Haverford College president Wendy Raymond announced she will retire in June 2027, and the college plans to launch a search for her replacement early in the new year.
The announcement comes after a particularly difficult year for the college and Raymond, who faced intense grilling in May by a Republican-led congressional committee probing antisemitism complaints on college campuses. The school also is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education over its handling of antisemitism complaints.
“This was not an easy decision, but after more than three decades in higher education, I am ready to step away from academia,” Raymond said in her message to campus.
Her news comes just two days after she announced John McKnight, the dean of the college, would be leaving in June for a new role at Dartmouth College.
Raymond said she wanted to give the college’s board of managers time to search for a replacement.
Raymond, 65, a molecular biologist, became president of the 1,470-student liberal arts college on the Main Line in July 2019. She came to Haverford from Davidson College in North Carolina, where she had been vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty.
She has been in the job longer than her three most recentpredecessors, Kim Benston, who served four years; Daniel Weiss, who was there two; and Stephen G. Emerson, who had four years.
In her announcement, she noted accomplishments including the completion of a strategic plan, efforts to advance diversity, equity, and access, the launch of the Institute for Ethical Leadership and Inquiry named for board chair Michael B. Kim, and the new recital hall.
She also acknowledged challenges, including the pandemic, the strike for racial justice in 2020 in which students refused to attend class and demanded that Haverford do more to support its Black and brown students, and “more recent times of social unrest and public scrutiny.”
Raymond earlier this year in a message to the campus acknowledged that she “came up short” in dealing with conflict over antisemitism complaints and said both she and Haverford can do better.
“To Jewish members of our community who felt as if the College was not there for you, I am sorry that my actions and my leadership let you down,” she said in that message.
Haverford was the only local college earlier this year to receive an F on a report card by the Anti-Defamation League for its response to antisemitism — a rating given to less than 10% of schools nationwide. The ADL’s methodology for categorizing antisemitism has been questioned, and critics have argued that criticism of the state of Israel and its government have been wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
But the F rating caught the attention of the congressional Committee on Education and Workforce, which called on Raymond and two other college presidents to testify in May. Raymond took the worst of the grilling, largely because she was reluctant to answer questions about discipline for alleged antisemitism, especially in specific cases. Raymond testified that the college does not release data on student suspensions and expulsions.
In June, the committee demanded answers about faculty and student discipline. And in August, the education department, which has launched a flurry of investigations of colleges regarding antisemitism, said it would probe Haverford.
The investigation follows “credible reports that Haverford has failed to respond as required by law to multiple incidents of discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on its campus,” the department said at the time.
In her testimony to the congressional committee, Raymond noted the college had made a plethora of changes to address concerns about antisemitism, including changes in the antibias policy and rules around protesting, steps to revise the honor code, and increases in campus safety at events.
Kim, the board chair, thanked Raymond for her service amid a difficult time in a message to campus Thursday.
“She has guided the College with great care during periods of both remarkable growth and significant challenge,” he said. “During her tenure, Haverford has welcomed two of its largest incoming classes, increased support for student resources, access, and engagement, and continued to graduate students who use their liberal arts education to effect positive change in the world.”
Raymond said in her Thursday message that through the challenges, “ … the College has remained strong and resolute in its mission to foster a campus culture of belonging and respect, where academic freedom and freedom of expression remain fundamental to Haverford’s nearly 200 years of academic excellence and open inquiry, and where our values guide us through new territory.”
A grand jury decided not to charge a police officer in Burlington County for fatally shooting a 57-year-old man who was firing a rifle during a confrontation a year ago, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said Thursday.
Marvin Taylor was shot by Pemberton Township Officer Kyle McQueen on Oct. 19, 2024, in a wooded area behind a residence on Woodland Avenue in the township’s Browns Mills section.
“Marvin, we are here to help you! Put the gun down now!” McQueen can be heard on bodycam video yelling at Taylor.
McQueen again orders Taylor two more times to drop his weapon. Then a single gunshot can be heard, and McQueen yells to his fellow officers, “Shots fired! Shots fired!” McQueen then fires four times at Taylor.
McQueen and other officers approach the fallen Taylor and McQueen is seen in the bodycam video picking up a rifle lying on the ground next to Taylor.
“Gun secured, suspect down,” McQueen announces.
Earlier that afternoon, volunteer firefighters and police responded to a 911 call reporting smoke coming from the residence.
A firefighter went to the backyard and encountered Taylor, who pointed a rifle at him, according to the attorney general’s statement. Responding firefighters retreated as police arrived, and a single gunshot was heard coming from the backyard.
Police used a loudspeaker to attempt to speak with Taylor, but he did not respond and officers lost sight of him, the statement said.
Pemberton Township police waited for the arrival of a crisis negotiator and tactical specialists from the New Jersey State Police. McQueen and another township officer positioned themselves in the wooded area behind the residence. Taylor was seen behind the residence armed with a rifle, the statement said.
After Taylor was shot, he was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he was pronounced dead early that evening.
A black bolt-action rifle was found next to Taylor’s body, as well as two spent shell casings that were fired from the rifle.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state authorities investigated the initial fire and concluded that it was started after gasoline was ignited at various locations inside the residence.
Former Central Bucks School District Superintendent Steven Yanni and former Jamison Elementary School principal David Heineman have appealed their terminations by the school board over their handling of abuse allegations in an autistic support classroom.
The Central Bucks school board voted to terminate the duo last month, nearly a year after a classroom aide reported the alleged abuse.
Yanni, who has accepted a position as the CEO of Northwood Academy charter school in Philadelphia, filed his appeal Monday in Bucks County Court.
The filing rehashes the arguments Yanni made during the August hearing, including that he did not make an immediate report to ChildLine, Pennsylvania’s reporting system for child abuse or neglect, because he relied on the assessment of district officials during aninternal investigation.
Yanni’s appeal alsosays he did not remove the accused teacher and educational assistant from the classroom because the members of his leadership team closest to the investigation told him there was no reason to suspect abuse.
The 139-page court filing attacks the termination hearing process and calls the school board biased. It notes that board member Jim Pepper‘s son was one of the alleged victims of abuse.
Pepper recused himself from the hearing and other votes related to the investigation, but the appeal alleges that“he actively participated in the Board’s investigation and disciplinary actions and made public allegations.”
Pepper declined to comment.
“For almost a year now, there has been inaccurate and defamatory information shared about me,” Yanni said in a statement. “My appeal corrects the record and clearly articulates the truth around the Jamison situation.”
The Central Bucks School District said it would not comment on the case because it is active litigation.
Heineman,meanwhile, challenged his termination Oct. 29 by filing a petitionthrough the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s tenure appeal process, according to a copy of his appeal obtained by The Inquirer. That process, unlike Yanni’s appeal in court, is private.
The former principal accuses the board of terminating him after 26 years as a district employee over a series of “unproven allegations” that were made at his termination hearing.
These include the notion that as principal he created a “chilling effect” that deterred staff from making reports to ChildLine, and that he threatened to fire the classroom aide for making the allegations.
Heineman‘s petition notes that in the days after the allegations of abuse were made, the district’s leadership “unanimously agreed that there was no abuse, and no need to make a ChildLine report.”
Heineman also says that there is no basis to the way he was characterized during the termination hearings.
“CBSD’s allegation that Mr. Heineman ‘does not care about children’ carries no support in the record, and appears to be, once more, inflammatory rhetoric made more for the public than for purposes of meeting CBSD’s burden to terminate Mr. Heineman,” the petition says.
Central Bucks also declined to comment on Heineman’s appeal. The attorney representing Heineman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The school district responded to the petitionthis week, according to a copy of the filing obtained by The Inquirer that denies most of Heineman’s claims and stands by the termination decision.
As for the allegation that the top leadership of the school concluded that there was no abuse before making a ChildLine report, Central Bucks says, “regrettably admitted.”
Recap: Philly school board hears concerns over the principal’s union contract negotiations, potential school closings, the district’s wellness policy, and more
The Philadelphia School Board held its monthly action meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday. It lasted a little over three hours.
Here are a few takeaways:
Principals showed up to the meeting in full force, urging the board to give them a fair contract after working without one for three months. Principal’s union president Robin Cooper spoke early in the meeting, asking the board: “What about the administrators?”
Many parents and members of advocacy group Lift Every Voice Philly spoke to the board about its wellness policy, emphasizing the need for guaranteed bathroom breaks, lunch time, access to recess, and more. Some took issue with Superintendent Tony Watlington’s comments at a meeting earlier in November that some parents could be making claims without evidence.
The facilities planning process was also a hot-button issue. Many urged the board not toclose schools. The school board and superintendent asked the public to take their survey by Dec. 11 to share their concerns.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:22pm
Board approves its final item and adjourns the meeting
And the board approved the Intermediate Unit action item unanimously. The IU item included contracts with various vendors for a school safety grant for non-public schools, worth $1.5 million.
And now the meeting really is over! The next board meeting will be held in two weeks, on Dec. 4.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:20pm
Board approves all the items on its agenda
The board zips through its consent agenda, adopting all items unanimously.
The board meeting is over — but not really! In a Philly-only quirk, the board is also the board for the Philadelphia Intermediate Unit, which handles some special education matters.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:18pm
Streater tells the public: ‘We are chronically underfunded’
Board president Reginald Streater wraps up public comment by reminding the public that “we are chronically underfunded” and said that everything folks asked for “has a cost.”
But he says the board is listening, even if they don’t say anything.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:17pm
Retired district staffer speaks out about charter schools
Lynda Rubin, a retired district staffer and a member of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, decries charter schools.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:13pm
Retired Philadelphia teacher urges board not to close schools
Deborah Grill, a retired Philadelphia teacher and member of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools: “public education is not a business. It is a civic obligation,” she said. “The school district is not a business to be rightsized.”
“The facilities planning process has been a disaster from the start,” Grill said. A “last-minute” survey will not fix it, she said.
“No community wants their neighborhood school closed,” she said.
“You’re failing as a business to give the customer what they want, so my question is: What community are you catering to, because it’s not your school communities?” Grill said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:11pm
Community member tells the board the district is ‘dooming these children to slavery’
Leah Clouden, daughter of Mama Gail and Horace Clouden, tells the board: “K-8 in our urban area do not work.”
“We need the basics put back in school — phonics and cursive writing,” Clouden said. Without the basics, the district is “dooming these children to slavery.”
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:07pm
Mama Gail Clouden, a regular speaker at school board meetings, calls ‘on the ancestors to fix this’
Mama Gail Clouden is “calling on the ancestors to fix this” — issues in the district.
“We have been better, and we’re going to be better with or without you,” Mama Gail says to Watlington. Talking about the district’s accolades is great, but “when the children in my neighborhood aren’t doing well, that’s a problem.”
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:03pm
Retired district building engineer urges board to consider a junior high model
Horace Clouden, a retired district building engineer, is again emphasizing his belief that restoring a junior high model will improve the entire district.
Students aren’t prepared for high school coming from a K-8 setting, Clouden said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 7:02pm
Retired district teacher speaks to the board about Ada Lewis
Barbara Dowdall, a retired district teacher and member of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, is talking about Ada Lewis, namesake of a now-closed school and a teacher who authored the report that helped integrate Philadelphia schools.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:56pm
Parent and Lift Every Voice member asks Watlington not to question their group’s honesty as they fight for students’ bathroom rights
LaTi Spence, a parent of two students at Houston Elementary, stresses that there are no guarantees for student bathroom breaks, and no guidance to teachers on how to make this happen.
“The superintendent has publicly called parents’ concerns unsubstantiated, said he has never seen a child in a diaper,” Spence said. “Lift Every Voice would never question the superintendent’s honesty. We expect the same good faith in return.”
“Bathroom accidents are humiliating — ask any child,” Spence said. Parents send girls to school in Depends because they’re not always able to change sanitary pads when they have their periods. “This is a lived experience — this is not a rumor.”
Parents won’t scapegoat teachers, she said. Watlington has said he knows some children need to use the bathroom multiple times a day. “Right now, the child that needs to use the bathroom seven times a day has no guaranteed right to use it even once,” Spence said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:55pm
District parent draws attention to 88 schools with poor/unsatisfactory building scores
Emily Pugliese, a district parent and staffer at a climate nonprofit, is drawing attention to the 88 schools that received poor/unsatisfactory building scores in the district’s assessment.
“I hope that you will pause this process even further,” and work with the community to prioritize safety and comfort, and building upgrades.
“We know the current administration and school board isn’t responsible” for the poor condition of many district schools. But it has a host of organizations and community members ready to help, Pugliese said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:52pm
District climate manager asks the board for a fair contract
Shawn Viera, a district climate manager, tells the board: “Climate managers and other members of CASA deserve a fair contract.”
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:49pm
Lift Every Voice board member and Philly graduate questions Watlington over wellness issues
Inella Ray, a community member, is questioning Watlington’s assertion from a previous meeting that he never heard a report of a student wearing diapers because they couldn’t use the bathroom.
Parents from Lift Every Voice have been reporting this issue for years, she said.
“Girls wear Depends because they cannot always change their pads, and we must believe them,” Ray said.
Ray was suspended at age 12 because she asked to use the bathroom and was ignored, and when “I took care of my basic needs, my humanity was dismissed,” Ray said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:47pm
Olney High principal says district is ‘experimenting’ with charters at the expense of traditional public schools
Michael Roth, principal of Olney High, said he is not against charters — he used to work for one. But the district is “experimenting” with charters, Roth said, at the expense of traditional public schools.
The board just approved a dual enrollment school to serve schools in Olney’s zip code, even though Olney offers dual enrollment.
“Let’s support all students,” Roth said. He tells the board: Get our house in order before authorizing new schools.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:45pm
Volunteer with the Friends of Bache-Martin shares the value of school libraries
Barbara O’Connell, a volunteer with the Friends of Bache-Martin, talks about her group’s efforts to run the school library, and how beneficial it’s been to students.
“The library is creating kids who not only can read, but also will satisfy their curiosity, and that will transport them, and stay with them throughout their lives,” O’Connell said. She urges the board to provide school libraries for all students.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:41pm
School psychologist tells the board: ‘We need to keep our schools open’
School psychologist Paul Brown said the facilities planning process overemphasizes efficiency and under-values sustainability.
“The demographics of my high school is a direct result of the closing of Germantown High School in 2013,” said Brown, who works at Roxborough. There’s “unsustainable stress on our public school system. We need to keep our schools open. The goals of efficiency should not come at the expense of our most vulnerable.”
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:40pm
Lift Every Voice member advocates for guaranteed bathroom and lunch breaks
Sarah Burgess, a parent at Lea Elementary and a Lift Every Voice member, is advocating for guaranteed bathroom breaks and time to eat lunch.
“Parents aren’t looking for scapegoats. We’re asking for a system-wide policy,” Burgess said. “I know implementation is easier said than done. I know there can be staffing challenges, and I know there are competing priorities,” but this is an issue we all agree on, she said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:35pm
‘When is things going to change?’ community member asks the board
Jason Grisby, a community member, said the same issues have plagued city schools for years. “When is things going to change?” Grisby said.
He also shared concerns about the security of schools. He walked into a city school without being questioned as an outsider, Grisby said. Superintendent Watlington tells Grisby that a security official will speak to him, and no one should be able to walk into a school.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:33pm
Community members speak to the board about using data to support schools and the importance of family engagement
Donna Fields, a mother of three former district students and community researcher, urges the board to consider data to support schools.
Quibila Divine, another community member, said 98% of parents in a North Philadelphia survey felt unwelcome in their child’s school. Meaningful family engagement leads to better student outcomes, Divine said, but teachers are often not trained on how to do this.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:27pm
Legislative aide for Councilmember Thomas speaks on his behalf in favor of joy campaign
Zach McGrath, a legislative aide for Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, is reading a statement on behalf of Thomas. He supports Lift Every Voice’s joy campaign and its call for explicit promises for bathroom and water breaks for students.
“We maintain our support for their five wellness policy recommendations,” Thomas wrote. District-wide solutions are needed for these matters.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:24pm
Activist tells the board: ‘We don’t need another survey. We don’t need another meeting.’
Lisa Haver, of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, criticizes City Council’s recent district hearing. The questions were “insipid,” Haver said.
“We don’t need another survey. We don’t need another meeting,” Haver said of the facilities planning process.
She asks the crowd: Does anyone want their school closed?
“NO,” the crowd yells.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:23pm
Community member speaks on student access to year-round swimming
Gloria Presley, of Philly Aquatics, is also calling for indoor, year-round swimming opportunities for all students.
“We cannot afford to wait any longer,” Presley said. “We cannot afford to turn our backs on Philly youth.”
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:19pm
Roxborough High teacher urges the board not to close schools
Daniel Reyes, a teacher at Roxborough High and member of Stand Up for Philly Schools, tells the board: “I’m here to advocate against closing schools,” Reyes said.
Closing schools destabilizes neighborhoods, Reyes said, asking: Why is the process downsizing the district without addressing the effect of charters on the district?
“We need stable, K-12 systems in all neighborhoods that meet the needs of all students,” Reyes said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:17pm
Speakers address the board about student experiences, wellness, school facilities planning, and more
Jasmine Pearson, a parent of a student at Mastery Simon Gratz High School, tells the board the school is readying her child to graduate.
Parent Julie Krug urged the board to update its wellness policy to ensure students have access to recess, bathroom breaks, and time to eat their lunch.
Community member Ryan Pfleger came to the board with a request: Don’t close any schools. He urged the board to reconsider closing buildings and instead invest in communities with underutilized buildings.
Carrera Wilson-Allure spoke to the board about joy.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 6:06pm
CASA chief steward Deana Ramsey says their union is the ‘backbone of district leadership’
Deana Ramsey, a district principal and CASA’s chief steward, speaks on behalf of the principals.
The union “is the backbone of district leadership,” Ramsey said. The union represents principals, assistant principals, climate managers, and safety supervisors.
Dozens of principals in attendance stood up to chant and hold up signs after Ramsey’s comments.
Board president Streater said the board cannot comment on negotiations, but said he looks forward to a contract. “We’re a family, and sometimes family has disagreements,” he said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:58pm
Parents speak in support of Mastery Wister and Mastery Clymer
Johncarlos Quiles, a parent at Mastery Wister, is saying the school has changed his perspective on charters.
“When I was in school, the communication was nonexistent between parents and the teachers,” Quiles said. Wister has changed that because families are very involved, he said.
Wister has helped his son develop into a “super, super kid,” Quiles said. “We’re looking for that [charter] renewal.”
Ahlizee Wright, a parent at Mastery Clymer, said her son’s school is a “special place.” Her son’s previous school neglected his learning and safety, Wright said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:56pm
Head of Philly Aquatics advocates for year-round swimming opportunities
Charisma Presley, head of Philly Aquatics, is advocating for year-round swimming opportunities for city schools. Marcus Foster and Pickett Pools are the group’s priorities.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:49pm
Principals turn out in force to the school board meeting, as union president asks: ‘What about the administrators?’
Philadelphia principals are out in force tonight. Before Robin Cooper, president of the principals’ union, speaks, a chant breaks out. “Who are we? TEAMSTERS? What do we want? A CONTRACT! NOW!”
Principals in the district have been working without a contract for three months.
Robin Cooper, president of CASA, the principals’ union, speaks to the Philadelphia school board at a meeting on Nov. 20, 2025.
“I stand here in a situation that I’ve never experienced as the president- the proud president of Teamsters Local 502,” Cooper said. “I find myself not advocating for our students, not advocating for public education, not advocating for unconstitutional funding formulas, but rather advocating … to pay leaders their worth.”
Principals have done everything they were asked for, Cooper said: boosted attendance, improve academics, market schools, advocate for their schools.
Cooper said the district has asked for professional development funding and more. She suggests the district is not bargaining in good faith.
“The partnership is often one-sided,” Cooper said. Board meeting after board meeting, the district gives out contracts to outside providers, but refuses to arrive at a contract for its nearly 1,000 administrators, she said.
Cooper said that CASA is “fighting our own district.” Watlington often asks “what about the children?” CASA is now asking “what about the administrators?” Cooper said.
“We fight, we partner, we lead, and we have been doing so with no support,” Cooper said. “I have but one ask — if we have been a good partner to the school district of Philadelphia.
CASA and the district spent 12 hours at the table, Cooper said. They submitted multiple counterproposals, and the district came back with the same proposal. “We have given our blood, our sweat and our tears,” Cooper said.
“I am expecting a win-win, and I hope that you are too,” Cooper said.
Superintendent Watlington thanks Cooper and responds: “You are valued, and we’re going to get this done.”
Principals turned out in force at the Philadelphia school board meeting on Nov. 20, 2025, asking the district for a contract. They have been working without a contract for three months.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:41pm
Public comment set to begin
Now we’re onto public comment. Thirty speakers have signed up to testify; there are four speakers on the waiting list.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:38pm
Streater urges community members to take the survey
Streater said he completed the survey with his parent hat on — Streater has two children in a neighborhood K-8 school — and said it was easy to complete, finished in about five minutes.
Board member applauds the district’s good financial news
Board member Joan Stern notes the good financial news.
“We are very proud of continuing to receive upgrades in our credit rating,” Stern said. The state budget — newly passed — is a help, but the district must be “constantly vigilant about our finances.”
The survey is the public’s last chance to weigh in on facilities planning, board member says
Board member Wanda Novales reminds the public that this is their last chance to weigh in on school facilities planning before decisions are made, and urges principals to push the surveys out to families.
She also asks Superintendent Watlington to talk about how this survey is different. He says it’s more open-ended, not ranked.
“We’re going to consider every bit of the feedback,” Watlington said.
Board member Cheryl Harper calls for a round of applause for principals, assistant superintendents, and staff for increases in student and teacher attendance.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:25pm
District is beginning to receive community feedback from survey
The current survey, Watlington said, will be open until Dec. 11. The district’s data analysts “may get some external support” to process all the information received in the survey.
The four themes emerging from feedback to far, Watlington said:
1. Reinvest in neighborhood high schools.
2. Expand access to schools with a 5-12 grade span.
3. Reduce the number of school transitions (from 13 to about 6.)
Watlington says they are committed to getting the facilities planning process right
“We’re committed to not fumbling the football on the two-yard line,” Watlington said.
The district wants to get facilities planning process correct and will take “just a little bit more time” to finalize the plan, which will include school closings, officials have said.
The purpose of the facilities planning process, Watlington said, is to improve education for students citywide — to maximize offerings, to offer 21st-century learning.
“We do not want to prepare our students for minimum-wage jobs,” the superintendent said.
“Exciting news” on the district’s financial outlook, Watlington said: The district got a credit rating upgrade, its third in three years. It’s now Baa1 rated by Moody’s.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:17pm
Fewer students have dropped out this year compared to this time last year, Watlington says
On dropouts:
In October this year, 384 students dropped out.
It was 707 students in October of 2024, Watlington said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:15pm
Student and teacher attendance is on the rise, Watlington shares with the board
Good news on student attendance, Watlington said: 79% regular attendance in October — a 3 percentage point increase compared to last year.
For teachers, 84% of teachers attended 90% or more. That’s up from 79% regular attendance in October of 2024.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 5:09pm
Board returns from recess with a poem
And we’re back. Board president Streater allowed Frantzceska Dorvilien, the Mastery Simon Gratz High School student, to read a poem she wrote about how Gratz helped her on her journey.
Now we’re on to Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s presentation.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:49pm
Board takes a brief recess
That’s the end of the student speakers list. The board is taking a five-minute recess because it’s dealing with technical difficulties.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:45pm
Students from KHSA, home of a student-built library, urge the board to invest in school libraries
Dayniyah Little, a student at Kensington Health Sciences Academy, is asking for more access to school libraries and librarians.
KHSA students banded together to open their own library, DreamEscape Library, but they staff it themselves. There are just a handful of certified school librarians in city schools.
Isabella Le, another Kensington Health Sciences Academy student, says “libraries are a privilege to have in Philadelphia schools.” She’s proud of the DreamEscape library, Isabella said, which helps address the literacy crisis.
Of libraries, Isabella said: “The absence of them in our schools hinders the possibility to expand literacy at all.”
“We understand the budget is tight, but withholding libraries is not the answer,” Isabella tells the board.
The brand-new DreamEscape Library at Kensington Health Sciences Academy.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:42pm
Philly student shares his experience learning to swim and row at Philly Aquatics
Whitman Dougherty, a Philadelphia student, entertains the crowd with tales of learning to swim and row. He’s a member of Philly Aquatics, a group advocating for year-round swim opportunities for all.
“Opportunity doesn’t depend on luck. It depends on access,” Whitman says.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:37pm
Two students speak about their experiences at Simon Gratz High School
Student speakers are on now.
The first is Devon Choice, a senior at Mastery Simon Gratz High School. Devon says he’s been challenged and encouraged at Gratz, which offers students myriad opportunities.
Frantzceska Dorvilien, another Gratz High School student, is testifying in Spanish through an interpreter. Frantzceska has lived in the U.S. for three years, and it hasn’t been easy, she said, but school is a bright spot — her teachers have pushed her to be the best, and supported her, regardless of challenges.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:29pm
Roll call: All members present but one
Roll call: All board members are present for today’s meeting except Crystal Cubbage.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:28pm
Updates from the board’s executive session
The board met in executive session to discuss several matters, including “property disposition” and confidential charter and investigation matters.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:24pm
This year’s state budget ‘moves us in the right direction,’ Streater says
On the state budget, the board president says “this year’s budget moves us in the right direction,” but says the state must move forward more quickly to meet the educational adequacy gap identified by experts.
“We have made meaningful progress, but Pennsylvania must keep moving toward adequacy so every student in every neighborhood has the resources they need to learn, grow and thrive,” Streater said.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:22pm
No applications for new charter schools
Streater says the school board has not received any applications for new charter schools.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:19pm
Board honors students and teacher of the month
One of the seniors of the month is Mario Rodriguez of Thomas A. Edison High School, who came to Philadelphia from El Salvador. Streater says he is a strong student with scholarship offers in hand already.
The other senior of the month is Kateryna Sobolevska. A George Washington High School student who came to the U.S. from Ukraine, she’s an International Baccalaureate student who was chosen for a prestigious Princeton University journalism program.
Teacher of the month is Takia McClendon of Bethune Elementary.
Board president Reginald Streater is detailing board visits this month: including to MYA (Middle Years Alternative), and spending time at the Council of Great City Schools‘ national conference, held this year in Philadelphia.
// Timestamp 11/20/25 4:00pm
Philly school board to host its monthly action meeting
The Philadelphia School Board is set to host its monthly action meeting on Thursday at 4 p.m.
There are a variety of issues expected to come up, including concerns over the school closing process and anger from principals who have been working for three months without a contract.
WASHINGTON — They gathered at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday — former presidents, vice presidents, sworn political foes and newfound friends — in a show of respect and remembrance for Dick Cheney, the consequential and polarizing vice president who became an acidic scold of President Donald Trump.
Trump, who has been publicly silent about Cheney’s death Nov. 3, was not invited to the memorial service.
Two ex-presidents came: Republican George W. Bush, who eulogized the man who served him as vice president, and Democrat Joe Biden, who once called Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history” but now honors his commitment to his family and to his values.
“Solid and rare and reliable,” Bush said at the service of his vice president, praising a man whose “talent and restraint” exceeded his ego. “Smart and polished, without airs.”
Former President George W. Bush, speaks a tribute during the funeral service for former Vice President Dick Cheney at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday.
Bush and others noted the understated demeanor of a man who nevertheless wielded great influence in government. “Above all,” Bush said, “I wanted someone with the ability to step into the presidency without getting distracted by the ambition to seek it.”
Among the eulogists, Liz Cheney, the eldest daughter, only obliquely addressed what amounted to a father-daughter feud with the president — a man her dad had called a “coward” for trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
She spoke of her father’s conviction that when confronted with a choice between defending the country and a political party, the country must come first. “Bonds of party must always yield to the single bond we share as Americans,” she said.
Liz Cheney is a former high-ranking House member whose Republican political career was shredded by a MAGA movement angered by her investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Thursday, she chose not to speak directly of Trump.
She spoke of seeing clouds in the shape of angels just before her father died.
A Who’s Who of Washington, minus you know who
Moments before the service began, figures of recent but now receded power mingled: Bush and Biden and their wives sitting in a row together, former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and Mike Pence chatting side by side in their pew with Al Gore and Dan Quayle together behind them.
Biden greeted Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Senate leader, and his wife, former labor and transportation secretary Elaine Chao. Behind them sat Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who spent time talking with another former House speaker, Republican John Boehner. All gathered among the soaring interior columns of the grand cathedral known as “a spiritual home for the nation.”
Others delivering tributes at Thursday’s funeral were Cheney’s longtime cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner; former NBC News correspondent Pete Williams, who was Cheney’s spokesman at the Pentagon; and several of the former vice president’s grandchildren.
“I’m happy to report that I haven’t given many eulogies,” Reiner said in his remarks. “Nobody wants a doctor who is great at funerals.”
Reiner recalled doctors telling Cheney decades ago, after the first of multiple heart attacks, that he should abandon his political ambitions then. Yet he kept winning elections as a Wyoming congressman for years after that.
Cheney, he said, was always the “calmest person in the room.”
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney meet in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12, 2001, with members of the president’s national security team in the Cabinet room.
Cheney had lived with heart disease for decades and, after the Bush administration, with a heart transplant. He died at age 84 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said.
Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, on stage at another event in the morning, was asked about Cheney and said: “Obviously there’s some political disagreements there but he was a guy who served his country. We certainly wish his family all the best in this moment of grieving.”
Vance was also not invited to the funeral, according to a person familiar with the details who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The White House lowered its flags to half-staff after Cheney’s death, as it said the law calls for, but Trump did not issue the presidential proclamation that often accompanies the death of notable figures, nor has he commented publicly on his passing.
The deeply conservative Cheney’s influence in the Bush administration was legendary and, to his critics, tragic.
He advocated for the U.S. invasion of Iraq on the basis of what proved to be faulty intelligence and consistently defended the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention and inquisition employed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush credited him with helping to keep the country safe and stable in a perilous time.
Bad blood between the Cheneys and Trump
After the 2020 election won by Biden, Liz Cheney served as vice chair of the Democratic-led special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. She accused Trump of summoning the violent mob and plunging the nation into “a moment of maximum danger.”
For that, she was stripped of her Republican leadership position and ultimately defeated in a 2022 Republican primary in Wyoming. In a campaign TV ad made for his daughter, Dick Cheney branded Trump a “coward” who “tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.”
Last year, it did not sit well with Trump when Cheney said he would vote for the Democrat, Harris, in the presidential election.
Trump told Arab and Muslim voters that Dick Cheney’s support for Harris should give them pause, because he “killed more Arabs than any human being on Earth. He pushed Bush, and they went into the Middle East.”
Activists rallied outside the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center on Thursday to press their assertion that ICE has been allowed to turn the courthouse into “a hunting ground” for immigrants.
The noon demonstration crystalized months of contention between activists and lawyers who say the courthouse must be a place to seek and render justice ― not to target immigrants ― and federal authorities who insist that making arrests there is legal, safe, and sane.
No ICE Philly, the rally organizer, says agents have been enabled to essentially hang out at the Center City courthouse, waiting in the lobby or scouring the hallways, then making arrests on the sidewalks outside, a pattern they say has been repeated dozens of times since President Donald Trump took office in January.
“ICE is kidnapping immigrants who are obeying the law and coming to court,” said Ashen Harper, a college student who helped lead the demonstration, which targeted Sheriff Rochelle Bilal. “She is capitulating and cooperating with ICE.”
Many people who go to the courthouse, the group noted, are not criminal defendants ― they are witnesses, crime victims, family members, people dealing with alleged offenses like shoplifting or trespassing, and others who are already in diversionary programs.
Organizers said ICE has arrested about 90 people outside the courthouse since January, a dramatic increase over the previous year. And they pledged to return on Dec. 4 ― lugging a podium for Bilal so that, organizers said, she can explain changes she intends to make, including barring ICE.
The sheriff did not immediately reply to a request for comment Thursday.
Members of No ICE Philly rally outside the Criminal Justice Center on Thursday, calling on the sheriff to cut off Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to the building.
“We want to put the sheriff on notice that we’re watching,” said Aniqa Raihan, a No ICE Philly organizer. “We want to raise awareness of the fact … that ICE is using the courthouse as a hunting ground.”
As word of plans for the demonstration spread, Bilal issued a statement aimed at “addressing public concerns” around ICE activity.
“Let me be very clear: the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office does not partner with ICE,” the sheriff said. “Our deputies do not assist ICE, share information, or participate in immigration enforcement.”
Deputies verify the credentials of ICE agents entering the courthouse ― and those agents are not permitted to make arrests in courtrooms or anywhere else inside, she said.
Raihan and other advocates say that is no protection. ICE agents linger in the lobby, they said, then follow their target outside and quickly make the arrest.
A police department spokesperson said at the time that the Spanish-speaking officer offered to walk with the man to help translate, but did not detain him. The Defender Association of Philadelphia and others questioned how the incident squared with the city’s sanctuary policies.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Philadelphia did not reply to a request for comment.
On Thursday, about 40 demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse, chanting and singing under the watchful eye of city police officers and sheriff’s deputies. No ICE agents were visible. Protesters carried signs to indicate that they, too, were watching, raising colorful cardboard eyeballs, eyeglasses, and magnifiers.
Lenore Ramos, the community defense organizer with the Juntos advocacy group, called on the sheriff and city government officials to protect immigrants at the courthouse. Proclaiming Philadelphia a welcoming city, she said, is not just a slogan ― it’s a promise, one that local government must fulfill.
“The city is not standing behind our immigrant communities,” Ramos said. “It is walking all over them.”
In an interview earlier this week, Whitney Viets, an immigration counsel at the Defender Association, said ICE agents are at the courthouse almost every day, and arrests occur there almost daily.
The government does not publicly release data detailing where most immigration arrests occur, but Viets estimated that dozens of arrests have taken place at the courthouse since the start of the year. Masked plainclothes agents are seen outside the building, in the lobby, in courtrooms, and in hallways, she said.
“Agents are effectively doing enforcement in the courthouse, through identification,” she said.
She explained that agents may identify a person they are seeking in or near a courtroom, then either follow them outside or alert other agents who are already waiting on the sidewalk.
It is unclear where ICE is obtaining information on who will be at the courthouse on any particular day, although some details about ongoing criminal cases are available in public records.One result of ICE enforcement, she said, is people are afraid to come to court.
“This is about whether our justice system operates effectively,” Viets said. “The actions of ICE have gotten brazen. … What we need at this time is public engagement against this activity.”
No ICE Philly decried “kidnappings” by the agency and demanded the sheriff “protect everyone inside and outside the courthouse,” including “immigrants targeted by ICE as well as citizens observing and documenting ICE arrests.”
The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office is in charge of courthouse security. However, Bilal said in her statement, her office has no authority to intervene in lawful activities that are conducted off the property.
“Inside the courthouse, everyone’s rights and safety are protected equally under the law,” she said. “We are law enforcement professionals who follow the law.”
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal stands to be recognized at City Hall in March.
In Philadelphia and places around the country, courthouses have become disputed locales as the Trump administration pursues ever-more-aggressive arrest and deportation policies.
Under President Joe Biden, limits were set on what ICE could do at courthouses. Agents were permitted to take action at or near a courthouse only if it involved a threat to national security, an imminent risk of death or violence, the pursuit of someone who threatened the public safety, or a risk of destruction of evidence.
Even then, advocacy groups accused ICE of violating the policy by arresting people who were only short distances from courthouses.
The Biden restrictions on ICE vanished the day after Trump took office.
The new guidance said agents could conduct enforcement actions in or near courthouses ― period. The only conditions were that agents must have credible information that their target would be present at a specific location and that the local jurisdiction had not passed laws barring such enforcement.
The guidance said that, to the extent practicable, ICE action should take place in nonpublic areas of the courthouse and be done in collaboration with court security staff. Officers should generally avoid making arrests in or near family or small-claims courts.
The Department of Homeland Security said that the Biden administration had “thwarted law enforcement” from doing its job, that arresting immigrants in courthouses is safer for agents and the public because those being sought have passed through metal detectors and security checkpoints.
“The ability of law enforcement to make arrests of criminal illegal aliens in courthouses is common sense,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said earlier this year. “It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be.”
Philadelphia city officials have said repeatedly that they do not cooperate with ICE, and that the sanctuary city policies created under former Mayor Jim Kenney remain in place under Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.
Protesters Elias Siegelman, right, with No Ice Philly, who also works with the groups Indivisible, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Progressive Victory, outside the ICE office, in Philadelphia on Oct. 30.
Nationally, 10 months into the Trump administration, some Democratic jurisdictions are acting to tighten ICE access at courthouses.
In Connecticut this month, state lawmakers passed a bill to bar most civil immigration arrests at courthouses, unless federal authorities have obtained a signed judicial warrant in advance.
The Senate bill, already approved by the House, also bans law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings in court, Connecticut Public Radio reported. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to sign the measure.
Last month in Chicago, which has faced weeks of controversial immigration enforcement, the top Cook County judge barred ICE from arresting people at courthouses. That came as federal agents stationed themselves outside courthouses, drawing crowds of protesters, CBS News reported.
On Monday, a federal judge dismissed a Trump administration challenge to a New York law that barred the immigration arrests of people going into and out of courthouses. New York passed the Protect Our Courts Act in 2020, during Trump’s first term, a law the administration said had imposed unconstitutional restrictions on enforcement, the Hill reported.
The Thursday rally marked the third recent protest by No ICE Philly, which seeks to stop agency activity in the city. The organization’s Halloween Eve demonstration outside the ICE office erupted into physical confrontations with police, with several people pushed to the ground and four arrested.
The arrests came after some demonstrators attempted to stop ICE vehicles from leaving the facility at Eighth and Cherry Streets.
No ICE Philly organizers said Thursday that they will continue to scrutinize ICE activity at the courthouse.
“There are people watching. We have eyes on this,” Raihan said, adding that ICE is “allowed to hang in the lobby, sometimes in the courtrooms.”
“Somehow they seem to know when somebody vulnerable is in the courthouse. … We’re concerned with how they’re finding out that information.”
After losing his son to a heroin overdose in 2017, Lawrence Arata devoted his life to helping people in addiction, founded an Upper Darby nonprofit to further that mission, and even ran a failed congressional campaign in which the opioid crisis was his tent-pole cause.
But behind the scenes, prosecutors in Delaware County said Wednesday, Arata twisted that mission, trading cash, gift cards, and other services from his nonprofit, the Opioid Crisis Action Network, for sexual favors from women who were desperate for help.
One woman told investigators that she saw the relationship as transactional: “He had what I needed, and I had what he needed,” she said, according to court filings.
Arata, 65, has been charged with trafficking in individuals and patronizing prostitutes, as well as witness intimidation for trying to coerce some of the women he victimized to recant their statements to police, court records show.
Arata, of Villas, Cape May County, was freed after posting 10% of $500,000 bail.
His attorney, Ronald Greenblatt, said Arata had done nothing wrong.
“The evidence that will come out in court will show his innocence,” he said. “Mr. Arata is a pillar of the community who turned the personal tragedy of losing his son to a drug overdose into a career of helping people.”
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, in announcing the charges, said Arata “cynically and cruelly” misused opioid settlement funds to “satisfy his sexual desires.”
“I want to thank the courageous women in recovery who fell victim to Mr. Arata, as well as those working to help others find their way into recovery, for having the courage to come forward and trust law enforcement to stop this predator,” Stollsteimer said. “We heard you and we support you.”
Stollsteimer said he believes other people may have been victimized by Arata and urged them to contact his office.
Investigators learned of Arata’s alleged crimes in August, when a former program director at his nonprofit gave a statement to Upper Darby police, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
The woman said Arata behaved inappropriately with his clients, kissed, them, touched them, and asked them to stay in hotel rooms with him. Some of the clients left the program because his behavior made them uncomfortable, she said, and she resigned from her position because of similar concerns.
Detectives later interviewed one of the women Arata had initiated a relationship with. She said that during one encounter in 2024, Arata approached her after a group meeting and said she “looked like she could keep a secret.”
At the time, the woman said, the weather had started to turn cold and, in need of a coat, she agreed to perform oral sex on Arata inside his car in exchange for gift cards. The woman told police she could not refuse, because she needed the benefits offered by OCAN to survive.
The woman said she saw Arata again in March, when he was doing outreach on 69th Street in Upper Darby. Hungry and in need of resources, she told police, she approached Arata and again performed oral sex on him inside his car.
Another woman, who lives in Atlantic City, said she and Arata had a yearslong sexual relationship. Arata met the woman while she was living in a recovery house in Chester, and she told him about her years of addiction and the time she spent as a sex worker in order to survive.
Arata began trading gift cards and cash for sex with the woman, she told police. Later, when she returned to Atlantic City, she said, Arata continued their relationship.
The woman said she needed the cash and gift cards to survive, and saw the arrangement as mutually beneficial. Earlier this month, Arata texted her from an unfamiliar phone number, saying police had confiscated his cell phone and urging her not to speak with investigators.
But Arata didn’t just assault women in recovery, police said. A therapist who worked for his organization said Arata repeatedly told her she was beautiful, asked her to visit his hotel room in Chester, and once kissed her against her will.
Later, after police had begun to investigate Arata, he pulled the woman aside, accused her of making “false allegations” against him, and demanded she retract her statement, authorities said.
Other employees of OCAN said they had raised concerns to Arata about his methods, saying the repeated use of gift cards as an incentive to clients felt tantamount to a bribe, the affidavit said. He ignored or dismissed those concerns.
Arata told The Inquirer in 2017 that the death of his son, Brendan, inspired him to raise awareness on the lack of resources for people in active addiction.
“Getting very busy on this issue was a way for me to deal with my grief,” Arata said. “This is not a partisan issue. This disease has killed Republicans and Democrats.”
The Montgomery County township on Wednesday became the first in Pennsylvania to ban gas-powered leaf blowers, commissioners said, taking a phased approach that will begin with a seasonal prohibition and transition to an all-out ban over the next four years.
“Together, we will bring us a step closer to providing our residents the right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and aesthetic values of the environment as guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution,” Commissioner Gilda Kramer said, addressing a packed house of attendees at the board meeting.
The commissioners passed the ordinance 10-4.
Starting on June 1, 2026, gas-powered leaf blowers will be banned seasonally during the summer (June 1-Oct. 1) and winter (Jan. 1-April 1). The use of portable generators to power electric leaf blowers or charge their batteries will also be banned.
Starting on Jan. 1, 2028, the use of gas-powered leaf blowers will be permitted only during the fall. They will be banned from Jan. 1 to Oct. 1.
On Jan. 1, 2029, a full-fledged ban will take effect.
Residents will still be able to use gas-powered leaf blowers during snowfall and within 24 hours after snow has ceased to fall.
Dozens of residents testified in favor of the ban, citing the noise pollution, environmental impacts, and health consequences associated with the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. One third grader presented a petition with 141 signatures collected at Penn Valley Elementary School.
While the majority of commissioners characterized the ordinance as a step in the right direction — one that prioritizes safety and environmental health — others dissented, warning that the electric leaf blower technology is not currently strong enough to supplant gas-powered blowers and that the costs of the transition are still unknown.
“The ordinance that we’re considering tonight is based on an aspiration that the technology is going to be there,” Commissioner Joshua Grimes said. “Right now, staff has told us it is not there. Staff has not told us when it will be there, and no one knows when it’s gonna be there.”
An amendment to implement a seasonal ban only, not a full ban, failed. The amendment was brought by Commissioner Daniel Bernheim.
Board President Todd Sinai said that while electric leaf blower technology is not yet fully advanced, the ordinance should be seen as Lower Merion setting ambitious, and important, goals for the future.
“Some town has to go first. Some town has to be the one that is the starting point for all the other municipalities to coalesce around,” Sinai said. “… If we have to backfill things because we’ve discovered things that are friction points, we will fix them, but at least let’s set an objective and try to accomplish it.”
Commissioners Bernheim, Grimes, Louis Rossman, and Scott Zelov voted against the ordinance.
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After being stuck in committee for four years, the Pennsylvania Senate passed the CROWN Act Wednesday with a vote of 44-3.
Passage of the act — an acronym for Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — means employers and school officials can’t bar people from jobs or schools for wearing their hair as it grows out naturally or choosing styles — box braids, twists, locs, or cornrows — that protect it.
The law applies to all Pennsylvanians, but especially impacts Black people. Black men who opt to wear locs or braids at work and school instead of close cropped Afros are often forced to cut them off.
But Black women, who, are often compelled and required to straighten their naturally curly coils in professional and school settings are the most will benefit the most from the new legislation.
“This law takes discrimination head on,” said Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Pa.). “Natural hair is beautiful. This law protects Pennsylvanians by abolishing any notion that natural hairstyles are not appropriate in professional, educational, or public settings.”
Black women use scorching hot metal combs, flat irons, or blow dryers to press their manes into smooth styles. The hair remains straight until it gets wet and then it curls back up.
Political strategist and advocate Adjoa B. Asamoah (right) participates on a panel with the Oscar-winning Hair Love filmmakers at the National Museum of Women and the Arts in Washington, DC Feb. 23, 2020.
Some use relaxers. Stylists apply chemicals to the scalp to straighten the hair at the root, causing painful burns. This is a more permanent method, but the chemicals must be reapplied every few weeks when natural hair grows out.
Asamoah worked with attorneys to draft legislation, and champions the bill in legislative houses around the country.
“I shouldn’t have to increase my likelihood of developing cancer to be upwardly mobile. That can’t be the cost,” she said.
Fed up with hair discrimination, Asamoah began working with lawyers on the CROWN Act in 2018.
California, New York, and New Jersey were the first states to pass the CROWN Act the following year. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the CROWN Act in 2020, but it got stalled in the Senate.
Pennsylvania is the 28th state to pass anti-hair discrimination laws joining New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia enacted ordinances banning hair discrimination in 2020, but the Pennsylvania ruling protects people throughout the state.
Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to sign the bill into law in the coming months.
The Pennsylvania bill amended the Human Relations Act, clarifying the term of race to include traits such as hair texture and protective hairstyles. The House passed the CROWN Act in 2023 but was later assigned to a Senate committee where it lay buried.
It passed the State House again in March, with a vote of 194-8, signaling strong bipartisan support. This time House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Phila.) a prime sponsor of the bill, refused to leave its fate up to chance. She worked with Republican Senate president pro tempore Kim Ward to move the bill to the Senate as part of the state’s budget negotiations.
“I told her the CROWN Act was an important piece of legislation for people in all the communities that we serve,” said McClinton, who wears her hair in natural protective styles. “I’m excited about what the future holds for women in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who won’t have to face another barrier to succeeding in the work place.
Former first Lady Michelle Obama recently reignited the discussion of Black women’s natural hair during interviews about her book The Look.
Obama didn’t wear braids during Barack Obama’s presidential term because she feared they would be a distraction, she recently told Sherri Shepherd on her daytime talk show.
However, upon returning to the White House in 2022 to unveil her official portrait, she wore braids gathered into a bun at the nape of her neck.
“I wanted to make a statement, ‘Y’all get out of our heads,’” Obama said. “I don’t want any man in any HR department making decisions about what is appropriate, how we look, [to be able to determine] our ability to wear wigs, locs, braids and extensions … Don’t hire or fire somebody based on something you know nothing about.”
Her comments drew ire of Republicans including Megyn Kelly who countered, saying the drama was all in Obama’s head.
That kind of disconnect, Asamoah said, is why the CROWN Act is needed.
“People have been discriminating against Black people’s hair for decades, and yes, it’s still happening,” Asamoah said.
“The important thing is that Black women can no longer be fired, passed over for a promotion, or have a job offer rescinded if we wear our hair in locks, braids, or twists … If someone tells you need to straighten your hair at your job, that’s now a violation.”
Bill Piccinni, 67, was riding his bike by the Franklin Institute when something halted his pedaling. The lunar module looked as if King Kong had ripped it in half, he said.
Concerned, he asked Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region: What is going on with the Apollo-era lunar module? Is the Franklin Institute getting rid of it?
“It’s been there for so long; it’s like a part of the city almost,” Piccinni said. “If it disappears, it would just be a shame.”
Sadly for Philly space lovers, the disjointed module does signal a farewell. After 49 years at the museum, it is returning to its previous orbit — Washington.
Neil Armstrong’s ride look-alike, a prototype used in preparations for several Apollo missions, was loaned by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in 1976, according to Derrick Pitts, the Franklin Institute’s chief astronomer. Now, that museum has asked for the module’s return.
“All museums, when they are keeping track of their artifacts … set a period of time for how long it’s gonna be borrowed, and then they will ask for it back,” Pitts said.
The Lunar Module was loaned by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in 1976.
The chief astronomer is not sure what awaits the Grumman structural engineering test module near D.C. The engineering prototype served to test how the parts and pieces would fit together in preparation for the real Apollo 11 lunar module that took Armstrong to the moon.
To Pitts, that doesn’t make it any less special. On the contrary, he views the equipment as an epitome of the height of space exploration technology at the time. It’s proof that “we successfully sent explorers to the moon and brought them back safely,” Pitts said.
For future generations of Philadelphians, this means no longer being able to see the module up close without leaving the city. People in Washington won’t be seeing this particular module either. There are currently no plans for it to be displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, according to spokesperson Marc Sklar.
For now, the Franklin Institute is considering an array of options for replacing the module in the backyard, but nothing is set in stone, Pitts said. In the meantime, the museum’s Wondrous space continues to be an option for folks wanting to learn about space.
“I am just really appreciative that people have paid attention to the lunar module enough to wonder what is going on with it,” Pitts said. “We are really very glad that you are aware that it has been here and that you are going to miss it.”
