Mayor Cherelle Parker defies City Council, re-appoints Board of Education veteran moments after rejection
PHILADELPHIA - Mayor Cherelle Parker puts a veteran member of Philadelphia’s Board of Education back on the panel moments after the city council rejects her.
Veteran Philadelphia school board member, Joyce Wilkerson, sat in City Council Chambers with her supporters and Mayor Parker’s staff close by.
Within moments, the City Council President lost her renomination to the board she once ran.
Kenyetta Johnson said, "it’s very clear that Ms. Wilkerson does not have the necessary 9 votes from council members for confirmation to the school board."
It didn’t go smoothly, as veteran council member, Curtis Jones, Jr., complained Mayor Parker, just beyond 100 days in office, deserves the "benefit of the doubt" with her 9 nominees to the board. On the floor he said, "if you are asking her to cook the meal; she should buy the groceries."
As public-school advocates supporting Wilkerson raise signs in protest, Jones, Jr’.s call for a roll call vote, placing members on the record, fails and the council president withdraws her nomination for the school board.
Wilkerson’s renomination became entangled in concerns raised by some council members that the school board rejected more Black-led charter schools than others suggesting the practice was "racist."
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Council President Johnson said charter school operators were not Wilkerson’s only critics.
In the hallway after the vote Monday, Wilkerson was handed a letter from Mayor Parker. She read it to supporters and reporters gathered around her.
She read, as the letter states in part, "as no one has been confirmed to replace you, I hereby request you continue your service to our children as a member of the board beyond that date."
In defiance of the City Council, Mayor Parker will keep Wilkerson on the school board until she nominates another person and it’s unclear when or if that will happen.