PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City Council members said during a Tuesday hearing that they won't be a rubber stamp on the School District of Philadelphia's facilities plan, which would close 20 schools and modernize others.
Council doesn't get to vote directly on the 10-year, $2.8 billion plan, but it does provide funding. During district sessions this month at schools to be closed under the facilities plan, Council members, including Cindy Bass, Quetcy Lozada and Isaiah Thomas, spoke out against shuttering schools.
Members took the opportunity during the daylong hearing to question district leaders about the proposal. Superintendent Tony Watlington testified that the district took what it called "neighborhood vulnerability" into account when drawing up the recommendations.
"We could have released a draft plan that would have closed twice as many schools, and have been able to defend it," he said, while Mayor Cherelle Parker's chief education officer, Debora Carrera, told Council that the mayor is all for the plan.
"It is her assessment that the current district footprint is unsustainable," said Carrera.
Bass pointed out that changes in the district's magnet school admissions policy wound up hurting enrollment at schools including Lankenau Environmental High School, one of those that would close.
"Why not go back and fix that before we close anything? Why are we even talking about closing anything?" she asked.
According to Lozada, 20% of the schools on the closure list are in her district in North Philadelphia and Kensington. She said her constituents didn't get an adequate chance to weigh in. "I'm trying to understand, what's the rush here?" she asked.
Ahead of the hearing, the district released an outline of how much money would be spent to improve schools in each of the 10 council districts.
For example, the plan includes $55 million in upgrades to John Bartram High in Council President Kenyatta Johnson's district, and $57 million to modernize career and technical education areas at South Philadelphia High School, in Mark Squilla's council district.
The expenditures also include $56 million in Councilmember Mike Driscoll's 6th District and $443 million in the 9th District, represented by Anthony Phillips. Individual citywide projects include $43 million to upgrade Martin Luther King High and $50 million to modernize Overbrook High.
In addition to more public meetings at the 20 affected schools, three citywide town halls are scheduled before Superintendent Tony Watlington makes his facilities recommendations to the Board of Education on Feb. 26. Board president Reginald Streater said members would vote sometime after that presentation.
