On Thursday, Mayor Kenney announced that he is requesting at least 18 additional names from the nominating panel for the city’s new School Board of Education. On Feb. 26, the panel presented Kenney with a list of 27 candidates selected from a pool of over 500 applications and nominations the city had received through an open application process online and in paper format. 

The nominating panel has until March 18 to submit the new list of names, after which Kenney will have another 20 days to select the final nine appointments to the school board from both the original and additional groups of candidates recommended by the panel. 

The Mayor’s letter to the nominating panel requested that the panel “submit a diverse pool that more strongly represents parents and current or former primary- and secondary-level educators.” 

The letter went on to ask the nominating panel to “[ensure] that the additional recommendations increase the diversity of the pool in order to allow me to appoint a board that represents the various communities of Philadelphia.”

Once Kenney appoints the nine members of the new school board, they will begin to work with members of the School Reform Commission to transition governance to local control of the School District by July 1.