Philadelphia’s Board of Education voted Thursday to adopt a plan to close 17 public schools and invest in upgrades at the remaining buildings, despite threats from City Council to strip members of their positions.
Lawmakers, led by Isaiah Thomas, chair of Council’s education committee, twice interrupted the raucous meeting. They spoke of lawsuits, resignations and audits, signaling the fight over the contentious proposal may be far from over.
“After you vote for this, we’re calling for your resignation,” Thomas yelled, as security stood between him and the board. “Vote for it, and it’s your last vote.”
He later delivered on that promise, issuing a statement Thursday night demanding that the six BOE members who supported the plan step down. Board members are nominated by the mayor and confirmed by Council.
Not long after the meeting resumed, Thomas intervened again, after board member Joyce Wilkerson announced her support for the facilities proposal.
“You’re not really even a board member,” he shouted.
Almost exactly two years ago, Mayor Cherelle Parker asked Wilkerson to remain on the BOE, even after lawmakers voted to withdraw her nomination – evidently exploiting a loophole in the process.
“You’re setting a great example for our children,” Streater said, in response to Thomas’s second outburst of the night.
BOE members then retreated from the auditorium at the School District of Philadelphia’s North Broad Street headquarters to private offices, taking the vote over Zoom, with their faces projected onto a screen for those still in attendance.
Streater, Wilkerson, Sarah-Ashley Andrews, Cheryl Harper, ChauWing Lam and Joan Stern voted for the facilities master plan, with Crystal Cubbage, Whitney Jones and Wanda Novalés in opposition.
School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. has argued that the 10-year, $3 billion initiative will allow the system to concentrate its limited resources, expanding access to pre-kindergarten, algebra for middle schoolers and Advanced Placement courses in high school.
“We cannot continue doing the same things and expect different results,” Streater remarked. “If we are serious about improving student outcomes, we must be willing to disrupt the status quo.”
Streater has stressed that he views the plan, entitled “Accelerating Opportunity,” as a “living document” that may evolve and be modified over time. Legally-mandated hearings, notifications and future board votes are necessary to finalize any school closures, BOE officials have said.
Board members who voted against the measure cited financial uncertainty, among other concerns. The district is set to borrow $1.1 billion to back the effort, in the hopes that governmental and philanthropic sources will kick in the remaining $1.9 billion.
“Given the political climate and economic uncertainty that’s happening across the nation, I am not confident that our partners in state government and the philanthropic community will be able to close a gap of this magnitude,” Whitney Jones said.
Lam noted that physical conditions in some schools have long been unacceptable. Accelerating Opportunity incorporates modernization projects at 169 buildings, reducing the number of facilities considered to be in poor or unsatisfactory condition from 85 to zero.
District leaders began work on the plan in 2022, with the aim of addressing low enrollment at some schools and overcrowding in others, taking into account the system’s aging facilities.
Stern characterized the plan as “imperfect,” while adding, “We must start now. We cannot postpone this.”
The BOE had been scheduled to consider Accelerating Opportunity for final approval at its April 23 meeting but decided to delay the vote by a week, following pressure from Council and other stakeholders.
Hours before Thursday’s meeting, Council authorized hearings to explore the possibility of establishing an independent financial agency to oversee and audit the school district, similar to the role played by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) in the municipal budget process.
“We were trying to get answers from a board where the math doesn’t add up,” Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., the resolution’s primary sponsor, told reporters during a break in the BOE meeting. “They don’t have answers because they don’t really care. They want to sell property to private developers to make condos out of our kids.”
Thursday’s BOE session featured an extra security checkpoint and a cadre of Philadelphia police officers stationed inside and outside the building, suggesting that school officials anticipated a testy environment.
More than an hour before the start of the meeting, students from Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School gathered to demonstrate near the entrance, chanting “let ‘em know, just vote no,” “save our schools,” and other slogans. The slated closure of the school, which sits on acres of woods in Upper Roxborough, has attracted perhaps the strongest outcry of any of the institutions set to be shuttered.
In addition to Lankenau, Robeson High School in University City, Robert Morris (Brewerytown), Samuel Pennypacker (West Oak Lane), John Welsh (North Philadelphia), Laura W. Waring (Spring Garden), Overbrook Elementary, Martha Washington Academics Plus (West Philadelphia), Rudolph Blankenburg (Mill Creek), Fitler Academics Plus (Germantown), Wagner Middle School (West Oak Lane), Stetson Middle School (Kensington), Tilden Middle School (Elmwood), AMY Northwest (Roxborough), Harding Middle School (Frankford), Parkway Northwest High, Parkway West and Penn Treaty High are on the shutdown list.
In some cases, schools will be co-located in a facility, sharing a space but with a distinct programming and admissions process. Building 21 is set to be moved inside Martin Luther King; the Workshop School is going to Overbrook High; and the U-School will be located inside Edison High.
Among the investments included in Accelerating Opportunity are the construction of a new high school in the Northeast, the creation of a career and technical education hub at South Philadelphia High and expanded access to Masterman and Academy at Palumbo.
While no closures or other major shifts associated with the initiative are scheduled until the 2027-28 academic year, the district, in a statement Thursday, said implementation will begin “immediately.” Officials said the school system is “committed to ongoing engagement with students, families, staff, and community members throughout the process.”
If and when the consolidation effort is completed, it would represent the first large-scale closures since 2012-13, when the district shuttered two dozen schools.
The vote could have ramifications for the city’s ongoing budget process, placing Mayor Cherelle Parker’s proposed $1 rideshare fee in serious doubt. Multiple lawmakers have stated that they are unwilling to approve a new tax for public education amid mass school closures.
“How are you going to vote to increase everybody’s ride by a dollar a ride and still close their schools in their faces?” Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said during Thursday’s meeting.
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