A court date has been scheduled, and now those with stakes in the Harrisburg School District are waiting to see if their local schools will fall under state control.
It wouldn’t be the first time that the district has been taken over by outside leadership. And on Friday, Gerald Kohn — the man who led the district under former Mayor Stephen R. Reed’s rule — weighed in on the circumstances that he feels are necessary to ensure success under state control.
“I think there is real opportunity with state receivership,” Kohn said, speaking in favor of the proposed state takeover, which was initiated by state Department of Education officials amid ongoing poor academic and financial performance in the district.
According to Kohn, success means giving the state-appointed leadership time and money needed to set up a system based on best practices and academic research.
That is all while insulating its new leadership from political pressures that he blamed for creating many of the ongoing issues that have plagued the district, both academically and financially.
One thing’s for sure, his former deputy superintendent Julie Botel said, “it’s not going to be quick.”
Kohn and Botel stopped by the PennLive offices Friday afternoon for a meeting with the PennLive Editorial Board. The duo was in town to reunite with members of their former Harrisburg School District team.
In Pennsylvania, receivership allows state officials to appoint a receiver, who would essentially act as the district’s chief executive, wresting most decision-making power from the administrators as well as the elected school board.
That would be true for a period of at least three years, but according to Kohn, that is not nearly long enough.
“It was 10 years for us, and that really wasn’t long enough,” Kohn said, referring to his stint as superintendent under the now-defunct state Education Empowerment Act that allowed then-mayor Reed to choose the failing district’s leadership in 2000.
By the time Kohn was ousted in 2010 by then-mayor Linda Thompson, his opponents considered the takeover a failure. That includes Thompson, who pointed out underperformance on standardized tests.
On Friday, Kohn provided informational printouts, which showed that the number of students passing standardize tests during his leadership increased from 11 to 36 percent.
Kohn and his defenders also broadcasted their success by pointing to improved attendance and higher graduation rates.
Kohn sued the district for wrongful termination and was awarded $2.4 million in 2013.
Assistant Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney was named acting superintendent after Kohn’s ousting, and she was later hired as full-term superintendent. She remains in the role, though without an approved contract stipulating her salary or terms of employment.
On Friday, Kohn and Botel stressed that the decade they had might not have been long enough for students making their way through the leadership team’s newly implemented programs — preschool, alternative education and the specialized SciTech High — to effect a lasting improvement on education.
And even with all of the time in the world, a school system can not succeed without money, Kohn said, highlighting his administration’s aggressive pursuit of funding, which included regularly seeking grants and even hiring a lobbying firm to help secure state aid.
Funding — and spending — means the ability to purchase classroom space and to hire additional and qualified teachers and administrators to oversee the day-to-day, Kohn said, speaking in favor of higher wages for administrators.
Higher wages, he said, will allow the district to recruit and hire administrators from wealthier school districts, which traditionally are populated with the most highly educated professionals.
Those professionals, Kohn said, can help to change the district’s culture, not only for the students but also the staff.
Culture — a synonym for public perception — was among the top of Kohn’s talking points. And that starts with a charismatic leader, he said.
“The first thing the receiver has to do is to reassure the public and the staff in the school district that people who are honest and work hard will be rewarded and kept in their position and supported,” Kohn said. “Nobody is able to change by himself or herself any organization. It has to be a collaborative effort.”
Part of that collaboration, Botel said, means holding public forums to keep community members informed, but that is all while convincing those same people that it’s best that their elected school board members are not left in control.
“The way to communicate about the school district needs to be to the superintendent — in this case, the receiver,” Kohn said. “Not through politicians.”
That’s because those boards are steeped in politics and their seats are often sought out by people looking to hold the district’s multi-million-dollar pursestrings instead of those interested in fostering education, Kohn said.
Insulating educators from politics is paramount, he said. Harvard-educated Kohn blamed political differences for tanking his stint as Harrisburg’s superintendent.
He also warned against setting expectations too high.
“There is a lot that has changed since 10 years ago. ... It’s going to take a long time to figure out what needs to be done and to build up the school district again,” Kohn said.
And while Kohn and Botel talked openly about the need to fire underperforming employees, they stressed that those actions alone will not revitalize a district.
Instead, the former administrators preached a message of inclusivity among all level’s of the education staff.
“You have got to bring everybody in and include them in the decision-making process," Kohn said.
A court hearing on receivership is set for June 17, the same date as the next regularly scheduled school board meeting.