PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Parents are speaking out as the Philadelphia School District continues online and in-person meetings on the facilities plan that would close 20 schools.
Two elementary schools recommended for closure, Laura W. Waring in Spring Garden, and Overbrook Elementary School, were the focus of Friday's sessions. The district is holding a series of 42 public feedback sessions this month before the plan is presented to the Board of Education on Feb. 26.
The district proposes closing Waring, which it describes as "severely underutilized," and reassigning students to the nearby Bache-Martin Elementary School starting in 2031. A district representative said Waring had only nine students in its third-grade class, and the school was using less than half of its available capacity. The plan calls for the Waring building to be modernized to house the Masterman middle school. At a district Zoom on Friday, Waring parent Ameeah Culbreath asked, why not fix it up for the students who attend the school?
"You guys are saying that Waring is in poor condition, but you are willing to renovate it for other kids," Culbreath said. Others, including City Councilmember Jeffery Young, asked why Waring students would be sent to Bache-Martin, which is already overcrowded. District Operations Chief Teresa Fleming replied that additions are in the works at Bache-Martin.
"We are going to be adding a gym, cafeteria and auditorium, and then the old gym will be converted into even more classrooms," she said.
At a Zoom on the proposed closure of Overbrook Elementary School, parent Fahmee Shabazz said it seemed Black and Brown families are disproportionately affected by the recommendations.
"Why is this always done to our children in our poor neighborhoods? Are they closing any other schools in the white neighborhoods?" he asked. Overbrook students would be reassigned to the Lewis C. Cassidy, Guion S. Bluford, John Barry and Edward Heston elementary schools.
Shabazz said he was blindsided at word that Overbrook could close. "Our children should be allowed to go from kindergarten to eighth grade and graduate as a family from that school. I think it's very unfair that I wasn't polled. My wife wasn't polled. And we're very involved parents," he said.
District Communications Chief Alexandra Coppadge Wright replied that the district promoted its public surveys through text, email, printed flyers, direct mail, social media and in-person canvassing at shopping centers.
"We don't appreciate y'all coming in and making decisions about closing our schools and sending our children elsewhere. That in itself hurts the children," Shabazz said.
The district maintains that the 10-year, $2.8 billion facilities plan is designed to improve equity and address overcrowding at some schools and under-enrollment in others.
Several community leaders are voicing support for the district's process. An open letter from leaders, including Building Trades head Ryan Boyer, former City Deputy Mayor Cynthia Figueroa and Pastor Alyn Waller of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, said the recommendations are about ensuring access to a quality education. The leaders encouraged parents to make their voices heard at the district's public information sessions this month.
The Board of Education would make the ultimate decision on the facilities plan sometime after Superintendent Tony Watlington presents his recommendations to the board at the end of the month. Culbreath, though, wondered whether the district was only going through the motions with its community feedback sessions.
"Is this even going to stand a chance?" she asked, "because it sounds like you guys have your minds made up."