Nothing About Us Without Us: Students Respond to Possible School Closings

The School District of Philadelphia has “an estimated 70,000 empty seats in more than 280 structures.”*  Combined with a budget gap of more than $490 million, it looks like the district is gearing up to close several schools next year.

School closings affect students in more ways than one, sometimes very critically. When schools get closed for reasons that aren’t clear or well explained to the public, people start to get angry. Usually students who have to travel further to attend a new school feel discouraged and displaced. This could lead to large numbers of students dropping out and being truant. Education is a right and we don’t want to see more kids at risk of becoming a statistic. That in its own sick way leads to a generation of young people who struggle to make a living and survive.

If the school district of Philadelphia is going to shut down schools, it needs to be very prepared to handle the needs of students whose schools they wish to close. Not only that, but they need to be very open and transparent with their decisions and include parents, students, teachers, and the school community.

Many Philadelphia schools are now losing students and have extra seats.  Our schools are also going to have a deficit of funds next year.  For these reasons, the District is planning to close schools. Where are the money and students going?

We know the answers. Student enrollment is going down because of more students transferring to charter schools or moving out of the city. The lack of money in next year’s budget is because federal stimulus money (which PA was using to supplement education funding) has run out, and Gov. Corbett is planning to make deep cuts to education. We can see the district is facing tough decisions, but the real question is: Will these decisions be made with student and community input?  

Closing schools because they are becoming smaller doesn’t make any sense to me. Smaller schools and smaller class sizes are better places for students to learn. It just doesn’t seem right that the district wants to close down schools that now have smaller class sizes, and-- in some cases-- are graduating more students. It feels like the District is punishing schools for becoming exactly what students need.

It has been said that public neighborhood schools that get closed may have to share buildings with charter schools. This could cause lots of climate problems. Combining two different school communities and climates could bring forward fights and feuds, simply because one school has more resources than the other. Convincing communities that two schools with different levels of resources can live and work as one unit would be a lie, and a dangerous prospect for many students. Our school district has focused on school climate and safety this year, stating that they want to create a safe place for students.  If not done the right way, school closings would damage the progress made.

It’s also not a good idea to close a school in one neighborhood and send those students to a school in a different or feuding neighborhood. We have seen this happen in other cities that have had major school closings, such as Chicago.   The results have not been positive. This is not just a Philadelphia problem; it is a problem for other states and cities as well.

In the case that a school needs to be closed because it is under capacity the district needs to involve the community, parents and students. There should be public input about every aspect of the process and communities should be able to make decisions about how their schools will be closed. The people need to be ready for everything that is to come. 
 

By Candace Carter

Philadelphia Student Union's recommendations about school closings

We call on the SRC and the School District to ensure:

1. An open budgeting process to make certain that closing schools is a last resort

2. Transparency in the decision-making process of school closings

3. Communities, families, and students receive advance notice about school closings

4. There is no overcrowding as a result of closures, and that if schools are consolidated they become small schools sharing one building.

5. Neighborhood safety, travel times and cost are strongly considered

6. At least half of the money from the sale of buildings should benefit students who’ve been displaced, if they are sent to high needs schools
 

*Source: Philadelphia Public School Notebook, Feb. 2011

This article was published in the Spring 2011 edition of The Union Rep. Download a pdf of the whole newsletter.

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