Philadelphia’s Board of Education is set to vote Thursday on an amended plan to close 17 public schools and invest $3 billion over 10 years to upgrade the remaining buildings.
An updated proposal released Monday would spare James R. Ludlow School in North Philadelphia, which was among the 18 schools slated to shutter when School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. presented his facilities plan to the board in late February.
Nearby John Moffet School, which was set to transition from an elementary to a middle school under earlier versions of the proposal, will serve students in grades K-4. Kensington’s Horatio B. Hackett School will expand to include middle school grade levels, officials said.
Lankenau and Robeson high schools are still on the chopping block; however, Watlington told reporters that the district now intends to retain both properties. The former’s sprawling Upper Roxborough campus will be converted to an "environmental education center" for students across the public school system, according to the district.
Watlington said his office will engage with the community to “think about how we might reimagine a school” on the Robeson site in University City. There are a range of options, he added, including the possibility of demolishing the building and constructing a new school.
In addition to Lankenau and Robeson, Robert Morris in 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 still designated for closure.
Two schools that had been on the chopping block – Kensington’s Russell Conwell Middle School and Southwest Philadelphia’s Motivation High School – were removed from the list in February.
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.
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.
A provision that would have transferred seven of the shuttered schools to the municipal government for use as affordable housing has been nixed, Watlington said during a Zoom briefing Monday.
"We'll have more to share about that at a later date,” he added. “We may very well come back at a later date and put a recommendation for conveyance back on the table, but we've withdrawn that recommendation at this time.”
Board President Reginald Streater said the BOE will consider a resolution adopting the facilities plan during its upcoming meeting, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. April 23 at 440 N. Broad St.
The measure will not bind the board for the next decade, he explained; rather, the proposal is envisioned as a “living document” that may be altered as conditions change. State-mandated hearings, notifications and future board votes will be needed to finalize school closures, property transfers and capital budget modifications, Streater said.
The plan, named "Accelerating Opportunity," represents a "clear guideposts and guidelines of where we're trying to head," Streater continued.
Among the proposed investments 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.
Watlington said 169 modernization projects are planned, up from 159 in the original document. The number of school buildings considered to be in unsatisfactory or poor conditions would drop from 85 to zero, according to district leaders.
Many of the improvements hinge on additional funding. The district is preparing to commit $1.1 billion through its capital borrowing cycle and intends to request $1.9 billion from government and philanthropic sources.
The price tag has grown $200 million, compared to earlier drafts of the plan, primarily due to a $126 million increase in spending on schools in the West Philadelphia-based 3rd City Council District and enhancements to the Ludlow facility, officials said.
In mid-February, City Hall lawmakers threatened to hold up education funding over the closure recommendations. School district leaders are set to appear before Council for a budget hearing on Wednesday.
At least one member who strongly opposed the district’s initial proposal – the 3rd District's Jamie Gauthier – said she was “grateful” that Watlington and his team listened to the concerns of her community.
“Robeson is the last public high school in the heart of University City,” Gauthier said. “It's the only place where diverse students can learn a stone’s throw away from world-class scientific institutions, and so I'm happy we'll be retaining that site.”
The facilities master plan, named “Accelerating Opportunity,” is the culmination of an effort that began in 2022 to address low enrollment at some schools and overcrowding in others amid aging facilities and limited resources.
Watlington has said the initiative will allow the district to concentrate resources and provide more opportunities to students. All middle schoolers would be able to take Algebra 1 (up from 53% currently), and the number of slots in district-operated pre-K programs would double, according to school officials.
If the consolidation effort is implemented, it would represent the first large-scale closures since 2012-13, when the district shuttered two dozen schools.
