By Jack Tomczuk<\/p>\n
Members of the Board of Education<\/a> will hear feedback directly from students, parents and others on Thursday afternoon about the School District of Philadelphia\u2019s proposal to shutter 18 schools.<\/p>\n Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. presented his decade-long, $2.8 billion facilities master plan<\/a> to the BOE on Feb. 26. It is not yet clear when the nine-person board will hold a final vote on the recommendations.<\/p>\n Public comment is the only agenda item for Thursday\u2019s town hall, which will begin at 4 p.m. at the Constance E. Clayton Education Center, the school system\u2019s headquarters at 440 N. Broad St.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The town hall is taking the place of the board\u2019s regularly scheduled \u201cGoals and Guardrails\u201d meeting, when members usually receive updates on academic performance and other strategic initiatives.<\/p>\n An online portal<\/a> has also been set up to allow the BOE to collect anonymous public input on the facilities plan.<\/p>\n In late January, Watlington unveiled the recommendations<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n