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Author: Kristen A. Graham

  • Stetson Middle School was neglected for decades, district officials admit. Now, they’re trying to close the school.

    Stetson Middle School was neglected for decades, district officials admit. Now, they’re trying to close the school.

    As cars whizzed by on B Street, one student banged a drum and another struck a cymbal. Others waved signs and marched in circles.

    “Save our school!” the group of about 50 middle schoolers shouted outside Stetson Middle School in Kensington last week. “Save Stetson!”

    Stetson is one of 20 schools Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has proposed closing as part of a $2.8 billion facilities plan. Officials say closures are necessary to improve educational outcomes and equity system-wide, and to balance enrollment in a district that has 70,000 empty seats.

    Love Letters to Stetson decorate the hallway during a community meeting at John B. Stetson Middle School in Kensington last week. Stetson is one of 20 Philly public schools facing closure.

    But Stetson isn’t going down without a fight.

    The school is 59% occupied, by the district’s calculations, and its building is in “unsatisfactory” condition. Stetson also scored “poor” on program alignment, a measure that takes into account a school’s ability to offer “appropriate spaces” for things like art, music, physical education, and career and technical education.

    Its supporters say Stetson has been left to languish and that their neighborhood is overrepresented on the closure list. The district, they say, is taking away a community that’s been a constant for families in a struggling neighborhood at the center of the city’s opioid crisis.

    “You tell this community that they are not worth investment,” one Stetson student said at a meeting at the school last week. “How is it equitable to shut a school in a neighborhood that already lost so much? If this building needs repair, fix it for the children, not for the administration.”

    Twelve requests to fix a leaky roof

    The district has said it plans to hold on to the Stetson building and operate it as “swing space” — a building that can be used to relocate students from other schools that must temporarily shut down to accommodate repairs.

    Instead of closing soon, the district is proposing phasing Stetson out gradually. The school would stop accepting new fifth graders in 2028, and close in 2030.

    Students who previously would have gone to Stetson will go to Cramp and Elkin elementaries, which will grow to accommodate middle grades. Both schools are less than a mile from Stetson.

    Students, teachers and supporters rally before a community meeting at John B. Stetson Middle School on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026 in Philadelphia. Stetson is one of 20 Philly public schools facing closure.

    Officials have also said the move to shut down Stetson is part of a larger strategy of moving away from middle schools and focusing instead on K-8 schools.

    Community angst spilled over at the closing meeting last week, with audience members booing district officials who were there to present information and answer questions, and applauding for those who spoke up for Stetson.

    If the district has money to spend on fixing up buildings, why not spend on Stetson’s building, students asked.

    Students and attendees listen during a community meeting at John B. Stetson Middle School last week.

    “We have a fourth floor,” one sixth grader said. “Y’all could just fix that, y’all could fix the pipes, y’all could fix everything.”

    Another student said she was frustrated by mold in the school, and a leaky roof.

    “I heard that it’s your fault,” the student said.

    Later, at a Tuesday City Council hearing, Councilmember Quetcy Lozada told Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. that Stetson staff have put in 12 separate requests to fix the leaking roof.

    “That roof is still leaking,” a frustrated Lozada said. “Can I have someone please today commit to going to Stetson and checking their leaking roof?”

    Watlington said he would “make that happen.”

    ‘The void that it’s going to leave behind’

    The district got the Stetson call wrong, said Kathryn Lajara, a special-education teacher at the school.

    “Our school is being penalized for allegedly lacking space — P.E., special education, art,” Lajara said. “These conclusions are based on incomplete and misleading information, not on lived reality of what happens in our building every single day.”

    Special ed coordinator Kathryn Lajara speaks during a community meeting at John B. Stetson Middle School last week. Lajara and others spoke out against the recommendation to close the school in Kensington.

    Stetson has an art lab, rooms for piano class, dance, a music room, and a photography room, Lajara said. And it serves 140 students with disabilities, despite the district saying it had inadequate special-education spaces.

    Lajara was also frustrated by the district’s upkeep of the building.

    “We fight the dripping water every day from the roof that you continue to neglect,” Lajara told district officials at the community meeting.

    “I’m going to admit to you: We have neglected this building over decades,” Deputy Superintendent Oz Hill told the audience.

    Lajara looked at Hill.

    “Instead of continuing to neglect, how about we decide that our community and our students are best to invest in?” she said.

    Deputy Superintendent Oz Hill speaks during a community meeting at John B. Stetson Middle School last week.

    Crystal Pritchett, another Stetson teacher, suggested the district’s decision to send students to Cramp and Elkin was not in tune with neighbors’ wishes about safety and comfort.

    Families have safety concerns about sending their kids to other schools, Pritchett said.

    “You know nothing about this community,” Pritchett said. “You aren’t listening.”

    Stetson opened in 1915 and was a district school for nearly 100 years. It turned into a charter school run by the nonprofit Aspira in 2010, but the district took it back in 2022 after Aspira failed to meet district standards.

    Abandoning it altogether is unthinkable, said the Rev. David Orellana, a pastor at CityReach Church in Kensington.

    “I don’t think we’re taking into account the negative impact and the void that it’s going to leave behind,” Orellana said. “Taking Stetson away is taking the heartbeat of this community.”

  • City Council members grill school district officials on plan to close 20 schools — and superintendent says he could have closed 40

    City Council members grill school district officials on plan to close 20 schools — and superintendent says he could have closed 40

    Philadelphia City Council may not have a vote on Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s sweeping facilities plan, but it indicated Tuesday that it will have a say in school closings.

    As a packed hearing began in Council’s chambers Tuesday morning, both Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Isaiah Thomas, chair of the Education Committee, said Council refused to be a “rubber stamp” to Watlington’s proposal to close 20 schools, colocate six, and modernize 159.

    Though only the school board gets to vote directly on the plan, Johnson has indicated he is willing to hold up city funding to the district over the school closure plan. And his colleagues echoed that sentiment Tuesday.

    “I’m infuriated that we don’t get a say,” Councilmember Jimmy Harrity said, warning the district officials who appeared before him. “But, Council president, you and I both know we do get a say, because budget’s coming. And we will be looking. Mindful is the word I would use for today — be mindful.”

    Concerned citizens stand with signs in support of Harding Middle School before the start of a Philadelphia City Council hearing Tuesday at City Hall on the school district’s plan to close 20 schools.

    About 40% of the district’s nearly $5 billion budget comes from local revenue and city funding, which City Council and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker must approve in the annual city budget by the end of June.

    Harrity, an at-large Council member, said he was “tired that every time cuts come, they come from a certain neighborhood. You know, I live in Kensington, in the 7th District. I talk to these kids. They’re good kids. They deserve everything that other kids in other neighborhoods are getting. … You can see that this isn’t what our people want.” Watlington has proposed closing four schools in the 7th District.

    More than 100 community members holding babies and waving signs opposing the facilities plan filled Council chambers on the fourth floor of City Hall on Tuesday as Council members spent hours grilling Watlington and other district officials.

    Watlington, meanwhile, stood by his plan in testimony to Council on Tuesday, saying that 20 closings was a much smaller number than he could have settled on.

    “We could have come here and presented a plan that closed twice as many schools and been able to defend it,” Watlington said.

    A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

    District officials have said the facilities process is not about saving money, but about optimizing education and equity for the city’s 115,000 students.

    But it was clear Tuesday that finances played a part: The district has lost 15,000 students in the last 10 years, and over 80,000 since 1997, when charter schools were first authorized in Pennsylvania. It has 300 buildings, many of them 75 years and older and in poor repair, and some schools with more than 1,000 empty seats, while others are overcrowded.

    Tony B. Watlington Sr., superintendent of School District of Philadelphia, speaks at a City Council hearing Tuesday on his proposal to close 20 schools.

    “We’ve got to be very careful with our limited resources in a historically underfunded district,” Watlington told Council.

    Watlington and board president Reginald Streater, who also testified, pitched the plan as a way to add things the district cannot now offer — Advanced Placement courses in every high school, the opportunity for all eighth graders to take algebra, more prekindergarten, and career and technical education programs.

    “I do not believe we’ll get this opportunity again in our lifetime,” Watlington said.

    The superintendent dropped a few previously undisclosed facts about the facilities road map, indicating that his recommendations could shift slightly before he presents the plan to the school board on Feb. 26. No date has been set for the board’s final vote, which is expected later this winter.

    “It’s premature to say how the final recommendations will land,” Watlington said.

    But, the superintendent said, “if there are schools that Council wants me to take off the list, and add others on that list, we are open to you telling me what those are, but we cannot get to a place where we address our 35% non-utilization rate in buildings if no changes are made.”

    Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson (left) greets Dr. Tony Watlington, Superintendent of School District of Philadelphia Philadelphia City Council holds hearing with board members of School District of Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Reginald L. Streater, Esq., President Board of Education. (center)

    Debora Carrera, the city’s chief education officer, who spent three decades as a district teacher and administrator, told Council that Parker believes “the current district footprint is unsustainable.”

    Carrera said her own experience as principal of Kensington High School for Creative and Performing Arts shows that it is right for the district to focus resources on neighborhood high schools.

    “My high school was a small high school,” Carrera said. “I could only offer my children two AP courses, when other schools like Central — where my son went — could offer them over 20-plus AP courses.“

    ‘Breaking down of public education’

    The hearing got tense at times.

    “I feel like this is the breaking down of public education in Philadelphia,” said Councilmember Cindy Bass, who said some of the district’s own decisions had led to closures.

    Several members of Council raised questions about the plan’s price tag. Prior district and city estimates put the cost just under $8 billion, but members of Watlington’s team said they could they could actually do the work for $2.8 billion — $1 billion from district capital funds, and $1.8 from yet-unpromised state and philanthropic sources.

    In the past, the district had made public detailed facilities condition assessments for every school in the district, Councilmember Rue Landau noted.

    Residents could look up their school and see exactly what the condition of every system in the building was, and how much money would be required to fix those that needed repair.

    “We don’t have any of those details,” said Landau, who went so far as to say she believed the district should be spending more than $2.8 billion on the plan. “What is the increased investment, and why don’t we have any of those details? They are not out there in the public for us, so none of us have any understanding as to why this is happening, This should all be public so all of the public can see.”

    Jerry Roseman, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ longtime environmental director, who has had a first-row seat to district facilities conditions for decades, said he believed the $2.8 billion figure was not realistic.

    “You need much more money than that,” Roseman told Council. “We need more money than this plan comes close to.”

    Some Council members pushed the district and the board on the plan’s timing.

    The city has been asking for a long-range facilities plan for years, Councilmember Quetcy Lozada pointed out.

    “It’s taken us all this time,” Lozada said. “Now, you guys have come up with a plan, and now we want to rush through it. Now all of a sudden there’s this urgency to get through this plan, which I don’t understand.”

    Streater said the board is moving forward with hearing Watlington’s plan on Feb. 26, but won’t vote until it hears more feedback.

    But ultimately, he said, the board will vote on “a plan that is dynamic, that can evolve over time. … I think that we all understand that things change, facts change, funding changes, enrollment trends change.”

    And, Streater said, there will also likely be policy changes based on redrawing some catchment areas, or boundaries that determine which neighborhood schools children attend.

    Streater, who introduced himself at the beginning of the hearing as “Reggie from Germantown,” underscoring his history as a graduate of two district schools that closed — Germantown High and Leeds Middle School — said that changes must be made.

    “I think if we continue doing the same thing, expecting a different result — which I would argue is chronic underachievement — we are doomed.”

  • Philly’s teachers union has raised an alarm with City Council about school closing plan

    Philly’s teachers union has raised an alarm with City Council about school closing plan

    The city’s teachers union has significant concerns with the Philadelphia School District’s sweeping facilities plan, and it has taken them to a City Council committee.

    Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s $2.8 billion proposal “does not provide sufficient detail or data to inform binding decisions about school closures, co-location, re-purposing, or widespread impact and disruption that will be incurred,” Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Arthur Steinberg wrote in a letter to Council’s education committee obtained by The Inquirer.

    The appeal, sent late last week, comes as the district prepares for a Tuesday Council hearing on the school blueprint, which currently calls for 20 school closings, six colocations, and 159 modernization projects.

    The stakes are high as district officials prepare to appear before Council members, who have raised alarm about several proposed closures.

    Council members are not the decision-makers — Philadelphia’s school board will ultimately vote on the plan sometime this winter — but as one of the district’s main funders, “you hold powerful levers that may be used to encourage the district to craft a more equitable [plan] that achieves our shared goals of improving student learning conditions and educators’ working conditions,” Steinberg wrote.

    Council President Kenyatta Johnson has said he’s willing to hold up city funding to the district if Council’s concerns are not adequately addressed.

    About 40% of the district’s nearly $2 billion budget comes from local revenue and city funding, which City Council and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker must approve in the annual city budget by the end of June.

    What does the PFT letter say?

    Before any decisions are made about what to do with the district’s buildings, the PFT wants system officials to do better by “showing their work and providing all data used to reach their determinations and recommendations for school improvement,” Steinberg wrote.

    The teachers union also flagged compliance inconsistencies with the district’s own standards, implementation questions, and “substantial problems with data interpretation and application.”

    The conclusions came after Jerry Roseman, the PFT’s longtime director of environmental science, scrutinized the plan. Roseman has decades of experience working with district officials on environmental issues.

    The PFT and Roseman want access to all data. The district has released some details officials used to make their calls, but some remain opaque.

    “How is the district ensuring that decisions regarding closing and receiving schools are based on comprehensive, up-to-date, and easily verifiable facility data (e.g., lead, asbestos, ventilation, overall condition)?” Steinberg wrote.

    The PFT also wants to “definitively show that the facility condition of receiving schools is not, in fact, worse than the facilities that are slated to close. If students are moving to a facility with worse current conditions, what will happen at the facility to improve it prior to students being moved there?”

    District officials outlined some modernization and renovation plans ahead of Tuesday’s Council hearing, but some remain a mystery to the public. Watlington has promised all projects will be detailed before Feb. 26, when he’s scheduled to formally present the plan to the school board.

    Don’t close schools or displace students based on incomplete data, PFT says

    The school system’s own data contains some inconsistencies, Steinberg said — including some schools judged to be in “good” or “fair” building condition by the district’s metrics that have “severely inadequate” critical systems, such as roofing, windows, or electrical and plumbing systems.

    And though the district said it could modernize all 85 school buildings currently in poor or unsatisfactory condition for $2.8 billion, the PFT questioned that price tag as overly optimistic. (City and district officials had previously put the system’s total deferred maintenance cost at $7 billion or more.)

    “The cost to fully repair poor-inadequate buildings and systems could actually exceed $3.5 billion,” the PFT said.

    The teachers union also highlighted the inequitable distribution of adverse conditions, noting that “Black and brown children and children from economically disadvantaged families are more vulnerable — to health risks, learning disruptions, and the long-term effects of instability and displacement.”

    While the information the district has made public is “useful and has value as a ‘baseline,’ it is insufficient for its use in supporting the proposed conclusions, recommendations and other plan details released,” Steinberg said.

  • These Philly schools are slated for big upgrades as the district works to modernize buildings

    These Philly schools are slated for big upgrades as the district works to modernize buildings

    Nearly $58 million for South Philadelphia High School. Over $27 million for Forrest Elementary in the Northeast. Almost $55 million for Bartram High in Southwest Philadelphia.

    Ahead of a Tuesday City Council hearing on the Philadelphia School District’s proposed facilities master plan, district officials have dangled the carrot that would accompany the stick of 20 school closings.

    The district released Monday morning how much it would spend on modernization projects at schools in each City Council District if Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s plan is approved by the school board this winter.

    The totals range from $443 million in the 9th District — which includes parts of Olney, East and West Oak Lane, Mount Airy, and Oxford Circle — to nearly $56 million for the 6th District in lower Northeast Philadelphia, including Mayfair, Bridesburg, and Wissinoming.

    The district’s announcement comes as the plan has already raised hackles among some Council members, and City Council President Kenyatta Johnson has said he’ll hold up the district’s funding “if need be” if concerns are not answered to Council’s satisfaction.

    Tailoring the release to Council districts — including highlighting one major project per district — appears to be an effort to calm opposition ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.

    Details on every school that would get upgraded under Watlington’s plan — 159 in total — have not yet been released.

    John Bartram High School at 2401 S. 67th St in Southwest Philadelphia.

    Watlington has stressed that the point of the long-range facilities plan is not closing schools, but solving for issues of equity, improving academic programming, and acknowledging that many buildings are in poor shape, while some are underenrolled and some are overenrolled.

    “This plan is about ensuring that more students in every neighborhood have access to the high-quality academics, programs, and facilities they deserve,” Watlington said in a statement. “While some of these decisions are difficult, they are grounded in deep community engagement and a shared commitment to improving outcomes for all public school children in every ZIP code of Philadelphia.”

    But at community meetings unfolding at schools across the city that are slated for closure, Council members have expressed displeasure about parts of the plan — a preview, perhaps, of Tuesday’s meeting.

    Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, represents the 7th District, including Kensington, Feltonville, Juniata Park, and Frankford. Four schools in her district — Stetson, Conwell, Harding, and Welsh — are on the chopping block.

    “The fact that they are being considered for closure is very concerning to me,” Lozada said at a meeting at Stetson Middle School on Thursday.

    Councilmember Quetcy Lozada is shown in a 2025 file photo.

    Councilmember Cindy Bass, speaking at a Lankenau High meeting, objected to closing schools that are working well. (Three schools in Bass’ 8th District, Fitler Elementary, Wagner middle school, and Parkway Northwest High School, are proposed for closure. Lankenau is in Curtis Jones Jr.’s district but has citywide enrollment.)

    “I do not understand what the logic and the rationale is that we are making these kinds of decisions,” said Bass.

    While Council members will not have a direct say on the proposed school closures or the facilities plan, Council wields significant control over the district’s budget. Funding for the district is included in the annual city budget that Council must approve by the end of June.

    Local revenue and city funding made up about 40% of the district’s budget this year, or nearly $2 billion. Most of that is the district’s share of city property taxes which, unlike other school systems in Pennsylvania, are levied by the city and then distributed to the district.

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    Where will the money go?

    Despite city and schools officials saying in the past that the district has more than $7 billion in unmet facilities needs, Watlington has said the district could complete its plan — including modernizing 159 schools — for $2.8 billion.

    Officials said further details about modernization projects and the facilities plan will be released before the Feb. 26 school board meeting, where Watlington is expected to formally present his proposal to the school board.

    Overbrook High School, in West Philadelphia, will get major renovations in preparation for The Workshop School, a small, project-based district school, colocating inside the building.

    Here are the total proposed dollar amounts per Council district and the 10 big projects announced Monday:

    • 1st District: $308,049,008. Key project: $57.2 million for South Philadelphia High, turning the school into a career and technical education hub and modernizing electrical, lighting, and security systems.
    • 2nd District: $302,284,081. Key project: $54.6 million for Bartram High, to renovate the school and grounds, career and technical education spaces, restroom and accessibility renovations, new painting, and new athletic fields and facilities (on the site of nearby Tilden Middle School, which is slated to close). Motivation High School would close and become an honors program inside Bartram.
    • 3rd District: $204,947,677. Key project: $19.6 million for the Sulzberger site, which currently houses Middle Years Alternative and is proposed to house Martha Washington Elementary. (It currently houses MYA and Parkway West, which would close.) Improvements would include heating and cooling and electrical systems, classroom modernizations, and the addition of an elevator and a playground.
    • 4th District: $216,819,480. Key project: $50.2 million for Overbrook High School, with updates including new restrooms, accessibility improvements, and refurbished automotive bays. (The Workshop School, another district high school, is colocating inside the building.)
    • 5th District: $290,748,937. Key project: $8.4 million for Franklin Learning Center, with updates including for exterior, auditorium, and restroom renovations, security cameras, accessibility improvements, and new paint.
    • 6th District: $55,769,008. Key project: $27.2 million for Forrest Elementary, including modernizations that will allow the school to grow to a K-8, and eliminate overcrowding at Northeast Community Propel Academy.
    • 7th District: $388,795,327. Key project: $32.3 million at John Marshall Elementary in Frankford to add capacity at the school, plus a gym, elevator, and schoolwide renovations.
    • 8th District: $318,986,215. Key project: $42.9 million at Martin Luther King High in East Germantown for electrical and general building upgrades and accommodations for Building 21, a school that will colocate inside the King building.
    • 9th District: $442,934,244. Key project: $42.2 million at Carnell Elementary for projects including an addition to expand the school’s capacity, restroom renovations, exterior improvements, and stormwater management projects.
    • 10th District: $275,829,539. Key project: at Watson Comly Elementary in the Northeast, an addition to accommodate middle grade students from Loesche and Comly, and building modernizations. District officials did not give the estimated cost of the Comly project.

    What’s next?

    The facilities Council hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall. It will also be livestreamed.

    Members of the public also have the opportunity to weigh in on the facilities plan writ large at three community town halls scheduled for this week: Tuesday at Benjamin Franklin High from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Friday at Kensington CAPA from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., and a virtual meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday.

    Meetings at each of the schools proposed for closure continue this week, also; the full schedule can be found on the district’s website.

  • The Philly School District tried to close Paul Robeson HS before. Now, it’s back on the chopping block.

    The Philly School District tried to close Paul Robeson HS before. Now, it’s back on the chopping block.

    In 2022, the governor of Pennsylvania stood on a stage at Paul Robeson High in West Philadelphia and hailed the small school as “a model for what can happen in Pennsylvania.“

    But four years later, the Philadelphia School District has recommended closing Robeson, suggesting its small size limited students’ opportunities. Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. wants its students to attend Sayre High, where Robeson would become an honors program, losing its separate identity, administration, and staff.

    A hallway at Paul Robeson High School, which the district is attempting to close for the second time.

    Having Robeson listed among 20 schools slated for closure was the worst kind of déjà vu for some in the Robeson community: In the last round of large-scale Philadelphia school closures, district officials recommended closing Robeson and sending students to Sayre, which is about two miles away.

    “This is the exact same plan,” said Andrew Saltz, who helped organize the Robeson community against closure in 2013 and who is doing it again 13 years later. “We need a different plan.”

    The community is speaking out, hoping to persuade the school board to save Robeson again when it votes on Watlington’s recommendations later this winter.

    An upward trajectory

    Robeson soared after successfully fending off its last attempted shutdown.

    By 2017, it was named the district’s most-improved high school. It built upon its core of dedicated teachers and students; though most Robeson students come from its own West Philadelphia neighborhood, it is a citywide school, meaning they have to apply to be there.

    Robeson expanded existing partnerships and formed new ones that gave students opportunities to get onto nearby college campuses. Richard Gordon, who came to lead the school in 2013, was recognized as national principal of the year. (Gordon has since been promoted to assistant superintendent in the district.)

    Multiple Robeson teachers have been honored as among the district’s best.

    The school sent a student to Harvard, a coup for any district high school, let alone one without strict academic criteria. Its students successfully pushed to get their school air-conditioned. School staff secured outside funding to renovate the cafeteria.

    Then-Principal Richard Gordon (front, tie), then-assistant principal Lawrence King (rear, gray sweater) and members of the Robeson High student body in the newly renovated cafeteria in this 2022 file photo.

    Then-Mayor Jim Kenney visited Robeson to tout its success. So did then-Gov. Tom Wolf.

    Elana Evans, a beloved Robeson teacher and the school’s special education compliance monitor, has already weathered one school shutdown — she taught at the old University City High School, closed in 2013

    That loss was brutal, Evans said. But she is proud of what the community has built at Robeson.

    “It’s an amazing story that continues to stay amazing because we still keep growing,” Evans said. “To say, ‘OK, you’re going to merge with this school, and your name is just going to fade to nothing,’ is, to me, disrespectful.”

    District officials are pitching Robeson’s closure — and the closings writ large — as a move to expand opportunities for all students.

    Sayre, with Robeson as a part of it, would get modernized career and technical rooms and equipment in the facilities plan, Sarah Galbally, Watlington’s chief of staff, told the Robeson community. Sayre would get more accessibility features; renovated stormwater management, roof, and restrooms; and new paint.

    But that didn’t convince Evans.

    “You say one thing, ‘This is how it’s going to look like,’ but for real for real, stop gaslighting me,” Evans said.

    ‘They needed something small’

    Samantha Bromfield homeschooled her twins for seven years, and was wary when she enrolled her children in public school — until Robeson made her believe.

    The move to shut the school frustrated and saddened her, Bromfield said. She and many other Robeson parents said they would not send their children to Sayre.

    “If you as a board choose to close Paul Robeson, I choose to pull my children from the public school system,” Bromfield said at meeting held at Robeson on Saturday. “They needed something small. They needed a family. They needed someone who could hold their arms around the children and say, ‘Hey, are you having a bad day?’”

    Multiple parents echoed Bromfield’s statements.

    The district is choosing to invest in some schools but not others under the facilities proposal, they said.

    “Cassidy got a new school, why not us?” one parent told district officials, referring to a $62.1 million new building for a West Philadelphia elementary school.

    ‘Y’all don’t know’

    Ahrianna DeLoach, a Robeson ninth grader, struggled in middle school but is soaring at Robeson, she said, because of the nature of a place where teachers know every student’s name.

    “I don’t want it to close down,” DeLoach said. “I was looking forward to graduating from this school. It would devastate me if I couldn’t.”

    Antoine Mapp Sr., a West Philadelphia resident, expresses frustration that the Philadelphia School District is attempting to close Paul Robeson High School. Mapp spoke at a district meeting on the subject.

    West Philadelphia resident Antoine Mapp Sr. graduated from University City High, but has been spending time at Robeson since he was 11. Mapp’s West Powelton Steppers and Drum Squad rehearses inside the Robeson gymnasium.

    It feels especially cruel to lose Robeson as gentrification creeps in, Mapp said, and with gun violence still plaguing Philadelphia. He worries about the routes children would have to take to get to Sayre, and about neighborhood rivalries.

    “You guys don’t understand what it’s like living in the community or our neighborhood, or what we go through,” Mapp said. “Y’all don’t know how hard it is just to go to the store in our community. Y’all don’t know what it’s like trying to go to an activity in our neighborhood. We have none of those things. Now you want to take this school away from us and send our kids to different communities. I want you to know that the crime rate and the murders are going to increase and there’s nothing y’all can do about it.”

  • There was possible measles exposure at Philadelphia International Airport last week

    There was possible measles exposure at Philadelphia International Airport last week

    A person infected with measles traveled through Philadelphia International Airport last week, city health officials are warning.

    The infected person spent time in Terminal E of the airport between 1:35 and 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

    Measles is highly contagious and spreads via airborne particles when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. The virus can linger in the air for up to two hours after the infected person moves.

    Palak Raval-Nelson, Philadelphia’s health commissioner, said he believed there was no threat to the general public, but encouraged those who are not protected against measles to take action.

    Children under a year old, pregnant people without immunity, and those with a weakened immune system who were exposed and who develop symptoms through March 5 should call their doctor immediately. They’re also asked to call their local health department and Philadelphia’s Health Department if they live outside the city.

    Symptoms of the disease are fever, runny nose, cough, and watery, red eyes — as well as a rash.

    Those who have immunity do not need to do anything. Those with immunity include people born before 1957, those who have already had measles, and those who have received two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.

    Measles, in some cases, can lead to pneumonia, brain infection, and death, health officials say.

    Measles cases are on the rise both internationally and throughout the United States. There’s a large outbreak currently in South Carolina.

  • This Pa. 6-year-old is the Girl Scout Cookie queen — she just sold 100,000 boxes

    This Pa. 6-year-old is the Girl Scout Cookie queen — she just sold 100,000 boxes

    Pim Neill, 6, means business.

    “I want to sell the most Girl Scout cookies,” Pim told her dad, Luke Anorak-Neill early in the cookie-selling season.

    Pim, a firecracker in blue glasses, likes a challenge, and her dad was game to help her try. So he took her to knock on doors in their Pittsburgh neighborhood. They handed out fliers and made phone calls. They asked around at church and at local businesses they frequent.

    “If people are going to buy cookies, we want them to know that Pimmy’s selling them,” Anorak-Neill said.

    By dint of hard work, Pim hit 5,000 boxes a few weeks ago. Anorak-Neill asked her what her ultimate goal was: she said 10,000.

    @lifeofapim

    ♬ original sound – Luke Mandel Anorak-N

    Anorak-Neill shot a quick video of his daughter talking about her goal and uploaded it to TikTok. Social media could only help the cause, he figured.

    “Hi, my name is Pim. Do you want to buy some Girl Scout cookies?” the pint-size entrepreneur said.

    The video went viral — it’s been viewed more than 5 million times. And Pim’s sales soared.

    First, she crushed the single-season sales record. Her new aim is to overtake the lifetime record – 180,000 boxes. (She’s got about a month left.)

    On Sunday, moments after she passed the 100,000 boxes mark, Pim was nonchalant.

    Why does she like selling cookies?

    “It makes people happy,” said Pim.

    A record breaker from way back

    Pim “has always been a record breaker,” said Anorak-Neill.

    She was a Top 10 reader at age 4, and loved selling popcorn for her school last year and collecting gifts for a local toy drive.

    Girl Scout cookies seemed like a natural fit, though Pim and her dads had a bit of a rough start. The first troop Anorak-Neill approached for Pim rejected her because of her disabilities, Anorak-Neill said.

    “They said, ‘We don’t want that in our troop,’” said Anorak-Neill. “They said, ‘Go find a playgroup for disabled kids.’”

    Pim didn’t realize what happened, but Anorak-Neill was disheartened. But he forged on, and found a brand-new troop of Daisy Scouts — the youngest Girl Scouts — that welcomed Pim.

    Her cookie-selling prowess has changed the game for the troop, whose initial goal was maybe being able to go on some camping trips. (Individual sales count, but Pim’s sales help her troop, too.) A trip to Niagara Falls — a prize for serious cookie sellers — went from being a lofty goal to being a lock.

    At a recent troop meeting, the grown-ups noted that Pim and the other girls never needed to sell another box if they wanted to stop.

    “But everybody wants to still do cookie booths and fundraise,” said Anorak-Neill. “This is fun for everybody. It’s a win for Girl Scouts.”

    Unstoppable Pim

    The online love for Pim has buoyed the family: Pim, Anorak-Neill, and his partner, Don Neill. Neill has had serious health challenges and is awaiting a double lung transplant, Anorak-Neill said.

    Pim’s fans adore her.

    “SHE IS 6 and 86 AT THE SAME TIME. OH MY GOD I LOVE HER SO MUCH,” someone commented on TikTok.

    “Pim gonna sell the most cookies in the history of the Girl Scouts,” another person wrote.

    “pim girl don’t worry I just brought 6 boxes,” said another.

    Anorak-Neill described the global love for Pim — and appreciation for her sales savvy — as “life changing.”

    But while the scope of Pim’s reach has been a surprise, her appeal is not, her dad said.

    “Pim’s unstoppable,” he said.

  • Students and parents — joined by the Pa. House speaker — are fighting a plan to close Southwest Philly’s Motivation High

    Students and parents — joined by the Pa. House speaker — are fighting a plan to close Southwest Philly’s Motivation High

    Confronted with the possible closure of their beloved school, the Motivation High community came prepared to fight back.

    As community members entered their Southwest Philadelphia school’s auditorium Wednesday night, students waving signs and carrying blue-and-yellow pompoms handed out leaflets: on one side were Motivation’s stats — building condition, graduation rate, attendance, suspensions.

    Philly could close 20 schools, colocate 6, and modernize 159: Superintendent Watlington shares his facilities plan

    On the other were stats for Bartram High, the school they would be assigned to attend if their school closes in 2027, as proposed under the Philadelphia School District facilities plan. The data for Motivation, a magnet, are stronger across the board, sometimes starkly so — Bartram is a neighborhood school with no admissions criteria, and its attendance and graduation rates are lower, and its suspensions higher.

    Motivation High students hold signs they made to protest the Philadelphia School District’s planned closure of their school.

    Motivation has only 150 students enrolled this year. The school system cited low enrollment as one reason for the closure. But district officials have been clear: The recommendation was also driven by a desire to reinvigorate struggling neighborhood high schools.

    “Why are we put in with Bartram to make Bartram look good, when we stand out on our own?” one Motivation student asked district staff pointedly.

    The opposition from the Motivation community lays bare an issue at the crux of the school system’s plan: To reach its stated goal of advancing all students, the district says it must displace some. Often, that has pitted communities against one another.

    Residents in a restless crowd at Motivation on Wednesday, including one of the state’s most powerful politicians, Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia), said they were not having it.

    “It’s like you want us to water flowers that just weren’t growing from the beginning,” one parent told officials. “You want to uproot kids who have found their place. You can count my child right out of that plan. She ain’t going to Bartram.”

    ‘It’s the lottery system’

    Motivation began as a Bartram program, housed in a separate building, for academically talented students. But in 2004, Motivation became its own school, eventually moving to the former Turner Middle School building at 59th and Baltimore.

    Changes to Philly’s special-admission process exacerbated low enrollment at some magnets. Now, the district is trying to close them.

    Motivation thrived as the only criteria-based high school in Southwest Philadelphia. But like a number of smaller magnets, it was hit hard by 2021 changes to the district’s special admissions policy.

    The district that year moved to a centralized lottery system, taking away from principals any discretion over who got admitted to the schools. It said it did so for equity reasons and to solve for demographic mismatches at some schools — though Motivation’s student body had been representative of its neighborhood and the city as a whole.

    In the past, schools like Motivation filled most of their ninth-grade classes with students who met the district-set criteria, and also admitted students who were close but came with a strong recommendation from another school, or had compelling personal circumstances that explained why they missed meeting the magnet standards.

    Those extra admissions ended with the district policy change, and Motivation’s enrollment plummeted. It was never a huge school, by design — topping out at 400 students prior to the pandemic.

    It doesn’t seem fair, said Nehemiah Bumpers, a Motivation 10th grader.

    “Why are you guys moving us for having low enrollment scores?” Bumpers said. “It’s the lottery system that drastically changed our enrollment.”

    McClinton, who attended the Wednesday meeting, was similarly frustrated.

    “When you talk about the enrollment being diminished, it’s because you changed the playbook for principal Teli,” McClinton said of veteran Motivation principal Rennu Teli-Johnson, whom the House speaker praised.

    “She knows every one of these kids,” said McClinton, whose House district includes both Motivation and Bartram.

    Motivation students walk out

    The school board has yet to vote on the proposal to close Motivation and 19 other schools. But the possible closure has roiled the student body.

    This week, most Motivation students walked out of school, staging a protest over the district’s plan.

    Students walk out of Motivation High School in Southwest Philadelphia on Monday, protesting that their school is one of 20 that the Philadelphia School District has tagged for closure.

    Zanaya Johnson-Green, an 11th grader, said students were beside themselves, even those who will graduate before the school is planned to be folded into Bartram in the fall of 2027.

    “Motivation has given me so many opportunities, and I don’t want to see it go,” Johnson-Green said. “No one wants the school to close. This is having a bad effect on all of us.”

    The district has, in recent years, invested millions in sprucing up the Motivation building, which if the school does close would become district “swing space” — a place where schools can move to accommodate building repairs or other overflow needs.

    “Why spend all that money just to push us into Bartram and use this school as a swing space?” Bumpers asked.

    Motivation High School in Southwest Philadelphia, on Baltimore Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, is shown in this 2025 file photo.

    But much of the energy at the meeting was spent talking about the safety at Bartram — with parents and students pressing the district on how they could guarantee staff and student welfare, and district officials saying they would use a planning year and community wisdom to address concerns.

    “Disaster!” someone in the audience shouted when Associate Superintendent Tomás Hanna talked about his hope that those with worries would step up to the plate to help plan for a Bartram transition.

    A Motivation student shook her head.

    “Why do we have to reap what you sow when you stopped paying attention to neighborhood schools all those years? Why do we have to suffer the consequences, lose opportunities?” the student said.

    Monica Allison, a Cobbs Creek neighbor and ward leader, made it clear that though she was fighting against the Bartram closure, wounds inflicted from prior school closures, dating back to John P. Turner Middle School and George Wharton Pepper Middle School, were also on people’s minds.

    “You closed John P. Turner and you didn’t ask us,” Allison said. “Now we’re back with another closure. It’s ridiculous. You keep talking about elevating Bartram at the expense of other kids. The neighbors are really tired of this.”

    The speaker speaks out

    John Young, a Motivation teacher for the last decade, said his students were living their civics lesson by protesting the district’s plan. The district is in a tough spot, he said — coping with the fallout of charter schools that took students from traditional public schools, dealing with its own decision to create greater high school choice.

    But, Young said, “this decision is going to continue that trend of pushing our students to homeschool, pushing our students to charter schools. This decision is not going to solve the problem, it is going to hollow us out.”

    Pa. House Speaker Joanna McClinton blasted the Philadelphia School District at a public meeting Wednesday night, saying its officials had disadvantaged Motivation High by changing rules around special admissions, then used low enrollment as one reason to close the school.

    A visibly upset McClinton spoke last on Wednesday night. The district must invest in both schools, she said — not just one.

    The district officials she addressed all had good jobs, McClinton emphasized. They could afford to send their children to whatever kind of school they felt was best for them. Southwest Philadelphia parents might not be wealthy, but they deserve to make choices, too, the speaker said.

    “It’s not fair that you’re pitting Black children in Bartram against Black children in Motivation,” McClinton said. “Not one of your children go to Motivation or Bartram. I don’t get millions of dollars in Harrisburg for you to waste it away to make this a swing space.”

  • This beloved Kensington middle school just celebrated its 100th year. It may not be open much longer.

    This beloved Kensington middle school just celebrated its 100th year. It may not be open much longer.

    Russell H. Conwell Middle School celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

    It may not remain open to see many more.

    The Philadelphia School District has proposed closing Conwell and 19 other schools as part of its facilities planning process, which will shake up schools citywide.

    A student-made sign hangs in the Conwell Middle School auditorium. The Philadelphia School District is attempting to close Conwell, a magnet 5-8 school in Kensington, and 19 other schools. The community is fighting the closure.

    Conwell, in Kensington, is a very small school by any standard. This year, just 109 students are enrolled in a building that holds 500. That’s down from 490 students in the 2015-16 school year and 806 in 2009-10. The school used to occupy two buildings; it has since shrunk to one.

    But it is also a rarity — a standalone magnet middle school. Community members and local officials are mounting a fight against closing the school, which they say has committed teachers and staff members who help students excel against the odds.

    The district’s plan, which the school board is expected to vote on this winter, calls for Conwell students to move to AMY at James Martin, another citywide admissions magnet in Port Richmond, which just opened in a new building with only 200 students. Meanwhile, the district has proposed closing its only other free-standing magnet middle school, AMY Northwest. No changes have been proposed for Philadelphia’s four other magnet middle schools, all of which are attached to high schools.

    Neighborhood issues, enrollment declines

    Conwell’s enrollment issues are tied closely to its setting.

    The building sits on Clearfield Street in the heart of Kensington. Fewer and fewer parents have been choosing to send their kids into ground zero of the city’s opioid epidemic, despite Conwell’s myriad partnerships, the outside investments it has attracted into its facility in recent years, and the school’s long history of excellence.

    The exterior of Conwell Middle School in Kensington, photographed in August.

    Parents, neighbors, students, and politicians, however, are furious that the district is choosing to abandon Conwell and the neighborhood.

    “If this school closes, it won’t just be students who feel the loss,” Conwell student Nicolas Zeno told officials at a district meeting Thursday. “It’ll be the community. If the concern is safety, then invest. If the concern is environment, then repair.”

    Community member Vaughn Tinsley, who runs Founding Fatherz, a nonprofit mentoring group, suggested closing Conwell would harm its students.

    “These students have been victims,” Tinsley said. “These students have seen and witnessed things they shouldn’t have witnessed. Most adults haven’t seen some of the things that these kids have seen, and yet still they come here, yet they’re still committed to excellence, yet they still stand up and still do what they’re supposed to do in the classroom. How dare we take that away from them?”

    Watlington has proposed using Conwell as “swing space” — district property that other schools can move into temporarily if their buildings require repairs.

    Tosin Efunnuga, Conwell’s nurse, wiped tears from her eyes as she beseeched district officials to keep the school open.

    “To have those doors close would be such a disservice,” Efunnuga said. “We need 100 years more.”

    Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, whose district includes Conwell, said she was “angry” and “frustrated” by the recommendation to close the school.

    “It’s underutilized because of what’s happening on the outside,” Lozada said at the Conwell meeting. “There’s nothing wrong with what is happening on the inside other than successful academic learning, support for families. We are saying to these families, we are punishing them because as a city, we can’t respond to the public safety issues that we have on the outside, and that is just not fair.”

    ‘What are y’all doing?’

    Emotions ran high inside the Conwell auditorium last week.

    Even before Deputy Superintendent Oz Hill finished his presentation about the rationale for the closures and the specific plan for Conwell, parents burst out with concerns.

    “What are y’all doing? Y’all making a mess,” one parent shouted. “You say the building is old. So what? It’s clean in here.”

    Another said her child would not be going to AMY at James Martin, formerly known as AMY5.

    “I don’t think you understand how much of a battle there is between Conwell and AMY5,” the parent said. “You don’t know the battles these kids have with each other.”

    Conwell has a strong alumni network — a rarity for a middle school — that has turned out in force to support the school since the proposed closure was announced.

    Alexa Sanchez, Class of 2017, grew up in Kensington and came to Conwell as a bright but unruly student — she acknowledges that she got in fights, egged the school, and disrespected teachers. But Conwell is rooted in its neighborhood, Sanchez said, with dedicated staff who helped her rise to earn a college degree and a good job in business.

    “They didn’t give up on students like me,” Sanchez said. “My future didn’t look promising at first, but in the long run, it did. You shouldn’t really close the school on a community that doesn’t look promising if you’re not from here.”

    Other alumni, including Robin Cooper, president of the district’s principals union, and Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, chair of Council’s Education Committee, have spoken out for Conwell.

    Conwell “shows up” for Kensington and the city, running a food pantry, hosting Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel’s swearing-in ceremony and an event marking Cherelle L. Parker’s 100th day as mayor, noted Erica Green, the school’s award-winning principal. Staff and students participate in neighborhood cleanups and advocate for help amid the opioid crisis.

    “We are what the city needs,” Green told the school board recently. During Green’s tenure, she has helped win money for a new schoolyard, a new science, technology, engineering, and math lab, and more.

    “These investments were made for Kensington students,” Green said. “We owe it to them, to their neighborhood. Do not push them out once the neighborhood changes and thrives. Conwell’s success is rooted in its people, its history, and its impact.”

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks during an event to mark her 100th day in office at Conwell Middle School in Kensington in April 2024.
  • Teachers at this Philadelphia charter just voted to unionize

    Teachers at this Philadelphia charter just voted to unionize

    Esperanza Academy Charter High School teachers and staff have unionized.

    The brand-new Esperanza High School Collective, a chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, now represents nearly 80 staff at the school.

    The move comes during a period of turmoil at the school, after some employees were laid off abruptly in December. Current and former staff say there have been sudden and arbitrary changes at the school, including larger class sizes and fewer staff working directly with children.

    Union recognition was hard fought — a majority of the staff signed union cards in the fall, but the Esperanza administration declined to voluntarily recognize the collective.

    Instead, the AFT had to go through the National Labor Relations Board, which held an election in late January. In all, 87% of the Esperanza Academy Charter High School staff voted to unionize. (Staff at Esperanza’s elementary and middle schools have not unionized.)

    Wendy G. Coleman, president of AFT Pennsylvania, said the organization was “thrilled” to welcome Esperanza Academy high school staff.

    “These dedicated educators and staff work tirelessly to ensure that their students receive the best possible education, and AFTPA is ready to work just as diligently to help them secure better class sizes, higher wages, and adequate resources for every member in their first contract,” Coleman said in a statement. “As we know, our members’ working conditions are our students’ learning conditions, and we’re excited to see what the future holds for the Esperanza High School Collective in their first contract.”

    Esperanza is the sixth of Philadelphia’s 81 charter schools to form a union; the vast majority of Pennsylvania charters are not unionized.