its obligation/promise to pay money to Philly schools. With a bit more research, it looks like PPA had failed to pay what it promised to the SDP for a few years. Ms. Gym and Parents United asked the PPA why it had not paid up and then disproved every excuse PPA came up with as justification to why PPA did not pay up. Finally, after Ms. Gym proved that PPA were just welching on their obligation, the PPA agreed to pay $2.1M that year and they have been paying ever since. Don't give me that the City/Mayor-elect had anything to do with it, because with a bit more research, it looks like the City/Mayor-elect was months late coming to this issue. It took me less than 5 minutes to piece this information together. Clearly, it is you who has an unusual issue with her. I think my 3 posted comments to this story doubles the number of comments I've ever posted to philly.com, yet you do seem to be all over the place hawking Ms. Gym. You do need to get over it and quickly.— dafla67
- While picking a "normal" person is great, how about picking a normal person who is actually a teacher? Or a principal? It'd be nice to have school policy decided by someone who has actually spent years working in schools in those trenches.— TakeBackPhilly
- DO any white people get appointed to anything in phlly anymore?— big geoff
- DO any white people get appointed to anything in phlly anymore?— big geoff
- What is the SRC? Where have some people been for over 10 years?— JimR
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
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