17 school closures: Philadelphia Board of Education to vote on new facilities plan Thursday

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system. The Philadelphia Board of Education will vote Thursday whether to move forward with the school district’s school closure proposal, according to a resolution the board published Monday. The latest version of the plan district officials released Monday would close 17 schools beginning in 2027. That’s down from the initial 18 school closures Superintendent Tony Watlington presented to the board in February. The district’s updated proposal takes James R. Ludlow School off the closure list and nixes the plan to turn John Moffet Elementary into a middle school. Moffet would now become a K-4 school, with students attending Ludlow for middle school. It also increases investments in some parts of the city where members of City Council have vehemently fought the plan. And although the district still plans to close Lankenau Environmental Science High School and Paul Robeson High School, it now plans to hold onto those two school properties and eventually repurpose them for community or student use, rather than sell the buildings or convey them to the city. The plan, which includes colocating some schools and modernizing nearly 170 others, has a $3 billion price tag — up from an initial $2.8 billion. But there’s no guarantee the district will be able to foot the bill. Watlington said during a press briefing Monday that the district will put $1 billion towards the upgrades and hopes to raise additional funding from government and philanthropic grants. The plans’ ultimate goal, Watlington said, is to increase educational opportunities for all students. Too many students are in half-empty, crumbling buildings that are not offering them the academic opportunities they sorely deserve, Watlington has said. And district enrollment is projected to continue to decline . Board President Reginald Streater appeared supportive of the plan at the press briefing Monday, but it’s still unclear how other members will vote. “We can’t expect a different result doing the same thing, understanding our budget realities,” Streater said. “We have to reorganize and go through this reform of how we do things in Philadelphia if we expect to provide our babies the resources they need to be who they want to be and who they can be when they grow up.” If the board approves the resolution, it will kick start another process for the district and board to complete required legal steps to close schools. One of those steps will likely be additional public engagement. Streater said the district could alter the plan again, based on enrollment or budgetary changes. But for now, this is the version the board will consider. “This is the final, final set of recommendations that I’m presenting to President Streater and his Board of Education for consideration,” Watlington said. Councilmember who fought closure plan now supports it The district’s decision not to sell Paul Robeson High School seems to have swayed at least one city councilmember: Jamie Gauthier. Gauthier had previously fiercely opposed the district’s plan. She had organized rallies against it and proposed rezoning the land for Robeson and other schools in her district to prevent them from being redeveloped into commercial or residential buildings. But on Monday, she said she supported the changes. “This proves that you’re listening. It proves that you care about equity in this plan, and I and my community are grateful,” Gauthier said at the briefing Monday. The $200 million increase to the plan’s price tag largely stems from bigger investments in Gauthier’s district, which includes parts of West and Southwest Philadelphia. These include modernization projects at Anderson Elementary, Bryant Elementary, and Mitchell Elementary, and a pool renovation at Motivation High School. The plan increases spending in Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr.’s district in North Philadelphia as well. Young had also fought the facilities plan and said he was considering his own rezoning proposal. On Monday, Young said in a statement that he welcomed the decision to remove Ludlow, which is in his district, from the closure list. But he called the move “clear proof that the school facilities plan is flawed and isn’t based on any sound rationale.” “I remain firmly opposed to the Facilities Master Plan as a whole,” Young said. Education Chair Isaiah Thomas calls closure vote ‘rushed’ Philadelphia Education Committee Chair Isaiah Thomas immediately critiqued the district Monday for giving Philadelphians only three days notice of the vote. People had been pleading with the board for months to give them significant advance notice for any vote on the plan. On Monday, several educators told Chalkbeat they worried the tight timeframe would make it difficult for people to reorganize their week to attend the meeting. “More information needs to be communicated to our communities before a vote is taken, and the school board should not take a vote on this plan until that has happened,” Thomas said in a statement. Thomas said the vote as scheduled would be “rushed” and would “only further reduce public trust and fear about this plan and its impact on our young people.” Teachers union opposes plan, is working on alternative Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said his team did not receive prior notice of the plan’s changes or the scheduled vote. “I think the timing is awful,” Steinberg said. The City Council plans to consider a $1 per ride tax on Ubers and Lyfts on Tuesday that would funnel $48 million annually to the district and prevent some staff cuts . With the closure vote now looming, “it’s going to be more difficult to get the public on board and to keep people enthused about” the proposed rideshare tax, Steinberg said. Steinberg said the union cannot comment on the substance of the plan because district officials did not “show their work” about how they decided which schools they planned to close. The union is working on an alternative proposal that it plans to release in the next few weeks, he said. The $3 billion price tag is also a major concern, Steinberg said. He worries the district will not have the money to make all the investments and modernizations it has promised. “My greatest fear is the closures will go ahead because they’re in place and they’re scheduled,” said Steinberg. “You’ll get three or four years down the road, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, well, we don’t have the money. We’re gonna have to stop here.’” This story has been updated to include comments from City Council Education Committee Chair Isaiah Thomas, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Arthur Steinberg, and Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org . Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org .

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