Sweeping changes are coming to the Philadelphia School District, with officials promising large-scale school closings, co-locations, grade reconfigurations, and new construction over the next several years.
The district is launching a survey this week to gain more input into that plan after Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. pushed back a November deadline to announce his recommendations amid concerns from school communities.
But those working closely on the facilities planning process said Monday that four themes are emerging that will shape the recommendations: strengthening K-8 schools, reinvesting in neighborhood schools, reducing school transitions for students, and expanding access to grades 5-12 criteria-based schools.
Here’s what to know about each of the themes:
Strengthening K-8 schools
“Many school programs with declining enrollment, or which operate in aging buildings, struggle to offer a full range of high-quality classes, activities, enrichment opportunities, and supports,” the district said.
Students and teachers in K-8 schools need better spaces and staffing and more resources, and the district cannot achieve that in its current configuration — the district has 216 schools but about 300 buildings, many of which are in poor shape. And enrollment is unevenly distributed — some schools, particularly those in the Northeast, are overcrowded, while others have thousands of empty seats.
Citywide, there are 70,000 excess seats in district schools.
The district might merge two schools or co-locate multiple schools in a single building, said Claire Landau, a senior adviser to Watlington tasked with steering the facilities planning process. It might also invest in “more suitable buildings.”
Reinvesting in neighborhood high schools
“Some neighborhood high schools lack a full range of academic enrichment and post-high school preparation pathways, while some smaller magnet high schools lack extracurricular programs and diverse enrichment opportunities,” the district said.
Possible outcomes for reinvesting in neighborhood high schools include “targeted building improvements,” partnerships, and theme-based or career-connected programs in the district’s traditional neighborhood high schools.
Reducing school transitions for students
“Transitions for schools can be disruptive to learning and community connection. Research supports that students do better when they have fewer transitions between school programs during their pre-K-12 experience,” the district said.
There are currently 13 different grade configurations in the district; the aim is to shrink that. To achieve this, the district could increase pre-K-8 schools and adjust grade configurations.
Expanding access to grades 5-12 criteria-based schools
“Philadelphia community desires schools that allow students to learn in one community from middle grades through high school,” the district said. (Some of those already exist — Masterman, for instance, and GAMP.)
To achieve that goal, the district could create more seats at existing 5-12 schools, or create new 5-12 pathways, with an eye toward neighborhood equity.
“This is not going to be a plan that erases or proposes to move away from all of our more traditional middle school grade spans, but we will be looking for opportunities to provide more access to pre-K-through-8 programming and 5-through-12 programming — because of how much support we’ve heard for it from communities across this process as well as what the research shows as far as students doing better in these environments,” said Landau.
The mayor weighs in
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker weighed in on the matter at a district hearing before City Council on Tuesday, saying she was in lockstep with Watlington and the school board president.
“We need to recreate a comprehensive plan for repurposing every underutilized school building in the city of Philadelphia,” Parker said.
But, the mayor said, “that plan will have to include housing, and that includes housing for public servants and educators who deserve to live in the communities that they serve, along with thinking about access to the repurposing of those buildings, to aid us in our desire to build affordable and workforce housing in the city of Philadelphia.”
