District staff present facilities data at July meeting at Bluford Elementary. (Photo: Lisa Haver)
Last Thursday, the Trump administration removed from Independence National Historical Park an exhibit about one chapter of African-American history from the site where President George Washington and his wife Martha owned and kept slaves. On that same day, the School District of Philadelphia announced its intention to close twenty public schools, four of them high schools where students learn African-American history.
At this point, it is premature to call what Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. has released a “plan”. District terminology creates confusion about what constitutes a “merger” rather than a “co-location” or a “repurposing”. And many schools not on the current list are not out of the woods yet. Many expect to get some notification about possible changes at some point. The list released to the public, for example, did not include Moffet Elementary, but the parents and staff have received emails from district staff informing them that their K-5 school would become a 5-8, essentially closing their elementary school and replacing it with a middle school, changing virtually everything about the school except the name.
Parents at schools targeted for closure are understandably distraught. One parent at Penn-Treaty Middle/High School in Fishtown (for which Moffet is a feeder school) told the Inquirer she worries for her daughter who “loves her teachers and her counselors and her friends.” Parents, teachers and students have already begun to organize. But the Board of Education may vote as soon as next month, giving those school communities very limited time to fight to save their schools.
Members of other school communities, including those at Lankenau Environmental Science High now slated for closure, are trying to make sense of the plan. Lankenau, a CTE (Career and Technical Education) magnet school, is located next to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education where students engage in hands-on learning. Any promise to recreate the program farther away at Roxborough High is an empty one. It might look good on paper if the district is “just talking about buildings, and you’re looking at children as numbers”, one Lankenau teacher told Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
The Watlington administration spent significant time and money to create the illusion of public engagement prior to the formulation of its $2.8 billion plan, contracting with three separate consultants at a total cost of over $5 million. One company, Brownstone PR and Insight Education Group LLC, was hired to support public engagement, yet many community meetings were sparsely attended. The administration also appointed several advisory committees whose meetings were not open to the public, a violation of the state’s Sunshine Act. The board’s ongoing speaker suppression policies limited public testimony on facilities at monthly action meetings.
Participants at community meetings, including principals and teachers, took issue with the misinformation about their schools that was presented as fact. The initial presentation in Fall 2024 didn’t even mention the possibility of school closings. Even members of the district-appointed Community Leaders Advisory group spoke out about the administration’s failure to listen and respond to their concerns and about last-minute cancellation and rescheduling of meetings. If the committees did submit any recommendations to the Watlington administration, they have not been released to the public.
What is striking about this (concept of a) plan released by the district last week is how little it reflects the wishes of the people most affected by it. APPS members attended most of the meetings held in 2024 and 2025. We heard no one in any meeting say they wanted their child’s school, or any school, to be shut down. Over 8,000 people responded to the district’s latest survey; they voted overwhelmingly against any school closures. They don’t want the overcrowded classrooms that would bring; they don’t want children to have to travel farther every morning and afternoon. What respondents did want: smaller class size, school librarians, more counselors and support staff, cleaner and healthier buildings.
So if parents, teachers, principals, and students don’t want school closings, who does?
The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter mandates that the board, although appointed by the mayor, govern as an independent body. Recent pronouncements and actions by Mayor Cherelle Parker, however, leave no doubt who is in control. Last month, the board held a special meeting after the mayor said she wanted the district to give away its currently unused school buildings to the city for purposes to be determined by the mayor after any transaction. For the first time since its reconstitution in 2018, the board approved an application to create a new citywide charter school–at the same time it is closing neighborhood public schools. Parker was elected with the financial and political support of the city’s real estate developers; they remain among her strongest backers. With closing and consolidation, twenty to thirty school buildings will be emptied–and ready for development.
APPS members recall the many distraught students and parents from the twenty-three schools on the chopping block in 2013 who begged the School Reform Commission, in vain, to spare their schools. Students from University City and Carroll high schools cried as they testified about how special their schools were, that they were their home away from home. They didn’t want to lose their friends. They wanted to graduate from the school that had not just educated them but nurtured them.
Just last week, Superintendent Watlington talked about how his administration was committed to bringing “joy” into district schools. It appears, though, that his facilities plan will bring disruption and devastation to the district’s students and their families. The Board of Education must vote against its implementation.
Lisa Haver is a former Philadelphia teacher. She is co-founder and coordinator of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools. (appsphilly.net)
Our reporters sit through hours of city council meetings, dig through piles of documents, and ask tough questions other media overlook. Because we’re committed to addressing Philadelphia’s poverty crisis — and challenging those who sustain it. If you think this work is important too, please support our journalism.
We’re counting on readers like you.
