School's Out

Neighbors rue the proposed closing of a North Philly high school.

by Shari Dacosta

Shari Dacosta

[ big sad things ]

Last Friday was Spirit Day at North Philly's William Penn High School, and there was an unsettled feeling in the air. Not because the school year was ending — that usually brings a different sort of vibe — but because, this time, it's not clear how long the school will be around. The School Reform Commission is set to vote on Penn's closure next Wednesday, June 24. It would be effective at the end of the 2010 school year.

According to a written statement issued by the Philadelphia School District in March, "The proposed closure of William Penn High School is due to the extremely poor and deteriorating physical condition of the school's dual temperature piping system."

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The district has also attributed its desire to close the school to declining enrollment (the school has a capacity of 2,423 students, but currently has only 588), and to the school's failure to make "Adequate Yearly Progress."

William Penn opened at Broad and Master in 1974. The five-building, 554,000-square-foot campus boasted an Olympic-size pool, a TV and radio studio and a greenhouse. It was intended to be a girls magnet school, with "academies" for students to specialize in different areas. Instead, it wound up a co-ed neighborhood school. In 2008, three of its five buildings were shuttered.

Now neighbors are fighting to keep the school open at all. The Coalition to Revitalize William Penn High School (CRWP) — a combination of community activists and alumni — has been collecting signatures for a petition, and testifying at SRC hearings. It also held a small informational rally outside the school last Wednesday.

These advocates believe that the current location is more convenient for local students, and that the campus has a large amount of unrealized potential. The CRWP wants to re-establish "academies" within the school, so students can specialize in growth industries, such as healthcare or green industry/environment.

"You have to reach these students on a different level," says Ronald Shipman, a 2000 graduate.

The CRWP also faults the district for letting the school reach its current state. Members who recently toured the closed-off buildings say there are literally chalkboards with lessons still on them.

"It's just straight neglect," says Monica Moses, community advocate for state Rep. W. Curtis Thomas, who backs the CRWP.

The school district, meanwhile, says the property just isn't worth the cost. Officials say more than $1 million was spent on utilities there (again, for just 588 students) in fiscal year 2008 alone. They say repairs necessary to rescue the building would cost $25.9 million.

Allison Anderson Acevedo, a legislative specialist for Thomas, suggests that the funding could be allocated from federal stimulus dollars, $106 million of which is set aside specifically for reconstruction. Robert Kirby of the Wharton Centre, a nonprofit community organization that opposes the closure, has even suggested that the district lease part of the facility to Temple University, which many believe the school will be sold to. The district has not commented on what will happen to the building if the school does close.

At the center of all this uncertainty are the students. For them, the biggest problem with the possible closure seems to be the inconvenience.

Shaina Moore, who's finishing her junior year at the school, says she's seen freshmen and sophomores "rush to get their [transfer] applications in." She also says that administrators have helped out with the process.

(editorial@citypaper.net)