Group to PPS: Let Hamlet’s contract run out
A group of more than 50 black women this week signed a letter that was sent to Pittsburgh Public Schools board members arguing against the renewal of Superintendent Anthony Hamlet’s contract.
The group, Black Women for a Better Education, detailed multiple reasons it believed the district should not keep Mr. Hamlet after his contract expires next year.
“We are in serious times and we need a real leader for this region,” the letter said. “We believe that Dr. Hamlet has not led the district successfully in the areas of: organizational leadership, financial management, providing safe and healthy school environments and instructional excellence.”
Mr. Hamlet agreed to a five-year contract in 2016 that expires June 30, 2021. The school board cannot publicly discuss the contract until July 1, per Pennsylvania school code. The board has six months between July 1 and Feb. 1, 2021, to inform Mr. Hamlet whether it will renew his contract.
District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh declined to comment. School board President Sylvia Wilson said that because the issue was a personnel matter, there would be no comment from board members.
Black Women for a Better Education is made up of women affiliated with the Pittsburgh Public Schools, such as parents, alumnae, former employees, retirees, partners and concerned community members.
Those who signed the letter included Cheryl Hall-Russell, president and chief cultural consultant of Black Women Wise Women; Allyce Pinchback-Johnson, a former district employee and a parent and alumna; La’Fay Pinchback, a retired teacher who taught in the district for 38 years; Maria T. Searcy, a district employee assistance consultant; Brandi Fisher, president of Alliance for Police Accountability; and Evelyn King, a retired district administrator.
The group’s letter was highly critical of Mr. Hamlet’s tenure.
The letter said Mr. Hamlet had a chance at a near-complete rebuild of his executive team because of the number of retirements shortly after he was hired, but noted many administrators he initially brought in have left.
The COVID-19 pandemic has harmed the district economically, the group acknowledged, but the superintendent’s handling of district finances before the virus was “questionable at best.”
“His excessive spending on
extraneous central office staff, high-paid consultants, $14 million in educational technology contracts and nearly $25,000 a month expenses on out-oftown ‘professional development’ opportunities has crippled the district,” the letter said. “There has been little to no return on investment for educators and students.”
The letter also noted Mr. Hamlet’s unauthorized trip to Cuba, which led to an investigation that came at taxpayers’ expense.
Of the district’s management during the COVID-19 pandemic, the group said, Mr. Hamlet’s “lack of leadership and transparency” left students and families “frustrated.”
“The district’s transition to remote learning was unsatisfactory,” the letter said. “At a minimum, students lost nearly three weeks of instruction and after eight weeks, students with disabilities are still without specially designed instruction, which is required by their IEPs [individualized education plans].”
During Mr. Hamlet’s tenure, the letter said, the performance gap between black and white students has stayed stagnant. The group said racial disparity in student performance and discipline has been a long-standing issue for the district, and the equity advisory panel established as part of a 2006 conciliation agreement has continued “to be placated with empty promises by the district.”
The letter reviewed the superintendent’s “rocky start” in the district, from being recommended by a search consultant who did not vet him, to a review of Mr. Hamlet’s credentials, which revealed plagiarism and inaccuracies in his employment history.
“Though Dr. Hamlet was ‘cleared’ of wrongdoing in a rushed investigation at the expense of the taxpayers, by then, many of us (including two board members who voted to rescind his contract) had lost confidence that Dr. Hamlet was the right person for the job,” the letter said.
“Despite Dr. Hamlet’s rocky start, many community, foundation, and government leaders calling for his removal were still willing to collaborate (some of whom have signed this letter),” the letter continued. “However, at nearly every turn, Dr. Hamlet has been evasive, operating the district like an island and further ostracizing the community to the detriment of Pittsburgh children.”
The group called Mr. Hamlet’s tenure an “abject failure” and said the board should allow his contract to expire.
“Our students and families deserve a superintendent who is competent, honest, innovative and not the center of continuous negative press,” the letter said.
“We do not take lightly the implications of black women asking a school board with a black president to not renew the contract of a black superintendent of a school district with majority black students. We are aware of the optics; however, we demand better for our black children.”
The board’s first vice president, Kevin Carter, declined to comment, saying the matter was a personnel issue and he still has time to decide because the contract does not expire until next year.
“The beauty of the democratic system is that folks can and will write letters to their elected leadership about whatever topics they feel deeply about,” Mr. Carter said in an email. “At this time, I am not interested in discussing or reading any information about contract renewal/or reappointment.”
Mr. Carter added he and other board members were focused on preparing for the fall.
The school board’s second vice president, Terry Kennedy, said “when it comes to making a decision, we have to look at everything. People are going to have their opinions, and they’re free to do that. At the end of the day, I have to look at things objectively.
“I tend to look at the full body of work, not just a few slices in time,” she said.
School board member Devon Taliaferro said she could not comment on a personnel matter, but “I will say that as a newly elected board member, I take matters like this very seriously and feel it [is] important to hear the concerns of the community and represent those voices at the board table.”
School board members Cynthia Falls, Pam Harbin and Bill Gallagher declined to comment. Board members Sala Udin and Veronica Edwards could not be reached.