By Jack Tomczuk
Members of the Board of Education will hear feedback directly from students, parents and others on Thursday afternoon about the School District of Philadelphia’s proposal to shutter 18 schools.
Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. presented his decade-long, $2.8 billion facilities master plan to the BOE on Feb. 26. It is not yet clear when the nine-person board will hold a final vote on the recommendations.
Public comment is the only agenda item for Thursday’s town hall, which will begin at 4 p.m. at the Constance E. Clayton Education Center, the school system’s headquarters at 440 N. Broad St.
Up to 30 students and 60 adults will be given the opportunity to speak, with the goal of hearing from each impacted school community, BOE officials have said. Participants can register to testify in-person or over Zoom.
The town hall is taking the place of the board’s regularly scheduled “Goals and Guardrails” meeting, when members usually receive updates on academic performance and other strategic initiatives.
An online portal has also been set up to allow the BOE to collect anonymous public input on the facilities plan.
In late January, Watlington unveiled the recommendations, which are the culmination of a yearslong effort to address low enrollment at some schools, overcrowding in others and concerns about aging buildings and limited resources.
Two of the schools originally designated for closure — Kensington’s Russell Conwell Middle School and Southwest Philadelphia’s Motivation High School — were removed from the shutdown list when Watlington presented his plan to the board last month.
No major changes related to the facilities proposal would occur before the 2027-2028 academic year, according to the district.
The BOE’s next voting session — the earliest date members could bring the plan up for final consideration — is scheduled for Thursday, March 26.
Keywords
Philadelphia Board of Education,
School District of Philadelphia,
town hall,
school closures