- What you need to know
- The Philadelphia School District is considering a sweeping facilities plan. Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has proposed closing 18 schools, colocating 6, and modernizing 159.
- Watlington presented his plan — sparing two schools from the initial list of 20 closures — to the school board Thursday.
- Watlington’s recommendations are not yet final. The board is expected to vote on his plan later this year.
- The plan has already faced opposition from students, parents, staff, and political leaders who are fighting to save their schools. Community members gathered for a rally outside school district headquarters ahead of Thursday’s board meeting.
// Pinned
// Timestamp 02/27/26 0:27am
Recap: Students, parents, and teachers beg board not to close their schools
The Philadelphia school board heard several hours of public testimony Thursday evening — and into Friday morning — about a proposal to close 18 schools.
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington presented his proposed facilities plan to the board Thursday. It includes closing 18 schools, colocating six schools, and modernizing 159 school buildings.
The plan Watlington presented Thursday had some changes compared to an initial proposal unveiled last month. Conwell Middle School and Motivation High School, two schools that had been including on the first iteration of the closure list, were removed.
Hoping that more schools might also be saved, students, parents, teachers, and advocates made their own cases to the board Thursday.
The board has not yet set a date to vote on Watlington’s proposal, but it expected to do so in the coming weeks.
// Timestamp 02/27/26 0:23am
Meeting ends after hours of testimony about school closures
More than eight hours after the school board meeting began, it ended early Friday morning.
After concluding hours of public testimony, largely criticism of the school facilities plan, the board spent only a few minutes quickly passing items on its agenda.
// Timestamp 02/27/26 0:16am
Eight hours into meeting, board begins official business
The board’s onto its agenda now.
Expect a speedy vote — we’re more than eight hours into the meeting.
// Timestamp 02/27/26 0:14am
Last speaker: ‘I beg you, do not close our schools’
Carin Bennicoff, a longtime teacher at Ludlow Elementary, notes that school closings hit vulnerable communities hard, and disproportionately. “Please – I beg you, do not close our schools,” Bennicoff said.
Here ends the speakers list.
“I think this board has been listening tonight,” said board president Reginald Streater, and more feedback will be heard on March 12.
// Timestamp 02/27/26 0:09am
Retired teacher says plan would ‘rip apart people’s communities’
Lisa Haver, a retired Philadelphia teacher and founder of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, said that no member of the board should vote for the plan.
“Do you really have to rip apart people’s communities?” Haver said.
// Timestamp 02/27/26 0:04am
Parent and student speak out about accessibility concerns
Kim Nelson, a parent, spoke on behalf of her daughter. Nelson said she is concerned about many schools that are not accessible for those with disabilities.
“My daughter wanted to express her concerns, and we’ve been here for the last seven years,” Nelson said. She said she wants fixes at Overbrook High, her daughter’s school.
“My school has over 60 bathrooms, and not one of those bathrooms is ADA accessible,” Nelson said.
Nelson’s daughter also spoke about problems accessing bathrooms at Overbrook.
Watlington asked Teresa Fleming, the district’s chief operating officer, to “attend to those issues immediately.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:57pm
Blankenburg parent opposes closure
Sherell Robinson, a parent of a Blankenburg Elementary kindergartener, opposes the school’s closure.
“This proposal scrambles resources,” Robinson said. “Irreversible impacts on our lives will take place based on this data, which is contradictory.”
“We’re being asked to accept a trauma trade-off for a speculative benefit,” Robinson said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:48pm
More Lankenau staffers speak out
Jonathan Hoffmeier began as a teacher at University City High School, which closed in 2013 and is now a parking lot.
He now works at Lankenau, which he urged the board not to close.
Lankenau has been evaluated “as an asset in a real estate portfolio,” Hoffmeier said. “Closing Lankenau sends a message. It tells students, ‘You don’t deserve these opportunities.’”
Charde Earley, a paraprofessional at Lankenau, reminds the board that the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Eduaction has the right to re-purchase the land that Lankenau sits on.
Amy Szymanski, a Lankenau staffer, is reading another staffer’s statement. The art teacher couldn’t attend the meeting because she led Lankenau students competing at the Philadelphia Flower Show. “You haven’t expressed your vision effectively,” wrote the teacher, who is certified in both art and agriculture.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:44pm
Parkway Northwest teacher says ‘our students deserve better’
“Our students deserve better than promises,” said Beth Ziegenfus, a teacher at Parkway Northwest. “They deserve action.”
For years, middle school teachers and parents used neighborhood high schools as a warning or a punishment — and it will take years to undo that damage, said Ziegenfus, who taught for years at Frankford, a community high school, before she moved to Parkway Northwest, a magnet school.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:43pm
Grandparent says closing Overbrook is ‘moral failure’
Rhemar Pouncey, grandparent of an Overbrook Elementary School student, said the school has healed her grandchild.
“To close OES is a moral failure,” Pouncey said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:36pm
Facilities plan criticized as ‘land grab’
Leah Clouden: “let’s call this what it is: a land grab and shell game that we already experienced in 2012. This plan is an egregious breach of trust.”
Clouden asks the district to stop holding up access to Algebra 1 in eighth grade as the be-all, end-all, when most district students cannot do math on grade level.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:31pm
District staffers and teachers fight for their schools
Tanya Edmonds, a district staffer, questions the plan and the district’s move to give some schools to the city. The district’s website is not easy to navigate, she said, and data is tough to find.
Benjamin Grivensky, a history teacher at Parkway Northwest, opposes the plan.
“The closures will have an outsized impact on our minority students,” Grivensky said. The school’s graduation rate is 98%. “Simply put —Parkway works,” Grivensky said.
Patricia Rich, a teacher at Lankenau, notes that the district’s visual impaired life skills students learn at Lankenau. It’s small and safe, Rich said.
“We have shown that Lankenau cannot be transplanted,” Rich said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:25pm
A homemade chart to make the case for Overbrook
Debra Joell, a teacher at Overbrook Elementary School, said the district is “misappropriating our funds.”
Speaking passionately and displaying a homemade chart, Joell attempted to to explain why Overbrook students should not go to lower-performing schools.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:16pm
‘An absolute mess,’ education advocate calls facilities plan
Up now is Mama Gail Clouden, a frequent board speaker and education advocate.
“You made an absolute mess, again,” Mama Gail said. “Dr. Tony Watlington, this is a mess. President Streater, this is a mess.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:15pm
‘Please do right by our kids,’ Stetson teacher tells board
Eugenia Giannoumis, a teacher at Stetson Middle School, said the survey that formed the basis of the district’s recommendation, was imperfect — and not reflective of most of the wishes of people in the Stetson community.
“Please do right by our kids,” Giannoumis said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:14pm
Lankenau’s principal says her school helps close district-charter gap
Jessica McAtamney, principal at Lankenau, notes the school is unique in the district — it has relationships with two separate charter schools. It’s closing the district-charter gap.
Watlington’s proposal would close Lankenau and send its students to Saul High School.
“Sending us to Saul does not fix why we are here,” said McAtamney, who said she worked at Saul for years and loves it.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:09pm
Parkway Northwest is a unique environment for kids with disabilities, teacher says
Nicholas Shute, a special education teacher at Parkway Northwest, underscores his “firm opposition” to the plan. Moving Parkway Northwest into Martin Luther King is a “fundamental misunderstanding of what we do,” he said.
Parkway Northwest, which has a peace and social justice theme, focuses on safety, and creates a unique environment, especially for students with disabilities, Shute said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:07pm
Teachers make the case to save Robeson and Waring
Kyana Hopkins, a teacher at Robeson High, said the school lacks many resources, but “we worked with what we had” and experienced great successes — academic growth, sending a student to Harvard.
“Culture is not transferrable,” Hopkins said. “Make it make sense.”
The governor of Pennsylvania and other politicians held up Robeson as a model, Hopkins said. “Let us keep working the magic that we can keep producing,” said Hopkins.
Megan Murphy, a Waring teacher, said the school district has “obstructed opportunities for Waring” to overcome barriers and the school is now being penalized.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 11:02pm
Closing Lankenau would be ‘profound failure,’ parent says
Daniel Rothman, father of a Lankenau student, said he’s attended multiple meetings where district officials promised they were present to listen.
He said he’s starting to doubt that. Closing Lankenau “isn’t just bad judgment — it’s a profound failure of leadership,” Rothman said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:59pm
Emotional argument to save Fitler
An emotional Renee Gair, a teacher at Fitler Elementary, said the school is a gem, with soaring academics and a real community. “Once students come to Fitler, they do not leave,” Gair said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:53pm
A plea for building trades programs
Horace Clouden, a retired building engineer and education activist, urges the board to invest in putting building trades programs in neighborhood schools.
Clouden is an ardent advocate of junior high schools. He and his family have attended school closing meetings around the city urging the district to commit to junior highs.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:48pm
Pushing for year-round pools
Charisma Presley, an advocate for year-round aquatics, is asking the board to recommit to reopening pools. A single year-round pool operates in the city now — at Lincoln High in the Northeast.
“We’re asking for concrete action,” Presley said.
Ariel Presley, another aquatics booster, pushes the board to commit to year-round pools and swimming instruction.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:43pm
Ludlow is ‘a second home’
Elisa Miranda, a Ludlow Elementary alum, opposes the school’s closure.
The school was “a second home” to her and to generations of other students, Miranda said. “We must keep the school open for the future generations.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:39pm
‘Data without context tells an incomplete story,’ says Stetson teacher
Kathryn Lajara, a teacher at Stetson Middle School, underscores the upheaval at the school in the past 20 years. First, it was turned over to Edison Schools, a for-profit company, to run. Then, it became a charter school run by Aspira, and then returned to the district, she said.
No major repairs were ever made to the building, and every change meant a new administration, new curriculum, and new expectations, she said.
“Data without context tells an incomplete story,” Lajara said. You can’t talk about Stetson without noting that the “foundation beneath it has been repeatedly shaken.”
Stetson has “endured systemic disruption” and is now being penalized for it, Lajara said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:35pm
The facilities plan values money over students, Robeson teacher says
Elana Evans, a teacher at Robeson High, asks for the cost analysis of the facilities plan.
Evans said the plan values “MOS — Money Over Students.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:34pm
Parkway Northwest teacher says students don’t thrive in larger schools
Faris Carter, a teacher at Parkway Northwest, notes that Parkway students walked out of school yesterday “out of deep care for their community.”
Students are asking the board to understand “that what happens in the building is the real point.”
Some students don’t thrive in larger schools, Carter said, and they do inside schools like Parkway Northwest.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:32pm
Middle schools are taking a disproportionate hit, says district staff member
Cashonna Thomas is speaking in favor of Harding Middle School.
“Middle schools have taken a disproportionate hit,” Thomas noted.
Keeping students in K-8 schools “ignores child development,” Thomas said.
Kelli Gallagher, the next speaker, teaches at Harding Middle School now; she previously taught at Reynolds Elementary, which was closed in 2013.
Reynolds closing “created no positive effect on the community,” she said. It just benefitted developers and drove up house prices for long-term residents.
“We’re being asked to trust the process that lacks transparency,” Gallagher said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:26pm
Closing Stetson ‘would wreck a community that is already so vulnerable,’ staff member says
Sofia Peguero, a staff member at Stetson Middle School, calls the school “a stabilizing force in this neighborhood.”
The numbers don’t tell the story of Stetson students, or the 19134 neighborhood, she said.
Closing Stetson “would wreck a community that is already so vulnerable,” Peguero said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:23pm
Watlington’s plan feels like a ‘copy and paste report’ from 2013, Lankenau parent says
Sarin Sok Sarom, parent of a Lankenau student, said: “How do we discuss a better future if the present is suffering from the past?”
This feels like 2013 again, Sok Sarom said. Watlington’s plan feels like a “copy and paste report.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:18pm
Robeson High Home and School president calls district’s recommendations ‘trashy’ and ‘tasteless’
Samantha Bromfield, the Home and School president at Robeson High, said families want small schools.
“Understand that a parent like me will send my child back to being homeschooled” if Robeson closes. “Your choice doesn’t fit my criteria of what I’m looking for my children. Your recommendations and your data seems trashy. Tasteless.”
Rasheeda Simpson, a Robeson parent, said she chose Robeson — not Sayre or Motivation.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:15pm
The district’s plan is ‘calculated abandonment,’ Stetson teacher says
Beth Cole, a Stetson teacher, said the district’s plan “isn’t an opportunity; it’s calculated abandonment.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:10pm
The facilities plan feels like ‘an 11th hour ChatGPT research project,’ AMY Northwest teacher says
Alexander Arnosky, a teacher at AMY Northwest, notes that the city and district are still recovering from the 2013 closures.
The plan, he said “has the shaky underpinnings of an 11th hour ChatGPT research project.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:08pm
‘You don’t close a school with a 95% attendance rate,’ former teacher says
D’Angelo Virgo, a former teacher and education advocate, is speaking out for Overbrook Elementary.
“You don’t close a school with a 95% attendance rate,” Virgo said.
Overbrook to Heston or Barry — the two schools its students would be sent to — are 20-plus minutes walks, at least, Virgo said.
His godson attends the school, and Virgo loves it.
“Overbrook Elementary has built a culture where children are loved and supported. This is not something you dismantle,” he said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:05pm
Spanish teacher at Parkway Northwest says school closure would be a displacement for students
Rodrigo Fernández, the Spanish teacher at Parkway Northwest, questions the district’s decision to close the school.
“This is happening against the will of our students and families,” Fernández said. “I am a language teacher. The word for this is displacement.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:02pm
Closing Waring will hurt students with ‘complex trauma,’ teacher says
Hannah Myers, a teacher, is speaking about the proposed closure of Waring Elementary, where students have “complex trauma,” she said.
It’s a small school, but it’s a model of stability for the kids who need it most, she said, pointing out that 13% of its population is students experiencing homelessness.
Moving Waring students to larger classes at Bache-Martin is unwise, Myers said. “And thank you for keeping teachers here for six and a half hours waiting to speak,” Myers adds.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 10:02pm
AMY Northwest parent speaks out
Megan Acedo, an AMY Northwest parent, told the board: “I don’t understand as a parent why we are closing a school that has incredible academic performance and is an incredibly supportive environment.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:57pm
Fitler principal asks: ‘Are we dismantling the right things?’
Kate Sylvester, Fitler’s principal, said the school has some fourth-generation families.
Also, the school is growing academically.
“We must ask ourselves: Are we dismantling the right things?” Sylvester said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:54pm
‘Germantown has lost enough,’ says Fitler teacher
Mary Thorp, a teacher at Fitler, said the district affected the school’s enrollment by cutting yellow bus service to citywide admit schools.
“Germantown has lost enough,” Thorp said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:51pm
‘Please don’t clip our wings,’ Harding teacher pleads with the board
Beth Anne Dufner, a Harding teacher, said the school “excels at inclusivity” and questions the plan’s disproportionate impact on vulnerable students.
“I implore the board — please don’t clip our wings, let the Harding Hawks soar,” Dufner said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:50pm
The district ‘systematically denied students’ the ability to attend many small schools, Motivation teacher says
John Young, a teacher at Motivation High School, asks the district to slow down and show more data. (Motivation was recommended for closure, but is now off the list.)
“Our students thrive because of our safe, small, supportive settings,” Young said.
Young said the district’s data is often wrong, and noted the district “systematically denied students” the ability to attend many small schools.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:48pm
Blankenburg is ‘the best environment for our students,’ teacher says
Mia Svendson, a teacher at Blankenburg, a West Philadelphia elementary school on the chopping block, said the school is “the best environment for our students.”
The school is part of the Acceleration Network — schools that receive more intense supports because of academic achievement needs. But the supports are working, Svendson said. The school should not be closed, she said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:41pm
‘Dr. Watlington, you’re breaking my heart’
“Dr. Watlington, you’re breaking my heart,” said Amanda Chandler, a teacher at Harding, who said the district’s plan is “not creative. It’s perfunctory.”
The district has not adequately maintained the Harding building, Chandler said. “Why can’t Harding have a swing space while you fix our building?”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:40pm
The facilities plan will cost the district students and teachers, AMY Northwest teacher says
“We’re running a school that serves our students well,” says Joseph Blank, a teacher at AMY Northwest. The only problem is low enrollment, which is a problem with the district’s enrollment system, Blank said.
“We expect better,” Blank said. “We demand better. If this plan goes through, the district will lose many students and many teachers.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:38pm
Data used to make the decision to close Stetson is incorrect, teacher says
Tairan Zhang, a teacher at Stetson Middle School, said the district’s plan is “deeply flawed,” and the data around Stetson is incorrect.
The school system has failed to maintain the Stetson building, he said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:35pm
‘Slow down, send it back, mark it incomplete, save Robeson’
Andrew Saltz, a teacher at Robeson, said this plan isn’t a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
In 2013, the district closed schools and tried to close Robeson, which he said deserves a new building — just like the students at the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush in the Northeast.
“The thing about boutique high schools — we fill them, and they work,” Saltz said. “Slow down, send it back, mark it incomplete, save Robeson.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:32pm
A three-year phaseout of AMY Northwest ‘feels like a slow, painful death,’ teacher says
Kim Pham, a teacher at AMY Northwest, is reading some of her students’ thoughts about the school.
“AMY is the place to grow and become better,” one student said.
The district’s planned three-year phaseout of AMY Northwest “feels like a slow, painful death,” Pham said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:30pm
Lankenau parent urges the district to invest in the school building
Tiona Brown, a Lankenau parent, calls on the board to reverse its plan to close Lankenau.
“You guys are smart people, I trust you can find another way,” Brown said. Her house is over 100 years old, but its value is strong because she made investments in it. Lankenau, with its 100% graduation rate, is worth investment, said Brown.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:27pm
Robeson teacher says closing the school will push ‘Black and brown kids out of University City’
Gwen Franklin, a teacher at Robeson High and West Philadelphia resident, said she was speaking to support all West and Southwest Philadelphia schools on the chopping block.
“Forgive me if I fail to see the transparency of this process,” Franklin said.
We ask our kids to show their work, so show yours, she said.
“This plan pushes Black and brown kids out of University City.”
Robeson deserves a new building, and to keep its esteemed name, she said. And Sayre, which Robeson was first scheduled to merge with, deserves investment too. (Robeson is now proposed to close but move into Motivation High.)
// Timestamp 02/26/26 9:14pm
Board returns from recess; Sen. Sharif Street takes the floor
And we’re back! With another elected official speaker: Sen. Sharif Street.
“This plan is going to need to be adjusted,” Street said, saying it’s “unacceptable that [students] go to school in buildings with lead and asbestos.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:47pm
Board calls a brief recess after nearly 5 hours
15 minute recess now! Stay tuned for more public comment.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:47pm
State Rep. Darisha Parker pushes against the plan to close Fitler
State Rep. Darisha Parker is against the Fitler closure. She questions the plan to close the school and give it to the city for workforce development and housing.
“You cannot displace, families, children and a community that deserves to be educated,” Parker said.
“I do not accept your proposal to close Fitler,” Parker said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:42pm
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada asks the board to visit each school personally before deciding to close it
City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada said even revisions to the plan leave questions.
She asks the district to reconsider changes to Moffet and closing Harding, Welsh, and Stetson. “Why should our children bear the consequences of all of the school district’s failures?” Lozada said.
Lozada asks the board to visit each facility personally before casting votes to close them.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:36pm
Councilmember Cindy Bass calls school closures ‘a self-created’ problem
Councilmember Cindy Bass is “greatly disturbed” by school closures. “This is, in my opinion, a self-created” problem.
Revisit the special admission policy, Bass said. “We can also move students to some of these empty spaces. We can provide transit. Why is that not an option?” she said.
“This just cannot happen,” said Bass. “We cannot allow more school closures.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:34pm
Councilmember Nina Ahmad wants the board to take Lankenau and Waring off the closing list
City Councilmember Nina Ahmad asks the board to consider pulling Lankenau and Waring off the closing list. Lankenau’s site is integral to its success, Ahmad said.
Even moving it to Saul is unacceptable, she said, because Saul does not have access to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.
Moving Waring to give Masterman an extended middle school is not acceptable either, Ahmad said. “Why are we targeting that space where vulnerable students live?” she said.
“You are going to disrupt Lankenau so you can have high-value real estate,” Ahmad said. “We are a creative bunch. We can think of ways to address the issues that have come up. To disrupt solutions that are working makes no sense to me.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:26pm
Principals union president asks district to ‘slow the plan down’
Robin Cooper, president of CASA, the district’s principals’ union, asks for the board to “slow the plan down.”
Developing a blueprint for the district is complex, Cooper said.
“Improving facilities should not automatically require closing schools. This plan is full of bias, and I’m asking you to please slow it down,” she said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:20pm
Sen. Williams criticizes Watlington for bragging about incremental academic growth, and says superintendent has only called him once
Williams said he has heard only once from Watlington since the superintendent’s arrival in Philadelphia. (He says he speaks to William Penn Superintendent Eric Becoats weekly.)
Williams zings the district for bragging about incremental academic growth. Folks in his neighborhood want transformation, he said.
“I don’t pat myself on the back about 2% increases in anything,” Williams said. He invites members of the board and district to walk with him through the communities he represents.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:12pm
State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams speaks to the board alongside his mom, a 93-year-old retired district teacher
State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams is up now.
He brought his mother, Carole Williams, a 93-year-old retired district teacher, to speak alongside him.
Carole Williams, a former science supervisor for the district, is a founder of the citywide George Washington Carver science fair.
“You don’t have an easy task,” she told the board. (She also encourages the board to hit up her son, a state senator, for more funding to help.)
The senator said his district, including West and Southwest Philadelphia has been “discriminated against” by the city and district. He acknowledges that some schools must close, but said the “ones you’ve identified clearly contradict” the ideals of improving education. “There are some schools that do not need to be on this list simply because their buildings are in decline.”
Williams was bussed as a student “into a neighborhood that did not welcome me,” he said. He attended Conwell.
“We’re talking about moving students to other neighborhoods without a commonsense plan,” he said.
“The problem with this plan is it’s top down,” Williams said. He said parents would come up with smart plans and would compromise on difficult decisions — if the district asked them in meaningful ways.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:05pm
‘Let us know who you’re selling our students’ future to,’ says president of union representing cafeteria staff and educational assistants
Nicole Hunt, president of Local 634, a district union that represents cafeteria staff and educational assistants, is not pleased with the closures.
“You say these closures are equitable, but we see these closures only affect neighborhoods with Black and brown students,” Hunt said
Families will have to cross “invisible lines” to get their children to new schools, Hunt said. Safety is a factor.
“We have been here before, and it didn’t work in 2013, and it’s not going to work now,” Hunt said. “If this is an open and honest plan, let us know who you’re selling our students’ future to.”
“Nothing for the people without the people,” Hunt said, saying the plan is really “a closure plan.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 8:00pm
Councilmember Jeffery Young says there are contradictions in the district facilities plan
City Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young, holding a sign that says “Ludlow is the Cornerstone of our Community,” said the goals of the plan are worthy. But the current iteration of the plan has many contradictions.
Students at Ludlow would lose not just their elementary school, but also their high school, Penn Treaty.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:55pm
‘You are handing our students to a charter,’ says city committeeperson Delise Williams
Delise Williams, a city committeeperson who opposes the planned closure of Parkway Northwest, worked in the district’s central offices and at Martin Luther King. “We must fix MLK, but not by dismantling excellence,” Williams said.
“You are closing a budget gap,” Williams said. “You are handing our students to a charter on a silver platter just to fix a spreadsheet.”
Next to her, another community member holds up a silver platter with dollar bills taped all around its perimeter.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:50pm
Teachers union leaders urge the board to slow down and consider what’s missing from the plan
Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, urges the board to delay implementation of the facilities plan. Inadequate information has been presented to the public, Steinberg said.
PFT members and students know the realities of the city’s schools. They’ve gotten sick from lead, asbestos, mold, and buildings that were too hot or too cold.
“The negative impacts far outweigh the benefits,” Steinberg said of school closures.
Steinberg talks about the “lasting harm” of the 2013 closures.
Steinberg also mentions Jessica Peruso, an autistic support teacher who was honored as teacher of the month earlier in Thursday’s meeting. “What a great thank you to your teacher of the month today that you’re closing her school,” Steinberg said.
“Our schools need fixing and funding, not closure,” Steinberg said. If the district can raise $1.8 billion for its plan, then it can fix schools.
Jerry Roseman, director of environmental science for the PFT, said an effective plan is needed. This isn’t it, he said, and there’s a lot missing. Roseman cited a “transparency and data gap” raised in various stages of the process. “The lack of detail and specificity is of serious concern,” Roseman said.
Roseman blew holes in the district’s $2.8 billion pricetag, which he said is “far too low.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:41pm
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier says the facilities plan shows ‘a profound lack of care’ for West and Southwest Philadelphia
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier is up first.
“I do not have the words to describe how disappointed I am by the district’s proposal today,” she said.
It harms West and Southwest Philadelphia, and disproportionately affects Black and Latino students. The promise of renovating some neighborhood schools at some point in the next decade is not enough.
Removing Motivation from the closing list is a good step, she said. But she wants Watlington to consider removing Robeson, Blankenburg, and Parkway West, too.
“Robeson did send a student to Harvard, and you still want to close it,” she said.
Robeson students fought the district for air conditioning when students got sick from the heat. Its staff found funding to renovate the cafeteria.
“Help us, instead of throwing away everyone’s ideas and hard work,” said Gauthier, who said the plan showed “a profound lack of care” for West and Southwest Philadelphia and vulnerable Black and brown communities.
“I will fight these closures with every ounce of energy that I can muster,” Gauthier said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:38pm
Board transitions from student speakers to elected officials speaking
That’s it for the student speakers. Next, we’re on to elected officials and union leaders.
Board president Streater thanks the student speakers. “The board is not voting today. We are listening,” he reminds the audience.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:36pm
Waring ‘may seem poor in appearance,’ but ‘we are rich in love,’ student says
Nylan Williams, an eighth grader at Waring Elementary School, has attended Waring since kindergarten.
“Today I sit here because of the foundation Waring gave me,” he said.
He said “students stay, grow, and become family” at Waring, and has teachers who mentor and support the students. They celebrate students like their own children, he said, and stay after school to help students.
“Our building may seem poor in appearance … we are rich in love,” he said. “You cannot replace that by simply moving students somewhere else.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:34pm
Shutting down AMY Northwest ‘is losing the best school the Philly ever had,’ student says
Carlee Coleman, an AMY Northwest student, said her school “helped me feel more socially engaged with others.”
She said the school should not be shut down, and has teachers who have supported her “when I need them most.”
She said shutting down the school “is losing the best school the Philly ever had.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:31pm
Lankenau student says her school has been ‘under-researched’ for the facilities plan
Elouise Midgett, a Lankenau student, took issue with some of the facts about her school in the district’s data used for the facilities planning process.
“I do believe our school is under-researched,” she said, “… and being targeted for reasons that do not make sense.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:28pm
Elementary school student shares concerns with board over teachers leaving mid-year
Evangeline Routh, a student at Houston Elementary School, said she is facing the second year in a row that her teacher left in the middle of the school year.
“Both years it was right before the PSSAs,” she said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:19pm
Lankenau High students show up in force to defend their school to the board
Messiah Stokes, a Lankenau student spoke against closing his school.
“The school’s culture is built on the idea of simply going outside and exploring,” he said.
He also noted a legal agreement that may require the district to sell Lankenau’s property to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education rather than giving it to the city to use for housing plans, as the district had planned. Closing Lankenau and moving it to Saul High School isn’t adequate, he said.
“At Lankenau we can simply walk less than a mile to the Schuylkill River and collect water samples,” he said, which allows students to learn about things like clean drinking water.
Juniper Sok Sarom, another Lankenau student, spoke out against closing the school.
“Why is a school that achieves all of the goals and guardrails that you set being recommended for closure?” she asked. “Do you prioritize land and money over our kids?”
She said the school board needs to look out for the city’s children.
By passing this plan, she told board members, “you fail the students of Philadelphia, you fail our parents, you fail the entire city. You fail all of us. Protect the children, OK? Prioritize us.”
Lankenau student Jesse Hall showed a poster of a city map to the school board. His map had dots showing that many of Lankenau’s students come from “high-risk” neighborhoods across the city. Lankenau’s neighborhood is “low-risk.”
“To our students, it is a safe space from the struggles they face at home … That’s what a magnet school is for,” he said.
Samad Groves, another Lankenau student, said “do not ignore our family members who are already a part of vulnerable populations.”
The data used to make decisions does not capture what the school community means to students, he said; “Lankenau remains unquantifiable.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:11pm
Student urges the board to open pools at district schools
Moving briefly to another topic, student Phinneas Dougherty spoke about the need to have swimming pools open at schools, which is part of the board’s strategic plan.
“This isn’t just an extracurricular activity, it’s a survival skill,” he said.
He said he wants to work as a certified lifeguard and make sure that kids learn to swim. Pools should be opened immediately, he said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:08pm
‘Lankenau cannot be erased,’ freshman tells the board
Justice Ray, a Lankenau sophomore, says its students “truly need this environment.”
Ray says she believes the district is closing Lankenau because of its valuable land.
Amari Reynolds, a Lankenau freshman, was “so excited” after he was admitted to the school. He was a quiet kid, but the school has brought him out of his shell.
“Lankenau cannot be erased,” Reynolds said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 7:02pm
‘Losing Parkway feels like losing my future’: More students address the board over schools on closure list
Alejandro Alvarado, a student at Stetson Middle School, tells the board: “We deserve more … Stetson has been neglected for decades … It isn’t fair to close our school because of maintenance issues that the district knew about years but chose to ignore.”
Melody Jenkins, a 10th grader at Parkway Northwest, said that “losing Parkway feels like losing my future.”
Parkway Northwest’s bell schedule had to be adjusted to avoid interactions with Martin Luther King students, Jenkins said. “I ask you tonight to reconsider this decision,” she said.
Khloe Polite, a Waring eighth grader, describes her school: “It is small and old,” but important. It’s a family, Polite said. “I understand we’re underpopulated, but maybe it’s what we need.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:50pm
Students speak in support of two magnet schools slated to close
Treasure Flowers, a sophomore at Parkway Northwest, says “small, specialized magnet schools are important to the people around them” and the voices of affected students must be heard.
Wyntir Alford, a Lankenau High student, said: “We have not come across a single person who agrees with the school board’s decision to close it.”
Lankenau, Alford said, deserves “stability and support. I hope that before making any final decisions, you take a look at the serious evidence and the strong resistance from the community. We are not just numbers on a page. We are young people with goals, dreams, and opinions that matter.”
Lankenau’s enrollment issues “are the district’s fault,” Alford said. “You say this isn’t about money, but the timing and patterns of these decisions makes your priorities clear.”
Even the changed recommendation — moving Lankenau to Saul instead of Roxborough — still won’t do, Alford said.
Noelle Alford, Wyntir’s mom, takes the microphone. She’s not registered to speak, and the board cuts off Alford’s mic. Alford continues to speak, and the restless audience shouts: “Let her speak! Let her speak!”
“You still have yet to answer our question — would you send your children to Saul?” Alford yells without a mic.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:47pm
‘If a roof leaks, you fix it,’ Stetson Middle School student says
Jade Colon, a student at Stetson Middle School, is speaking to the board about her school: “When we talk about closing a school like Stetson Middle, we’re not just talking about moving desks,” Colon said. The neighborhood has faced “decades of disinvestment,” and its residents are being asked to be able to sacrifice again.
“If a roof leaks, you fix it,” Colon said. “You don’t tear the family down.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:39pm
Student speakers begin to address the board, speaking in support of AMY Northwest and Parkway Northwest
We’re onto student speakers now.
Naveh Mahan, a student at AMY Northwest, asks the board to spare her school.
David Samuel, who attends Parkway Northwest, said the school is “building strong children.” Virtually all Parkway Northwest students are on track to graduation.
“Those are lives being moved forward,” Samuel said. “Closing Parkway Northwest wouldn’t be closing a school, it would be closing my home.”
Naomi Acedo Moorhead, a sixth grader at AMY Northwest, is speaking “to advocate for my school.”
It’s got great extracurriculars and a newly updated schoolyard, she said. Students feel “welcome and supported,” and strong academic achievement, including offering Algebra I. Her family toured eight schools, and AMY Northwest was her first choice. It’s worthy of investment, Moorhead said.
Lyric Jenkins, a student at Parkway Northwest, said the school is “a model of consistency” with strong student attendance. “We are on an upward trajectory,” Jenkins says.
Merging Parkway Northwest and Martin Luther King High School is a bad idea, Jenkins said. “Don’t dismantle a success story,” she said.
Dakota Turner, a student at AMY Northwest, says the school is “a good school,” and provides opportunities many other schools don’t have. It should not close.
Evan Mohr, another AMY Northwest student, said “the only problem with our school is that the building is old … Closing this school is not a logical conclusion.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:29pm
President Streater says he’s ‘very angry’ over the underfunding that brought the district to this point
Board president Streater said he’s “very angry” that the board must deal with closures.
“It infuriates me,” Streater said of underfunding and the pressures that led the district to this point.
He said it’s a “call to arms moment, irrespective of how this thing goes.”
If the district had “inadequate running water,” help would be on the way. It has “inadequate public education” because of underfunding, Streater said, and it’s on its own to figure it out. The district must shrink its footprint, Streater said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:22pm
Vice president Andrews calls the plan and forthcoming discussion ‘important and incredibly difficult’
Sarah-Ashley Andrews, the board vice president, said the plan and the discussion was “important and incredibly difficult.”
She underscored the “historic, intentional underfunding” of the district. Andrews, a Saul graduate, said the plan is “deeply personal” to her.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:19pm
‘We can’t afford to be locked in inaction,’ says board member Wilkerson
Board member Joyce Wilkerson says the district has known it’s needed to “rightsize” the system for a decade. Wilkerson is a former member of the School Reform Commission, which was the predecessor to the school board, when the district was under state control for 17 years.
“We can’t afford to be locked in inaction,” Wilkerson said.
“While there is lots that’s being proposed that we need to understand better, I appreciate the fact that this is aligned with our goals and guardrails,” Wilkerson said. She said she will comb over the plan, and appreciates the work that went into it.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:18pm
‘This affects all lives in the city, including old people like me,’ says board member Stern
“We’re not adopting this plan tonight,” board member Joan Stern said. “We’re going to take time to do our necessary due diligence.” Stern invites people to come to the March 12 facilities town hall with the board, and communicate in other ways. “This affects all lives in the city, including old people like me.”
Stern says that former Philadelphia Superintendent Constance Clayton was also her mentor. When Clayton became superintendent, “we had no market access at all,” and the district’s credit was poor. “That we can borrow a billion dollars now is an amazing feat that we had to accomplish over many, many years.” (Stern was a groundbreaking bond counsel who helped the city and the district onto more solid financial footing.)
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:12pm
Student board member Reyes asks about the closure process for schools
Semira Reyes, another student board representative, asks about the phase-out process for closing schools.
A slow phase-out can cause trauma, Watlington said. (Though some schools will be phased out; Penn Treaty, for instance, would take four years.)
Reyes also asked about swing spaces: How do we maximize their use? They’re buildings or parts of buildings that are used to relocate school communities when they need to move. It’s impossible to guarantee their usage 100% of the time, Watlington said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 6:09pm
Student board member Carter questions why vacant school buildings should be given to the city
Brianni Carter, a student board representative, asked Watlington how conveying closed school buildings to the city would benefit students.
She also questioned what supports would be in place for students in newly colocated or merged schools as a result of the plan, saying that as a student who had experienced colocation, it “can be extremely stressful and disruptive.”
Watlington said affordable workforce housing “benefits communities, moreso than this district choosing to outright sell buildings to the highest bidder.” He noted that following the district’s last round of closures in 2012-13, some buildings were vacant for more than a decade.
Workforce development and job creation are worth it, Watlington said. “We think these facilities that have always belonged to the people of this city, that they should benefit students in their respective communities.” The district’s core business is academics, and “the city just has more resources” to handle real estate and development.
He said the district wanted to be sure “we don’t contribute to the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer” — to some objections from the audience.
— Maddie Hanna, Kristen A. Graham
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:53pm
‘We need a bolder plan,’ says board member Cubbage in a call-to-action to the district
Another board member, Crystal Cubbage, is also voicing skepticism.
“I’m struggling to reconcile this massive upheaval, and the $2.8 billion price tag, with the fact the plan is not explicitly designed to produce better outcomes for all of our children,” Cubbage said.
“We need a bolder plan. This is a false choice that we have here,” Cubbage said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:46pm
Board member Novales says she’s ‘struggling to see the heart’ in this proposed facilities plan
Audience members in the packed board room cheered as board member Wanda Novales voiced criticisms of the facilities plan.
“This conversation cannot just be about buildings, it must be about students,” Novales said.
While saying she recognized the “complexity of the challenges” facing the district, Novales said, “the standard cannot simply be operational efficiency,” but student success.
Of the plan, Novales said, “I am struggling to see the heart … that sees the lived realities of our neighborhoods.” Areas like Kensington and Fairhill have long been under-resourced, Novales said, and the plan falls short in providing opportunities to students there.
To students at Stetson, a school proposed for closure, “I am sorry for the years of underinvestment,” Novales said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:37pm
Board member Jones draws applause as he asks how to ensure ‘we don’t end up in this position again’
In addition to questions about funding and how much the plan would save the district, Whitney Jones drew applause from the crowd when he asked Watlington how the district would approach catchment design going forward, “so we don’t end up in this position again.”
He also asked about the plan’s proposal to merge some magnet schools: “What does it actually mean to merge two programs that are distinctly different?”
Watlington said he was committed to growing enrollment, but if numbers continue to drop, “I assure you we’ll be back in this boat again at some point.”
The superintendent said magnet programs could be successfully located in the same building as another school, and he didn’t anticipate problems.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:29pm
Board member Harper asks: What will the district do to prevent student achievement drops as schools close?
Student achievement has dropped after school closures, board member Cheryl Harper says. She wants to know how Watlington will solve for that this time around, and asks about staff impact.
Watlington responds: The district will not cut staff in schools that absorb students, and it will begin a transition office to directly support students in schools that are closing or taking in another school.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:27pm
The board has had to make decisions based on ‘what we can afford, rather than what our students deserve,’ Streater says
At one point, the district was looking at an $8 billion bill to address all of its facilities issues, board president Streater said. The board has had to make decisions based on “what we can afford, rather than what our students deserve,” Streater said. These decisions are based on “structural funding inequities.”
Like many major cities, the district has lost enrollment. But now, it’s “calling the question,” Streater said.
“We have a misalignment,” Streater said. The district is unable to pay for the programs it needs to provide to accelerate academic achievement with the footprint it has.
Streater called for “an open heart and an open mind” as the board starts to deliberate.
But, he stressed, the board will not vote tonight.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:23pm
Where to find the school-by-school recommendations
School-by-school recommendations for the plan are now available online.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:20pm
Watlington shares changes to his initial proposal, including sparing two schools from the closing list
Watlington runs down the changes between his initial proposal: Conwell Middle School and Motivation High are off the closing list. Robeson will still close, but move into Motivation, not Sayre; and Lankenau High will still close, but merge into Saul, a magnet, not Roxborough, a neighborhood high school. Saul is an agricultural magnet, and Lankenau an environmental magnet.
Watlington is also modifying the phase-out plan from Penn Treaty from seven years to four years.
There is murmuring from the crowd, and scattered applause, as Watlington presents the revised recommendations. Some people are taking photos of the PowerPoint with their phones.
— Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:13pm
‘In an ideal world, I never believe in closing schools,’ Watlington says
“In an ideal world, I never believe in closing schools,” Watlington said, a remark met with some groans from the crowd. “I would never want my child’s school to be closed, to be frank.”
But, he said, the district is in a place where it has to think about ways to “better use our limited resources.”
“We’ve done our level best to spread opportunity across learning networks, 10 City Council districts,” he said.
“We have listened with a third ear” to the public, Watlington said. “We’ve heard lots of feedback.”
— Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:10pm
District will double access to pre-kindergarten and bring Algebra I to all eighth graders
The district will be able to double access to pre-kindergarten, and create more academic and extracurricular programs.
It will be able to offer Algebra I in eighth grade to all students, Watlington said. Currently, just half of eighth graders have access. There will also be more Advanced Placement courses.
“We have a chance to level the playing field, I believe,” Watlington said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 5:07pm
Two of the schools initially proposed to close will be spared under revised plan
Big news out of the facilities plan: Two of the 20 schools Watlington initially proposed for closure will be spared under the revised plan.
Conwell Middle School in Kensington and Motivation High in Southwest Philadelphia will not close after all, Watlington announced at a charged school board meeting Thursday.
Watlington is calling the plan “Accelerating Opportunities,” a nod to “Accelerate Philly,” his academic strategic plan.
“This is a landmark, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to reduce the number of buildings in poor condition from 85 to 0, Watlington says. He acknowledges that there will be opposition to the plan, and he respects people’s right to disagree.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:59pm
‘I see a tale of two cities’: Watlington presents facilities master plan with the board
It’s the big moment now: Watlington is presenting his facilities master plan.
He name-checks Constance E. Clayton, the legendary former Philadelphia superintendent, whom he called his “#1 mentor.”
“We’ve lost tens of thousands of children” since Clayton’s day, because of the growth of the charter school sector and a flat birth rate, Watlington said.
Watlington watched a 45-minute movie recently about Overbrook High, which in 1969 had 5,000 students. Today, Overbrook has 466 students.
Schools, 100 years ago, were built “big, bold,” sometimes with stained-glass windows, marble floors, and grand architecture.
But now, Watlington said, “I see a tale of two cities.” Kids in some places have ample access to high-quality academic programs, and in others, they do not, he said.
As Watlington continues to give his assessment of the district, there were some cheers from the crowd as the superintendent promised to “whiz through some slides quickly.”
— Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:51pm
Watlington says he will recommend cutting half days, as he shares attendance stats
Student regular attendance was 53% this past January, as compared to 51% in 2025, Watlington says.
Watlington will present a recommendation to eliminate half days, which affect student attendance negatively.
“We need to eliminate and sunset half days from our school calendars for now, and forevermore,” the superintendent said.
Teacher attendance was 76% in January, up from 74% in 2025, Watlington said.
As of this January, 1,071 students have dropped out of the district since the start of the school year, up slightly (1,069 students) from the same period last year.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:47pm
Watlington begins his report with updates on the wellness campaign the board will consider
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. is shouting out Lift Every Voice, a grassroots parent organization, for its work.
LEV’s “joy campaign” helped advance the new wellness policy the board will consider tonight. LEV campaigned hard for things like the end to silent recess, plus mandatory bathroom and water breaks.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:37pm
Student board members urge the board to pass school wellness policy
The student board members, in their report, urge the board to pass the school board wellness policy, and say they’ve attended multiple school closing community meetings.
They encourage students to continue to speak out about issues important to them.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:32pm
All board members are attending Thursday’s meeting
All school board members are present today.
ChauWing Lam is participating remotely due to illness.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:29pm
The facilities plan being shared tonight has been long in the works, Streater says
Streater is talking about the history of the facilities master plan, which he says began with the board’s hiring of Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr in 2022.
It’s expanded its speaker policy Thursday to allow extra comment on the important topic, he said. The board will hold a special town hall on the facilities master plan on March 12, Streater said.
“We understand this works brings forth a range of mixed and often strong emotions,” Streater said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:27pm
Honored teacher of the month is from a school slated to close
Jessica Peruso, an autistic support teacher at Harding Middle School in Frankford — one of the 20 schools slated for closure under the district’s facilities plan — was honored as Teacher of the Month.
Peruso has taught at Harding for 13 years.
“Her work is more than teaching — it is advocacy and community building in action,” Superintendent Tony Watlington said.
The announcement drew some loud cheers from the audience, and a shout of “Harding!”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:26pm
Board honors students of the month
Board president Reginald Streater is shouting out this month’s Seniors of the Month: Amy Van, of Lincoln High, and Aster Chau, of Academy at Palumbo.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:16pm
Board hears spoken word performances
Jaylene Clark Owens, an actress and spoken word poet, is presenting a piece about Blackness and identity now.
She also performed “A Black Girl and her Braids,” a piece that went viral and is the subject of a children’s book Owens wrote.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:05pm
Meeting attendees are greeted with sea shanties
The Sea Shanty Chorus of the Maritime Academy Charter School, who sang as people filed into the meeting, are performing again.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 4:04pm
School board kicks off a meeting expected to be lengthy
Board meeting, here we go!
There’s a packed room and a packed agenda.
Board president Reginald Streater explains that given the length of the meeting, the board will take at least one break to help members maintain focus (and switch out batteries).
There are a whopping 98 speakers tonight between students, elected officials, and other members of the public. The board has allowed extra speakers on facilities issues.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 3:45pm
The facilities plan is a ‘bad deal,’ says Councilmember Jamie Gauthier
City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier delivered a fiery speech to close the rally on behalf of all of the elected officials present. She called the proposal “a bad deal” for students, teachers, and staff across the district.
“Our kids, especially the Black and brown young people being disproportionately impacted by this plan, deserve better than a plan that’s dependent on raising an additional $2 billion informed by inconsistent data, and is missing so many crucial answers,” she said.
Gauthier said several well-performing schools, like Paul Robeson High School and Parkway West High School, are slated for closure, and implored the district to reevaluate its plan and slow down.
She also shared concern about the plan to close Motivation High School because of underutilized space, despite it sharing a building with another high school.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 3:35pm
Lankenau students fight for their school to be saved
Midway through the rally, a busload of students and staff from Lankenau High, an environmental science magnet school, arrived in front of the school district headquarters, armed with signs calling the school district’s plan to close “trash.”
“I feel safe here,” said Zhanel Osmonova, a first-year student. At her previous school, she felt less welcome and struggled to fit in. That changed at Lankenau, and she said she’s worried about having to start over again.
“In this school, I find my voice and my safety,” she said.
Jesse Hall, a junior, said the district ought to understand that the characteristics that make Lankenau special won’t necessarily transfer if students have to move to Roxborough High School. Though he will have graduated by the time Lankenau would close, he feels close to and worried about his teachers and underclassmen friends. Hall will deliver a speech to the school board later today imploring them to keep Lankenau open.
“I hope they realize what they’re going to do to the students,” he said.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 3:25pm
Momentum builds as more students arrive for the rally
Speakers are about to begin.
A busload of Lankenau High students arrived, too, bringing the rally to around 100 people so far.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 3:10pm
Stetson Middle School students get the energy rising as rally begins
Ahead of the official start of the rally, students from John B. Stetson Middle School are raising the energy with whistles, noise-makers, and the kind of cheering you’d expect at a college basketball game, except these chants are: “Save our school!”
Some passing cars honked their support.
David Orellana, pastor of CityReach Church in Kensington, said that he and others in the Stetson community have not received adequate answers from the school district about why Stetson is recommended for closure.
“We believe that the school is a staple in the community. It’s a heartbeat in the community,” he said.
“It’s going to leave a big void.”
// Timestamp 02/26/26 3:02pm
Watlington to present facilities plan to school board
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington St. is set to present his $2.8 billion facilities plan to school board members at Thursday’s meeting.
The board will not vote Thursday on the plan, which remains just a proposal until members act on it. The board has not yet set a date for that vote but it is expected in the coming weeks.
Watlington has proposed closing 20 schools, colocating six, and modernizing 159 school buildings, though it is possible that his presentation Thursday could include revisions to that plan unveiled last month.
The plan has already faced strong opposition from students, parents, and staff who are pushing to save their schools from closure.
// Timestamp 02/26/26 3:00pm
Opponents of school closures gather for rally outside district headquarters
Before a scheduled 4 p.m. Philadelphia school board meeting, a large turnout is expected at a rally on the steps of the school district’s North Broad Street headquarters.
Union members, students, parents, teachers, and community members plan to rally against the proposed closure of 20 Philadelphia public schools. At the board meeting, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. is expected to present a $2.8 billion facilities plan to the board. The proposal, unveiled last month, includes closing 20 schools, colocating six and modernizing 159 school buildings.
The demonstration is being organized by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and other labor unions.
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