School district group questions TCH lease
A group of residents in the communities served by the Birmingham Public Schools is raising questions about the proposed lease being negotiated by the district and the governing board for the City of Birmingham Community House Foundation for space in the iconic city building to offer early childhood education services.
The Community House (TCH) in downtown Birmingham had for years offered an education program through its Early Childhood Center (ECC), the tuition from which produced a profit each year. The city purchased TCH earlier this spring and the last session of the education program was allowed to expire months later. ECC staffing was not retained.
The foundation board, as part of its efforts to recreate programs offered in the past at TCH, decided to continue with an education program and several proposals were accepted by the board in recent months.
One of the proposals, put forth by the Birmingham Public Schools, was chosen by the board with the hopes that details could be worked out by the start of the traditional start of school year in September although as of mid-September a lease agreement was still being worked out. As part of the selected proposal, the school district would lease space in the building and operate the education program.
Birmingham Public Schools Superintendent Embekka Roberson is a founding member of the City of Birmingham Community House Foundation which is responsible for operating The Community House.
A group of parents, operating under the moniker of Parents Allied for Accountability, Conduct and Transparency (PAACT), began in mid-August to raise questions about the plan for the district leasing space at The Community House.
PAACT founder Betsy McDaniel said that in August the group began in writing to raise questions of the board relative to a possible conflict of interest with Roberson on the foundation board and as district superintendent while a lease was being negotiated between the two parties. PAACT also questioned the logic of leasing space for a new program while the current district early childhood programs were requiring general fund monies to cover budget shortfalls in recent years.
The PAACT group has noted that the school bond proposal on the November 3 ballot includes considerable funds for work on the Midvale school for an early childhood program. Material from the PAACT group also raised questions about declining enrollment in existing elementary district schools, leading to underutilization of current buildings and wondered why the district would need to lease space from the city with open space that could already be available in district schools.
McDaniel, in material supplied to Downtown, said the board responded that Roberson would not be participating in lease negotiations or recommendations relative to the new childhood education program.
According to PAACT, the school district responded in writing that legal counsel would be looking at the issues raised by the group and would also be looking at the district’s ethics policy and any relevant part of the superintendent’s contract with the district.
Downtown reached out to Birmingham Mayor Clinton Baller, who also sits on the foundation board, to see if the conflict of interest question relative to Roberson had been considered by the foundation board. He responded that both the foundation board and school district legal counsel had found no conflict of interest.
Baller said that the superintendent was “abstaining from participation” on issues involving the school lease for space in TCH but there had been a request for further legal review on the “issue of compatibility.”
Downtown also reached out to Birmingham school board president Nicole Spencer relative to an early September closed door session about the lease with the city and she said that the school superintendent did not participate in the session.
