Sweeping Assessment of Philly Schools Will Take Four Years (Part 1 of 2)
In a struggling school system clawing its way out of mediocrity and unprecedented growth beyond the scope of its infrastructure, a major overhaul is long overdue. It was announced recently that the Philadelphia School District will be rolling out an extensive study of its current school buildings and programs, taking into account demographic trends and the future of the system. The examination is expected to take four years.
The district has never undertaken such an expansive project before. Based on the results, significant and sweeping changes could be coming – and coming soon. The project will have waves, and the first wave will impact almost two dozen schools with possibly new schools, replacement of old buildings, and changes to boundary maps and grade configuration. This might be the first step in what leads to more controversial school closings as well.
The problem at hand
One of the biggest issues currently facing Philadelphia schools is the unequal distribution of students. In areas of booming real estate, such as Center City, Northeast Philly and South Philly, schools face overcrowding and unusual wear and tear on facilities due to the influx of young families into the areas. Other neighborhoods have seen either lower birth rates, or fewer families opting for mainstream schooling and traditional public schools. Instead, they are homeschooling, joining co-ops, or enrolling in private or charter schools – and enrollment at area schools is merely a fraction of the capacity for which the school was built. Across the school system there are also the problems of large inconsistencies in both academic programs and configuration of grades.
It’s not that the district hasn’t been attempting to ameliorate these problems. Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has been lauded for the gradual, albeit dragged-out progress he’s made under his administration. Hite acknowledges that Philadelphia has “much more work to do” before all of the city’s children have access to strong neighborhood schools across Philadelphia.
The plan, as it stands
The plan as it stands, per district officials, is to retain national experts and integrate their suggestions with Philadelphia’s planning department to complete the process. Buildings that are owned by the city, but not currently being used as school buildings, will definitely be taken into account and possibly utilized, says the Philadelphia Inquirer.
This is not Philadelphia’s first rodeo with consultants and possible massive changes to the status quo. Before Hite assumed the office of superintendent in 2012, the city retained the Boston Consulting Group to assess the school system. The controversial and unforgettable report recommended shuttering no less than fifty-seven schools. Meanwhile, the district was in the clutches of a financial crisis so severe that it was looking at having to lay off thousands of school employees, even with dozens of schools closing. The fact is that the school district had been hemorrhaging students to charter schools by the tens of thousands for the last decade and a half, and had never made the changes required to deal with the new reality.
“Now, we’re faced with a good number of schools and a good number of communities that are very limited in the space that’s available because people are actually trying to get into those communities and those schools,” Hite announced today during a briefing discussing the changes. “We’re trying to emphasize a forward-thinking approach to how we manage our assets in terms of the utilization of school facilities.”
