Hite pitches for business help for city schools

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. looked out over the sea of suits and made his pitch for Philadelphia schools.

"With your support, your assistance, your passion to help the children of Philadelphia, we will get there," Hite told the audience of lawyers and business people.

The pep talk came Tuesday at a "Support Our Schools" corporate partnership breakfast at the Center City law firm Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer & Toddy P.C.

After several years of cuts, Hite and the Philadelphia School District are courting investments in the 2015-16 school year. City leaders have asked the business community to help plug holes at individual schools, a message hammered home Tuesday.

It's not always an easy sell. The district has long had a reputation as a shaky investment, a place where it's difficult to get things done, an opaque bureaucracy.

City Council perhaps added fuel to that fire last week, when members grilled Hite and his team, saying it was tough to get information out of the district. Mayor Nutter has proposed a property-tax increase that would yield $105 million in new money for the schools, but Council has balked.

Hite jokingly pointed to the Council hearing, referencing "the great time I had in City Council last week."

But Alan Casnoff said that Zarwin Baum's work at Mitchell School in Southwest Philadelphia has paid dividends.

The partnership began when Casnoff, a Zarwin Baum partner, approached Hite during an early-morning workout when the two lived in the same building. He said he wanted to do something with a city school, and Hite's staff connected him with Mitchell.

Principal Cheryl Hackett and two of her students said the relationship has yielded tangible things - computers, TVs, furniture - but also relationships and mentors for her students.

"It's been an amazing journey," Hackett said.

William Fedullo, past chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, has pushed hard for the city's lawyers to care about and work to help city schools. He got involved at Dobson School in Manayunk, and the thank-you note a girl named Jenna wrote him - "I will always remember you and your advice," she told Fedullo in careful printing - was the highlight of being chancellor of the bar association, he said.

"There should never be a child without basic instruments," he said. "We have to fill in the gaps."

Fedullo decried Council's treatment of the district, which he said "shows an astonishing lack of awareness. It's terrifying to me as a citizen of Philadelphia."

Those who gathered at the breakfast seemed inclined to help.

Clayton Justice's organization, Men Who Care of Germantown, works with Roosevelt School and Martin Luther King High. In spots, it's been tough to get good work done because of district obstacles, he said.

"There are barriers," Justice said. "It's arduous."

But he vowed to forge on, because connecting with the community is important, he said. Ayana Lewis of the district's relatively new strategic partnerships office vowed to smooth the path for those who wanted to help.

Democratic mayoral candidate James F. Kenney, introduced half-jokingly as "mayor-elect," also addressed the crowd, saying that if he is elected, he would start a nonprofit to lease out the city's luxury boxes for sporting events. He estimated could yield $3 million annually that would go toward the schools - particularly if the city's sports teams improve.

Kenney, too, stressed the need for law firms and businesses to pitch in with cash and time for city schools.

"They're not just somebody else's children," Kenney said. "They're all of our children."

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