Lankenau High’s 11th-grade class is tiny — just 25 students.
That’s one of the reasons why closing the school is for the best, Philadelphia School District Associate Superintendent Tomás Hanna said at a community meeting last week.
At small schools, Hanna said, programming options are limited and “what’s left behind is very difficult environment for young people.”
The district proposes merging Lankenau into Roxborough High as an honors program — a move that officials say will maximize opportunities for students at both schools. That proposal has been met with fierce opposition from the Lankenau community, whose members say stripping the school of its identity and removing it from its unique location on 400 wooded acres is unjustifiable.
When the school system dramatically revamped its special-admissions process in 2021, moving to a centralized lottery from a system where principals had discretion over who got into the district’s 37 criteria-based schools, enrollment dropped at some magnets.
For the 2022-23 school admissions cycle, Lankenau, Motivation, Parkway West, and Parkway Northwest — four of the 20 schools tagged to close — had dozens of unfilled seats in their ninth-grade classes.
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The district setacademic standards for admission to those schools, and stopped allowing schools to admit students who were close to meeting academic requirements and who demonstrated they would be a good fit for the individual schools, as had been done in the past. (Officials said they wanted to centralize admissions to avoid demographic imbalances at schools; those four magnets did not have a history of them.)
The district’s using Lankenau’s tiny now-junior class to justify closings infuriated many, including Matthew VanKouwenberg, a science teacher at the school.
Lankenau’s size “is a district-designed and district-created problem,” VanKouwenberg said. Though the lottery was begun for equity reasons, “the result is disastrous.”
But Tonya Wolford, the district’s chief of evaluation, research, and accountability, said Lankenau, Motivation, Parkway West, and Parkway Northwest had declining numbers of students applying prior to the lottery changes.
And for years, those schools accepted large numbers of students who didn’t meet the district’s criteria, Wolford said.
Dramatic enrollment drops after district orders
The data are clear: After the district pushed changes to the admissions process, the four schools all saw dramatic drops in enrollment — and some of them never recovered.
Motivation, in West Philadelphia, had a freshman class of 83 students and a total enrollment of 336 in 2022-23. It saw a 77% drop in its ninth- grade class — just 19 freshman in 2023-24. The school now has 151 students, and the district wants to close it and make it an honors program inside Sayre High School. It is operating at only 15% of its full capacity.
The Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School in Roxborough.
Lankenau, in Upper Roxborough, had 91 freshman in 2022-23, then 31 in 2023-24, a 66% decline. It now enrolls 225 students. The school is using 49% of its capacity.
Parkway Northwest had 77 ninth graders in 2022-23, then dropped to 30 in 2023-24, a 61% decrease, and is 60% full. It’s got 248 students this year, and the district wants to close it and make it an honors program of Martin Luther King High.
And Parkway West had 54 freshman in 2022-23, then 19 the following year, a 65% decrease. It now has just 140 students, and is using 40% of available seats. It’s proposed to close and become part of Science Leadership Academy at Beeber.
A staffer who worked at Parkway West as the special-admissions process changes rolled out said they were devastating to the school, which typically filled three-quarters of its slots for incoming ninth graders with students who qualified on every measure, and a quarter by feel.
Parkway West High School, in West Philadelphia, is proposed to close under a Philadelphia School District facilities proposal.
“We found kids who maybe missed one criteria, but they were good kids, and had strong recommendations,” said the staffer, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to a reporter.
When Parkway West lost that ability, its enrollment tumbled, and never recovered.
Lankenau community members say interest in their unique school has never waned, but the size of their incoming classes continues to be limited by the district — even beyond the admissions changes.
For the applicant class set to start high school in the fall, 107 students listed Lankenau as their first choice, staff said, and 95 have accepted Lankenau’s school board offer.
But since 2022-23, district officials have limited Lankenau to two sections of ninth graders, and with class sizes capped at 33. So despite having interest and students enough for 99 freshmen, it won’t have staff for more than 66.
In the last few years, staffers said, more than 66 students show up at the start of the school year. But with only enough teachers for 66, classes are overcrowded and some students end up transferring out.
“That is the only reason we lose enrollment,” said Erica Stefanovich, a Lankenau teacher. “We wouldn’t be in this situation if they hadn’t put us in it. This is an artificial problem.”
But, Wolford said the trend lines were clear for Lankenau and other schools.
In 2019-20, for instance, the prior to the district’s admissions changes just 34 students met Lankenau’s criteria, but 81 students accepted offers for the ninth-grade class, Wolford said. That same year, eight students qualified for Parkway Northwest on paper, but 34 were admitted, according to district data.
Schools like Lankenau and Parkway Northwest “were existing without following the criteria,” said Wolford.
Trees, bees, and a Lorax
Lankenau is putting up a spirited battle to stay open.
Last week, an overflow crowd — more than 100 students, staff, parents, representatives from Lankenau’s many partner organizations, and community members — packed the school for a student showcase and district-led meeting about the closure. Some students dressed as trees, bees, and a Lorax, the Dr. Seuss character who “speaks for trees” — to emphasize the importance of their school’s setting amid 400 acres of woods.
Community members at Lankenau High School applaud a student telling district officials why the school should not close. Lankenau is one of 20 Philadelphia School District schools proposed for closure.
First, Lankenau students wowed visitors with presentations — about their study of natural resources, about the experience of foraging for ingredients to brew their own artisan teas — and then, it was down to business. Lankenau is too small, officials said, and the district must find ways to offer a more equitable experience for all students.
“I don’t discount that there is magic inside of these walls,” Deputy Superintendent Oz Hill said. “What I’m sharing with you is if we can take that magic and enhance it with more extracurricular activities, more expanded academic programming, the sky’s the limit.”
The parents, students, and staff in the audience weren’t having it.
Lankenau was just certified to become the state’s only three-year agriculture, food, and natural resources career and technical education program — a designation that took years to achieve, and cannot transfer to a new building.
Officials are proposing closing Lankenau a year and a half from now; that’s not enough time for the district to reapply for the designation for a new Lankenau-inside-Roxborough CTE program.
District officials said at the meeting that they believe their “close relationship” with the state education department will give them enough time to get a new Roxborough program certified in time for the Lankenau closing.
Multiple parents told district leaders they would not send their children to Roxborough High.
And Akiraa Phillips, a Lankenau ninth grader, said she couldn’t imagine attending school in another setting.
In Lankenau’s current setting, “learning doesn’t stop at the desk. Our campus is the classroom,” Akiraa said. “We learn science by being in it. Here, we don’t just talk about ecosystems, climate, and sustainability, we walk through it. That kind of learning sticks with you. You can’t stick this into any random building and expect it to work.”
The community turned out in full force, but politicians and other decision-makers were in the room, too. Three school board members, including president Reginald Streater, attended the meeting.
State Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia), the front-runner to replace U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans in Congress, said he “was against closing the school,” but noted that the decision didn’t rest with him, and said the state needed to better fund schools “because we have not met our obligation to fully fund the program.”
And Councilmember Cindy Bass said she was particularly incredulous that the district was attempting to close a successful magnet — Lankenau has a 100% graduation rate.
“If it works, why are you breaking it?” Bass said. “I do not understand what the logic and the rationale is that we are making these kinds of decisions. We’re not just closing a school, we’re disrupting the lives of young people.”
Building woes triggered by a sustained blast of cold weather continue at some Philadelphia schools.
Staff at Strawberry Mansion High reported that about half the building was without heat Monday, with some classrooms in the 40s and hallways not much warmer.
And staff and students at Greenberg Elementary in the Northeast had to relocate to the old Meehan Middle School after nearly a week of virtual school because of heating problems.
“Due to insufficient heat throughout the building, Greenberg is not able to safely support in-person learning at this time,” district officials wrote to parents this weekend. “Our facilities team is actively working to resolve the heating issue as quickly as possible. At this time, the repair timeline is still being assessed, but we will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”
Meehan is one of the district’s “swing spaces” — it no longer operates as a school, but is used as an alternate location for schools that need it. It recently housed Thomas Holme Elementary while a new building was constructed for that school. It’s unclear how long Greenberg students will need to stay at Meehan.
The move rankled some Greenberg parents, who had logistical and safety concerns about sending their children to a different location.
Katy Foley-Gallagher, mom of a Greenberg kindergartener and third grader, said virtual learning was a challenge — on days she had to work, her husband had to take off from his job to manage their daughter and son.
But moving to Meehan isn’t ideal either, Foley-Gallagher said.
“Everybody’s getting anxious — this is disrupting their learning,” said Foley-Gallagher. “They district is not taking care of their building, and they don’t keep up with the infrastructure at all.”
It’s not yet clear whether Greenberg would receive upgrades as part of that process. And that plan, which the school board is expected to vote on this winter, would take years to implement.
Greenberg, like other district schools in the Northeast, is overcrowded, with over 1,000 students in a building whose capacity is 800. Students can no longer leave their classrooms for art or music; those rooms have been repurposed to accommodate extra classes.
“They’re going to put them back in these crowded rooms,” said Foley-Gallagher. “Greenberg is such a good school, but I worry that this is going to drive people out of the school, out of the city.”
District officials said they were taking steps to ensure “a smooth transition for students and families” as Greenberg relocates to Meehan.
The district is providing shuttle service for students who normally walk to Greenberg, though the shuttle leaves at 8 a.m., a half hour after classes begin.
“We understand that unexpected changes can be challenging for families, and we appreciate your patience and partnership as we work to restore normal building operations,” district chief operating officer Teresa Fleming wrote in an email to parents. “The safety and well-being of our school community remain our highest priority.”
A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit challenging the legality of Philadelphia School District’s special-admissions process Monday, ruling the policy could be seen as “blatantly unconstitutional” and ”race-based.”
The ruling could have long-term implications for the admission process for citywide magnet and special-admissions schools, which has been controversial since its inception.
While it will have no immediate impact on the school district’s process, the ruling means the case could now proceed to trial.
The district changed the way it admits students to criteria-based schools in 2021, moving from a system where principals had discretion over who got into the district’s 37 special-admissions schools to a centralized, computer-based lottery for any student who met academic criteria.
For the city’s five top magnets, all students who met the standards and lived in certain underrepresented zip codes gained automatic admission.
Officials at the time said they were changing the policy as they “made a commitment to being an antiracist organization” after an “equity lens review” of admissions practices.
The demographics of some selective public schools do not match the city’s demographics. Masterman, for instance, has much higher concentrations of white and Asian students than the district does as a whole.
Although the school district has defended its policy change, a panel of federal judges on Monday ruled that it could be viewed as discriminatory.
“School District officials made public and private statements — both before and after the enactment of the Admissions Policy — that could support a finding that the Policy was intended to alter (and did alter) the racial makeup of the schools,” Judge Thomas Michael Hardiman wrote for the three-member panel.
“So a reasonable fact finder could conclude that the School District acted with a discriminatory purpose,” the panel wrote. The panel included Hardiman, a George W. Bush appointee; Cheryl Ann Krause, a Barack Obama appointee; and Arianna Julia Freeman, a Joe Biden appointee.
A district spokesperson said Monday that the school system does not comment on ongoing litigation.
The legal team representing parents Sherice Sargent, Fallon Girini, and Michele Sheridan — including lawyers from America First, an organization formed by Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Donald Trump called the action “a major victory.”
“School officials don’t get to rig admissions systems to satisfy ideological goals,” said Gene Hamilton, America First Legal’s president, and a former Trump deputy counsel. “This ruling affirms a basic constitutional principle: government cannot discriminate by race, whether openly or by proxy. AFL will continue fighting to secure accountability and restore equal protection.”
What did the initial lawsuit argue?
Sargent, Girini, and Sheridan sued in 2022to end the policy, to stop the district from using “racially discriminatory criteria” for magnet school admissions, and to award damages to those who might have been damaged by the “gerrymandered lottery” policy.
A federal judge ruled in favor of the school district in 2024 without a trial, writing that “no fair-minded jury could find that the changes to the admissions process were implemented with racially discriminatory intent or purpose.”
The district has defended its position, saying it was geography, not race, that gave certain students preferential admission to magnets like Masterman, Central, the Academy at Palumbo, and George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science.
Five admissions cycles have happened since the overhaul.
Adjustments have been made since the initial rollout — including dropping a controversial, computer-graded essay, adding ranked choice, adding sibling preference, and giving automatic admission to students who attend middle schools with attached high schools and meet academic standards — but the underpinnings remain, as does the preference for qualified students from underrepresented zip codes at selected schools.
Sargent’s daughter, who is Black, qualified academically for the George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science; Girini’s son, who is white, qualified for Academy at Palumbo; Sheridan’s child, who is biracial, met standards for Palumbo. All were denied admission to their top-choice schools, though they gained admission to other district magnets.
As a result of the shift to the lottery — and changes to admissions criteria — admissions offers to Black and Hispanic students increased significantly at most of the highest-profile schools, and offers to white and Asian students decreased at most.
What did Monday’s ruling say about the admissions policy?
District lawyers havesaid the admissions overhaul “was race-neutral and motivated by legitimate goals, such as increasing objectivity and improving access for qualified students from underrepresented geographic areas.”
But the appeals panel found that the federal judge who dismissed the case “did not adequately consider the evidence of why the School District implemented the Policy in the first place, including the School District’s stated goals, the historical context behind the ‘equity’ aims, and statements made by School District officials.”
Before the admissions changes took effect, then-Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. issued an anti-racism declaration in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the resulting racial justice movement.
Hite said it was “imperative that we take a laser focus on acknowledging and dismantling systems of racial inequity. For us, this goes deeper and far beyond focusing on individual acts of prejudice and discrimination, but refers to uprooting policies, deconstructing processes, and eradicating practices that create systems of privilege and power for one racial group over another.”
“These statements and actions, taken together in context, could support a finding that the School District adopted the Admissions Policy to achieve racial proportionality,” the appeals panel wrote.
What comes next?
Monday’s ruling has no impact on the existing admissions process, which is already underway for the 2026-27 school year.
And it is not yet clear what will come of the case after it returns to a lower federal court, but it could potentially now proceed to trial.
It was so cold Monday at Farrell Elementary, a Philadelphia public school in Northeast Philadelphia, that middle schoolers — a group seemingly constitutionally averse to bundling up — were wearing coats indoors.
That was just one example of trouble for the Philadelphia School District amid the prolonged frigid spell bearing down on the region, with a number of schools plagued by burst pipes, broken heaters, and other issues.
Furness High, in South Philadelphia, moved to virtual instruction Monday “due to ongoing heating challenges.”
“The safety and comfort of our staff remains our top priority,” wrote Teresa Fleming, the district’s chief operating officer. “Moving to virtual instruction for the day allows necessary work to continue while allowing minimal disruption to learning.”
Though Farrell’s heat was on the fritz for the third school day in a row, the district did not pivot to virtual learning there. Instead, it was one of four schools that dismissed early due to heating issues. For much of the day until classes ended, Farrell students and staff were forced to either bundle up or find space to relocate in more-adequately heated spots in the overcrowded school, according to staffers who asked not be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Six Farrell classes camped out in the auditorium, including one class of 38 eighth graders. But the auditorium had to do double duty because the unplowed state of the yard where students typically play meant that students who’d typically be in the yard before or after eating lunch had to be in the auditorium also, Farrell employees said.
Meaningful learning was “absolutely not” going on in the auditorium, one staffer said. “It’s almost impossible.” Students were instructed to complete work on Google Classroom, and teachers were balancing crowd control and working with students individually.
In other cases, teachers and students just stayed in cold rooms, bundled up. Small-group instruction had to happen in hallways because of the population overflow; the hallways were also freezing.
“It’s just ridiculous,” said the Farrell staffer, of the school conditions.
They and others were frustrated that though district officials knew Farrell was plagued by heating issues, students and staff were required to be in the building, especially while other schools were permitted to go virtual.
District students had a snow day last Monday, learned virtually on Tuesday and Wednesday, then went back for in-person instruction on Thursday, though conditions were tough in many schools. In some places, heating issues have resolved.
“The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our highest priorities,” district spokesperson Monique Braxton said. “Due to sustained frigid temperatures following the recent snowstorm, combined with the age of some School District of Philadelphia facilities, several schools are experiencing heating-related challenges.”
In addition to Farrell, Greenberg Elementary, another school in the Northeast, dismissed early because of heating issues, Braxton said. So did the U School and Parkway Center City Middle College, two district high schools.
District workers and independent contractors are “actively addressing both ongoing and newly identified facilities issues to ensure that all students can safely return to a full day of in-person instruction as soon as possible,” Braxton said.
At Farrell, one teacher brought in their own heater to try to keep warm, a staffer said, and one teacher known for wearing shorts every day finally broke down and wore pants.
And then there were the middle schoolers.
“Even the older ones have on coats,” the staffer said. “It’s so cold that they wore coats.”
Younger students, the staffer said, are more curious.
“They say, ‘Why is it so cold in my classroom?’“ said the Farrell staffer.
By lunchtime, word started to spread that both Farrell and Greenberg were dismissing early, staff there said.
But that late call came with its own set of headaches — while some parents would be able to react to the news quickly and pick up their children early, others may be stuck at work and unable to get to school at dismissal.
Arthur Steinberg, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president, remained frustrated and angry by the district’s call. Steinberg said last week that the district’s return to buildings was “dangerous” given conditions in some places.
“They shouldn’t have brought people in if they knew the buildings were going to be this cold,” Steinberg said.
As to why one school was permitted to be virtual while others were brought in with inadequate heat, Steinberg was stumped.
No teaching happened inside some Central High classrooms Friday: temperatures were just too low.
Inside Kristen Peeples’ room, a thermometer read below 40 degrees. Multiple classrooms inside the storied Philadelphia magnet were so cold that classes had to relocate for safety, staff there said.
Normally, Peeples relishes engaging classroom instruction and discussion. On Friday, it was all about survival; conditions were “untenable,” she said. While some rooms were comfortable, many were freezing. Some were overly hot.
Classes that were supposed to be in rooms too cold for occupancy just moved around the school — which enrolls over 2,300.
“One class, I shared an empty space with another teacher,” said Peeples, who “couldn’t teach given the volume of people in the room, but at least we were able to be somewhere warm. Another period, we sat in the library while students worked independently, but again, not tenable for direct instruction.”
Central High School is shown in the freezing temperature on Friday, January 30, 2026.
With bitter cold still bearing down on the region, some Philadelphia schools continued to cope with difficult conditions for the second day in a row on Friday — old heating systems struggling to keep up with subfreezing temperatures, giant piles of snow surrounding schools that made getting in and out difficult for students and staff.
All Philadelphia School District schools and offices were closed Monday for a full snow day; Tuesday and Wednesday were virtual learning days as city plows cleared streets.. Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has said that safety was his first priority in making the decision whether in-person instruction could resume, and made the call to do so Thursday.
But staff at some schools said they thought that was the wrong decision, given conditions in some district buildings Thursday and Friday.
In North Philadelphia’s Taylor Elementary, for instance, two burst pipes rendered five classrooms unusable, according to a staffer who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to a reporter.
Classes had to be combined to account for the out-of-commission rooms. And some rooms were chilly, in the 50s.
“This heating system is just very old and struggling,” said the staffer.
Taylor officials asked the district to pivot to virtual instruction Friday, but their request was denied.
Arthur Steinberg, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president, said the district’s decision to reopen all schools was “reckless, and a contradiction of their claim of exercising ‘an abundance of caution’ when making such decisions. Forcing students, families, and staff to navigate still-treacherous commutes after a historic snowfall and freezing temperatures was careless.”
Monique Braxton, a district spokesperson, said safety remains paramount and that district and city officials worked round-the-clock to ready buildings as best as they could.
“Across the district, teams are responding in real time to heating concerns, snow and ice conditions, and other weather-related issues as they arise,” Braxton said in a statement. “When conditions do not meet district standards, we work closely with school leaders to take appropriate action and communicate directly with our families.
We will continue to closely monitor building conditions throughout this bitter cold period and make adjustments as needed as, while temperatures remain below freezing.”
At Central High, several classrooms were so cold they were unusable. This was the reading inside a classroom on Friday.
Shivering, and slipping
On Thursday, Penrose Elementary, in Southwest Philadelphia had heating problems some entrances were/ tough to access because of unplowed snow, and a ramp that students with disabilities use to get into the school was blocked. Burst pipes at Vare-Washington Elementary, in South Philadelphia, made six classrooms, the cafeteria, the gym and the entire basement unusable Thursday.
Those schools were in much better shape Friday. But children and adults were still shivering, and slipping, at other schools.
By the end of the short school day — the district had long planned half days for Thursday and Friday, with parent conferences scheduled — the temperature in Peeples’ classroom at Central had dropped even lower.
Teachers and students were in a tough spot, Peeples said, but administrators and building engineers were also put in “an impossible situation” through no fault of their own. They have been working diligently to move students and teachers to warm learning spaces, Peeples said, plowing, shoveling, salting sidewalks and parking lots, and tending to fussy heating systems.
At Taylor in North Philadelphia, staff were told by the district that three of the five unusable classrooms will be fixed and ready for learning on Monday — hopefully.
Watlington recently proposed a facilities plan that would close 20 district schools and modernize 159 over the next 10 years, but the list of schools to receive upgrades has not been divulged.
The $2.8 billion plan also banks on $1.8 billion from the state and philanthropic sources, money that is far from assured.
Meeting for the first time since Superintendent Tony B. Watlington presented his sweeping facilities plan, Philadelphia’s school board heard an outpouring of angst Thursday night from community members upset over 20 proposed school closures.
“Closing schools ruins families and neighborhoods, especially Black, brown, immigrant and working-class communities,” said Caren Bennicoff, a veteran teacher at Ludlow Elementary in North Philadelphia, one of the schools targeted for closure. “A facilities dashboard can’t measure what a school means to children.”
Watlington said the plan represented a “once in a lifetime, significant opportunity” for the city to modernize schools.
Prior to the meeting, more than 50 people gathered in the bitter cold outside Philadelphia School District headquarters, waving signs and shouting into bullhorns to show their displeasure with Watlington’s proposal.
Emily Brouder, 23, of West Philadelphia, Penn student and intern at Lankenau High School, holds a sign that says “Closing Schools Is Trash.”
Some of the demonstrators warned that removing children from their neighborhood schools would be traumatizing to already vulnerable kids.
“These schools are another home for these families,” said Margarita Davis-Boyer, president of the Lankenau High School Home & School Association. She said schools are a place where kids can get a meal, see a friendly face, and feel safe, especially when home may not offer the same reprieve.
“It’s just an injustice,” she said. Lankenau, the city’s environmental magnet school, would close under the plan, becoming an honors program inside Roxborough High School.
A strong Lankenau contingent packed both the rally and the board meeting, which happened immediately afterward.
LeeShaun Lucas, a Lankenau senior, is upset the school might close.
“To me, closing Lankenau doesn’t make sense,” Lucas said.
Lankenau’s campus is unique in the city — set against a wildlife preserve and a farm, a stream, and a forest.
Lucas has studied how to make the Schuylkill healthier by studying mussels, he said. He’s taking a dual enrollment GIS class — the only such high school in the city to offer such an opportunity, school officials believe.
That exposure has shaped Lucas, he said.
“I truly believe that voting to close Lankenau Environmental would be a mistake,” Lucas said. “Please vote to save Lank so that others may benefit from the type of learning that is only possible at Lankenau Environmental.”
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington (center), Board President Reginald L. Streater, and Board member Sarah-Ashley Andrews at the School board meeting Jan. 29.
Disparate impact
Ryan Pfleger, an education researcher, said if underutilization and facility condition truly shaped Watlington’s recommendation, the burden of closure would fall roughly evenly across racial groups.
But that’s not the case with Watlington’s plan.
“Black students are overrepresented, roughly 1.6 times more likely to be enrolled in schools slated for closure,” Pfleger said. “Fifteen of 20 schools proposed for closure are majority Black. White students are underrepresented, about four times less exposed than expected. The schools slated for closure are also disproportionately low income.”
Pfleger’s conclusions match an Inquirer analysis of the closure data.
The plan, Pfleger concluded, “does not rectify educational injustice.”
Conwell shows up
A strong contingent of Conwell supporters also told the board they were unhappy with the plan to close their school, a magnet middle school in Kensington.
Conwell has just over 100 students in a building that can hold 500. But Erica Green, the school’s principal, said it’s worth saving.
“Conwell for many years has been the cornerstone in the Kensington community, a place where students flourish, where leaders are born; alumni included leaders in government, education, law, media, public safety, and professional sports: Living proof that diamonds truly are in our backyard,” Green said. “Times have changed, but excellence at Conwell has remained the same.”
Conwell is celebrating its 100th anniversary and has been the recipient of public and private donations to advance its building conditions and program offerings.
“Do not let the almighty dollar drive a choice to remove a beautifully designated historic school and beautifully gifted young people,” an impassioned Green said. “The essence, prestige and impact of Conwell Magnet Middle School cannot be duplicated.”
Priscilla Rodriguez, whose two sons attended Conwell, worries about the implications for families that rely on it for stability.
“When a school closes, families don’t just adjust. They struggle,” Rodriguez said. Conwell families “are already dealing with a lot. You won’t make it any better by closing Conwell.”
An incomplete plan?
Katy Egan came to the board with a long list of questions, none of which were addressed in Watlington’s plan: Which schools will be modernized? When? How? How will displaced students get to their new schools? What’s happening to students with special education plans forced to leave their schools? How do you plan to keep kids safe while merging schools?
Egan, a member of Stand Up for Philly Schools, called the blueprint “a 25% plan.”
But, she said, “we deserve more than 25%, and our students deserve everything.”
Community members can weigh in on the plan in the coming weeks at meetings around the city, and Watlington is scheduled to formally present it to the board on Feb. 26.
No vote will happen in February though, said board president Reginald Streater, who declined to weigh in on the merits of the plan until it’s handed over to the board.
In other board news
In other board matters, Watlington said he would soon ask to eliminate half days from the district’s calendar entirely.
The news came as he detailed a slip in year-over-year student attendance: in December, 54% of students attended school 90% of the time, compared to 66% in December 2024. That’s the largest drop in Watlington’s superintendency, he said.
He attributed the challenges to a two-hour delay for snow, light attendance prior to winter break — and light attendance during a half day called for professional development.
Watlington said at next month’s board meeting, he’ll propose amending the 2026-27 schedule to remove half days entirely.
“Half days in the calendar do not serve us well,” he said.
The board also installed three new student board representatives.
The non-voting members are: Brianni Carter, from the Philadelphia High School for Girls; Ramisha Karim, from Northeast High; and Semira Reyes, from the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.
Conditions were rough when staff and students arrived at Penrose Elementary in Southwest Philadelphia — some paths they needed to access to get inside the school were untouched by shovels or plows.
Some buses could not open their doors to let students out at their usual spot because snow banks were so high, according to multiple people who work at the school and teachers union officials. A ramp that students with disabilities use to get into the school was blocked.
And the heat was on the fritz for part of the day as outside temperatures were barely in the double digits.
“It’s about 45 degrees inside this classroom,” one Penrose staffer said Thursday morning. The staffer was not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be identified. “We’re all in jackets and hats.”
After Monday’s snow day and virtual learning Tuesday and Wednesday, Philadelphia schools reopened Thursday, but for many students, it was anything but an inviting return. The combination of accumulated snow, days of subfreezing temperatures, and a clutch of old buildings — many of which have maintenance issues — made in-person learning challenging across the district.
The rocky return came just hours before a planned rally to protest the district’s proposed $2.8 billion school facilities master plan, which is necessary, officials say, because of poor building conditions and other disparities.
Around some schools, crosswalks were covered by giant piles of snow, forcing children to walk in streets. Elsewhere, there was no place for staff to park.
At Vare-Washington Elementary, in South Philadelphia, pipes burst, rendering six classrooms, the cafeteria, the gym, and the entire basement unusable, according to the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. There was a strong chemical odor throughout the building.
At Mitchell, another Southwest Philadelphia elementary, “it’s a mess,” said a staffer who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.
A pipe broke at the school, and Mitchell had no running water for most of the day, with just one brief window where students could use the bathroom. And Mitchell’s student lunches were never delivered, so kids were fed cereal for lunch.
“A lot of our kids rely on those lunches to sustain them throughout the day,” the staffer said.
In addition, Mitchell’s back doors and fire tower exits were blocked by snow, so if there had been a fire or emergency, the only available exits would have been the front doors.
Taylor, also in North Philadelphia, also had burst pipes, with four rooms unusable and most of the school cold. School officials asked for permission to hold classes virtually Friday, but had received no response as of Thursday afternoon.
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has called on the district to return to remote learning on Friday in light of “treacherous commutes and dangerous building conditions,” Arthur Steinberg, PFT president, said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon.
Steinberg said in an interview that his office was inundated with reports of heating issues or a lack of snow removal or other problems at schools including School of the Future in Parkside; Farrell, Swenson, Mayfair, and Fox Chase in the Northeast; and others.
“The District must also show respect to students, families, and our members by rectifying the broken heaters, burst pipes, icy sidewalks, and piles of snow in parking lots as soon as possible, so that students and staff can safely resume in-person instruction on Monday,” he said in the statement.
Monique Braxton, a district spokesperson, said “the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and families remains our top priority.”
Staff worked long hours inspecting boilers and buildings, restarting heating systems, clearing snow and ice, and more, Braxton said.
“Across the district, teams are responding in real time to heating concerns, snow and ice conditions, and other weather-related issues as they arise. When conditions do not meet District standards, we work closely with school leaders to take appropriate action and communicate directly with our families,” she said in a statement. “We will continue to closely monitor building conditions throughout this bitter cold period and make adjustments as needed, while temperatures remain below freezing.”
Both Thursday and Friday had long been scheduled as half days for students, with parent-teacher conferences planned. Those would be held virtually.
John Bynum, a former building engineer who is now an official with 32BJ SEIU Local 1201, the union representing 2,000 Philadelphia school building engineers, maintenance workers, and bus drivers, said the going was rough for many schools in terms of building condition.
“Most of these buildings are operating with the original boilers,” Bynum said. “We know with antiquated equipment, there’s going to be problems.”
In some cases, snowblowers that school staff were using to attempt to clear parking lots and sidewalks failed, Bynum said.
And like other school staff, his members often coped with trouble getting to work themselves, he said.
“There were challenges regarding SEPTA not running at a full schedule and the anxiety of getting to work without a robust transportation system,” Bynum said. “Street conditions weren’t the greatest. However, they made the best of it, and they showed up.”
Conditions like Thursday’s, Bynum said, highlight why the district needs more resources to address its buildings — and students’ learning conditions.
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. will not formally present the plan to the board until Feb. 26, but the topic took center stage at Thursday’s meeting as parents, educators, and other community members shared their concerns.
Here are a few takeaways:
Many people spoke out in support of Lankenau High, an environmental sciences magnet school slated to close under the plan. One parent said the closure would be a “death sentence.”
Many also spoke in support of Conwell Middle School, including its principal, who said closing it would “erase a legacy that still matters.”
Roxborough High school psychologist says the facilities proposal ‘appears to be a workaround’
Paul Brown, a school psychologist at Roxborough High School and member of Stand Up For Philly Schools, shares his thoughts about the facilities proposal.
On paper, he said, Roxborough will benefit from the plan because it will take in Lankenau High, a high-performing magnet.
“Lankenau would have to phase out their environmental science program” if it merges into Roxborough, Brown said.
“This proposal appears to be a workaround to push our students out of public education, rather than give them what they need,” Brown said.
Retired district teachers share concerns about the facilities plan, with one calling it ‘a moral failure’
Lisa Haver, a retired district teacher and founder of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public schools, calls the plan “a moral failure.”
Blankenburg Elementary, in West Philadelphia, would be closed under the plan; it sits across the street from a large charter school in a new building. This plan does not represent the public’s will, Haver said.
“None of these schools has to be closed. It’s not a budget issue,” Haver said. She taught at Harding Middle School, which is also on the closure list. “It hurts my heart.”
Barbara Dowdall, also a retired Philadelphia teacher, said: “Let us not mimic the crowbar removal of buildings, or history.”
Retired teacher says the community input process for the facilities plan was performative
Retired teacher Diane Payne says she can’t believe what the district says because she sees what it does. Community input on the facilities plan was performative, she said, and the blueprint feels top-down.
“We the people do not have buy-in with your top-down plan,” Payne said. “We do not want our public schools sold out from under us.”
Payne calls the plan “extremely flawed and disruptive.”
District parent asks board to consider what brought them to this moment
Colin Hennessy Elliott, a district parent, is speaking about the facilities plan broadly. The board must consider what brought the district to this moment, he said.
Closing Lankenau ‘would be like a death sentence,’ parent and district teacher says
Dana Williams, a Lankenau High parent and district teacher, said her son, who has autism, is thriving.
“Closing Lankenau High school would be like a death sentence to so many students’ social, emotional, and academic” lives, Williams said.
“This is the highest form of inequity,” Williams said of Lankenau’s closure. “I do not need my child going to a neighborhood high school. That was never an option.”
Williams’ son had choices of other magnet schools, she said, but he chose Lankenau. She said the closure would be a “bait and switch.”
Former student board member and Conwell graduate says Conwell is ‘one of the best pathways for student success’
Mwanasha VanWright, a 1997 Conwell graduate and former student board member, calls Conwell “one of the best pathways for student success our city has to offer.”
Conwell was key to her success, VanWright said. “I hope you reconsider closing Conwell,” VanWright said. If you do close the building, make Conwell the official middle school of Bodine, she urged the board.
VanWright is raising three fourth-generation Philadelphians. She wants them to have “strong options like Conwell,” she said.
Retired teacher questions the district’s plan to give some buildings to the city
Retired Philadelphia teacher Deborah Grill said the current facilities plan is “even worse” than the 2012 closures.
“At least those schools were given time to react and fight for their schools” before the School Reform Commission made its closure decisions, she said.
Grill asks: Why isn’t the district considering closing charter schools with empty seats?
Grill also questions the district’s plan to give some buildings to the city rather than using or selling them. “It really has nothing to do with the welfare of your students,” Grill said.
Vare-Washington Elementary principal expresses gratitude for board’s consideration of playground project
Alison Barnes, principal of Vare-Washington Elementary, said the community is thrilled the board will consider approving a playground project for Vare-Washington Thursday night. It’s nine years in the making, Barnes said.
Conwell parent asks the board to reconsider closing any middle schools
Tasha Smith, a parent of two Conwell students, opposes the closure of the school.
“I am asking for this board to require the district to reconsider closing Conwell, and to reconsider closing all middle schools. There has to be other ways to succeed,” Smith said.
Smith said that the district asking, “Do you want unnecessary transition?” in the facilities planning survey was a misleading question. It should have asked, “Do you want us to close middle schools?” because that what it’s doing. Kids need middle schools, she said.
Parent of two Conwell alums says the school is ‘a cornerstone of our community’
Priscilla Rodriguez, whose two sons attended Conwell, said the school is “a cornerstone of our community.”
It’s more than a school, she said. It offers meals and after-school support. “When a school closes, families don’t just adjust. They struggle,” Rodriguez said.
Conwell families “are already dealing with a lot,” said Rodriguez said. “You won’t make it any better by closing Conwell.”
Kensington ‘deserves investment, not abandonment,’ says former Conwell climate manager
James Washington, a former Conwell climate manager and husband of a Conwell graduate, noted the school’s 100th anniversary. “Closing Conwell is a profound loss to a community that has already endured too many disappointments,” Washington said.
Instead of celebrating the anniversary, “we are preparing to erase the legacy.”
“The Kensington community deserves investment, not abandonment,” Washington said, urging the board to “look beyond spreadsheets” and save Conwell.
Head of Philadelphia Charters for Excellence asks the board to consider charters an equal partner
Cassandra St. Vil, head of Philadelphia Charters for Excellence, raised issues, including what she said was the coercion of some schools into signing their charters.
She said charters deserve more funding to address facilities needs, and urged the school district to consider charters an equal partner.
Organizer tells the board this is only a ‘25% plan’
Katy Egan, a community member with Stand Up for Philly Schools, the coalition that organized the rally before the meeting, said this is a “25% plan” with a serious lack of information. Which schools are being modernized? When? How? How will displaced students get to new schools? What about special education students? How do you plan to keep students and staff members safe?
“It’s not a plan. We deserve more than 25%, and our students deserve everything,” Egan said.
Parent asks: If the district doesn’t get the full $2.8 billion, which schools won’t get modernized?
Afternoon dismissal at Penn Treaty Middle School on Jan. 22. The school building was built in 1927.
Lizzie Rothwell, a parent of two district students and spouse of a teacher at Penn Treaty — a school slated to be closed — is speaking against the facilities plan.
If the district doesn’t get the full $2.8 billion, 40 schools wouldn’t be modernized, Rothwell said. What are the 40 schools? (The district has not released those lists.)
“The city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania owe the district $8 billion in deferred maintenance,” Rothwell said.
‘Closing schools ruins families and neighborhoods,’ says Ludlow Elementary teacher
Ludlow Elementary.
Carin Bennicoff, a teacher at Ludlow Elementary, is speaking out against the school’s closure. She’s worked at Ludlow for 30 years.
“Closing schools ruins families and neighborhoods,” Bennicoff said. “A facilities dashboard can’t measure what a school means to a community.”
Generations of students attend Ludlow, Bennicoff. “Instead of closures, we need you to invest in creating safe and healthy schools” by giving us smaller classes and more resources.
“Our children deserve real, stable neighborhood schools,” Bennicoff said.
Conwell principal urges the board to save her school from closure
Conwell Middle School.
Erica Green, principal of Conwell, a school tagged for closure, is speaking now.
“Closing it would erase a legacy that still matters,” Green said. “Conwell is a cornerstone in the Kensington community.”
Philadelphia’s police commissioner was sworn in at Conwell, Green points out. “We are what the city needs,” she said. “Our building is celebrating 100 years. Bright and shiny does not mean better. Philadelphia is a city that celebrates history.”
“Do not let the almighty dollar” drive Conwell’s closure, an impassioned Green said. “Preserve the building, preserve the culture, preserve the legacy. History matters. Conwell matters.”
Proposed closures would disproportionately harm Black and low-income students, researcher says
Ryan Pfleger, a researcher, said the district’s proposed closures are disproportionately hurting Black and low-income communities.
“The burden of closure would fall roughly evenly across racial groups. This is not what the data shows.”
Black students are 1.6 times more likely to be in closing schools, he said. Fifteen of 20 schools tapped for closure are majority-Black. “This is disparate racial impact,” Pfleger said.
Perhaps it was unintentional, but Black and poor kids are more likely to be affected under this plan, he said.
“Build schools up. Don’t shut them down,” Pfleger said.
Mastery parents speak out in support of their schools
Gloria Carroll, a Mastery parent, said Mastery Clymer Elementary is an excellent school. “I love Clymer,” she said.
Ashtin Richard, a Mastery Gratz parent, loves the school and said it has helped his son have a smooth transition from a school in the Midwest.
// Timestamp 01/29/26 5:55pm
‘Take our time, be logical, be strategic,’ high school football coach urges the board
“Sending a kid from school to school can be very damaging,” said Jordan Holbert, the football coach at Vaux Big Picture High School and a North Philadelphia resident. “It’s not what’s best for the student long-term. As we’re making these difficult decisions about what to do next, I urge and beg and plead and frankly demand that we think about the kids and the long-term closure. We did this before … and we still haven’t recovered from that. Making the same type of decision is misguided and risky.”
Holbert urges the board to “take our time, be logical, be strategic,” and think about long-term effects.
District has ‘100% support’ from Philly delegation to get the funds it needs, State Rep. Tarik Khan says
State Rep. Tarik Khan speaks during the Peoples March in Philadelphia on Jan. 18, 2025.
State Rep. Tarik Khan is now addressing the school board. The district has “100% support” from the Philadelphia delegation to get the funds it needs, Khan said.
“I understand that there are difficult decisions to be made,” Khan said, and Lankenau is not the only school in his district to be planned for closure. But, he said, “there’s something special about Lankenau.”
Lankenau has 100% graduation rate. It is set in the woods. “They have unrivaled partnerships,” Khan said. “Please keep Lankenau open.”
Streater reiterates: Watlington will present the facilities master plan to the board on Feb. 26, but they will not vote that night
Board president Streater said it would not be appropriate for him to opine on Watlington’s facilities plan until it’s firmly in the board’s hand. He urges people to attend community meetings.
“Feb. 26 is just you presenting the proposal, it’s not the day of a vote, just putting that out there for the record,” Streater said.
The new student board representatives say one of the three of them will try to be at every forthcoming facilities planning meeting.
The superintendent said it’s a “once in a lifetime, significant opportunity for Philadelphia” to modernize schools, increase access to arts, music, pre-K, algebra in eighth grade, add a year-round K-8 and high school, add a new comprehensive high school in the Northeast, and a year-round indoor pool at one Philadelphia school.
School selection deadline has been extended to Friday at 5 p.m.
Watlington reiterates that the school selection deadline was extended to Friday at 5 p.m. Initial waitlist offers will be made on Feb. 1 at 5 p.m., and the deadline to accept a waitlist offer is Feb. 4 at 5 p.m.
More than 4,000 additional students completed applications for the school selection process, Watlington said.
Student attendance drops year-over-year for December, ‘the largest drop I believe I’ve seen during my tenure here,’ Watlington says
Student attendance dropped year over year for the month of December, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington shared with the school board.
Student attendance dropped year-over-year for the month of December, Watlington said.
It was 66% in 2024, and 54% in 2025, “the largest drop I believe I’ve seen during my tenure here,” Watlington said. He believes the change was due to a half day for professional development, a two-hour delay for snow, and lightly attended days prior to the winter break.
Philly builds one snow day into the calendar, and any other inclement weather days will be virtual, Watlington says
Watlington is making his monthly presentation now. He welcomes the new student board members, then pivots to the district’s inclement weather process. While in-person learning is preferred, the “absolute number one, without question” priority is safety, the superintendent said.
Philadelphia builds one snow day into its calendar; any subsequent inclement weather days will shift to virtual instruction, Watlington said.
The student said she and others are scared to lock up their phones. Hers was stolen once, and her family cannot afford to replace another phone, she said.
“Let’s not strip away the only safety tool” that some children have.
Superintendent Watlington directed one of his assistant superintendents to speak to the Frankford student.
‘To me, closing Lankenau doesn’t make sense,’ high school senior tells the board
LeeShaun Lucas, a senior at Lankenau High School, is upset the school might close. “To me, closing Lankenau doesn’t make sense,” Lucas said.
Lankenau’s campus is unique in the city — set against a wildlife preserve and a farm, a stream, and a forest.
Lucas has studied how to make the Schuylkill healthier by studying mussels, he said. He’s had the opportunity to study in a GIS class, the city’s only such high school opportunity. That shaped Lucas, he said.
“I truly believe that voting to close Lankenau Environmental would be a mistake,” Lucas said. “Please vote to save Lank so that others may benefit from the type of learning that is only possible at Lankenau Environmental.”
Cecelia Henderson, a junior at Lankenau, is also speaking against the proposed closure of her school.
“My overall experience at the school has been overwhelmingly positive,” Henderson said. “Lankenau teachers build very strong personal relationships with students. These are the things I don’t hear from my friends who attend other inner-city Philadelphia high schools.”
Lankenau gave her “structure, support and the privilege of a beautiful campus” that helped her deal with personal issues, Henderson said.
Henderson takes dual enrollment biology and GIS classes. “I strongly believe that this cannot be replicated elsewhere,” Henderson said. “Why close a school that gives real-world education and credentials to students? Why not give that school aid and support it so we can grow bigger and better?”
Conwell students urge the board not to close Conwell Middle School
Julia Spencer, an eighth grader at Conwell Middle School, is speaking now.
“When I got to Conwell, I found my fit,” Julia said. She’s involved in track and field, ballet, student government, and more.
The district has proposed closing Conwell, and that makes Julia worry about kids who won’t get the chance to attend the magnet middle school.
“They should be able to carry the Conwell name like I will, and so many other generations,” Julia said. “Keep Conwell open.”
Jebaz Spencer, another Conwell student, said: “Conwell has programs and opportunities that other schools don’t have. … My peers and I deserve Conwell.”
Conwell students have to score high on state tests. Kids deserve “to have the legendary Conwell name on our school records,” Jebaz said. “I’ve become a better person at Conwell, and an example for other students.”
“Conwell matters,” Jebaz said. “We matter.”
Under the proposed facilities plan, Conwell would close, and the building would be repurposed as a district swing space. Students would attend AMY at James Martin as a 5-8 program with a preference for Bodine High School.
The school board will hear from student speakers now, including multiple students scheduled to testify about proposed school closings.
Up first is Shereeta Jones, a student at Mastery Simon Gratz. Shereeta loves her school, and the staff who “just want to see me succeed at school and in life.”
Up now is the installation of the student representatives of the school board.
Board members Sarah-Ashley Andrews and Cheryl Harper work closest with the student reps. This year’s reps are: Brianni Carter, from Philadelphia High School for Girls; Ramisha Karim, from Northeast High; and Semira Reyes, from the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.
Six board members are in attendance at tonight’s meeting
The board has a quorum at tonight’s meeting, but not all members are in attendance.
President Reginald Streater and vice president Sarah-Ashley Andrews are attending in person. Crystal Cubbage, ChauWing Lam, Joyce Wilkerson, and Cheryl Harper are present virtually.
Whitney Jones, Wanda Novales, and Joan Stern are absent.
District plans to host upcoming community meetings centered on the proposed facilities plan
School board president Reginald Streater acknowledges Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.’s long-awaited facilities plan, which was made public last week. It won’t be presented to the board until next month.
Streater urges attendance at upcoming community meetings, starting next week. The meetings will center on closing schools.
“Once he [Watlington] has formally presented his recommendations to the board, we will announce additional information on how we will proceed,” Streater said.
In other words, there will be no immediate vote after the Feb. 26 Watlington presentation, and more community engagement opportunities to come.
Board honors general counsel for the district, and its senior and teacher of the month
The board is honoring Shahirah Brown, assistant general counsel for the district, who has won multiple recognitions by community and legal organizations for her work.
First school board action meeting of 2026, here we go!
Most board members are not present in person tonight — just board president Reginald Streater and vice president Sarah-Ashley Andrews are at Philadelphia School District headquarters today.
Rally begins to break up as organizers head inside for school board meeting
Grace Keiser, 27, a math teacher at Lankenau High School, holds a “Save Lank” sign during the rally on Thursday.
At the close of the rally, Krys Fannis, a 10th grader at Lankenau, spoke on the megaphone.
“I feel scared,” he said about the district’s plan, which would close the school. Fannis would have to transfer to a new school for his senior year. He said that Lankenau is more than just a building filled with classrooms. It is a community, and its focus on environmental education is essential for students like him, he said.
To those in the school district who argue his school must go?
‘It’s just an injustice,’ says president of Lankenau Home & School Association
Demonstrators rallied against school closures outside the School District of Philadelphia headquarters on Thursday.
Some of the demonstrators warned that removing children from their neighborhood schools would be traumatizing to already vulnerable kids.
“These schools are another home for these families,” said Margarita Davis-Boyer, president of the Lankenau High School Home & School Association. She said schools are a place where kids can get a meal, see a friendly face, and feel safe, especially when home may not offer the same reprieve.
“It’s just an injustice,” she said.
Annie Moss, from the Olde Kensington Neighborhood Association, said the school district’s plan threatens the future of Philadelphia.
“You cannot build a strong city… by traumatizing them,” she said.
North Philly community member protests proposed closure of Ludlow Elementary
Annie Moss, who runs after-school programs at Ludlow Elementary, rallied outside the School District of Philadelphia before their school board meeting on Thursday.
Annie Moss, a member of the Olde Kensington Neighborhood Association, braved the bitter temperatures to protest the planned closure of Ludlow Elementary in North Philadelphia. Ludlow, and the neighborhood, have finally gotten some investments.
“And now they’re talking about closing,” Moss said.
Moss said students would lose if Ludlow is closed.
“Why take them out of something that is good, and been built for them, and destroy it?” said Moss.
Hannah Loo, who works for advocacy organization 12 Plus, rallied outside the Philadelphia school district headquarters against school closures on Thursday.
Around 60 people are gathered in front of the school district headquarters, surprising organizers with their turnout given the frigid weather.
Hannah Loo, 30, braved the wintry day holding a sign that warns of crammed classrooms if the proposed schools close.
“Class Size Matters: I’m not a Sardine,” the sign read.
Loo, who works for advocacy organization 12 Plus, said that she was fighting against school closures because schools are essential parts of the neighborhoods and communities where they’re located. She believes the district’s plan will ultimately hurt graduation rates and attendance, and said she hopes the district listens to organizers doing grassroots work to advocate for schools.
Organizers set to rally against school closures outside school district headquarters
// Timestamp 01/29/26 2:45pm
Stand Up for Philly Schools, a coalition of neighborhood, parent, and educator groups, plans to rally outside the School District of Philadelphia headquarters starting at 3 p.m. Thursday, one hour before the school board’s first meeting of 2026.
The facilities plan is not on the agenda of Thursday’s meeting, but it will be the public’s first opportunity to share question and concerns with the board.
An Inquirer analysis of the decisions and the data behind them shows the proposed closures would disproportionately affect Black students. And despite efforts to minimize the impact, schools in the most vulnerable sections of Philadelphia would also be disrupted.
The closures would mostly address buildings with hundreds of unused seats, though some largely empty buildings were spared. And eight of the closures would affect schools given the district’s worst building condition rating — though 30 more buildings in that category would stay open and receive upgrades of some kind.
Monique Braxton, district spokesperson, said the facilities plan was “designed to provide access to high-quality academic and extracurricular programs across every neighborhood regardless of zip code.”
Most affected students — 90% — would be reassigned to schools with similar or better academic outcomes, and all would be reassigned to schools with either similar or better academics or comparable or better building conditions. Receiving schools will get additional supports, Braxton said.
Overall, the proposal would shake up at least 75 schools, with 20 closing entirely, four leaving their current buildings to colocate within other schools’ buildings, and three moving to new buildings. It would create new schools and, in one case, result in a new building. Nearly50 other district schools would take in displaced students from the closing schools, with some adding grades and others modernizing to fit new programming needs.
Collectively, about 32,000 district students learn in the 75 affectedschools — more than a quarter of the district’s total enrollment — not counting children in pre-K programs.
And those are just the changes Watlington introduced this month. Other shifts, some of them major, district officials said, are expected to be announced by the time he presentsthe planto the school board next month. A final vote is planned for later this winter.
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington (center) speaks about his proposal this month for the Philadelphia school facilities master plan.
The racial impact
The 20 schools that could close have twice as many empty seats as the district’s other schools. But The Inquirer’s analysis found that the closures will hit Black students disproportionately.
Among the closing schools, about 68% of the student population is Black, compared with 40% for the rest of the district’s schools — not including disciplinary or other specialized schools.
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Of the district’s schools where at least 90% of the students are Black, more than half are scheduled to close or take in more students from the closures.
Overall, amajority of students in the 75 schools that could close, take in students, or change in some way are Black, at about 54% of enrollment.
Some majority-Black schools, however, are earmarked for upgrades. Bartram High would get a modern athletics facility after nearby Tilden Middle School in Southwest Philadelphia is closed and upgraded for that purpose.
Nysheera Roberts is the parent of multiple children who attend Waring Elementary, in Spring Garden, which landed on the closure list. Waring now educates under 200 students; its pupils would be sent to Bache-Martin.
Roberts is stunned that her school — which educates mostly Black students like her kids — could close.
She worries about the logistics of getting her kids to school safely further away, then getting to her job in home care in Frankford on time. She worries what will happen to her children, including the niece and nephew she now raises who have lived through significant trauma and have behavioral and learning needs, if they have to adjust to a new and larger school.
“It’s not fair,” Roberts said. “They’re hurting Black kids more.”
Paying attention to vulnerable neighborhoods
In deciding which schools to close or expand, the district considered the vulnerability of the surrounding neighborhood.
Two dozen neighborhood elementary schools were labeled “very high risk,” meaning they have likely dealt with a previous school closure, or the community is otherwise vulnerable to high poverty, housing concerns, or other factors.
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Welsh, in North Philadelphia, was the only school building in a neighborhood labeled “very high risk” to land on the closing list.
Bethune in North Philadelphia and Martha Washington in West Philadelphia will colocate with other schools.
But three schools with building conditions considered unsatisfactory, poor programming options, and “very high risk” neighborhood ratings were left off the closure list. Those schools are Philadelphia Military Academy in North Philadelphia, Sheppard in West Kensington — which has successfully fought off closure in the past — and Francis Scott Key in South Philadelphia, the district’s oldest building, constructed in 1889. Sheppard and Francis Scott Key are both majority-Hispanic schools.
Sheppard Elementary School in West Kensington has faced the threat of closure in the past but was spared in the latest proposal.
The district plan calls for closing five schools in neighborhoods it deemed to have a “high risk” of vulnerability, the level below “very high”: Blankenburg, Harding, Stetson, Tilden, and Wagner.
Watlington has made it clear that the district is phasing out middle schools when possible, in favor of the K-8 model — and of that list, four are middle schools. Only Blankenburg, in West Philadelphia, is an elementary. Also, of those schools in vulnerable neighborhoods, four of the five are rated as having “unsatisfactory” buildings, the district found.
Perhaps no section of the city faces as much disruption from the recommendations as the lower part of North Philadelphia.
Fourteen schools with a combined enrollment of 5,400 students could be affected, including the closures of Ludlow, Morris, Penn Treaty, and Waring.
“If you are closing schools during a literacy crisis, then you should be held directly accountable to the people you serve,” Young said last week.
Right sizing mostly empty buildings
Underused space was a factor in the district’s decision-making, an Inquirer analysis found.
Data released by the district last year identified about 60 schools that were more than half empty. The recommendations attempt to realign some of these schools by taking significant action on 31 of the 60 half-empty schools.
Of the 20 schools the district wants to close, 14 are currently at less than half capacity.
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AMY Northwest, Conwell, Robert Morris, Motivation, Tilden, and Welsh are all recommended for closure, with each educating fewer than a quarter of the students they have room for.
Overbrook High in West Philadelphia — a 100-year-old school with roughly one in four seats filled — would remain open but begin sharing space with the Workshop School, a small, project-based high school located nearby.
Overbrook has received millions in funding from the state for remediation and a new roof. It also has a strong alumni association.
Overbrook High School in West Philadelphia has thousands of empty seats but was not tapped for closure. Instead, The Workshop School, a small, project-based high school now located in another West Philadelphia building, will colocate with Overbrook.
Having a more robust enrollment, however, did not save some schools from landing on the closure list. Harding, Parkway Northwest, Pennypacker, Robeson, and Stetson operate at 50% to 74% of capacity but would still close.
Besides shutting down underused schools, the plan would alter an additional 17 half-empty schools by moving them into colocations, adding grades, or otherwise expanding their use by taking in students from the closing schools.
To make it work, the district’s recommendations often involve a series of logistical steps. A pair of North Philadelphia neighborhood schools built in the 1960s are one example.
Hartranft, a K-8 school in North Philadelphia with a building rated in “good” condition but only 37% occupied, would take in students from Welsh, a school marked for closure. Welsh teaches the same grades but in a building rated “poor” about a half a mile away. The district would then convert the Welsh building into a new year-round high school.
John Welsh Elementary school is on the list of 20 schools proposed to close by the 2027-28 school year.
Getting students out of (some) fatigued buildings
By one city estimate, district schools need about $8 billion in repair costs for 300-plus buildings that are about 75 years old on average. Watlington’s plan calculates the district could do it for $2.8 billion.
Even with some investments over the last decade, many schools still have asbestos, lead, or mold issues. And many schools that don’t have bad building quality ratings still need improvements.
Eight schools recommended for closure are in buildings rated “unsatisfactory” by the district, its lowest score.
An additional 30 schools also rated “unsatisfactory” would remain open under the plan, including some expected to see an increase of students.
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Watlington wants the district to pay for $1 billion of the plan’s price tag with its own capital funds over the next decade. That would leave $1.8 billion unfunded, and he wants the state and philanthropic funders to cover the rest.
If the full $2.8 billion plan is funded, Watlington said, the district could improve every building labeled “poor” or “unsatisfactory.”
To achieve this, some buildings could get the same kind of treatment Frankford High received — a $30 million major renovation project to remedy significant asbestos damage. Students had to relocate into an annex and another building for two years while the work was done.
The district plan calls for some of the buildings in the worst shape to receive more students. Bache-Martin, Catharine, Howe, John Marshall, and Middle Years Alternative are in buildings that need significant upgrades, according to the district’s analysis, but all would take on more pupils.
In the case of Howe, the district wants to add grades to keep students who would have attended Wagner, a middle school that is proposed to close.
The district has said Bache-Martin would receive upgrades if the plan is adopted. For other schools, neither the timeline nor the fixes they would receive are clear.
The recommendations so far only mention a handful of schools set to modernize.
Among them is Comly, a K-5 in the Somerton neighborhood.
Comly now has 660 students enrolled, putting it at 107% of its capacity. But the district recommends modernizing the school and accepting middle grades students from the Comly and Loesche catchments. Students who now attend Loesche, another K-5, go to Baldi Middle School, which is also overcrowded.
Watson T. Comly Elementary School in Somerton. It’s slated to be modernized and accept more grade levels under the district’s proposed plan.
What appears to set schools like Bache-Martin apart from some of the closures is higher occupancy. Together, about two dozen schools that are more than half occupied would remain open, even though the buildings are “unsatisfactory.”
Schools on this list — like Barton Elementary, which runs at about 80% of its capacity — are harder to shutter or colocate if no nearby school has low attendance. That makes building upgrades a more logical solution.
But those two dozen schools are not the only ones in need of significant building upgrades.
An additional 45 schools currently operate in buildings rated slightly better at “poor,” the category just above “unsatisfactory.” The district recommends closing seven of them and colocating two.
And beyond that large number of fatigued schools, many others in poorly rated buildings will remain unchanged for now, with about 10 even taking in more students.
Watlington has said that in total, 159 schools would modernize over a decade if the plan is approved and fully funded, but absent extra state and private money, that number could drop.
On the second day her kindergartener was off from his Philadelphia public school because of snow, Karen Robinson shut herself away in her Fairmount home, hoping to take a 15-minute meeting for an important work project.
Her husband had put up a baby gate to signal to 5-year-old Sam that mom was briefly off limits.
Naturally, “my son crawled under the baby gate to come find me,” said Robinson, whose son attends Bache-Martin Elementary. “If I’m working, he wants to be right next to me.”
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. gave beleaguered parents a reprieve Wednesday afternoon, saying schools would re-open for in-person learning Thursday. But the week was tough for many to navigate.
For parents who rely on hourly work, or jobs that have no remote flexibility, the inclement weather-forced school changes have meant either foregoing pay or figuring out childcare arrangements that are often costly, complicated, or both.
North Philadelphia mom Asjha Simmons’ son attends a charter school that’s been closed — no virtual learning — since Monday.
Simmons runs her own business, so is able to be flexible with her schedule and stay home with her son. But she’s getting antsy.
“I feel forced to be in the house and it’s killing me,” Simmons said. “I would rather be in the gym than in the house. And I don’t even go to the gym.”
Simmons’ son, who’s 12, relishes the down time since “he has every screen known to man on,” she said. She keeps the snacks coming, and it’s all good. (He was less than thrilled when Simmons made him shovel snow, she said.)
Leigh Goldenberg said she was having uncomfortable flashbacks to the pandemic, when her daughter completed virtual kindergarten.
“For me, it’s an emotional regression to that terrible time,” said Goldenberg. “And I feel for the people that didn’t build up that muscle before.”
Virtual school with a fifth grader is much easier than virtual school with a kindergartener, said Goldenberg, whose daughter attends Kirkbride Elementary in South Philadelphia. Her daughter spent 30 minutes on Tuesday completing schoolwork, and managed to keep herself busy socializing with friends online and outside, a short walk away in their neighborhood.
Goldenberg is trying to keep things in perspective — this is not forever, this is not the pandemic.
But, she’s still frustrated.
“All the suburban schools around us went back already, but here in the city, we’re stuck with a giant pile of snow at the end of our street, and it feels pretty unfair,” she said.
Coral Edwards was prepared for Monday’s snow day, but when the district announced a virtual day Tuesday, she began to panic.
“I was like, oh my gosh, there’s a real possibility the entire rest of the week will be virtual,” said Edwards, who lives in Graduate Hospital and has a seven-year-old son who attends Nebinger Elementary and a four-year-old daughter in a private prekindergarten program.
Her daughter’s pre-K is reopened Wednesday with a two-hour delay. And that means dropoff time came when Edwards would haveneeded to be helping her first grader with virtual learning. So instead, she paid to send both children to Kids on 12th, a Center City school open the full day, so she can get her work done as a marketing consultant and leadership coach.
The scramble has also summoned up emotions and frustrations she last experienced during the pandemic, when her son was 1 and his daycare shut down. While she acknowledged that she is “incredibly privileged,” she said the fact thatparents like herself are in such a bind speaks to a larger systemicproblem with childcare, Edwards said.
“There’s literally no one to help us,” she said. “There’s just no systemic support whatsoever.”
Streets are being plowed, SEPTA is running, and trash is getting picked up, “but there’s nothing in press conferences about how we’re supporting parents and students,” Edwards said. “The schools are like, ‘we have this virtual learning environment’ — are we just supposed to pull another parent out of our butts?” she said.
Edwards’ husband works in-person as a research physician running a lab, and the burden of childcare logistics falls to her.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric about supporting parents, and raising women up, … but when push comes to shove, something about our kids’ childcare is changed or tightened, it falls on those people,” she said.
Hannah Sassaman, a West Philadelphia parent of a district fourth grader and ninth grader, is making it through.
“We had another fourth grader live here for 24 hours randomly. I think they went to school? My ninth grader seems to be going to school. We’re just lucky we don’t have little kids,” said Sassaman.
“The questions that I have knowing that the storm was coming for over a week,” Sassaman said, “is what could the administration have done to help resource our sanitation workers and the rest of our incredible city servants to really focus on what it would take to get our kids back in schools, our teachers and the other staff back in their buildings safety to support not just the economy, but also all of the important supports and services kids access at schools every day?”
