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Wissahickon Charter to get $1.5 million grant to expand

The Philadelphia School Partnership will announce Friday that it is awarding a $1.5 million grant to Wissahickon Charter School in Nicetown to help it expand.

The Philadelphia School Partnership will announce Friday that it is awarding a $1.5 million grant to Wissahickon Charter School in Nicetown to help it expand.

A year ago, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission gave the charter school, which has an environmental focus, permission to add a second K-8 campus in 2014.

Kristina Littell, Wissahickon's co-chief executive officer, said the school's second site will be located on Washington Lane in East Germantown.

She said the spot is ideal since it is across the street from the Awbury Arboretum and near several environmental programs.

Littell said Wissahickon was grateful for the partnership's support and "excited to welcome more families into our school community."

The grant from the partnership's Great Schools Fund will be paid over three years.

In March, the William Penn Foundation awarded Wissahickon a $500,000 grant to help cover capital costs of the second campus.

The school received a $75,000 planning grant from the partnership in September to develop a growth plan.

The charter, which opened in 2002, now has 400 students at its site at 4700 Wissahickon Ave.

Plans call for the school to enroll a total of 950 students on both its campuses when it reaches its full enrollment in 2017.