Philly school closings: List of buildings to close; timeline of plan; reactions and live updates

Farah Jimenez, president of the Philadelphia Education Fund, called the plan "incredibly ambitious," presenting new opportunities for students. For instance: Centralizing many career and technical education offerings, which could help more kids access them, Jimenez said.

But Jimenez, who served on the former state-appointed School Reform Commission after it voted in 2013 to close more than 20 Philadelphia schools, also predicted challenges — including managing expectations.

"With a lot of change comes a lot of anxiety," Jimenez said, noting schools' role not just as places of education, but as community hubs.

Robin Cooper, president of the union that represents district principals, said the effects of Thursday’s announcement will be felt for years.

“It’s a loss of history, a loss for Philadelphia,” said Cooper. “Schools are a family, and some families are breaking up.”

Cooper said she understands the math — the district has a lot of old buildings, many of which are have decades of deferred maintenance. A state court affirmed that the district has been underfunded for generations.

As the district released the school closure plan, Simon Hauger, founder of the Workshop School, was skeptical.

Given the school system's billions of dollars in deferred maintenance, "the district does not have the talent and capacity to actually solve this problem," Hauger said. "To me, that's the part that's most frustrating .... This is not their expertise. The solutions they're offering are not going to be good solutions."

Under the plan, Workshop would move into the under-enrolled Overbrook High School in West Philadelphia – which "would be fine," Hauger said. "There's good stuff at that building." But that only makes Overbrook, which Hauger estimated takes millions to run, "slightly more utilized," he said. "It doesn't make sense to me."

City Council members were meeting Thursday morning during the first meeting of the year as news of the school district’s facilities plan became public. Several members, who were briefed on the plan earlier this week, said they understand the need to close and consolidate schools but have concerns about how individual closures could impact communities.

“I’m Philly-born and raised, so there’s always like an emotional attachment to schools,” said Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, a Democrat who chairs the Education Committee. “They are a pillar in a lot of neighborhoods. Whenever you step into a conversation like this, you are always going to be super emotional.”

For example, Thomas attended Russell Conwell Middle School in Kensington, which is slated for closure under the facilities plan. He said he will “adamantly” oppose the district shutting Conwell’s doors.

Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said he’s waiting to see more granular details of the plan, including the list of schools that will be upgraded and what fixes are promised, and hopes information about how much weight was given to every factor that went into the decisions.

But, Steinberg said, “it is devastating for any community to lose their school — the parents, the kids and the staff.”

As for the process that led the district to this moment, Steinberg said it was abundantly clear even to advisory panel members that their viewpoints were just points of information for Watlington’s administration, that no promises about heeding any advice were made.

Outrage mounted for some Thursday morning as district officials began quietly notifying affected communities and groups.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Sharee S. Himmons, a veteran paraprofessional at Fitler Academics Plus, a K-8 in Germantown. “It feels like a family member is dying.”

Himmons is enrolled in the district’s paraprofessional pathways program, taking college courses to earn her degree and teacher certification. She was sitting in her math class at La Salle University when she found out Fitler was slated for closure. She began crying. She failed a test she was taking because her concentration was shot, she said.

Here are the 20 schools that would close under Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr.'s revitalization plan:

Elementary schools

Middle schools

Most schools — 159 — would be modernized under the proposed plan. (Frankford High, which closed for two years because of asbestos issues and just re-opened this fall with $30 million of work to spruce it up, is an example the district cited of a modernization.)

An additional 122 fall into the “maintain” category, meaning they’ll just receive regular upkeep.

Six facilities would be co-located, meaning they would be two separate schools housed under one roof, each with its own principal and team.