{"id":180321,"date":"2026-04-30T15:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/180321\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:23:07","slug":"members-of-philadelphia-city-council-threaten-lawsuit-to-stop-school-closures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/180321\/","title":{"rendered":"Members of Philadelphia City Council threaten lawsuit to stop school closures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter<\/a> to keep up with the city\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Education Committee Chair Isaiah Thomas says members of City Council are \u201cprepared to sue\u201d if the Board of Education approves the district\u2019s school closure plan \u2014 and that they\u2019ve got several state representatives on their side.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re prepared as a legislative body, working with our members in Harrisburg, to do everything in our power to make sure that this plan is not implemented,\u201d Thomas said at a press conference outside of Paul Robeson High School Thursday morning. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let this go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The escalation comes just hours before the school board is set to vote on the district\u2019s proposal to close 17 schools beginning in 2027<\/a>, including Robeson. Superintendent Tony Watlington has said that the plan is necessary to better distribute resources, improve the quality of school buildings, and provide more educational opportunities.<\/p>\n

The City Council does not get a vote on the plan. But the 10 members of the City Council and two state representatives outside of Robeson on Thursday said they will fight the closure plan in every way possible. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re prepared to shut that meeting down,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThis is civil disobedience today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas said he would work to ensure any board member who votes for the closures is not confirmed to serve another term on the Board of Education. Board members are nominated by the mayor and are supposed to be confirmed by City Council, although one current member, Joyce Wilkerson, was never confirmed<\/a> by members.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who initially appeared to support the district\u2019s recent changes to the closure proposal<\/a> that would funnel more resources to her district, said she strongly opposed the plan to close Robeson and repurpose it for community use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made some progress since this fight began,\u201d said Gauthier, who represents parts of West and Southwest Philly. \u201cBut the fact that the district secured the land, the funding, and is even exploring building a new school here, but won\u2019t call it Robeson, is a slap in the face to this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

We’re here to help.<\/p>\n

Every day, Chalkbeat Philadelphia reporters are answering your questions, following the money, and digging into what’s happening in the city’s public schools. Keep up with our free newsletter, delivered every Wednesday and Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Several City Councilmembers said they also were strongly against the proposal to close Lankenau Environmental Science High School. The district has said it would keep the school\u2019s building for student use, but it would not remain a school. Instead, Lankenau would become an honors program at Saul High School.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Curtis Jones said he planned to introduce legislation Thursday related to investigating the school district\u2019s spending. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to talk about savings? We have the savings,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s in the house, but they won\u2019t let us come in and audit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Rick Krajewski, a Democrat who represents part of Philadelphia, said he understood some of the district\u2019s money challenges come from years of under-funding from the state. But he said that does not mean closures are the answer. \u201cThe call from our students, our neighbors and our teachers is to stand tall and fight back,\u201d Krajewski said.<\/p>\n

Board members have not indicated how they will vote on the proposal, but President Reginald Streater has previously said that the district must address its facilities problems<\/a>. They were initially scheduled to vote last week, but postponed it<\/a> after intense criticism from the City Council.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter to keep up with the city\u2019s public school system. Philadelphia Education…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[59219,69,71,70,16381],"class_list":["post-180321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-board-of-education","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-school-closures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180321","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=180321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}