PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia School District is opening a transition office to oversee the district’s facilities master plan, which includes closing 17 schools.
The district has chosen Assistant Superintendent Dr. Shakeera Warthen-Canty to head the transition office. Warthen-Canty has been with the district for 27 years, six of them as the principal of Bregy Elementary School in South Philadelphia. She’s been an assistant superintendent since 2021.
None of the schools planned for closure would shutter right away. The coming school year is a transition year.
Warthen-Canty will be the point person for what Superintendent Tony Watlington said will be a one-stop shop to help students and families through the closures of 17 schools and modernizations of 169 others.
She said school communities already have questions.
“There are big changes coming, both good and bad for them, the way that they view it. So there’s excitement, there’s nervousness. They are reaching out already,” she said.
Watlington said supporting families through the school closures is paramount.
“You do not need to leave the School District of Philadelphia to go and join some other school community. You don’t need to do that,” he said.
The district made the announcement at John Patterson Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia. Under the district’s $3 billion, 10-year facilities plan, Patterson Elementary would be expanded from a pre-K-4 school to K-8 under a $45 million modernization.
The facilities master plan includes closing 17 schools
The facilities master plan includes closing 17 schools
