Center City residents to get first dibs on some transfers

by Sheila Simmons

Philadelphia School District CEO Paul Vallas said the District will monitor the demographic make-up of students participating in a new initiative that expands school options for families living in Center City.

Students living in the newly established Center City Academic Region – from Poplar Street to Washington Avenue and river to river – beginning in fall 2006 will have priority when applying to any of the dozen neighborhood schools in that region, once students in the receiving school's own neighborhood catchment area have been accommodated.

Alice Heller, executive director of the Center City Academic Region, described the plan as providing a “secondary catchment area” for Center City schools.

District and Center City leaders downplay the concern that the new rule could lessen the number of good school options available to the rest of the city's large population of low-income students and students of color.

Center City District's Paul Levy said the expanded choice is part of a broader initiative aimed at stemming a continued loss of Center City families due to the quality of schools. He added that by reaching families of all racial backgrounds “who have not seen the public schools as an option for them,” the initiative should boost the number of families and businesses that become stakeholders in the city's public schools.

District school choice provisions allow students to transfer to other neighborhood schools as space allows, with lotteries held at schools where there are more applicants than seats. A number of Center City schools are popular: Greenfield, Meredith, McCall, and Bache-Martin are among the District's most sought-after elementary school placements, turning away hundreds of prospective students each year.

Vallas commented, “What we will do after this year is look at the make-up: who's coming in and who's not; has there been a significant change in the breakdown of where the children are coming from? And then we'll make the appropriate adjustment.”

But some education advocates remain worried about the broader effect on opportunities to enter choice schools for those who do not live in Center City.

A number of parents of students at Masterman, a selective admission magnet school at 16th and Spring Garden streets, were concerned about their children's opportunities as well.

During a May press briefing, Vallas acknowledged there had been a push in Center City to establish a set-aside for neighborhood residents at Masterman.

“But we haven't signed off on that, and I don't anticipate that we will,” he said. “Now, maybe two, three years from now, when we have three 'Mastermans,' that might be a consideration.”

Heller said two letters clarifying that the Center City initiative's priority enrollment rule would not affect Masterman and other special admissions schools were mailed to Masterman parents after an initial letter about the Center City region caused complaints.

Meanwhile, District officials stressed that they welcome proposals from business and community leaders in other neighborhoods interested in replicating Center City's special schools region.