Numerous changes are afoot in the Philadelphia School District, with Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. promoting some staffers and shifting others around amid multiple departures from the system.
The changes took effect July 1.
Watlington, in an announcement sent to staff detailing the changes, said he was “confident this team will help us build on our momentum as we continue improving outcomes for students, strengthening support for our schools, and advancing our goal of becoming the fastest-improving large urban school district in the country.”
The personnel shifts include:
Brenda Elliott, who became interim deputy superintendent of academic services when Jermaine Dawson left Philadelphia to become Baltimore’s superintendent, got that job permanently.
Elliott came to Philadelphia a year ago as associate superintendent of student life and innovation. She’s a former Tennessee state superintendent for school turnaround who has worked in a number of urban districts, including with Watlington in North Carolina.
She also spent time as a teacher, principal, and officer in the U.S. Army.
Tomás Hanna, who was associate superintendent for secondary schools, is now associate superintendent for student life and school operations.
Noah Tennant, assistant superintendent for Learning Network 13, is keeping that job, but is also now interim associate superintendent for secondary schools while a search for a permanent administrator is completed.
Michael Farrell is now chief academic officer. He had been chief learning officer. The new title combines two jobs: chief of curriculum and instruction and chief learning officer.
Nathalie Nérée became chief of special education, diverse learners, and wellness. She had previously been chief of special education and diverse learners.
Nyshawana Francis-Thompson, who was chief of curriculum and instruction, became senior adviser for strategic initiatives and innovation.
Jamina Clay, who had been an assistant superintendent supervising a learning network, is now assistant superintendent of school management and organization.
Kelly Espinosa, who has served as the principal of Fanny Jackson Coppin Elementary, is now interim assistant superintendent for Learning Network 4, replacing Clay. Janis Butler, a retired principal who often fills in as an interim principal in the district, will run Coppin.
Two more retired educators are now serving as interim assistant superintendents — Wilfredo Ortiz for Learning Network 8 and Lucy Feria for Learning Network 9. Ortiz replaces RenatoLajara, who’s now superintendent in Bethlehem; Feria replaces Ariel Lajara, who left Philadelphia to run the Vineland school system in South Jersey.
When a deal was struck to save 340 classroom-based jobs in the Philadelphia School District, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. declared it “Christmas in June.”
It’s July now, but manystaffers still don’t have clarity on exactly who’s allowed to come back to positions that were almost cut and how that affects vacancies system-wide.
“It’s a mess, and it’s getting messier,” said Alison Andrawos, a teacher at Potter-Thomas Elementary in North Philadelphia who accepted a job in another district after learning this spring that her position would be cut and still doesn’t know whether it will be restored.
Monique Braxton, the school district spokesperson, said the system is “moving forward with restoring the approximately 340 school-based positions approved in the revised budget,” but that staffing the positions is separate from restoring them.
“We have been meeting with our union partners on implementation and are now working with principals on school staffing,” Braxton said in a statement. “All approved positions will be restored in the district’s budget system by Wednesday, July 9.”
The complex process is causing additional uncertainty for teachers and staff members andprolonging an already tumultuous hiring season as the district deals with fallout from 17 forthcoming school closings and the back-and-forth over millions in cuts stemming from a $300million district budget deficit.
Watlington this spring directed school principals to build their 2026-27 budgets factoring in the cuts, including about $50 million in school-based trims and the elimination of 340 classroom jobs. Parker then proposed a $1-per-trip rideshare tax she said would cancel the classroom cuts, but City Council balked, and for a time, the position losses appeared inevitable.
But restoring the positions was always going to be complicated.
Schools’ hiring timeline means that many of the teachers, counselors, and climate staff who were told they were going to be force-transferred because of the cuts sought and found new jobs over the past few months, either inside the district or elsewhere. Now, those workers eithermust rescind their acceptance of those new jobs or say “no thanks” to returning. Either way, that creates new vacancies in July, months after most schools have filled jobs and when many people are on vacation.
“We haven’t heard whether our positions are going to be reinstated, we don’t know what positions are available, and we don’t know what we’re doing in a few short weeks,”said Andrawos, an English as a second language specialist who began teaching in Philadelphia schools in 1997.
‘I’m pretty sure I’m going to be leaving’
Andrawos saidshedidn’t want to leave the city, but amid the worry of the past few months, she felt she had to explore jobs outside the district. Andrawos has been offered a position at a Delaware County school that comes with a raise and a shorter commute.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to be leaving the School District of Philadelphia because of this,” Andrawos said.
Shesaid the decision is tough — she’s forged real bonds with her students’ families, and has been fielding messages saying they hope she stays at Potter-Thomas.
It’s not clear whether Andrawos’ position at Potter-Thomas, in North Philadelphia, will be restored because of the complicated way budgets are built, and the latitude principals have to shift positions based on school need and their own judgment calls.
Jobs are filled in city schools two ways — first, by a process called site selection, where principals hire any candidate they choose for open positions. Once the site selection window closes, district staff without positions choose from among open jobs in seniority order. Site selection closed weeks ago; force transfers without jobs have had their hiring sessions pushed back multiple times so far, and are still waiting.
Jane Roh, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said the union notified members June 19 that all positions cut due to the deficit would be restored; the PFT was told that district notifications to affected employees would immediately follow. So far, that has not happened.
That leaves staff sweating andfrustrated by a lack of answers, some said.
A roller coaster
One K-8 teacher, who asked that his name be withheld because he feared repercussions, was on the force transfer list because of budget cuts. With no notice that’s being walked back, he’s left with the possibility of having to get emergency certified to teach in another subject area, which would mean taking more courses.
The uncertainty is tough, and the answer to every question posed to the district and the union so far has been, we don’t know yet.
“For this whole summer, where teachers are supposed to have the space to reflect and rest and plan, we can’t do that to any degree,” the K-8 teacher said.
A teacher at a district high school, who also asked to remain anonymous because her employment situation is not settled, is in a similar boat. When her position was cut because of the deficit, she site selected into a job at another district high school.
The process has been frustrating, she said. She once got an email saying her transfer was canceled, but that turned out to be incorrect, though she never got official notice from the district about its error and had to make calls herself to figure it out.
When Parker and Watlington made their good-news announcement, she had no idea what to make of it. She still doesn’t, the teacher said.
“I’m on this roller coaster; I literally don’t know which school I’m going to work at in the fall,” said the high school teacher, who would be teaching different classes, depending on where she lands. “I want to prepare for the upcoming school year, and that’s impossible if you don’t know what you’re teaching.”
The school had been overstaffed four years ago as it navigated a complicated, unprecedented transition from a charter school back to a district school. It has soared, adding programs and opportunities and building a strong school culture; the community fears weathering steep staff cuts would jeopardize its progress.
Sarah Apt, a longtime Olney teacher active in the pushback against cuts, said Wednesday that the school was told it’s getting back three of its 17 staffers.
“We’re happy about that, but still fighting for more,” said Apt.
Among those still in limbo is Eric Baker, an Olney English teacher who’s been struggling with the back and forth, and the possible implications for the school he’s come to love — the school recruited students for a college prep track that’s potentially losing most of its teachers, including Baker.
“Because of this uncertainty, I’ve had to interview other places. I don’t know where I’m going to go. I would rather have the certainty of knowing where I’m going to work than having to deal with this,” said Baker. “It’s been frustrating.”
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has promised “white-glove treatment” for families and schools affected by a facilities master plan that will close 17 schools and modernize 169 over the next decade. And he appointed a Philadelphia School District veteran to lead the charge.
Shakeera Warthen-Canty, formerly assistant superintendent of school operations and management, was recently named head of the new School Transition Office, tasked with implementing the $3 billion plan remaking schools across the city.
Warthen-Canty and four other employees will work in the new office, which will also pull in as-needed help from departments across the district — school safety, transportation, student placement, facilities, and more.
“We know that this is going to be a big task, but it’s going to be met,” said Warthen-Canty, who’s spent decades in the district as a teacher and principal. “We know there have been some challenges, but we want to make sure our communities and families know that we have a place where you can get answers.”
Warthen-Canty officially assumed the new role Wednesday ahead of the 2026-27 school year, which Watlington has designated as a planning year for schools affected by closures and other major shifts.
Experts in their communities
Initially, the office will focus on schools closing, merging, and undergoing major renovationsin the 2027-28 school year; other projects are slated to happen in subsequent years.
Watlington announced the office’s formal launch at Patterson Elementary in Southwest Philadelphia, a school set to undergo a $45 million renovation as it grows from a K-4 to a K-8. It will take in some students from nearby Tilden Middle School, which is slated to close.
The transition office will be key as the complex work moves along, said Warthen-Canty. Patterson is slated to get 13 additional classrooms, a new gym or cafeteria, and an elevator.
“Some of the pieces of what that looks like, what elements need to be there, we need the Patterson team to work alongside of us,” she said.
Folks on the ground “know their communities, they’re experts in their communities. And that’s a part of the planning,” she said.
System-wide, how many projects can be completed and in what time frame is not assured.
The district will allocate $1 billion of its capital budget over the next 10 years to complete some of the projects, but it’s also banking on $2 billion from philanthropic and state sources — money that’s not guaranteed.
And while Warthen-Canty believes the facilities plan will ultimately expand opportunity and better position the district to advance students’ academics, she knows some of its transitions — particularly the closures — will be tough.
“My heart goes out” to affected families and schools, Warthen-Canty said. “Even people that are being co-located or merging, those are major changes.”
Part of the work, Warthen-Canty said, is going to be convincing families in schools where those major changes are happening that should they shouldremain in the district.
In the case of the school system forcing families to leave their schools and go elsewhere, “we want to make sure that there’s extracurriculars in these schools they’re going to. We’re increasing the art and music,” Warthen-Canty said. “What are the resources we can put in place so that we’re ensuring that when the students get there that they’re going to have that well-rounded education, increased opportunities?”
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania enters the new fiscal year on Wednesday without a state budget in place for a fifth consecutive year, while top leaders in the politically split legislature publicly disagreed over whether a deal was near.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-led House have known for months that Pennsylvania faces fiscal straits, as the state is on a path to spend more than it brings in in revenue in fiscal 2027. Top negotiators have spent weeks meeting behind closed doors about how the state should spend more than $50 billion in taxpayer dollars, in hopes of avoiding another drawn-out budget impasse.
Under first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed $53.2 billion budget, Pennsylvania would spend $4.8 billion more than its $48.6 billion in projected revenue and would require lawmakers to create new revenue streams, cut spending, or raise taxes — or dip into the state’s reserves.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday recessed until legislators have a final budget deal to vote on, with Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) saying that there is “no reason we cannot conclude our work early next week” and that lawmakers “have a very good trajectory in front of us.”
Pittman — a top negotiator in the closed-door talks — made those remarks just one day after a Senate committee voted to gut the main spending bill in Shapiro’s budget proposal, which was approved by the House in April, from $53.1 billion to $25 million.
State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) during a press conference at the Capitol in Harrisburg in February.
In a news conference Tuesday, House and Senate Democratic leaders offered a different picture: Despitelawmakers traditionally staying in Harrisburg in the days leading up to July Fourth in hopes of hashing out a deal, Senate Republicans are already packing up for the holiday weekend, the Democrats said, and are politically motivated to hold up the state budget. (House Democrats later canceled their scheduled legislative session on Thursday.)
“[Senate Republicans are] going to tell you that progress is being made, and that it’s important that we allow time for members to go home for the weekend. And by the way, it’s Tuesday,” said Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D., Allegheny).
“The bottom line is they’re not serious about getting a budget done, they’re slow-walking this process for weeks and weeks, and we’re calling them on it,” Costa said.
Shapiro echoed the same frustration with Senate Republicans in an interview Tuesday, adding that the Senate “decided to go home on vacation” when lawmakers are due to deliver a budget bill to him for his signature.
“I think it’s disrespectful to the people of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said, noting that Pennsylvania has a revenue surplus. “They should be here, and they should be working. And instead, they ran away.”
Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton (left) and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis are seated behind Gov. Josh Shapiro as he delivers his third budget address to a joint session of the state House and Senate at the state Capitol on Feb. 4.
Senate GOP leaders, in a statement following their recess Tuesday, said they believe they are “well on our way to effectuating a full budget agreement in the days.”
House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) told reporters that legislative leaders have been constantly in contact “over the past month” no matter if members are in the building.
“At the end of the day, the talks continue,” Topper said. “This kind of stunt feels a lot like politics.”
Top legislative leaders have been tight-lipped about what the remaining sticking points are in budget talks.
Pennsylvania is constitutionally required to deliver a balanced budget by the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, releasing state funds which are then sent to school districts, county governments, and nonprofit organizations that offer critical services to residents.
The true impact of the missed deadline won’t be felt by local governments and schools for weeks. However, these entities are often required by law to submit their own budgetsdespite inaction by the state, often leaving them unable to predict how much state money to budget. State employees and lawmakers continue to receive pay during a state budget impasse.
Last year, a nearly five-month budget impasse required schools, counties, and service providers to cut jobs, take out high-interest loans, or stop services altogether. The School District of Philadelphia, the state’s largest school district, borrowed $1.5 billion to pay its bills, resulting in $30 million in interest and borrowing costs that weren’t repaid when the state approved its annual spending plan.
Lawmakers were at a bitter standstill about whether to allocate a new, reliable funding stream for public transit, reviving the state’s long-held rural-urban divide. Members also couldn’t agree on how much to spend, until ultimately reaching a $50.1 billion budget deal in November 2025.
This year, both chambers have slim margins for budget votes: House Democrats hold a one-seat majority, while Senate Republicans have a three-seat majority with several conservative members who rarely support spending increases. This often means legislative leaders must work with the minority parties to come to a final deal.
On Monday, Senate Republicans leaders did not show up to a scheduled meeting with Shapiro and Democratic leaders, Costa said, signaling potential discord.
Legislators still need to reach agreements on a number of issues, including whether to tax and regulate so-called skill games differently from slot machines and whether the state should overhaul existing school choice programs.
Democrats have wholly backed Shapiro’s budget proposal, which included legalizing recreational marijuana and raising the state minimum wage. Republicans have emphasized a need to slow down spending, citing the state’s structural deficit.
The leaders will also trade a number of legislative priorities in closed-door meetings unrelated to state spending as part of an overall deal, such as data center oversight proposals.
In Pennsylvania, the state budget topped $50 billion for the first time last year. It had increased by 25% — about $10 billion — over a five-year period.
In past years, the city’s budget process has followed a certain pattern for Mural Arts Philadelphia and other groups.
The mayor’s proposed budget lists city funding at one level; City Council and others advocate for modifications at a higher level; and the budget goes back to the mayor and is finalized with the higher allocation in place.
This year was different.
Philadelphia’s nationally acclaimed program that puts colorful murals in neighborhoods and provides jobs was hoping for a boost in city funding.
Instead, the budget ultimately agreed to by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration and City Council cut funding to Mural Arts — from $5.1 million in fiscal year 2026 to $3.7 million in 2027.
Likewise the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. The group — which awards hundreds of grants to arts groups throughout the neighborhoods — was looking for increased funding in the city’s newly approved $7.1 billion budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
But the arts nonprofit, established by the city recently, learned that it will get substantially less — $3.5 million instead of the $5 million it received from the city for the fiscal year now ending.
As a result, both groups say they will have to make deep cuts to programs.
Philadelphia’s arts and culture sector had greeted the start of Parker’s term 2½ years ago with optimism for increased funding. Today, it is “alarmed” by the cuts to Mural Arts and the Cultural Fund, said Patricia Wilson Aden, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.
“We always say that your budget tells a story, and I have to say that the cultural community is disappointed and frustrated with the story being told by this FY27 budget,” she said. “Cutting the budget of signature programs like Mural Arts by 26% or decreasing funding to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, that’s going to have ramifications throughout the city.”
Parker was not available for comment, a spokesperson said.
Valerie V. Gay (left) chief cultural officer with the City’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, and finance director Rob Dubow (right) testify at a Philadelphia City Council hearing, Aug. 8, 2024 on the collapse of the University of the Arts.
Valerie V. Gay, the city’s chief cultural officer, said it was the city’s view that funding for the two groups had remained flat from 2026 to 2027, since the base allocation stayed the same and it was only the added amount that did not come through — though she allowed that “absolutely I can see how it can be perceived.”
A ripple effect
The resulting cuts at both groups promise to be substantial. The Cultural Fund will be forced to reduce the number of grants it had been expecting to distribute in the coming year, from 332 to 232. It has changed its eligibility requirements, which will eliminate grants to a pool of midsize organizations currently eligible.
“It’s going to be a ripple effect. People are going to feel it and communities are going to feel it,” said Philadelphia Cultural Fund executive director Gabriela Sanchez.
“An investment in the Philadelphia Cultural Fund is more than a budget line item,” Sanchez wrote in a statement distributed by the group. “Funding to PCF represents how the city values neighborhood theaters, cultural centers, museums, arts education programs, festivals, dance companies, community storytelling initiatives, music programs, and cultural traditions that bring Philadelphians together. These spaces are where young people discover their creativity, where seniors find connection, where communities celebrate their heritage, and where residents gather across lines of difference.”
Jane Golden (center right) speaks with press at the Wawa Welcome America media preview for the Philly Fair 250, outside the Please Touch Museum in West Philadelphia, June 18, 2026. Mural Arts held a ceremonial unveiling of a 10-story-high mural replica, originally titled ‘CityKids Speak On Liberty,’ and created by Keith Haring.
Mural Arts director Jane Golden declined to comment, but an initial assessment from the group obtained by The Inquirer says that “hundreds of residents in at least 15 Philadelphia communities will lose the opportunity to develop public art projects,” and that opportunities for paid work, job training, and mentorship through the Mural Arts Restorative Justice program will be reduced by 25%.
Mural Arts will also have to cut by 75% its program of restoring and preserving the city’s murals, “putting at risk community landmarks that took years and significant public investment to create,” the impact statement reads.
Of the program reductions at both groups, Gay said: “I am always sad that any cuts are made or that any organizations are unable to do the work they thought they were going to be able to do. That’s always a sad time for us, and I’m looking forward to when we are a fully funded sector.”
A city spokesperson was unable to provide a full list of groups that in past years had received higher allocations after advocacy from City Council and others, but this year did not.
What’s behind the cuts
Aden says arts and culture has seen some significant recent “wins” from city government. Among them is the advancement of a referendum that, if approved by the mayor and then by voters this fall, would enshrine the city’s office of arts and culture, called Creative Philadelphia, in the City Charter.
The city has approved $500,000 a year to develop and implement a cultural plan for Philadelphia that would document financial needs and could identify potential pathways to establishing funding.
The ‘Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design’ exhibition at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Nov. 1, 2025.
Sometimes the city’s support is for regular operations, and other times it is for specific capital projects. In an unusually large commitment, the city has pledged $50 million to the African American Museum in Philadelphia for its relocation to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The city is providing nearly $32.5 million to arts and culture in FY27, according to a list provided by Parker’s office. While that total includes small items that might seem mundane — paying utility bills at various facilities, for instance — it also shows multimillion-dollar allocations to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Dell Music Center, and Philadelphia Zoo.
But the arts and culture sector often finds itself fighting for adequate funding in the annual budget process. Arts leaders and others say it has been standard practice in recent memory that funding is listed at one level in the mayor’s proposed budget and after City Council testimony in budget hearings ends up being higher.
This year, the mayor “could have funded [the arts] at a higher amount,” as she did last year, but did not do so, Councilmember Rue Landau said.
The cuts came after a budget that passed without a series of tax increases proposed by Parker, including a $1 tax on rideshare services, after failing to win support from City Council. After Council signaled it would reject Parker’s tax proposals, the administration would not agree to any last-minute line items for new funding requests from lawmakers.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, a consistent arts supporter who, like Landau, is an ex-officio Mural Arts board member, said that with the lack of new tax revenue and the city’s extra allocation of $48 million to cover the Philadelphia School District’s budget shortfall, the funding pie for other allocations got smaller.
“This budget year, a lot of attention and advocacy went toward schools,” Thomas said. The funding cuts to Mural Arts and the Cultural Fund were “extremely unfortunate,” he said, “and I wish we could have done something different.”
The need for ‘predictable, stable, reliable’ funding for the arts
While the city’s budget is now final, there is another potential window of opportunity for funding through a midyear budget transfer process in which the city might see expenditures in certain areas coming in lower than expected, and then transfer money from those categories to other areas.
Asked whether funds might be restored through a budget transfer to Mural Arts or the Cultural Fund, Gay said:
“I think anything is on the table, but I also think nothing is guaranteed.”
Patricia Wilson Aden, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, at S. Broad Street and Walnut along the Avenue of the Arts, Feb. 15, 2023.
Any restoration of funds would happen after arts groups have already put cuts in place, and this kind of unpredictability “makes planning by these organizations very, very difficult,” Aden said.
“The practice of underfunding the arts and having Council and other entities have to go on an advocacy campaign to increase funding is illogical,” Landau said. “It is clear as day that we should be supporting the arts with additional funding every single year, so we don’t have to go through this and it won’t ever be a question mark for them.”
What is really needed, Aden said, is a dedicated arts fund in Philadelphia and the region.
“We’ve seen other regions benefit from this predictable, stable, reliable funding. And instead, here in Philadelphia, each year we have this conversation about increases and decreases and their impact. We are sometimes left to the will and whim of elected officials, and we would like to take the creative economy out of the political realm and put it solidly within our larger civic interest, so that it is stable and has the investment that is required to reach its full potential.”
Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.
James R. Ludlow Elementary School in North Philadelphia educates a substantial population of special-education students.
And the learning environment for those studentswould be upturned bythe schooldistrict’s recommendation to close Ludlow after next school year, teachers say.
“For our children in special education, that consistency isn’t a luxury, but a requirement for them to learn. If we relocate our students, we aren’t just changing their school address; we’re breaking their routines and undoing their progress,” Vanessa Martin, an autistic support teacher in kindergarten through second grade at Ludlow, said at a community meeting last month with school district officials.
“This building isn’t just a facility. It’s the one predictable place where our students feel safe and supported every single day,” she said.
The district says Ludlow was slated for closure because of an “unsatisfactory” building quality score, a lack of appropriate space for programming, and only utilizing 47% of its capacity. Ludlow has 237 students enrolled across general and special education, of whom 75% are Black and 20% are Hispanic.
The K-8 schoolwill celebrate its 100th anniversary in what could be its final school year of operation. The district, which has proposed closing 18 schools, plans to convey the building at 550 Master St. to the city so it could be converted into affordable housing or used for job creation. Ludlow students would be reassigned to one of three schools: Paul L. Dunbar School, Spring Garden School, and Gen. Philip Kearny School.
‘Severing a lifeline’
The Ludlow community is strong and connected, and about a hundred people packed the school’s cafeteria for the community meeting on a recentThursday evening to show their support for the school and fight against the district’s plan.
District officials present their plan for closing Ludlow at the February community meeting.
“I felt very angry. I felt upset. I felt like they were taking something away that was a part of me,” said Deilyhanix Vazquez, a Ludlow eighth-grade student who has attended the school since kindergarten. She said her teachers “feel like home,” and she had been planning to continue visiting the school even after she graduates.
“I’m worried that the students will have to travel far just to get an education. Something they have to do on the daily starts to feel like a burden,” said Savannah Lindsay, another Ludlow eighth grader.
Another young studentbroke down into tears as she spoke into the microphone, sayingshe had planned to attend Ludlow for “my whole life.”
If the plan goes forward, she said, she may have to split up from her friends as they get assigned to one of three different schools.
“I don’t want to leave them,” she said, as others inthe room clapped and cheered her on.
Should Ludlow close, the neighborhood and the wider school district would lose a valuable special-education resource andhub. Its offerings include autistic and other learning support for all grades, and emotional support for grades three through eight.
Ludlow often receives student referrals from other schools and catchments across the district, staff members said,including from the schools that would take in Ludlow students in the closure plan. It can feel like the district dumps its most difficult students on Ludlow, Martin said, but those children are accepted and become like family.
District officials have said that in addition to closing buildings that are not operating at full capacity, another goal is focusing on K-8 schools over middle schools to reduce transitions. That goal especially doesn’t square with the plan to close Ludlow, critics said.
“Ludlow is an exceptional school that works. By moving forward with this proposal, the district would be doing more than just closing Ludlow’s doors — it would be severing a lifeline and dismantling a support system that children and families depend on for their stability,” Martin said.
Affordable for whom?
Community members questioned the plan to turn Ludlow into affordable housing. They doubted whether those units would actually be affordable for the people living in the neighborhood, where the annual median household income is about $58,000.
The area sits next to Fishtown and Olde Kensington, where gentrification has made living more expensive for longtime residents.
Various signs protesting the closure of James R. Ludlow School, available at a community meeting with district officials in February.
Ludlow community memberssaid they did not want or need more housing. They wished the district would instead invest in the building for learning purposes, and said the district had let it fall into its poor condition.
“It’s money before our kids,” said Valerie Johnson, known better as Valerie Brown, a beloved former Ludlow staff member who worked at the school for more than30 years.
While housing may bring new residents and investment to the neighborhood, the loss of Ludlow could drive some to leave, one mother said.
“I stay in this neighborhood because of Ludlow,” said Darlene Abner, a mother of six whose children have attended the school, including a kindergartner enrolled this school year.
Abner herself was born in the neighborhood, and she said shedoes not want her children to attend any school but Ludlow.
She wears a nearly full face-covering niqab, and credited the school and its teachersfor never letting that be a barrier to building a relationship with herand caring for her children.
City Council on Thursday formally honored a Philadelphia-born Palestinian American who was killed last month by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
In a unanimous voice vote, Philadelphia lawmakers passed a resolution to celebrate the life of 19-year-old Nasrallah Abu Siyam, who was fatally shot during a violent clash in a village on Feb. 18, the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Members of Abu Siyam’s family appeared in Council chambers Thursday alongside representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who called for an independent U.S.-led investigation into the killing.
“You don’t know what it means to live under occupation. You don’t know what these settlers are doing,” said Abdelhamid Siyam, Nasrallah Abu Siyam’s uncle. “When justice is attacked, silence is treason. … We should stand together and pressure all those elected officials to stand with justice.”
City Councilmember Rue Landau, a Democrat who authored the honorary resolution in partnership with Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, said Thursday that other members of Abu Siyam’s family are trapped in the Middle East after flying there after his death.
They are unable to travel home, she said, due to the ongoing war in Iran and restrictions on airspace.
Landau also called on the U.S. State Department and the Department of Justice to “conduct a full investigation and pursue justice for Nasrallah.”
“We demand accountability so that no other family here or abroad has to stand where this family stands now,” she said during a later event alongside Abu Siyam’s family.
Thirty U.S. senators signed a letter to President Donald Trump’s administration Thursday calling for an independent investigation into Abu Siyam’s killing. Pennsylvania’s two senators, Republican Dave McCormick and Democrat John Fetterman, did not sign it.
Here’s what else happened in Council on Thursday.
What was the highlight?
Prioritizing transit-oriented development: Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration is pushing Council to approve a package of legislation that makes it easier to build apartment buildings near SEPTA stations, measures that proponents see as a way to boost ridership and increase the city’s housing stock.
Parker transmitted a package of zoning bills to Council on Thursday, but no member formally introduced it. Members said they saw the legislation for the first time on Wednesday and want more time to review it before introduction.
Mayor Cherelle Parker (center) rides the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line to an event in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pa. on Thursday, April 11, 2024.
The bills are aimed at advancing Parker’s goal to build, preserve, and repair 30,000 housing units.
Most crucially, one bill expands an existing law that says properties within 500 feet of a Council-designated SEPTA station can receive benefits allowing developers to build more homes. Parker’s legislation increases the radius to 1,320 feet, or a quarter of a mile.
What else happened?
Smoke-filled doom: Lawmakers continued their crusade against smoke shops and so-called nuisance businesses Thursday, with Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson bringing legislation to hold commercial landlords accountable for renting to illegal smoke shops.
This file photo shows a city smoke shop exterior on the 1000 block of Chestnut Street in July. City Council has advanced several pieces of legislation aimed at curbing smoke shops.
Gilmore Richardson introduced a second bill to establish a new license requirement for stores selling products like hemp-based THC and kratom. The ordinance would define the products as “intoxicating substances” and establish a 21-plus age minimum.
What’s next?
Block off your calendar: Next week will be a busy one. Parker is scheduled to deliver her annual budget address to Council on Thursday, when she will outline her vision for the coming year.
The speech will kick off weeks of hearings before Council, when members will have the opportunity to question administration officials from every major department, as well as the leaders of other agencies that receive city dollars, including the city courts, the district attorney, and the Philadelphia School District.
Quote of the week
Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson questioning Dr. Tony Watlington, Superintendent of School District of Philadelphia, during a hearing with board members of School District of Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
A little school district shade: That was Council President Kenyatta Johnson chiming in on an effort to rename a North Philadelphia street after the late Constance E. Clayton, Philadelphia’s first Black and female schools superintendent.
From sports like soccer, football, and cheerleading to Model United Nations and unified programs for students with and without special needs, Harding Middle School’s offerings reflect its diverse enrollment.
Of the Frankford school’s 570 students, more than 150 — nearly 27% — receive special-education services. About one quarter of students are English learners — with languages ranging from Spanish and Portuguese to Pashto and Ewe.
Teachers say the school will not be able to offer the same depth of programming if the Philadelphia School District moves forward with a plan to close Harding, which serves grades six through eight. The district is proposing to move Sullivan Elementary School into the Harding building, and expand that school into a K-8 as part of a sweeping facilities plan.
“We offer something for everybody,” said Beth Ann Dufner, a Harding teacher who coordinates the school’s English learner programs and has worked at Harding for six years.
Because transitioning the building from a 6-8 school to a K-8 would mean fewer students per grade, Dufner said, she does not think the school’s programs for middle school kids could be replicated in the district’s plan — “not on a large scale like we have at Harding.” Teachers say students would have to travel to other schools to compete on some sports teams.
Harding, which has capacity for 1,110 students, is one of five middle schools recommended for closure under the plan. In total, the district proposes to close 18 schools, pitching the plan as a better use of limited resources.
Arianna DeJesus (front, center), 8th Grader and captain of the Harding Hawks cheerleading squad, during a rally in support of the middle school in the Frankford neighborhood last month.
“I’ve never heard any parents we’ve had enrolled say, ‘We hate middle schools,’” said Jessica Peruso, an autistic support teacher at Harding. “That was a theme — but where did that come from?”
A hub for special-education students
Teachers also dispute the rationale for closing Harding specifically — questioning how the district scored Harding as “poor” for program alignment on a rubric for determining which schools to close.
At one session, teachers were told the school did not have enough closet space, according to Dufner.
“The things they said they based their score on — we have all of those things,” Dufner said, noting that Harding has two gyms, media and technology labs, and dedicated spaces for English learners and special-needs students.
Like other teachers, Dufner faulted the district for Harding’s underenrollment, saying its decision to allow charter schools had drawn students away.
But she also questioned whether Harding — which the district rated as only half utilized — was being penalized for its large population of students receiving special-education services. Autistic support classrooms, for instance, are required to have no more than eight students, far smaller than a standard class size.
That “creates the appearance of underutilized space,” but it’s not, Dufner said.
A district spokesperson said building utilization scores are not adjusted to account for smaller class sizes for special-needs students.
The spokesperson, Monique Braxton, said numerous factors resulted in Harding scoring poorly on program alignment, from gym facilities in disrepair to lack of appropriate spaces for music and art classes.
Harding serves as a hub for special-education students from a range of neighborhoods beyond the Harding catchment, teachers said. They described the school’s culture as particularly inclusive of kids with special needs.
“That makes me the most nervous for closing,” said Peruso, who has taught at Harding since 2014 and was recently named the district’s Teacher of the Month. “I’m concerned about my kids. I’ve been teaching autistic support here forever. I don’t want them to get lost.”
Under the district’s plan, Harding would have a phased closure, starting in the 2027-28 school year. Students previously assigned to Harding would instead attend Sullivan, John Marshall, Lawton, or Carnell schools. Meanwhile, the Harding building — rated by the district as in “unsatisfactory” condition — would receive upgrades before the expanded Sullivan school moves in.
“You’re going to come here and fix the building for Sullivan students? Why aren’t the Harding students worth that investment?” Peruso said.
Harding Middle School Principal Mary Sanchez stands at the front door as students, staff, community members, and elected officials rally to support the school last month in the Frankford neighborhood. It’s one of 18 the district has proposed closing.
A ‘tight knit’ community
While current students would not be affected by the closure, some have expressed dismay that they would not be able to return to the school and visit their teachers, said Amanda Chandler, who teaches English language arts at Harding.
Chandler, who has taught at Harding for seven years, called it “very tight knit.” Every year, she said, former students have come back to see her or her colleagues.
Compared with past teaching jobs, “I have never had kids more loyal to me, my well-being … than I have at Harding Middle School,” Chandler said.
In letters shared by Peruso, several students said they wanted Harding to stay open because of its welcoming environment. “Everyone is united like a big family,” one sixth grader wrote. Another sixth grader said that teachers “let me know that I am safe and that everything will be okay.”
Amarika Thomas, a paraprofessional at Harding who has lived in the community for 20 years, had been working in the school’s cafeteria when principal Mary Sanchez noticed her strong connections with students.
Sanchez “pushed me to come out of the cafeteria,” said Thomas, who hopes to become a special-education teacher.
While Thomas’ daughter attends a K-12 charter, she had hoped to possibly send her daughter to Harding for middle school, citing its array of activities.
The district should invest in Harding, Thomas said: “Harding literally just needs a fighting chance.”
Both schools would still close under the plan, which is now in the school board’s hands. Instead of merging into large neighborhood high schools, however, the small, selective-admission schools would be absorbed by magnets.
Watlington said the tweaks would still allow the district to bring more high-quality academic and extracurricular opportunities into neighborhood schools while acknowledging the need to manage limited resources.
Butstudents, staff, parents — and some powerful allies at both schools — say Watlington’s counter-proposalisn’t enough. Both communities are still fighting.
Under the revised plan, Lankenau would merge with Saul, not Roxborough, and Robeson would merge into Motivation, not Sayre.
State Rep. Morgan Cephas (D., Phila.) recently visited the Philadelphia Flower Show, where she and other officials marveled at Lankenau students’ exhibit, which examines abundance, roots, and connections through culturally important plants. The display won a gold medal and the prestigious Alfred M. Campbell Memorial Trophy.
The dichotomy struck Cephas, she said. Lankenau students “are at the Flower Show, and [the district] is trying to close the school?”
On Wednesday, students, parents, lawmakers, and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers officials gathered at Lankenau to drum up support for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal. But really, it was another save-our-school rally.
A ‘prime example of a successful school’
Lankenau “is a prime example of a successful school,” said Messiah Stokes, an 11th grader at the Upper Roxborough school. The school has a 100% graduation rate, and is Pennsylvania’s only three-year agriculture, food, and natural resources career and technical education program.
The school itself sits on 17 acres,which district officials have proposed giving to the city — though a 1970s legal agreement could foil that plan. Lankenau is also adjacent to 400 more wooded acres via the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. The environmental center shares its land and its opportunities with students, who hold bird-watching clubs on breaks and hold classes outside when weather permits, and have abundant internship opportunities.
“My school is a prime example of a successful school,” said Stokes.
Watlington has said that Saul — the city’s agricultural magnet on a working farm on Henry Avenue — has a mission that’s closely aligned with Lankenau’s, but supporters say Lankenau’s success is closely tied with its wooded campus, its streams, and its ecosystems.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas speaks at Lankenau High School during a gathering to support the efforts to fight closing recommendations on Wednesday.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, chair of City Council’s education committee, is incredulous that the district is attempting to close the school, which educates mostly Black students.
“I wonder if Lankenau did everything that it currently does: graduation rate … community involvement, the educators’ participation — I wonder if Lankenau was 98% white, will we be closing Lankenau?” Thomas said.
Still, “small schools are worth the investment,” said Amy Szymanski, a special-education teacher at the school. “Shutting down a school doesn’t just impact one community, it shakes other schools that have to absorb the impact as well.”
Szymanski urged district officials and decision makers to come up with different plans.
‘Culture is not transferable’
Robeson did everything the district asked it to do and then some, said Elana Evans, a longtime educator at the West Philadelphia school.
The school was heralded as a model for other Pennsylvania public schools by former Gov. Tom Wolf. It won citywide prizes and sent a student to Harvard University. Its students successfully petitioned district leaders for air-conditioning in their building. And its staff secured donations to have a major cafeteria renovation, though its building is still judged in “poor” condition by district standards.
“Why can’t Paul Robeson have a new school?” said Evans, who previously taught at University City High, closed by the district in 2013. “Haven’t we proved ourselves, haven’t the kids sacrificed enough? Haven’t they shown what they can do and what they’re willing to do?”
Students walk outside Paul Robseon High School with Elana Evans, a Robeson teacher (in blue) in this 2025 file photo.
And though moving to Motivation, in Southwest Philadelphia, may be slightly more palatable for some Robeson parents, for most, it won’t, said Evans.
“Students would still have to go to 60th Street, traveling a distance,” said Evans. “If those parents wanted them to go toMotivation, they would have picked Motivation.”
The district has said it wants to preserve the successful Robeson culture, just elsewhere, but Kyana Hopkins, said that won’t work.
“Culture is not transferable,” Hopkins said. “Make it make sense.”
Samantha Bromfield, president of Robeson’s Home and School Association, said the district will lose families if Robeson goes away.
“Understand that a parent like me will send my child back to being homeschooled” if Robeson closes, Bromfield said. “Your choice doesn’t fit my criteria of what I’m looking for my children.”
Inheritance, and questions
The Flower Show was abuzz Wednesday, with a crowd hovering around the Lankenau exhibit. “Inheritance” — a verdant wonderland showcasing plants grown from local seeds, set around a weathered wooden table — asked viewers to think of the question, “What tastes like home to you?”
Lankenau High senior Sasha John (blue hoodie) explains her prize-winning school’s Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit to visitors on Wednesday.
Several Lankenau students staffed the exhibit, answering questions — and showing visitors green “Keep LANK Open” fliers, encouraging passersby to share words of support for the school with the school board and City Council.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Amelia Pennycooke, a Lankenau senior, of the proposed closing. “We have so many opportunities at Lank.”
Lankenau High School’s exhibit, which the school’s eco art class worked on all school year, won a gold medal and the Alfred M. Campbell Memorial Trophy at the Philadelphia Flower Show. “Inheritance” examines the question “what plants taste like home to you?” It was designed and built by Lankenau students.
Noel Alford, a Lankenau parent, said the school needs to remain open, its land not used for any other purpose. The amendment to Watlington’s plan falls short, she said.
“Saul is a mistake,” said Alford. “Saul is an agricultural school. They are two different magnet schools.”
While elected officials have no say in which schools close, Thomas said it’s up to them to keep pressuring the board to rethink some closures, including Lankenau’s.
“This is a legacy moment for us as elected officials,” said Thomas. No one “wants to add that black mark on their career that says you were the person that was in charge when this injustice took place.”
The announcement that the Philadelphia School District will close additional schools because of budget shortfalls is devastating, but sadly not surprising.
When schools close, students who have already faced instability pay the highest price. Parents scramble to rearrange transportation and childcare. Children lose trusted teachers and friendships. Communities lose institutions that once anchored them. Families deserve more than reassignment letters and uncertainty. They deserve meaningful options.
Two solutions are within reach: Lifeline Scholarships for Pennsylvania and the federal program, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA). These programs would allow funding to follow Pennsylvania students to schools that meet their needs. These scholarships would give parents — not bureaucracies — the ability to choose a safe, effective learning environment, whether that is a public charter school, private school, faith-based school, or specialized program tailored to a child’s needs.
Students get off the bus at Laura W. Waring elementary school in Spring Garden last month. The school is set to close in 2027.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has the opportunity to act, and he needs to opt in now. By supporting Lifeline Scholarships and opting Pennsylvania into federal education choice programs like ECCA, the state could help families immediately. These are education dollars intended for children. Allowing them to follow students would give parents real leverage and real hope.
Other states are already moving forward. In Texas and Florida, tens of thousands of families are applying for scholarships that open doors to schools better suited to their children. Reports from Texas show more than 80,000 applications from families seeking alternatives. These parents are not abandoning public education; they are seeking opportunity where it exists.
Critics argue that school choice harms public schools. But forcing families to remain in schools that are unsafe or chronically underperforming harms children. Choice introduces accountability. When families have options, schools must improve to keep students. Competition can spark innovation, encourage responsiveness, and reward excellence.
This is not about politics or ideology. It is about fairness.
Every parent wants the same basic things: a safe school, strong teachers, and a chance for their child to succeed. For too many Philadelphia families, those expectations remain unmet. School closures make that reality even more urgent. Lifeline Scholarships and federal education choice programs like ECCA could offer stability in a time of upheaval.
Philadelphia parents and community leaders should make their voices heard. Contact your legislators. Write to Gov. Shapiro. Ask Pennsylvania to adopt policies that put students first and give families the freedom to choose schools that work for their children.
Our children cannot wait another decade for incremental change. When schools close, families need solutions — not promises. These solutions are already working for families in many states across the country; why not in Pennsylvania?
