PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The School District of Philadelphia plans to use a $100,000 state grant to restore termite-damaged classroom space in the historic Manor House at Fox Chase Farm.
The district operates the 112-acre livestock farm as an agricultural learning space. As many as 30,000 students visit and attend classes at the farm each year. “Teachers are using the farm as an extension of their classroom, so this is a living laboratory for them,” said principal and farm administrator Mandy Manna.
The farm's Manor House, built in 1832, sustained extensive termite damage 12 years ago, Manna told KYW Newsradio. “We used to use it for educational purposes. We had classrooms in there. And then when the termites ate the floor, we weren’t able to use the facility,” Manna said.
The farm currently has only one building where students can learn inside. Students gather under tents when it rains, Manna said.
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District officials gathered Thursday to announce a $100,000 matching grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to refurbish the Manor House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Plans call for the front porch to be restored, classrooms rebuilt and an ADA-compliant restroom.
“Of course, I would love to have more indoor space to learn in," said Eric Melton, a Mastbaum High School junior who is learning carpentry at the farm this summer. "It would be a great experience to get my hands on more experience and skills that I haven’t learned yet.”
Manna said the first-floor renovations should be finished within two years. The district plans to launch a fundraiser this fall, to raise approximately $600,000 to repair the other floors of the three-story house.
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