PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The School District of Philadelphia has released a list of two dozen school buildings to be used as "swing spaces," where students can attend classes if asbestos or another issue forces them out of their school. But it's making some students feel slighted.
"We want to be able to move students quickly back into schools when schools are closed due to an environmental issue," Superintendent Tony Watlington told the Board of Education Thursday night. "We will build this plan out over time. When it's completed, we will have some 22,500 swing space seats available."
Watlington said it’s a “good plan, not a perfect plan,” that remains a work in progress.
"Some of the spaces are not ready and will require some significant work," he said. "We are prepared to talk about the cost for this plan and how we intend to pay for it over time."
Watlington added that swing spaces could be used for future school improvement projects.
"Over the long term, we will have some 22,000 seats shovel-ready when we get to the point where the board decides to repurpose, build new schools, things of that nature," he said.
De'Nazia Watson, a student member on the school board, said students at one of the swing buildings – South Philadelphia High School — felt the relocation classrooms got attention from the district while their own classrooms were too hot or too cold.
"They felt like the swing spaces, the places that were being converted into swing spaces, were a lot more put together and a lot more up to date than their own schools," Watson said. "The district immediately fixed all of the problems that were wrong, while the students that were still learning in spaces that were not swing spaces are still in the same conditions."
"I just wanted to make sure that if you guys are having these swing spaces, that you also make sure to address the other issues that are going on with the other students instead of just having the other kids coming in and kind of being subjected to better learning conditions," Watson added.
District Chief Operating Officer Oz Hill responded that he'd met with student government leaders at South Philly High Thursday, and planned to follow up to address their concerns.
A list of the swing schools can be found here.