Spring 2008 edition Activism around the city

Activism around the city

YUC: Small schools aren't small any more

Photo: Paul Socolar

Kensington students march past the building housing Kengsington Culinary during the February 27 Youth United for Change protest of school overcrowding

by Paul Socolar

In 2005, after years of pressure from the student organizing group Youth United for Change, the School District divided the former Kensington High School into three “small schools.” A fourth is being built.

But YUC members say the District has gone back on its commitment to small schools at Kensington by allowing the three schools to become overcrowded.

Two hundred YUC members staged a morning protest outside the school February 27 to bring attention to the overcrowding and then met with District officials to discuss how to ease the situation.

Based on data about feeder schools, YUC members warn that the three schools comprising the “Kensington multiplex,” where total enrollment is now more than 1,500 students, will be even larger next year. YUC says these small high schools should be limited to about 400 students apiece.

“They’re giving us new feeder schools and more ninth grade students when we’re overcrowded already,” said Marcella Gibbs, a YUC member and senior at Kensington Business.

“Our classes are really crowded…there’s only one stairway and it’s always packed,” Gibbs said. “The lunchroom is so crowded – there’s no place to sit down.”

District spokesperson Felecia Ward said that the District is continuing to discuss with YUC students how to alleviate overcrowding next fall. A District proposal would limit the total number of incoming freshman at the three schools next year to 270, redirecting many incoming students, primarily to nearby Carroll and Douglas high schools. YUC has proposed opening the planned fourth Kensington school next fall at a temporary site.

Parents protest new delays at Willard

Parents and community members affiliated with the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project, who for years have been calling for construction of a new Willard School in Kensington, have had to keep their eyes on the prize. A promised groundbreaking – first slated for early 2008 and then for the spring – has now been pushed back to early fall due to delays in the site acquisition.

But after a phone campaign to City Hall and the School District and meetings with key officials, transfer to the District of the abandoned Franklin Recreation Center – formerly a cemetery – finally looks imminent.

“We did what we could to light a fire under them,” said neighbor Tina Sellers, who is active in EPOP and the Free Church of St. John. “We were looking for an opening in 2009.”

While that completion date now looks unlikely, a District spokesperson reported that “good progress is being made on the negotiations under Mayor Nutter.” Last fall, talks between the District and the Street administration over the land had reached an impasse.

Sellers, who attended Willard, as did her children, stays involved because “I want us to do what we can to improve that neighborhood.”

The oldest un-remodeled structure in continuous District usage, Willard now lacks a library, gym, and cafeteria, and it has only one set of bathrooms – in the basement.

School funds coming, Parking Authority says

After meeting with Mayor Nutter, Philadelphia Parking Authority leaders said December 17 that they would give $1.25 million to the School District this fiscal year with another $1.75 million the following year. This will be the PPA’s first contribution for schools since 2004.

The payment comes after the advocacy group Parents United for Public Education, backed by other organizations, launched a campaign calling attention to the PPA’s unfulfilled promise to provide schools with $20 million over a five-year period.

The majority of money for schools comes from reserves the PPA kept for self-insurance.

Demands for the PPA to act grew after The Inquirer and the Daily News ran several articles highlighting the struggle and reporting on the high salaries and generous benefits of the PPA’s top executives, as well as the rapid increase in its payroll since the state’s takeover in 2001.

Helen Gym, a founder of Parents United for Public Education, commented, “I think there’s a lot more [money] that could be there. It’s what was settled on at the time, given a lot of public pressure.”

PPA spokesperson Linda J. Miller called the deal “a good step in the right direction,” and added that “we’re definitely on target for the amount that we said we would give.”

According to current laws, the city is entitled to the first $25 million in profit generated from “on-street parking funds.” The District is eligible to receive PPA profits in excess of this.

-Stephen Kummerling