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Does Philly public schools plan ignore nieghborhood politics?
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission has held its final public hearings on a proposal to reduce empty classroom seats by closing schools around the city. But parents and community members worry that the plan will tear apart neighborhoods and impact students' safety.
Does Philly public schools plan ignore nieghborhood politics?
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) has held its final public hearings on a proposal to reduce empty classroom seats by closing and consolidating schools around the city. But some parents and community members worry that the plan will tear apart neighborhoods and impact students' safety.
As of this weekend's SRC hearing, the supporters of E.M. Stanton School at 17th and Christian have officially tried everything to convince the SRC of their case: flags, banners, T-shirts, petitions, a 37-page counterproposal complete with marketing and partnership plans, civil rights movement-style chants, Shakespeare readings, violin recitals, a drum circle and a student-written and -performed rap (presumably the first time the phrase "We made AYP eight years straight" has ever been incorporated into a hip-hop number).
But Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who showed up in support of Stanton, told the board that beyond the community commitment and the school's academic successes, there are other factors to consider. Among them: longstanding neighborhood hostilities. "We have a dividing line; it's called 'across the tracks.' It's south of Washington Avenue vs. the other side, 18th Street vs. other side. I just want to give you the historical context of what these young people would be up against."
He added: "I come from an environment where the chances of you making it out of your neighborhood are pretty slim.... It's important that these young people maintain a quality education, and sometimes when that's disrupted it could have an impact where it makes a young person go left or right." He urged the SRC to avoid that kind of disruption for students at Stanton and elsewhere.
The SRC will vote on the facilities plan March 29. Stanton parent James Wright says he hopes they consider more than just attaining maximum classroom occupancies. He explains that parents' fear of sending students from one neighborhood to another, isn't based on class or race. "It's just neighborhoods. It's just territorial. It's how it's always been." Given the way the catchments are currently drawn, he says, "I think the school district is familiar with the different neighborhood boundaries, but maybe the consultants who put together the plan were not. It's also a matter of: they have to make something fit. They're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole."
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