Dr. William Hite, Superintendent, School District of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Board of Education
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers
3/7/2021
Dr. Hite, Board of Education members, and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers executive officers:
On the eve of the reopening of 53 school buildings, we are writing to share our concerns with readiness and transparency, and to request the proactive sharing of data and detailed information on facility safety, COVID testing results, and reopening progress. We want children back in school buildings only when it is safe, and it is your collective responsibility to do more to ensure that safety.
In our reviews of the information released by the district and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, we have observed that there are still numerous holes. Parents are not being given timely access to clear, detailed information with which to make decisions about returning their children to school buildings.
Here are a few examples of areas in which we see urgent deficiencies:
- Many schools have information listed in linked ventilation reports from the contractors that are not updated or reflected in the district’s ABR reports, making it hard to determine overall building status
- There is no way to know when ABR reports are updated or replaced other than checking the folder, individual reports, and linked attachments CONTINUE READING: