Dozens of students, teachers, principals, and school staff rallied outside School District headquarters Thursday, chanting “Where’s the mayor?” as the Board of Education took up $200 million for four priority schools, while 17 other schools are set to close in June.
The rally outside 440 North Broad Street came ahead of Thursday’s Board meeting, and City Council members joined the crowd, pressing Mayor Cherelle Parker to step in and reconsider the closures.
“We’re asking the mayor: Please get involved. Step off the sideline,” said Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, chair of Council’s Education Committee. “Help us fix this problem. Save our schools.”
Councilmember Rue Landau said, “The mayor has to come to the table … to broker a deal to keep our schools open.” Councilmember Jamie Gauthier added, “The public deserves for her to speak on this, the public deserves for her to slow this down.”
Union leaders were in the crowd as well. Dr. Robin Cooper, president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators, led chants to “save our schools.” Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said, “Fix our buildings. Save our schools. Do not close them.”
Parker has positioned herself in support of the closures, which the Board approved in April, but she has largely stayed out of the debate. Her chief education officer, Debora Carrera, said in August that “Mayor Parker supports the plan” and will work with the district, City Council, and state lawmakers to help fund it. Board members serve at the pleasure of the mayor, giving her a level of influence over their decisions.
The closures are part of a $3 billion facilities plan to modernize nearly 170 schools over the next ten years. Board President Reginald Streater has said the closures are necessary to ensure students go to class in high-quality buildings, and the plan addresses hundreds of empty seats as district enrollment declines. The district expects to pay for the plan with $2 billion in public and philanthropic grants it has not yet secured.
Thursday evening, the Board took up $200 million to begin some of the plan’s “highest priority projects”: building improvements for Bache Martin School, Joseph W. Catharine School, John M. Patterson School, and Franklin S. Edmonds School. Superintendent Tony Watlington highlighted the four schools as set to receive the investments.
What remains unresolved for families is where their children go next. Transition teams sent placement letters to students at closing schools, but many students say they still do not know where they will attend next year. Lankenau High School student Aasiyah Rivera said, “I have to figure out what school I have to go to, and because of the lottery it is not as easy to get into another school.” Her classmate Ali Martin said, “I am really sad about it because this is my sophomore year then I have to do two more years at a whole different school, I do not know any people there.”
For Northeast families, the same uncertainty applies: the plan is citywide, and placement answers are still pending for students at schools slated to close.
