This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.
From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.
No final decisions on Philadelphia school closures have been made, Jermaine Dawson, the school district’s deputy superintendent of academic services, told a room packed with students, teachers and parents at Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School on Wednesday.
The school is one of 18 slated to close as early as 2027 as part of the School District of Philadelphia’s facilities planning process, which aims to right-size the underenrolled district’s building stock. The plan still needs to be approved by the city’s Board of Education.
The district plans to convert Lankenau into an honors program within the nearby Walter B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences. A prior district proposal announced in January would have merged Lankenau with Roxborough High School. District officials said the new plan better aligns with Lankenau’s curriculum.
But students, parents and teachers continue to fight for the environmental science magnet school in Upper Roxborough to stay open.
Jermaine Dawson, the school district’s deputy superintendent of academic services, said no final decisions on Philadelphia school closings have been made. (Sophia Schmidt/WHYY)
Amy Szymanski, special education compliance monitor and assessment coordinator at Lankenau, said the new plan shows the district listened to some of the community’s pleas, but has not changed their stance.
“There’s nothing wrong with Roxborough [High School]. There’s nothing wrong with Saul,” Szymanski said. “We want to continue to have our Lankenau family on Lankenau’s land.”
Dawson represented the district at a press conference Wednesday alongside the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and Lankenau community to demand state lawmakers pass Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro‘s proposed education budget, which would increase state funding for pre-K through 12th-grade public schools across Pennsylvania by nearly $900 million, including a bump of $151 million for schools in Philadelphia.
“With adequate and equitable state funding, we can move beyond difficult conversations about scarcity, and then we can focus squarely on accelerating academic achievement,” Dawson said.
The district received $2.5 billion in state funding last fiscal year.
Lankenau students wore costumes and t-shirts to protest the proposed closure of their school at a press conference hosted by the teachers’ union Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (Sophia Schmidt/WHYY)
Why the School District of Philadelphia says it needs to close Lankenau
The proposed closure of Lankenau is part of the district’s yearslong facilities planning process, which aims to reorganize resources across the district to deal with under- and over-enrollment in different schools and aging facilities. Superintendent Tony Watlington presented a $2.8 billion plan to the school board last week that would modernize 159 school facilities, co-locate school programs in six facilities and close 18 schools.
Even if Shapiro’s requested increase in state funding passes, the School District of Philadelphia would need more government and grant funding to pay for its facilities master plan, Chalkbeat Philadelphia reported.