{"id":100461,"date":"2026-01-30T05:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/100461\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T05:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:56:16","slug":"philadelphia-school-closure-plan-sparks-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/100461\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia school closure plan sparks protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

More than 100 students, educators and advocates rallied before Thursday night\u2019s Philadelphia Board of Education meeting to protest the school district\u2019s recent proposal to shut down 20 schools.\n<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s proposal was met with swift opposition<\/a>, with many citing a lack of transparency in the decision-making process.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you have buy-in when you don\u2019t involve the community that you are engaging in and you keep them in the dark?\u201d said Diane Payne, a retired teacher. \u201cHow do you think you\u2019re going to have success?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"TwoMultiple advocates hold signs related to Abbott Elementary. (Ben Bennett\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

Payne said the district should engage with Philadelphians for this process to be successful. If they don\u2019t, she said, there will be increased chaos and confusion. She cited the perceived failures of 2013<\/a>, when the district shuttered 23 schools.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c2013 was a mess,\u201d Payne said. \u201cThis will be a mess also.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Overcrowding and disproportionate closings<\/p>\n

Ella Nguyen, a student at Northeast High School, said that while her school is not slated to be closed, it will not be unaffected. The school is already overpopulated, she said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMost hallways are crammed and hard to get through,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cWith the closure of multiple schools, the issue will only be worse, as it could potentially create safety issues.\u201d
\n\"EllaElla Nguyen speaks at the demonstration, warning about overcrowding at Northeast High School. (Ben Bennett\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

Crowded schools also set up a fight for student resources, she said. More students means less support from teachers to go around. Nguyen said people might struggle just to get into their choice of programs or classes.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t only affect the present, but also the future. The youth matters, and the district should be listening,\u201d Ngyuen said.\n<\/p>\n

Melanie Silva is the parent of another student in another crowded school in Northeast Philadelphia. The Facilities Master Plan<\/a> doesn\u2019t do enough to address the overcrowding in the district\u2019s north, according to Silva.\n<\/p>\n

Being of Brazilian heritage, Silva said she is highly concerned for the immigrant population in the northeast, which she said is being forgotten. Data collected by Ryan Pfleger, an education researcher in the city, backed up Silva\u2019s concern.
\n\"PeopleDemonstrators hold a banner representing Stand Up for Philly Schools, a coalition that advocates for better public education. (Ben Bennett\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

Pfleger cited in his testimony that 15 out of the 20 schools scheduled to be closed are majority Black, disproportionately affecting both low-income and minority communities.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is disparate racial impact,\u201d Pfleger said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[223,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-100461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-pennsylvania-education","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}