ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Allentown School District presents many challenges for acting Superintendent Carol Birks, who started at the district Monday. Some community members said they are concerned that Birks’ controversial background means she may struggle in the top leadership position.
Birks is taking over for former Superintendent John Stanford, who was ousted by the school board about two weeks ago. His last day was Oct. 28. Birks is earning $850 a day while working three days a week on-site as she transitions from her job as regional superintendent for charter school Booker T. Washington Academy in Connecticut to her new position. She is expected to work full-time in the district starting in mid-December.
- Allentown is a high-needs, low-wealth school district, according to the Public Interest Law Center
- Local NAACP members are calling for a state takeover
- The state can take over financially struggling districts
Birks was the only candidate who wanted the position in an accelerated hiring timeline, according to a member of the school board. The Allentown school board interviewed her on Oct. 27 and voted to hire her two days later.
Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, a senior attorney with the Public Interest Law Center, said that leading under-resourced public school districts can be much tougher than those with tons of wealth and reserves.
“Low-wealth districts in Pennsylvania have to triage their children as if they’re walking into a field hospital rather than a kindergarten."Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, senior attorney with the Public Interest Law Center
“Low-wealth districts in Pennsylvania have to triage their children as if they’re walking into a field hospital rather than a kindergarten,” he said.
The law center represents six school districts and seven parents among other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state that argues lawmakers were not living up to their constitutional obligation to provide all Pennsylvania students a high-quality education. A trial took place earlier this year and the judge is expected to issue a decision by early next year.
Data presented by the center at the trial on how the state funds the Commonwealth’s school districts showed that Allentown’s schools are underfunded, depriving students of the necessary resources for equitable education.
Birks’ hiring in Allentown, as in some of her past positions, has been controversial. Esther Lee, president of the Bethlehem NAACP, said she is still very upset that Stanford was fired. She was one of the protestors who rallied in front of the Lehigh Valley Courthouse last week demanding to know why Stanford was let go.
Lee said she doesn’t believe Birks has the right experience to run the district. In particular, she is worried about Birks’ short stints in her last few positions.
“I would not have her over my children,” Lee said. “That’s the problem now. We take for granted that someone has degrees that they’re suitable.”
Birks was hired by the New Haven School District in March 2018 after five years as chief of Hartford Public Schools. But the school board offered her a buyout a year and a half into her three-year contract in October 2019.
She was superintendent of the troubled Chester Upland school district for barely a year, starting June 2020, but was removed after operations were outsourced to the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit.
Birks was hired as a consultant at Booker T. Washington Academy, a tuition-free charter school in Connecticut, in February and then named regional superintendent in July. She applied for the ASD interim superintendent position less than four months later.
“She doesn’t seem to be able to stay in one place long enough to get a fix on what it is she needs to do.”Esther Lee, president of the Bethlehem NAACP
“She doesn’t seem to be able to stay in one place long enough to get a fix on what it is she needs to do,” Lee said.
District spokeswoman Melissa Reese said Birks is committed to ensuring the staff and students feel safe, valued, empowered and loved.
Allentown is the sixth highest-needs district in the state, according to information presented by the Public Interest Law Center at trial. And of 499 districts, only three spend less per student than Allentown in weighted funding.
Pennsylvania has a student-based funding formula that provides a base amount per pupil, and then adds more funds determined by the concentration of students with special needs, such as poverty, English as a second language and disabilities.
Allentown School District is more than 72% Hispanic and more than 13% Black. About 8.6% of the district is white and one percent is Asian. Nearly 18% of students have a disability, and about the same percentage are classified as English language learners. Nearly 68% are low-income.
Pennsylvania also has almost the worst educational “opportunity gaps” in the U.S.,according to a report by Research For Action, a Philadelphia-based education research organization, and testimony in the trial. The gaps between white and Black students, and white and Hispanic students are consistently among the worst among all 50 states.
RFA-PersistentUnequalAccesstoEducationalOpportunityinPennsylvaniaForK-12Students by Stephanie Sigafoos on Scribd
Urevick-Ackelsberg said the Pennsylvania Department of Education admitted during the trial that the state has some of the worst achievement gaps in the nation by race, ethnicity and income.
“The source of those achievement gaps are of course opportunity gaps on the front end,” he said. “Schools that are educating high numbers of children of color, high numbers of economically disadvantaged kids, do not have the same resources as their wealthier and whiter neighbors, and that just plays out in very practical terms.”
Lee said she believes the issue is about leadership, not about poverty or race. She and other members of the NAACP in Allentown, Bethlehem and surrounding areas are calling for the state to take over the operation of the school district. She said there is no other option.
“I think they’re acting too hastily,” she said. “They acted too hastily to rid themselves of Dr. Stanford and moreover to hire Dr. Birks into a position… just to fill a seat.”
Reese said Birks looks forward to being introduced to the NAACP and rebuilding a strong relationship with the organization as well as other community leaders in Allentown.
Lee said they are in the process of contacting DOE. A spokeswoman with the Pennsylvania Department of Education (DOE) said they have heard from anyone in Lehigh Valley about the school district. But there is no mechanism for the state to take control of a school district in response to leadership concerns from members of the community. She said that must be resolved locally among the school district, board members and the community. The state does provide aid to struggling school districts through the School District Financial Recovery Act.
DOE stepped in to assist the Allentown School District in the past with financial management. Allentown has also received state intervention because of poor academic performance at six schools, including Raub Middle School, Harrison-Morton Middle School, South Mountain Middle School, Trexler Middle School, Dieruff High School and William Allen High School. The district itself has never been under state receivership.
