Harrisburg teachers’ questions at emergency meeting center around job security, leadership
While it was the last day of classes for Harrisburg School District students, hundreds of teachers worried about their immediate future packed the auditorium at John Harris High School on Tuesday for an emergency Harrisburg Education Association meeting.
Teachers want to know who is going to run the district and who is going to give them an explanation of what a possible state takeover would mean to them and their employment. But every time they think they will have their answer, something new delays their clarity.
At the meeting Tuesday, teachers learned that the district’s solicitor asked for four more days to prepare for the hearing between the district and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It had been scheduled for Friday. State Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera on Monday filed a request with the Court to appoint a receiver to take over the troubled Harrisburg School District.
But even after the decision on a takeover is made, teachers still want to know what’s next, said Pennsylvania State Education Association spokeswoman Lauri Lebo, adding that they are starting their summer break amid a lot of uncertainty. “We know that in the immediate future, nothing about their jobs changes,” she said.
Union leaders listened to a lot of “feedback,” Lebo said, specifically about when will they know about their contract. Teachers haven’t had a contract for nearly a year.
Anything can happen with a state takeover, including major spending cuts, which is not something teachers want hanging over their heads as they start their summer break.
As far as holding the district administration accountable, some teachers said it’s about time the state steps in. Nobody can recall a time when the school system has been this out of control, said a Harrisburg teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Taxpayers’ money has been spent on “educational trips” taken by the district’s top leader, without clear communication to the district as to why Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney needed to go on them, the teacher said. "When do we get new desks, when do we get new chairs, when do we get new books?” the teacher asked.
A 2019 survey of school employees that laid out employees’ dissatisfaction with the district’s administration was included with the court filing.
Some of its highlights:
- 67 percent of school employees disagreed with the following statement: “There is mutual trust between school-level employees and the central office.”
- 77 percent of school respondents disagreed with the this statement: “The district has a strong culture of excellence and high expectations for all."
The contractor hired to conduct the survey at the request of Harrisburg’s current Chief Recovery Officer Dr. Janet Samuels, noted the district’s culture was described as “toxic," according to survey results.
Rivera told the court he would like Samuels to be appointed as the school system’s receiver. Samuels said Monday she had no comment about the possible state takeover. District officials have also not responded to requests for comment.
Another teacher, who also wanted to speak on the condition of anonymity, said “the state taking over relieves a lot of tension.”
“I know from previous union meetings that Dr. Samuels is in this for the kids and the right reasons," the teacher said. “If it would be her taking us over, I have a lot of faith in that. We cannot continue like this. It’s a soap opera meets a reality TV show every day.”
Gloss