his draft recommendations<\/a> in late January, the district has held more than 40 community meetings. Any changes in response to that feedback will be incorporated when Watlington goes to the board, officials have said.<\/p>\nThe last of those public sessions \u2013 at least, the last scheduled as of Feb. 22 \u2013 occurred Sunday afternoon on Zoom. More than 100 people logged onto the video conference, including district staff and language interpreters. It capped three citywide town halls hosted by Watlington in recent days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are listening,\u201d he told participants. \u201cThis is not just optics or political theater.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many, his words will not ring true unless there are major adjustments to the plan. Watlington said it was \u201cpremature\u201d to comment on changes or tweaks.<\/p>\n
BOE President Reginald Streater has said the board will not vote on the facilities plan Thursday; rather, they will consider the proposal and make that pivotal decision at a date that has yet to be determined.<\/p>\n
No closures or other major shifts related to the plan would be undertaken until the 2027-28 school year, with the exception of a new, optional year-round K-8 school that will be co-located at Bethune Elementary as part of the North Philadelphia Promise Zone initiative.<\/p>\n
Watlington\u2019s 10-year, $2.8 billion strategy is the culmination of a yearslong effort to address low enrollment at some schools, overcrowding in others and concerns about aging facilities and limited resources.<\/p>\n
If fully funded, the initiative would reduce the number of school buildings rated unsatisfactory or poor from 85 to 0, district leaders have said. It would also provide access to Algebra 1 for all middle grade students (up from 53%) and double the number of slots in district-operated pre-K programs, according to Watlington\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, over the course of two hours, parents and school staff asked a wide array of questions about specific school decisions and the district\u2019s overall approach, such as a suggested move away from traditional middle schools in favor of K-8 and 5-12 models.<\/p>\n
Members of the public also wondered aloud whether real estate interests could be influencing decisions. Patty Rich, a teacher at Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School, said the proposal to move programming into Roxborough High School would open up significant acreage for development.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I tell my students that are visually impaired that they\u2019re being sold out for land with no benefit to them or their peers? How is this equitable?\u201d she added. \u201cPlease explain to me how this makes sense. And why should I stay?\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire Landau, the district\u2019s senior advisor of strategy, noted that Lankenau began as an academy within Germantown High School, which was shuttered in 2013, during the last round of large-scale school closures.<\/p>\n
Folding Lankenau into Roxborough as an honors program aligns with the district\u2019s goal of reinvesting into neighborhood high schools, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, Lankenau is very difficult to access. We actually provide busing to get students to Lankenau,\u201d Landau continued. \u201cSo, by bringing it to a place that\u2019s more accessible, it\u2019s about providing more access for more students and providing more resources and connections for students in both programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district\u2019s draft facilities plan has drawn significant pushback since being released Jan. 22. Last week, members of City Council threatened to hold up school funding<\/a> over concerns about the recommendations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jack Tomczuk Students, parents and teachers impacted by the School District of Philadelphia\u2019s proposal to shutter 20…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":609144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,261661,261662,122106,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-609143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-school","tag-philadelphia-school-closure","tag-school-closure","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116116881777170241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}