Activists Want Philadelphia School Board Nominees Meeting Open To Public
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The panel that will suggest school board nominees to Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney meets today for the first time. Some activists want that meeting entirely open to the public.
The mayor's nominating panel has the job of providing him 27 names, from which he'll appoint nine to the new local school board. Only the initial portion of the panel's first meeting is scheduled to be open. That rankles education activist Lisa Haver.
"If the candidates don't want their answers to be public, they don't belong on a public board. And if the panel members don't want their questions public, they don't belong on the panel," said Haver.
Deputy Mayor Jim Engler says the city is permitted under the Sunshine Act to conduct the process behind closed doors.
"Some of their work, including the interviewing of possible interested candidates, will be done in small groups or in executive session, mostly to insure the expediency of the process," said Engler.
Engler says the city is holding seven public information sessions on the process, and that the mayor's ultimate choices will be vetted by City Council.