{"id":94359,"date":"2026-01-23T05:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/94359\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T05:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:57:19","slug":"philadelphias-plan-to-close-schools-meets-swift-pushback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/94359\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia\u2019s plan to close schools meets swift pushback"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The head of the Philadelphia City Council Education Committee says he disagrees with parts of the school district\u2019s plan to close 20 schools<\/a>, kicking off what may become a fraught conflict over which schools are ultimately shuttered.<\/p>\n

The district said Thursday that nearly 5,000 students will have their schools closed in the coming years. Along with closures, the plan includes co-locating and relocating several schools and modernizing some school buildings, shuffling where many students go to school across the city.<\/p>\n

But Councilmember Isaiah Thomas said he would \u201cnever support\u201d closing one of the schools on the district\u2019s list \u2014 Conwell Middle School \u2014 and has major questions about the district\u2019s plan for several others.<\/p>\n

Other officials urged the district to be transparent with schools and make sure students and families are supported. A spokesperson for Mayor Cherelle Parker said she was not available to comment. And union leaders said they needed more time and more information to determine whether or not they support it. <\/p>\n

The reactions that began to trickle out Thursday will set the stage for what will likely become months of tense discussions and negotiations over what could be a jarring transformation for Philadelphia schools. District leaders say the plan would improve academics and use resources more efficiently as enrollment has declined<\/a> and buildings have fallen into disrepair<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Members of the Board of Education, who were nominated by Parker, will review the plan at next month\u2019s board meeting. The plan must be approved by the board, although Thomas and other city officials could use their political influence to complicate the plan\u2019s path forward, or change it.<\/p>\n

Though school leaders have said for months that closures were coming, the timing of the news still shocked many educators and families. Whispers of a list of schools the district plans to close began to spread Tuesday and Wednesday. Meetings and protests about the plan are likely to happen early and often.<\/p>\n

Outside of Motivation High School in West Philadelphia Thursday afternoon, students said they had learned their school was closing during a meeting in the school\u2019s auditorium earlier in the day. <\/p>\n

\u201cI pray it doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d said Journee Tucker, 16.<\/p>\n

The district wants Motivation to merge into Bartram High School as an honors program beginning in the 2027-28 school year. The Motivation building is slated to be repurposed as district swing space.<\/p>\n

But Tucker said she worried that Bartram is \u201ctoo chaotic.\u201d This year, it has nearly 600 students enrolled \u2014 four times the size of Motivation. <\/p>\n

If the plan goes through, she said her mom has already said she would attend a different high school than Bartram.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a mess,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cI just don\u2019t see the point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember wants to protect Conwell Middle School from closure<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019 reaction stood out Thursday, in part because several elected officials did not say if they were for or against the plan, or comment on specifics. Others weren\u2019t available for comment. <\/p>\n

Thomas is an influential voice in the city\u2019s education system, and has been a proponent of several charter schools.<\/p>\n

Thomas said he immediately disagreed with parts of the plan \u2014 especially the district\u2019s plan to close Russell Conwell Middle School, which he attended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a Philly person, you understand,\u201d he said, adding that the school\u2019s strong alumni network and culture is a huge benefit to the community.<\/p>\n

The school, which is in a 100-year-old building in the city\u2019s Kensington neighborhood, is one of several middle schools the district plans to close. <\/p>\n

Thomas said he also disagreed with the district\u2019s plan to merge students from Parkway Northwest High School into Martin Luther King High School, and turn Parkway Northwest into an honors program in the school. <\/p>\n

Thomas said he also did not understand how the district expects to expand Ellwood from a K-5 school to a K-8 school while the school is already nearing capacity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not looking to completely blow anything up or anything like that,\u201d Thomas said of the plan. \u201cThere are some things that I agree with, there are some things I have a few more questions about, and then there are a few things that I disagree with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Union leadership says school closures would be \u2018devastating\u2019<\/p>\n

District leadership has said no teachers will lose their jobs as a result of the closures, and teachers at schools that close will help fill vacancies elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Still, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Arthur Steinberg said Thursday the news has been \u201cdevastating and disheartening\u201d for staff.<\/p>\n

Steinberg said he could not comment on whether he supported the plan until the district shares more information on how they arrived at their decision. During community engagement events last year, the district shared the information it was factoring into the plan<\/a>. But it did not explain how those factors would influence decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like they took all these ingredients, threw them into a blender, and came out with a finished product,\u201d Steinberg said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Steinberg said he is never an advocate for closing a school. But he said he understood that the district has had years of \u201cchronic disinvestment\u201d and needs to address its aging buildings<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Robin Cooper, president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators which represents principals and other school staff, said she appreciated the district\u2019s efforts to survey staff and families for feedback about facilities before announcing the plan. <\/p>\n

But she said she still worries closures will be problematic for school communities and create uncertainty for many school staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the superintendent has a job to do, and I don\u2019t think that he did it lightly,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI just think it\u2019s a no-good situation all the way around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families, teachers worry school closures will be damaging<\/p>\n

In West Philadelphia, Rhemar Pouncey is worried about what will happen to her grandson if Overbrook Elementary School closes. <\/p>\n

In the district\u2019s proposal, Overbrook students will be reassigned to four other neighborhood schools, and the building will be repurposed as district network offices.<\/p>\n

Pouncey called the school \u201ca family and a community in itself,\u201d referencing staff who know students by name, as well as food and gift drives organized by the neighbors. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do not concern myself with sending my grandson to Overbrook Elementary, because I know he\u2019ll be safe,\u201d Pouncey said. \u201cI know when he gets dropped off that he has an extended group of aunties and uncles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district has said it will create a transportation plan for students whose schools change, but has not released more details. <\/p>\n

Pouncey said she worries about her son walking through \u201cdanger zones\u201d in the neighborhood to get to another school. <\/p>\n

About two dozen schools have a Safe Path program<\/a> that hires adults to patrol school perimeters and sometimes walk children home after school. Separately the City of Philadelphia runs a Safe Corridors program<\/a> to escort students before and after the school day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen if one of our kids gets shot or gets killed because you close down the closest school to them, for them to have to go all the way to John Barry, or all the way to Bluford?\u201d Pouncey said.<\/p>\n

Several teachers said the district had forbidden them from talking to the press about the plan. <\/p>\n

One teacher at Lankenau Environmental Science High School, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said the entire school was taken aback to hear the school would be closed and turned into a magnet program at Roxborough High School. <\/p>\n

Much of the school\u2019s programming, she said, relies on its location. It organizes a beekeeping and honey collection event with a community partner, for example, that can only happen at the site. And it has other programming connected to a neighboring environmental education center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re just talking about buildings, and you\u2019re looking at children as numbers, then, yeah, this is what you do,\u201d the teacher said. \u201cBut when you look at the actual educational programming and closing a site like Lankenau, it doesn\u2019t work. You won\u2019t be able to pick the program up and put it into Roxborough.\u201d<\/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

Sammy Caiola covers solutions to gun violence in and around Philadelphia schools. Have ideas for her? Get in touch at scaiola@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. The head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46329,69,71,70,46140],"class_list":["post-94359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-motivation-high-school","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-school-closure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94359","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=94359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}