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Pa. Supreme Court stays hearing on teacher layoffs in Philly

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday halted a lower-court hearing scheduled for Tuesday on whether the Philadelphia School District could proceed to lay off 1,523 district teachers who received pink slips last week.

Hundreds of teachers, counselors, and others rallied Monday before the School Reform Commission meeting. (Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer)
Hundreds of teachers, counselors, and others rallied Monday before the School Reform Commission meeting. (Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer)Read more

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday halted a lower-court hearing scheduled for Tuesday on whether the Philadelphia School District could proceed to lay off 1,523 district teachers who received pink slips last week.

Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said the one-sentence stay issued Monday evening by Justice Max Baer meant the temporary restraining order the union received last week from Common Pleas Court halting the layoffs would remain in effect until the high court acts.

"That means everything remains status quo, and the judge will not conduct a hearing" Tuesday, Jordan told reporters shortly after addressing a meeting of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission. An angry, overflow crowd of PFT members poured into the meeting after a massive rally in front of the district's headquarters at 440 N. Broad St. Carrying PFT signs and homemade placards, teachers showed their displeasure with the district budget situation and the way it has handled the layoffs.

The full, seven-member Supreme Court "will review the School District's petition and decide which court has jurisdiction to hear the PFT's complaint," the district said in a statement Monday night.

Tuesday's hearing in Common Pleas Court had been scheduled to determine whether the temporary halt to the layoffs would be extended.

The district filed documents in the state Supreme Court last week seeking permission to proceed with the layoffs. The district has invoked Act 46, the state law that created the SRC, and asked the state's highest court to declare "extraordinary jurisdiction."

The layoffs, which are scheduled to take effect July 1, are part of the district's efforts to address a $629 million shortfall in the next fiscal year. The district is also laying off more than 1,500 other employees, including large cuts to central-office staff.

For Monday's 5 p.m. SRC meeting, city police and school police officers were on hand to limit the number of demonstrators allowed into the second-floor auditorium.

Dressed in red PFT T-shirts, the union members chanted, sang, and erupted in catcalls as Deputy Superintendent Leroy Nunery provided a brief update on the budget and reminded the audience that despite the financial obstacles facing the district, "we must not forget that our primary responsibility is to our children."

Nunery made the opening remarks in place of Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman, who was out of town.

Jamilah Fraser, a district spokeswoman, said Ackerman had a previous engagement that was made before the SRC's scheduled Monday meeting.

Outside the auditorium, angry demonstrators pounded on the closed doors. Fraser said the doors had been shut because the crowd exceeded the maximum allowed in the room under the fire code. The meeting was shown live for the overflow crowd in the first-floor atrium.

Outside, before the meeting, hundreds of PFT members waved signs, and passing cars honked horns in response.

Jordan told them the union planned to fight budget cuts.

"It is going to be virtually impossible for our kids to get the kind of education they need with the kind of cuts they're proposing," Jordan told the crowd. "We're fighting back because it's not good for kids."

Jordan was joined by the heads of the principals' union and Local 1201, the union representing bus drivers, custodians, and other support staff.

"Children are being hurt, and a war is being declared on workers simultaneously. We will not stand by for this," said Robert McGrogan, president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators.

During the meeting, a stream of parents, students, and teachers blasted the SRC for targeting teachers, nurses, and arts, music, and robotics programs for massive cuts while preserving $24 million for an 18-day summer school and using $26.9 million to continue and expand Promise Academies. One of the signature programs under Ackerman's Imagine 2014 plan, Promise Academies provide additional resources and special interventions for chronically underperforming schools.

Parent Rebecca Poyourow upbraided the commission for voting Monday to approve resolutions to spend $150,000 on a weekend leadership retreat; to allocate $8 million for contracts under $15,000 that do not require SRC approval; and to authorize "a $2 million retainer for outside counsel on top of the district's already substantial legal staff."

After detailing the massive cuts to teaching positions approved by the commission, she added: "I wish you had considered how many teaching positions each of them would fund."

In other action, the SRC failed to pass resolutions that would have denied a new charter for Community Academy of Philadelphia charter school and sought proposals from other charter organizations to open a similar charter school for at-risk children in Kensington.

Commissioner Joseph A. Dworetzky had introduced the resolutions last week.

The SRC has twice voted 2-1-1 in favor of a new charter. The district maintains that three votes are needed for approval.

Community officials say the split vote gave them a new charter and have appealed to the state Charter Appeal Board to resolve it.

The commission also unanimously approved a $8.5 million contract with the Elliott-Lewis Corp. to manage the district's headquarters for five years.

The district rebid the contract after allegations of bid-rigging surfaced in January.