Parkway West High School is small, by design. <\/p>\n
Its size is also a reason the Philadelphia School District wants to shut it down. <\/p>\n
It is among the 20 schools the district is proposing to close<\/a>, citing its low enrollment. The district plans to merge the Mill Creek magnet school into Science Leadership Academy at Beeber, two miles northwest in Overbrook<\/a>. That move would dissolve the Parkway West name \u2014 and its storied history of alternative education, its supporters say. <\/p>\n Community members say the merger would do away with what makes Parkway West special and successful: the only curriculum in the city tailored for teens interested in becoming early childhood educators<\/a>, specialty classrooms to support students with disabilities, and intimate class sizes that foster tight-knit relationships. And some say it would unfairly limit school options in West Philadelphia<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: How one Philly high school is building a pipeline of teachers<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a safe environment \u2014 a small school which allows for greater touches, and you just don\u2019t get swallowed up in the size of a big school,\u201d said Earl Morgan, a Parkway West special education teacher who coaches three Hoya sports teams. <\/p>\n Morgan added: \u201cWe\u2019re losing a real, safe alternative to private education in West Philadelphia.\u201d <\/p>\n The district\u2019s facilities plan<\/a>, which the school board is expected to vote on this winter, looks to address systemic issues like declining enrollment, aging infrastructure, and disparate programming in part by targeting some schools with large numbers of empty seats. Parkway West is operating with 140 students, or 40% capacity; its 11th-grade class \u2014 possibly its last graduating cohort \u2014 has just 18 students<\/a>. Comparatively, there are nearly 500 students at Beeber, which is 54% full. <\/p>\n Dwindling numbers, however, are in part a product of a 2021 overhaul to the district\u2019s special admissions process<\/a>, which stripped principals at criteria-based schools of their discretion to admit students who did not fulfill all the academic or attendance requirements. Parkway West\u2019s 2022-23 freshman class was 54 students; the next year, it was 19<\/a>. <\/p>\n Morgan said the proposal poses a \u201clogistical nightmare.\u201d Community members have raised concerns about safety and transportation woes to get children to Beeber. Inside Parkway West, emotions range from indifference to outrage, Morgan said. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: What\u2019s happening to your Philly school under the proposed facilities master plan?<\/a><\/p>\n The closure would leave \u201ca hole\u201d in the neighborhood, said Cecelia Thompson, a Mill Creek resident and former school board member who regularly interacts with the Parkway West community. <\/p>\n West Philadelphia is now staring down an educational landscape devoid of choice: The number of small, individualized magnet high schools, like Parkway West, in the area would shrink to one, while the district prioritizes reinvesting in neighborhood schools. The proposed school closures would disproportionately affect Black students<\/a>, according to an Inquirer analysis, though the district says its plan is aimed at boosting opportunities and achievement. <\/p>\n This troubles City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier<\/a>, whose district includes Parkway West and a handful of other schools affected by the plan. <\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like they\u2019re hollowing out my district,\u201d Gauthier said. \u201cThey\u2019re essentially shuttering criteria-based schools that people value and that are accessible to Black and brown children in West and Southwest Philadelphia. They\u2019re completely taking it away \u2026 or dumping them into much larger schools that are not going to provide the experience that people want. <\/p>\n \u201cThose kids deserve to have high-quality options right where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n The consolidation of Parkway West into Beeber also threatens to erase a few of the last remnants of Philadelphia\u2019s famed \u201cschool without walls.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n The Parkway model was a pioneering approach to alternative education, hallmarked by nonconformism, wandering classrooms, and a casual, personable learning environment where students called teachers by their first names, alumni told The Inquirer. Shaunda Watson graduated from Parkway Gamma, which later became Parkway West, and said the program took her from a C average to honor-roll student. <\/p>\n \u201cStudents like me will get lost in larger classrooms,\u201d Watson, 48, of West Philadelphia, said. She added: \u201cWe have students that are exceptional and they will get lost in the sauce if they have to go to neighborhood schools. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s fair.\u201d <\/p>\n