Tag Archives: Sybil Knight-Burney

Illness & Inspiration: COVID-19 has greatly impacted Harrisburg’s Black community, but some find hope amid the disease, the loss.

January 29, 2021 | by M. Diane McCormick

Kevin Dolphin and Lisa Burhannan

Kevin Dolphin once watched his friend, Lisa Burhannan, work her magic on a room of teenage girls.

Their nonprofit, Breaking the Chainz, teaches cognitive development in schools, but these particular girls were “having a bad day.” So Burhannan got them to draw how they were feeling.

“By the end of the day, you could see the light in their eyes,” said Dolphin. “They would always come to her for advice. They couldn’t wait for her to get there so they could ask her and talk to her about things. That is more priceless than anything.”

Burhannan is gone now. So is Gerald Welch, who never backed down if it meant keeping children from falling through the cracks.

COVID-19 has plowed through Black America, carving a gash in leadership structures and within families. In Harrisburg, those left behind are finding resiliency in the community and plumbing the legacies of lost loved ones for inspiration.

Dreams Released

The Rev. Dr. Brenda Alton no longer pastors her own church—she is system manager of spiritual care services at UPMC Pinnacle. But in the COVID year, she presided over more funerals than ever before.

Her job, though, still inspires hope. She gets to deliver “good news in bad times” to a community rediscovering its strengths.

“The pandemic has allowed the ‘neighbor’ to return to the ‘hood,’ so we have ‘neighborhood,’” said Alton, who lost dear friends to the pandemic while she and her family were “deathly sick” in March. “We have neighbors who check on each other. We have families that have restored a level of care. They pay more attention. There’s this heightened sense of protection for our elders and maybe even a return of respect for our seniors.”

Quarantines have not halted a renewed grassroots activism, Alton adds. Community leaders organized food distributions and holiday gifting for people suddenly facing the loss of livelihoods, businesses and retirement savings.

Black churches rarely trumpet their good deeds, so the role of the church in sustaining community has long been overlooked, said Ronald D. Holton, Sr., pastor of Lingo Memorial Church of God in Christ in Uptown Harrisburg. The pandemic has changed that. One young man Holton knows had frequently disparaged the church online but is now saying “Amen” to Holton’s virtual sermons.

“In difficult times, individuals turn to the church, and they begin to see the importance of the Black church in the Black community,” Holton said.

And, says Alton, old aspirations that had gone dormant in pre-COVID days are awakening as people collaborate to launch startups and patronize small businesses.

“All those dreams we’ve had locked up, it’s time to work on them and release them,” Alton said.

In the wake of COVID, the Black community is mobilizing on multiple fronts, addressing physical and mental health, economic upheaval and social justice, said Dolphin.

“Coming together has been one of our greatest strengths,” he said.

Essential

When you suddenly can’t smell Clorox, COVID-19 is calling.

Aaron Johnson blames his case on high-fives exchanged with fellow Steelers fans at a Dallas Cowboys’ home game. But the loss of taste and smell didn’t keep him from eating the Thanksgiving dishes that friends dropped off.

“What are we gonna do?” he said. “I’m still gonna eat. I know what it’s supposed to taste like.”

Kidding aside, Johnson’s wife also contracted COVID. So did his sister, who was hospitalized. He lost his stepbrother and several friends. One friend, a bus driver with underlying kidney disease, recovered, but only after being placed on a ventilator.

Through all of this, Johnson wonders—who’s watching out for sanitation workers? As director of Harrisburg’s Department of Public Works, he’s been juggling the schedules of the sick and quarantined. Contact tracing turns one possible case into four or five workers forced to isolate. Test results take days to come back, forcing people off work while they wait.

The people who pick up our trash, a largely Black and Brown workforce, should be classified as essential workers and given priority for vaccines, Johnson said.

“Public works and highway and sanitation, we’re emergency workers,” he said. “Ever since (the pandemic) broke out, sanitation is on the ground.”

A Void

Dolphin and Burhannan grew up together, the children of dysfunctional families from “the wrong side of the tracks,” in Dolphin’s words.

With her “giving and selfless heart,” Burhannan would reach out to help “anyone, anywhere,” especially after the death of her son. Locally, she led chapters of Mothers in Charge and Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, ministered to hospital patients, and supervised a re-entry home for women. Her work took her nationwide.

“Those are a pair of shoes that no one in the city or wherever will be able to fill,” said Dolphin, the founder and president of Breaking the Chainz. “She definitely left something behind. There’s a void.”

Even from the ICU, Burhannan hosted Zoom meetings and helped family. She died from COVID-19 on June 11.

Harrisburg School Board Director Gerald Welch succumbed on April 15. For a man known for his brutal honesty, Welch was “a teddy bear,” says his wife, Donna. They met online. He proposed the first time they met in person. She said yes because “it just felt right.”

Moving to Harrisburg from New York after they married in 2008, Welch worked as a behavior specialist and drug and alcohol counselor. He also grew incensed about the school district’s dismal graduation rate. On his second run for school board, he won a seat, sharing a platform with a group that wanted to oust former Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney.

When the pandemic arrived, he kept working, meeting patients one-on-one. Many joined a long line of mourners in a drive-by tribute on a cold, rainy day in late April. Welch’s ICU nurses displayed a banner saying that it was an honor to care for him. One woman he helped to sobriety made a sign—still in Donna’s yard—showing a black and a white hand coming together in unity.

“People would come and put balloons in my front yard, or candles,” said Donna.

In Gerald Welch’s memory, fellow school board Director Carrie Fowler founded Gerald’s Kids. The scholarship program focuses services on individual children transitioning from first to second grade—an often-overlooked time when children who are struggling to read or who lack adult attention risk lifetime consequences. The first child sponsored is the son of an imprisoned man who Gerald Welch had reached out to.

At Burhannan’s socially distanced service in Reservoir Park, Alton presided for her longtime friend. She reminded mourners to follow Burhannan’s example of a life transformed.

“Lisa gave it her all, 24/7,” Alton said. “There is a void, and I’m hoping that those who are still mourning will say, ‘She is still alive in my heart.’”

Tina Nixon has received “too many text messages and phone calls” informing her of deaths. An aunt died from COVID. So did a cousin.

“COVID has shined a spotlight on the health disparities on communities of color,” said the vice president, mission effectiveness, and chief diversity officer at UPMC Pinnacle. “We’ve been addressing it, but we can’t do it alone.”

UPMC Pinnacle is leveraging existing connections to share messages of staying safe against COVID and getting the vaccine, said Nixon.

The system’s Faith Community Health Connection, which includes many African-American churches, shares education on the impact of the virus. Hamilton Health Center, a UPMC Pinnacle partner, launched a free mobile testing center. UPMC Pinnacle also opened satellite testing sites and helped provide transportation there.

And the Healthy Harrisburg Initiative, planned in 2019 but launched virtually in 2020, targets the underlying conditions—specifically high blood pressure, chronic heart disease, and diabetes—that have intensified COVID’s deadliness in the Black community.

Gerald and Donna Welch

Live On

On Easter Sunday, Gerald Welch struggled to breath but kept procrastinating a trip to the hospital. He spent his time writing names on his “gazillion” beloved watches, instructing his wife to give them to the designees. She refused, insisting that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Since Gerald’s passing, Donna Welch has given watches to his sons and grandsons, but “there’s still a bunch left.” She is helping administer a church scholarship fund that he worked passionately for.

“I just remember him and how much he cared about people, especially children,” she said.

Aaron Johnson’s sister is slowly recovering. His Public Works Department is managing the impact on personnel, even as residential trash pickups rise with more people at home. He and his wife got through their illnesses with prayer and the help of help of family and friends.

“We couldn’t have done it without them,” he said. “For me, it’s sad because there’s a lot of friends and family that I lost.”

Dolphin won’t accept discouragement, especially when he recalls the tireless energy of Lisa Burhannan—the friend who rode with him to countless conferences nationwide.

“She’s always with me,” he said. “When I’m riding, she’s in the seat next to me. She was that spirit. As long as I’m alive, as long as Breaking the Chainz is around, she’ll definitely live on.”

For more information about UPMC Pinnacle’s Healthy Harrisburg Initiative, visit www.upmcpinnacle.com.

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Acting superintendent condemns school voucher proposal for Harrisburg school district

August 28, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Dr. John George, the district’s acting superintendent (right), with district Receiver Dr. Janet Samuels

A top official of the Harrisburg school district has come out strongly against a proposal that would allow city students to use public money to attend private schools.

On Wednesday afternoon, the district’s acting superintendent, Dr. John George, called a proposed bill by House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) “ill-timed” and said it would “harm the majority of children in the Harrisburg school district.”

Turzai currently is seeking co-sponsors for a proposed bill that would establish a “pilot voucher program” specifically targeted at the Harrisburg school district. It would award “scholarships” of $4,100, which city children could use to attend private or other public schools.

The proposal also calls on the state to contribute another $3,000 in a “tuition grant,” bringing the total to $7,100 per student.

“Speaker Turzai’s proposal is ill-timed and undermines the Financial Recovery Act of 2012, the very legislation for which he advocated,” George said, in a statement. “By removing additional monies from the school district that is already financially distressed, the proposal seriously disrupts the recovery process and wrecks additional havoc, virtually guaranteeing that the district will forever remain in financial distress.”

George further stated that Turzai’s proposal “requires parents to pay a portion of the tuition,” which “may help a few, but it comes at the expense of harming the vast majority.”

“It also only further widens the economic disparity between those who can afford to pay tuition and the poorest of the poor,” he stated.

In June, Dr. Janet Samuels was appointed receiver of the Harrisburg school district, and she immediately fired the district’s top administration, including long-serving Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney. Last week, she appointed George, the executive director of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, as interim superintendent.

Turzai began circulating his proposal among lawmakers yesterday, a day after the school year began in the 6,700-student school district. He said that such action was needed given the poor performance among students on state test scores and the fourth-lowest high school graduation rate in the state.

“By allowing Harrisburg families to choose the right education environment for each student, we can finally resolve the decades-long failure to provide an adequate education to Harrisburg children,” Turzai wrote in his memorandum to House members seeking for co-sponsors. “Please join me in co-sponsoring this vital legislation.”

George isn’t the only state official to object to the proposal. The Pennsylvania Capital-Star has reported that state Rep. Patty Kim (D-Harrisburg) and Gov. Tom Wolf, through his spokesman, both condemned the proposal.

State Rep. John DiSanto (R-Dauphin County) was more welcoming, calling Turzai’s proposal “worthy of further consideration,” according to the Capital-Star.

“The Harrisburg school district applauds the Speaker’s particular interest in the Harrisburg school district and welcomes his willingness to assist the district,” George concluded in his statement. “His proposal, however, is not helpful and only exasperates the recovery process that is already underway.”

This story was corrected to attribute the school district’s position to Acting Superintendent Dr. John George, not Receiver Janet Samuels.

“New Era”: At convocation, Harrisburg school district leaders pledge respect, kindness, competence

August 19, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg school district Receiver Dr. Janet Samuels rang a bell to start today’s convocation at Harrisburg High School.

“I wondered: Why did you come back?”

Dr. John George asked that question today to hundreds of Harrisburg school district faculty and staff, who packed the auditorium of Harrisburg High School.

George, who is helping to lead the district’s recovery team, was half-joking, and the large crowd chuckled in response, but George quickly turned serious.

“I had the pleasure to ask a few of you, ‘Why did you stay through a decade of a difficult situation?’” he said. “One by one, I got the exact same answer from every single person I asked, and that was, ‘Because of the children.’ And that’s an incredible statement.”

The crowd then applauded in acknowledgement, marking one of the many emotional high points during this morning’s school opening convocation–a part orientation, part pep rally and part group hug to kick off the 2019-20 school year, which begins for students in a week.

District Receiver Dr. Janet Samuels opened the 45-minute meeting by ringing a bell, symbolizing a “new day” for the district, a theme stressed repeatedly during the ceremony.

“As we begin the new year together, may we recommit ourselves to excellence and expect nothing but the best,” she said. “It is the power of our beliefs and our expectations that can spark a burning desire in our students and rekindle their joy of learning and, of course, to move forward in a very successful manner.”

Samuels then called upon the faculty and staff from each of the district’s 11 schools and academies to stand up to applause.

“You indeed are very, very special and very important,” she told them. “And this is an opportune time to thank you for all that you do and all that you’re going to do to impact the students here in the Harrisburg school district.”

The convocation also was marked with implicit—and sometimes explicit—criticism of how the district was run previously, under the nine-year administration of former Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney.

“This is not business as usual,” said Samuels, who was named district receiver in June and quickly fired Knight-Burney. “I want to underscore that. It is not business as usual.”

Samuels went on to list several areas where the district’s 835 faculty and staff should expect improvements under her leadership, including an emphasis on early learning, curriculum materials, safe schools, clean buildings and a more responsive human resources department.

“This is about the business of service and support and putting our children first,” she said. “That means working together arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder to make a difference.”

Harrisburg school district faculty and staff packed into the Harrisburg High School auditorium today for a districtwide convocation.

Samuels also praised George, the financial recovery plan service director for the 6,000-student district, noting his key role in helping to turn around the Reading school district before agreeing to take on a similar role in Harrisburg.

“It’s my pleasure to be here and be part of this incredible team of people who are going to do amazing things here in the Harrisburg school district,” George said. “You’ve been through an incredibly difficult time period. That time period is over.”

George mentioned several areas where his team was making progress, most notably in straightening out the district’s troubled finances.

“We have to rebuild the budget,” he said. “We don’t know yet where we stand exactly. We’re getting close to figuring that out.”

He also pledged that the administration would treat faculty, staff, parents and students with “integrity, respect and kindness.”

“One thing I can tell you—there’s going to be no nepotism,” he said, a statement that may have gotten the loudest cheer of the morning. “That’s over.”

After the convocation concluded, Jody Barksdale, the head of the Harrisburg Education Association, remarked on the different atmosphere she already felt in the district, just two months after Samuels took over as the court-appointed receiver.

“Everybody feels like it’s a fresh start,” she said. “It a new era for the Harrisburg school district.”

School receiver calls financial audit “clear indictment” of former administration practices

July 4, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg school district receiver Janet Samuels introduced John George, executive director of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, earlier this week.

The state’s recently released financial audit of the Harrisburg school district is a “clear indictment” of the practices of the former school administration, according to the district’s receiver.

Receiver Janet Samuels released a statement on Thursday declining comment on specific audit findings, but that acknowledged the report’s findings.

“In my capacity as the court appointed Receiver, I acknowledge receipt of the audit which is a clear indictment of the accounting and Human Resources practices of the former school district administration,” she said.

In March, the state Department of Education hired Johnstown-based Wessel & Co. to perform the audit following a series of costly errors by the district, including continuing to pay health benefits to former employees.

The report, released earlier this week, looked at a year-three period, July 2015 to June 2018, and discovered more than $3.8 million in unsupported and questionable costs, more than 100 ex-employees who continued to receive healthcare benefits and huge deficits in cafeteria operations that had to be covered by the general fund. Other shortcomings included personnel records rife with errors, a lack of financial oversight and controls and a profoundly unqualified business manager.

“I am not going to comment on any of the specifics of the audit findings other than the fact that the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit plans to fully analyze all of the issues raised in the audit and establish best practices for the school district. These audit findings further justify the necessity of my June 27, 2019 action partnering with the MCIU to operate the district and my personnel actions taken on that date,” Samuels concluded.

At the urging of the state Department of Education, a Dauphin County judge appointed Samuels as the district’s receiver on June. 17.

Under her direction, the district dismissed former Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney and much of the top school district leadership. It then contracted with MCIU, one of 29 intermediate units throughout Pennsylvania that offer educational services to local school districts, to head up the district’s leadership team under the three-year receivership.

Read the full audit report: Harrisburg City SD – AUP and Consulting Report 2016-2018

Burg View: Cursed City

July 3, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg school district receiver Dr. Janet Samuels with Dr. John George, the district’s newly hired financial recovery plan service director.

In his famous book, “On the Road,” author Jack Kerouac, having spent a night on a bench in the train station and then run out of town, famously decried Harrisburg as, “Cursed city!”

That thought beat through my brain as I read the latest missive to the cursed— “Harrisburg City School District: Agreed Upon Procedures and Technical Consulting Report”—otherwise known as the state Department of Education’s financial audit, which was released today.

For the past decade, the city of Harrisburg has been pulling itself out of the financial crater following former Mayor Steve Reed’s 28 years in office. And now this.

But at least Reed got maybe $500 million of value from the $1 billion in debt he piled onto the city’s credit card. A terrible return, for sure, but it’s hard to discern what exactly Harrisburg and its children got from nine years of Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney and her crew.

Oh, actually, it’s not. It’s in the report:

Over $3.8 million in “questioned costs and unsupported expenditures”
The cost of health benefits inappropriately continued to more than 100 terminated employees
A quickly disappearing general fund balance
A lack of financial oversight and controls
An acting business manager utterly unqualified for his job
Cafeteria operations running enormous deficits
An uncertified school nurse who provided students with medical services
Frequent overpayment of contractors
Rampant errors in personnel records
A “history of inadequate ‘Tone at the Top’ and poor ethical values”

I could go on and on, but perhaps you should just read the report by the consultant, Wessel & Co., for yourself. Harrisburg City SD – AUP and Consulting Report 2016-2018

This, of course, is just the latest horrible district news, building upon years of poor student achievement, large and small scandals, a lack of transparency and accountability, and, now, missing computers and financial data.

Sigh.

In 2011, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania placed the city government into receivership, which, though we didn’t know it at the time, ended up being the first step in restoring Harrisburg to relative financial health.

In comparison, the school district’s fiscal situation, while very bad, is actually not as terrible as the city’s was—to the extent that “not bankrupt” is an improvement.

Like the city, though, the district will need to rebuild its top leadership, its financial and management systems and the public confidence—no small order. Of course, it has the extra responsibility of providing a decent education for Harrisburg’s children, which is supposed to be its core mission.

In 2014, Harrisburg emerged from state receivership still shaky, but it allowed the city to set the stage for more responsible leadership, which, thankfully, arrived. Here’s hoping that, after a three-year receivership, we’ll be able to say the same for the Harrisburg school district—that it pushed reset, stabilized and rebounded.

Then, perhaps finally and forever, Harrisburg can shake off Kerouac’s term, “cursed city.”

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

Harrisburg school district finances in shambles, computers missing, as recovery team begins work

July 2, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Dr. John George speaks to the press as Harrisburg school district receiver Dr. Janet Samuels looks on.

The Harrisburg school district recovery team needs to reconstruct much of the district’s key financial data, as critical financial records have gone missing and existing data can’t be trusted, officials said today.

Dr. John J. George, the financial recovery plan service director, said that numerous computers containing key financial data are missing from the district’s financial office. In addition, those records were not backed up, as they should have been, resulting in substantial information gaps, he said.

“I know that the records are missing,” said George, following a press conference that introduced key members of receiver Dr. Janet Samuels’ new leadership team. “I don’t know why they’re missing or how they’re missing.”

The missing computers were only discovered yesterday, the first day on the job for the team, George said. Samuels dismissed the district’s top officials, including former Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney, effective Sunday, June 30.

George declined to say whether law enforcement had been contacted, nor would he say exactly what types of records are missing, other than that they are “certain key financial records.”

But he did say that the missing records pose a significant problem trying to understand the district’s current financial state.

“These are financial records that are important to the operation of the Harrisburg school district and that seem to be no longer there,” said George, who is the executive director of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, one of 29 “intermediate units” that offer educational services to local school districts.

The Harrisburg school district uses a web-based financial management software system called eFinance. However, the missing records also were not included in that system, George said.

Moreover, George said that he had little confidence in the accuracy of the data that is in the system.

“We have to rebuild the financial system immediately,” he said. “Right now, we have little confidence in any of the dollar figures available to us. That’s not a good position to be in.”

George said that his team will need to go through the district’s paperwork, “piece by piece and redo those systems.” He estimated that about 10,000 account codes will need to be examined.

“So, we have to go through account code by account code and make sure that expenditures are being properly coded and revenue is being properly recorded so that we have a baseline,” he said. “Our initial analysis, and we’re 24 hours into this right now, is that there are already significant errors in the accounting procedures.”

Under Samuels, the Harrisburg district has entered into a three-year contract with the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit (MCIU) to provide a host of services to the district.

For the most part, team members are replacing the former top district administrators, including the superintendent, the business manager and the human resources manager. Samuels said that the $1.4 million contract with MCIU is $600,000 less than the district was paying the in-house personnel who held those jobs.

Samuels today said that she decided to hire MCIU because of her past experience with George. She credits him for helping to stabilize the finances and improve the operations of the Reading School District.

“This district deserves highly competent, highly credentialed and qualified individuals, and that is exactly what exists within Dr. George,” she said.

George will remain with MCIU and will not be compensated by the Harrisburg district. Chris Celmer, the assistant superintendent for the Reading district, will lead the team on a daily basis as Harrisburg’s chief operating officer.

Like George, Samuels described the current state of the district financially and operationally as woeful.

“Very intentionally, it was looking at some of the failures here in the school district, some of the mismanagement that has taken place over a period of time here in the school district and really determining and deciding what could be done about it,” she said. “The time is now, and we look forward to making a difference.”

George said that, besides the financial aspect, the recovery team will assess the quality of personnel and strive for academic progress.

“It’s going to take time,” he said. “Our contract is for three years. I believe that we can make systemic change in three years.”

“We have no more time to waste,” Samuels said.

Harrisburg school district leaders swept out, as receiver brings in outside team

June 27, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg school district Receiver Janet Samuels speaks to the press following Thursday night’s school board meeting.

Harrisburg’s newly appointed school receiver is clearing out most of the district’s top leadership, firing the superintendent, the solicitor and the business manager, among others.

Dr. Janet Samuels tonight announced a new partnership that will subcontract most district management functions, including those of the superintendent, to Norristown-based Montgomery County Intermediate Unit No. 23, one of 29 “intermediate units” set up by the state legislature in 1971 to provide support to local school districts.

Therefore, as of June 30, most of the district’s top positions will be eliminated, terminating the employment of the following people:

Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney
Solicitor James Ellison
Business Manager Bilal Hasan
Acting Harrisburg High School Principal Barbara Hasan
Federal Program Administrator Damali Brunson-Murray
Acting HR Director Lance Freeman
HR Manager Shelena Roy
ACCESS Coordinator Annette Roy

The chief academic officer position will also be eliminated, but Jaimie Foster, who currently serves in that job, will become the new Harrisburg High School principal, replacing Barbara Hasan.

“This was done with much thought and much care,” Samuels said following the announcement. “We are going to move in a very, very, very aggressive manner.”

Earlier today, word leaked that Knight-Burney had sent an email to staff that indicated that she would leave her job, which she’s held for nearly a decade. Until tonight, it was not clear whether she was resigning or would be fired.

According to the resolution detailing the shakeup, Montgomery County Intermediate Unit No. 23 will supply “a team of highly qualified individuals to provide leadership and administration of business services, human resources, internal operations, academic services and student services operations” for a period of three years.

Dr. John J. George, the executive director of Montgomery County Intermediate Unit No. 23 and the former acting superintendent of the Reading school district, will head up the team.

The resolution praises George for “dramatic financial improvements and educational improvements in the Reading School District.”

“The turnaround of the Reading school district was a result of our ability to design and implement a comprehensive, systematic plan that rebuilt the governance, academic, financial, personnel and operational functions of the school district,” George said, in a statement. “We will utilize a similar strategy to review every aspect of the Harrisburg school district, correct any deficiencies, and create systems to ensure that the district is fiscally efficient, staffed with qualified and effective teachers and employees, and is moving towards academic excellence.”

Montgomery County Intermediate Unit No. 23 will “provide key administrative functions of the district and develop an intervention plan designed to stabilize and rebuild the financial and human resources systems of the district, design and implement a K-12 academic plan, design a governance plan, hire key administrative positions and eventually return the district to local control,” according to the resolution.

George will “provide a reorganization plan for the district leadership team, will realign administrative functions to align with a new organization chart, will provide personnel to administer the office of business services, office of human resources, office of academics and office of student services and will to the greatest extent practical collaborate with the current district staff members and assume that all employees are working with fidelity,” according to the resolution.

Samuels also announced that the district will return to hiring an outside law firm for legal counsel, in this case Philadelphia-based Fox Rothschild LLP at a rate of $250 to $300 an hour, depending on the type of work.

The resolution offered various reasons for the personnel terminations. For Knight-Burney, the rationale was that she was working in violation of the law.

“Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney’s most recent appointment as superintendent was non-compliant with Act 82 of 2012, as she was appointed without the required written contract of employment and all payments made to her during the 2018-19 school year when she did not have a written contract were non-compliant with Pennsylvania law,” stated the resolution.

The resolution further said that her resume “does not provide any official letter of eligibility to be a superintendent in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Montgomery County Intermediate Unit No. 23 will now assume “the job responsibilities of the superintendent,” according to the resolution.

The resolution also states that the receiver has broad latitude to replace non-instructional personnel, including the solicitor and business manager.

The position eliminations and terminations, Samuels said, would reduce staff expenses by $600,000 per year.

“The bottom line is that this is what’s best for the children,” she said. “This is a reorganization that will work.”

Almost lost in the district shakeup was what, ordinarily, would be the big news of the night—the 2019-20 budget vote.

Earlier in the meeting, the district school board, by a 6-2 vote, passed its 2019-20 budget, which was unchanged from the preliminary budget approved last month. The $155 million budget will result in an increase of 3.4 percent for the school portion of the city property tax, increasing the millage rate from 28.8 mills to 29.78 mills.

Read the full resolution and press release on the school district’s website.

Receiver Samuels pledges transparency, collegiality in first school board meeting under her leadership

June 17, 2019 | by Maddie Crocenzi

The Harrisburg school district’s newly appointed receiver, Dr. Janet Samuels, pledged collaboration with the school board, staff members and the larger community during the district’s first school board meeting under state control.

Samuels (pictured at microphone) was appointed as receiver Monday afternoon by Dauphin County Judge William Tully. The three-year appointment requested by the state Department of Education gives Samuels tremendous power to run the district, including responsibility for most educational, administrative and financial policies and decisions.

From the beginning, Samuels ran the meeting differently than board meetings were run previously, stating that she wants the district to operate efficiently and cost effectively. Staff members from the school district read agenda items that related to their departments, and Samuels said that she expects staff members to come to school board meetings.

“One of the things that is expected is members of the staff will read recommendations, but they will also be expected to do homework,” she said. “It is the expectation they are taking copious notes and that we follow up with members of the public.”

Throughout the meeting, Samuels asked staffers to provide rationale for agenda items for greater transparency with the public. She also made notes to address public questions and included costs, funding sources and terms of contracts in the agenda.

In an effort for transparency, the agenda and personnel items were displayed on a screen behind the board so the public could follow along. Samuels said that she also plans to use board documents so members of the public can access agenda items online before the meeting starts.

Cost-efficiency is another one of Samuels’ goals, she said. In the case of a nearly $2 million contract renewal with for-profit alternative education provider Camelot Education, she said that the district plans to be more mindful of spending going forward and will look across the board at re-evaluating contracts in the coming years.

“This is a one-year contract only so that the district and staff have time to do due diligence to look at what’s most appropriate for children and look at how and why decisions were made,” Samuels explained.

Although some school board members and Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney sat with her during the meeting, Samuels was responsible for approving recommendations.

At the end of the night, Samuels said the goal will be transparency, serving the public and posting agenda items on the screen and prior to board meetings.

“The bottom line is this is about the business of children,” Samuels said. “I see this as an opportunity to work in a collaborative fashion with school board members, with the community, with parents to make a difference for the children in the Harrisburg school district. There are incredible and extraordinary children in this district, and this is about rolling up our sleeves and working together to support all students.”

Samuels said that Monday night’s meeting only addressed the most time-sensitive items. Another school board meeting is scheduled for June 27 at 6 p.m., when Samuels will address payments, approval of the treasurer’s report, budget transfers and other items. The district also must pass a final budget for the 2019-20 school year.

Samuels named Harrisburg school district receiver; administration pledges cooperation

June 17, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg school district Solicitor James Ellison

A Dauphin County judge has appointed Dr. Janet Samuels as receiver for the Harrisburg school district, giving her broad authority to run the district for the next three years.

Judge William Tully issued an order that Samuels serve as receiver, a three-year appointment requested by the state Department of Education. Samuels has served as the district’s state-appointed chief recovery officer since last year.

In his “Memorandum Opinion,” Judge Tully outlined how the district has failed to meet the academic objectives outlined in the 2013 recovery plan and the 2016 amended plan, thus necessitating the receivership. The district fell far short on a number of measures, including graduation rates and standardized test scores, the opinion states.

The opinion further faults the school board for “failing to comply with the directives issued by the CRO.”

With her appointment, Samuels now is widely empowered to run the district, assuming the roles of both the CRO and the school board. The one power she explicitly lacks is the ability to levy and raise taxes, which remains with the elected school board.

If she chooses, Samuels has the ability to cede some authority back to the board or even appoint an advisory body.

Just before Tully’s order was made public, district Solicitor James Ellison held a hastily arranged press conference at the district’s administration building, during which he emphasized that school administrators, including Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney, would fully cooperate with the receiver.

Ellison said that the decision to drop the district’s opposition to receivership came last night, at a special, closed-door session of the Harrisburg school board.

“The board of school directors and the superintendent of schools decidedly determined that it is in the best interest of our children if we pivoted our time and energy and resources from litigation to continue cooperation and work collaboratively with the receiver and the secretary to bring about positive educational changes for them,” he said.

Despite Ellison’s statement, school board Director Carrie Fowler said this morning that she did not know of this decision and described herself as “shocked” that the district had dropped its opposition to state receivership.

Samuels is expected to run the regularly scheduled school board meeting tonight. Among other issues, the district still must approve a final budget for the 2019-20 school year. The district, until now, has only approved a preliminary budget, which contains a 3.4-percent property tax increase.

“Dr. Samuels is upstairs as we speak and getting ready for tonight’s board meeting,” Ellison said. “She is the receiver of this district, and our obligation and our duty is to work with her to bring about the positive educational changes that she intends to bring.”

Ellison cited the “failed city takeover” of the district from 2000 to 2010 as a lesson for today, saying that effort proved that stakeholders should cooperate, not be in conflict. The previous receivership, led by former Mayor Steve Reed, yielded little academic progress, but resulted in tremendous financial pain for the district, Ellison said.

At his press conference, Ellison painted a very positive picture of the school system.

“This district has rewarded the trust of many parents, as our city schools have done well by their children and countless others that have personally passed through our schoolhouse doors and gone on to become prominent and productive citizens here and elsewhere,” he said.

Judge issues order preventing Harrisburg school board from acting on contracts

June 10, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg school district’s Administration Building

A Dauphin County judge has issued an order preventing the Harrisburg school board from unilaterally entering into new contracts, including a settlement with Premier Charter School.

Judge William Tully issued the order late Friday, following a hearing in his courtroom, but the order was just made public this morning. It bars the board from entering into binding obligations without the express consent of the state’s representative to the district, Chief Recovery Officer Janet Samuels.

The order states that “. . . the [school] board is enjoined from binding the district to new—or terminating existing—commitments, obligations, or expenditure of resources, including by amending, altering or entering into any contracts for goods or services (including the hiring or contracting of personnel), unless such action is done with the written consent of the Chief Recovery Officer as being consistent with the 2016 Amended Recovery Plan . . . .”

The final sentence of the order specifically prevents the board from “entering into any settlement authorizing the granting of a charter to Premier Charter School.”

Last week, the board hastily scheduled a “special” meeting, which Tully stopped by issuing an injunction as the meeting’s private executive session was occurring. At that meeting, the board was to consider voting on a settlement with Premier Charter School, which would have allowed the school to continue operating, despite the board denying it a charter renewal last year.

The meeting also was called to discuss a variety of personnel issues, which district critics feared included entering into contracts with Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney and Solicitor James Ellison.

On Friday, Tully held a hearing that revealed that Thursday night’s school board meeting would have taken up the issue of a settlement with Premier Charter School. According to Tully, Samuels had not been made aware of the proposed settlement.

In its petition for placing the school district into state receivership, the state Department of Education has recommended that Samuels be named the district’s receiver.

“Shouldn’t you have discussed the settlement with your CRO and possible receiver?” Tully asked Ellison during the court hearing on Friday.

Tully also criticized the school district for calling the special meeting so suddenly and then posting the agenda, which made no mention of the proposed settlement, just hours before the meeting was to occur.

“That timetable had a smell to it,” Tully said.

The hearing on the district entering into state receivership is slated for June 17.

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