To: William J Green, Chairman of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission and Michael Nutter, Mayor, City of Philadelphia
Philadelphia SRC Member Sylvia Simms Must Resign or be Removed from the SRC
Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) member Sylvia Simms is unfit to continue in her role as Commissioner as evidenced by her actions of October 15, 2014 when she berated a group of peaceful student protestors at School District of Philadelphia (SDP) offices and yelled that they were "probably in failing schools." The schools that the student protestors attend are ones that Ms. Simms is charged with governing. After the event, Ms. Simms denied that she had said the students attended failing schools but footage from the event shows that she lied.
Publicly lying, insulting students, and a failure to support the very institutions Ms. Simms is charged with governing in her role as SRC commissioner indicate that she is unfit and ill-matched for the role and must immediately step down as SRC Commissioner or be replaced.
See video evidence of Ms. Simms' behavior at: http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20141113_SRC_member_caught_on_tape_berating_students.html
Publicly lying, insulting students, and a failure to support the very institutions Ms. Simms is charged with governing in her role as SRC commissioner indicate that she is unfit and ill-matched for the role and must immediately step down as SRC Commissioner or be replaced.
See video evidence of Ms. Simms' behavior at: http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20141113_SRC_member_caught_on_tape_berating_students.html
Why is this important?
My child attends public school in Philadelphia. There are many people--teachers, administrators, parents and students--working very hard to improve public education in Philadelphia in the face of incredible funding shortages. Ms. Simms' actions are an unacceptable insult to genuine efforts to make things better for Philadelphia's students. Her behavior just makes things worse; in these difficult times, we don't need people like Sylvia Simms having any role in governing our city schools.