Morgan Thomas. Okay. That's good. Please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony.
Morgan Thomas. Hello. I am a 10th grade student at Lankenau Environmental High School. First, I want to thank you for your time and giving me the opportunity to be here. In the two years I've attended Lankenau, all I've noticed monumental changes and not only my mental and physical health, but who I am and how I act as a person. I went to a big middle school and I always felt lost and like I was never -- I never had a place, and it was always just so tight and stuffy there. Once I went to Lankenau, all those problems went away for me. The woods around my school allows me to have a serene space where I can clear my head and appreciate nature as well as conduct projects for the school that better help our environment. I can't do that anywhere else. Lankenau has a hundred percent graduation rate -- graduation rate, and I -- and myself personally have been on honor roll since I started Lankenau. We have dual enrollment with multiple schools and we have internships unique to our environmental focus. I have been exposed to so many opportunities, not only as a young woman, but as a black woman that has -- that Lankenau has able -- been able to provide for me as a person. I've always been a shy person, but Lankenau has taught me how to use my voice and that it matters, and even have the courage to speak in front of you all now. Today I use this voice to ask that you hear the pleas and voices of your community and keep this one of a kind school open. Please save Lankenau.
Thank you very much for testimony. Please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony.
Okay. Hold on a second. COUNCILMEMBER PHILIPS:1 I'm a 9th Grader at Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet Philadelphia. I'm not a politician, I'm not an expert in budgets; I'm just a student who really loves her school, and I don't want to see it close. Lankenau is different from any other school in the city. We don't just sit in the classrooms all day reading about science; we actually go outside and experience it. Our campus is part of how we learn. In a city like Philadelphia where not every neighborhood has a safe, green space, being able to learn outside isn't just nice. It makes a real difference in our lives. It helps us focus. It helps us with stress. It makes school feel less overwhelming. We also work on real environmental projects. For example, we do the trout in the classroom project where we raise trout from eggs and learn about water quality ecosystem and conservation before releasing them. That teaches us responsibility. It teaches us that what happens in our city streams and rivers actually matters. It makes science feel real because it is real. I chose Lankenau because I wanted something different. I didn't want to feel like I was stuck in a building all day. I didn't -I wanted to learn in a way that connected the real world to that. And that's what I found here. Our teachers, they really know us. They check on us and they care about who we are, not just our grades. And as a freshman, that really matters. High school is a big transition and Lankenau made that transition feel safe. When you talk about closing schools in Philadelphia, it might just sound like numbers for you, but for me, it's my routine, my teachers, my friends, in a place where I'm starting to figure out my future. You can't just move a school like Lankenau somewhere else and expect it to be the same. The land, the projects, the community, that's what makes it work. Philadelphia says it cares about opportunity and equity. For students like me, Lankenau is opportunity. Please don't let them take that away from us. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
All right. Hello. My name is Juniper Saxarone, and I am a freshman that attends Lankenau. So as we established, Lankenau has been chosen for closure based on the school facilities master plan criteria. But this criteria is flawed and fails to recognize how Lankenau works, how it educates its students, and how the campus plays into that. We have some of the best performing CTE programs in Philadelphia, let alone one of only two schools that offer CTE AFNR programs in the state of Pennsylvania. They say that us having a low neighborhood vulnerability risk is a factor they considered. But this lets us harbor a safe welcoming environment for children, so why move us? Kids from 29 different zip codes all over the city travel two, three hours just to be a part of what Lankenau offers. The Schuylkill Center is up the street. We have fields, we have a vast woodland area, and we have bodies of water. An interactive campus like this helps students gain a deeper understanding of the curriculum and apply these lessons to real world situations. We do not have an inadequate gym or auditorium. We already have these facilities outside. Even if you ignore Lankenau's evidence success, shutting the school down would be a disservice to the city itself and the school board's goals. Our CTE programs produce percent of the city's workers, which in turn benefits workforce development as a whole. Our students typically perform higher than district averages on state tests. And the only way we reach our 100 percent graduation rate is by making sure every student meets state standards. If we were to try to move our programs and curriculum to Roxborough, it would only fall apart. There's no green campus there. There's no way for us to receive the same opportunities. We would lose a huge portion of our 76 partners who only work with us because of where we are. The school board wants results and we are the results, yet they try to shut us down using insufficient criteria that doesn't even apply to us. That doesn't make any sense. I ask you to reconsider the school facility's master plan criteria as Lankenau is a city asset. And thank you for your time.
Excuse me, young lady. Can you come back? Excuse me. Excuse me, young lady. Juniper, was it?
Juniper. Come on back. Have a seat. All of you come on back that participated. As -- and I listened to testimony, as well we have Channel 64 covering this, and I just want to thank all of you for your leadership. Thank you for being here, speaking truth to power and making a choice to be an advocate, making a choice to fight, and making a choice to resist. And so on behalf of City Council, as City Council president, I just want to say thank you very much for your leadership.
Please state your name for the -- for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is Winston Hayes, and I would just like to say thank you for allowing me the ability to speak here, President Kenyatta Johnson, everybody in the council body. Honestly, I had a script here to go by, but everything that you-all talked about during the meeting, it just -- it just hit every point. So I would just truly like to thank you all. If I had the ability to give you all a standing ovation, I would. Yeah, Lankenau, honestly, it's a hidden gem. As mentioned, it's a hidden gem. Three-year CTE, the only three-year CTE in the -- in the district. A hundred percent graduation rate. Got programs like GIS, Geographical Information Systems, like the map that was presented to you all earlier that was made with GIS, that's only possible here at Lankenau. We are the only school with the teacher who's certified to teach that. And I just wanted to mention, before this meeting happened, I had a conversation with Board President Streater, and he had mentioned how before it changed to environmental science, that was the focus, it had things like the choir, things like student government. But if homework was truly done on Lankenau, it would be known that that can still happen at Lankenau, even if it's not environmental. Students have the ability to create clubs and programs on their own as long as they have support from a teacher. So to say that things like that is what's affecting it, it's not entirely right. And then the land, the 9 acres with the value of 7 million, 10 that -- to take that away from 11 students who are using that property 12 and the 400 acres that we have 13 access to, to take that away from 14 students who want to get into the 15 world of environmental science, 16 that's crazy to me. That doesn't 17 seem logical at all. And, yeah, I really have nothing else to say. Like -- yeah, like I said, you-all hit all the points I wanted to hit earlier before I came to this meeting. So I say thank you for your time.
Thank you all very much. Would Adam Blyweiss, Lisa Sally, and Maya Stevenson, please come forward. Ms. Celia Thompson also, please come forward. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Either one of you just please begin. State your name for the record. Sir, why don't you go first. State your name for the record, and please proceed with your testimony.
Adam Blyweiss. I have a whole bunch of details and examples I'd love to get into -- but I don't have a whole lot of time, so I'll just do something broad. I'm a PFT teacher at Mastbaum standing in solidarity with schools targeted in the school district's facilities plan. Its effects will ripple beyond just the buildings named in it, and an injury to one is an injury to all. I'm also speaking today as a district parent, one who participated in the advisory panels set up to help guide this plan, and then joined with other teachers and community leaders to form the group, Stand Up for Philly Schools, to alert our citizens and peers about the flaws and opacity in the planning process. During and after our advisory work, we begged for a better understanding of publicly available scoring and underlying data or logical decisions behind it. These were never clarified. We saw data that was inaccurate or confusing, but rarely corrected. We wanted to present ideas or plans of our own based on personal experience. We were never given the chance. We were told we could give input and envision the future. We were sold a bill of goods. For all of the steps forward, this plan promises on buzzwords like equity and access and capacity. The reality and unintended consequences suggest two steps back. We need to remind Dr. Watlington through this forum, remind the Board of Education and Mayor Parker through this forum, and emphasize to the rest of the city in this forum that the idea of closed and merged schools never came from your neighbors. It was brought to us from SDP from the start. The so-called conversation that needed to be had has been one-sided. I taught at a school closed as part of 2012 strategic planning, so I share a wide belief that this proposal will harm students, families, schools, neighborhoods, district employees, and the city as a whole. You, City Council, must stand up for Philly schools and find a way to support the recall and revision of the school district's plans. Save these schools and tell 440 they can and must do better. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Lisa Sally, and I'm actually a former member of the school board when some of this process started. I'm also a native Philadelphian and a product of the Philadelphia Public School System. I went to PennyPacker in West Oak Lane, which is on the list. I also went to Masterman, and I'm also a graduate of the Philadelphia High Schools for Girls. And I'm here because I didn't have any other choice. I did participate in the community sessions on this discussion, and many of my comments and several of what I witnessed in the room fell on deaf ears. The second thing I did after attending those sessions was, I reached out to Reggie Streater directly as the president of the board, and also reached out directly to Dr. Watlington and said, let's talk about your process. Right? Your process is flawed. And so that -- I was promised a meeting. I followed up multiple times, the meeting never came to fruition. And I'll tell you my background, which I -- why I felt so adamant about it. My public school education in Philadelphia allowed me to go to Carnegie Mellon, where my first degree was in metallurgical engineering and material science. My second degree, my graduate studies, is also in engineering, but it's in the sciences and engineering systems. I have a deep expertise in modeling and simulating, and making transformation, deep transformations in multi-billion-dollar organizations, in particular, using the data, writing the model, using the science essentially. And so I come out of that deep expertise in the concern from my Philadelphia and our Philadelphia. So I also failed to say thank you for the opportunity to speak in this way. I do want to say that Philadelphia's children deserve schools that are safe, that are modern, and that are sustainable and designed to meet their developmental needs and prepare them for their future dreams. The School District of Philadelphia, when you compare it to the last time we went through this process, has made real progress. It has gathered an unprecedented amount of facilities data, right? It has launched public dashboards, it's engaged communities citywide, and it has outlined a long-term capital vision. But these steps showed improved commitment and transparency, but the progress alone is inadequate. The work is incomplete. The current analysis is a series of silos. What is needed is an integrated analysis. Currently, the series of silos, the sum of the parts do not equal the whole. There is no due diligence, there is no sensitivity, there are no assumptions being viewed publicly. All of the questions, all of this discussion today, should have been subject to a sensitivity analysis, which is a 101 technique when you do this type of evaluation. It is called simulation. It is a standard model. Ten years is a long time to implement anything in today's world. Ten years, if you think about it, the children in kindergarten today, in years will be about years 7 old. So we're going to take the 8 time that it -- people that are 9 currently in kindergarten to the 10 10th grade to figure this out? That 11 sounds ludicrous. The works is 12 currently too emotional, it fails to 13 express the balanced conversation, 14 what is being taken and what is 15 being given and the why behind it all. It fails to adequately consider implementation benchmarked from other districts nearby who have all invested in middle schools. And it also takes -- does not take advantage of all the corporate partners here who have offered to lend support with the analysis method. The district has the pieces of a strong plan, but it lacks a fully institutionalized rules-based model and portfolio management system. Simulation and forecasting are required at a minimum. It is missing. Ten years, as I mentioned, is a very long horizon spanning multiple superintendents, potentially, multiple councils and mayors.
Without clear rules and independent analytic oversight, the plan risk stalling or being hijacked by politics. So, in addition to an overly long planning horizon, there are four critical gaps I want to identify today. First, clear decision thresholds are missing. No 21 one knows what the criteria is, what utilization rates trigger a review, what facility condition index signals renovation versus closure, or what cost per seat guides new construction. Number two, monitoring tools or strategies are clearly underused. AI driven enrollment and utilization modeling can optimize assignments and predict demographic shifts. Green strategies like solar rooftops on the schools, even the existing schools, in energy efficient retrofits reduced costs, support climate goals and service learning labs. New revenue streams from multi-use facilities or community partnerships can fund ongoing maintenance and programs. Number three, the scenario modeling and student-centered design -- the student-centered design are incomplete. Families need side-by- side comparisons of the rolling five-year costs, travel and transportation impacts, equity implications, developmentally appropriate learning environments, and validated career readiness pathways. Current K-8 models may mix too many ages, which can dilute developmental support. Age-appropriate groupings also should guide planning. Lastly --and I'll mention this here -- the fourth gap is that staffing is insufficient. Managing hundreds of buildings and billions in capital over a decade, and with gray-haired facility staff, requires an expert strategic portfolio analytics office, or, at a minimum, an advisory board that is independent, professional, and durable.
I'm sorry, Lisa, we got a -- can you give us the summary, please?
Yes, I can. So council has a critical role to play. I respectfully urge you to take the following three actions. Request a published utilization condition and cost per seat threshold. Number two, request integrated scenario analysis, the sensitivity analysis, showing cost, equity, travel, developmental and environmental trade off with clear funding guidance. And number three, support the opening of a long-term independent strategic portfolio analytics office or advisory board. Philadelphia cannot afford a half-baked facilities plan that only survives half a turn. Let's build a system that lasts a decade and beyond for every child, every age in every neighborhood for generations to come. Thank you.
Lisa, if you -- if you don't mind, I have staff over there. If you could just give us your comments so we can make sure that we listen to everything that was said and the things you didn't read as well too. As a former board member, we definitely appreciate your service and your perspective.
Thank you very much for your testimony, ma'am. Ma'am, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Cecilia Thompson and I am a former school board member, 227 class of Philadelphia High School for girls, and my severely disabled son is a proud graduate of MLK High School. I'm only going to talk about the meetings that I attended. And I'll -- I am also part of Councilmember Gauthier's 3rd District. This seems like they want to make neighborhood schools great again. Let's start with Bartram. And this is not about the principals or anything like that. It's about the socioeconomic -- what's going on in the neighborhoods. Bartram Motivation made it crystal clear they are not going to the Bartram main building. What they talked about happened 50 years ago, when Motivation went to 78th and Buist. And then in 2012, they went down here to 58th and Baltimore. The answer is, Well, work with us during the planning. Motivation said, We already told you, unless you can give us a plan right now, we're not working with you during that planning year. Some of those individuals said they might do online learning. They would go to Parkway West, but that's being folded into SLA Beeber. They would go to Paul Robeson, but that's scheduled for closing. So most of them are going to go -- from what I heard, are going to go online. Now, let's talk about Robeson. There's a real -- whatever is going on with the children between Robeson and Sayre High School. This is what happens when you have people that don't live here making decisions for people that live here and don't do their homework. Paul Robeson said they're not going. The parents said it and the students said it. So I don't know what's going to happen with this situation. One second. While Parkway West is going to be folded into SLA Beeber, I love both of those principals. They are strong, caring Black men. The early childhood program is run by KenCrest, not the district. So if KenCrest, an outside agency, decides not to go, then I don't know what's going to happen. And you are the lawmakers. So this foolishness doesn't happen again, you can legislate that any and all facilities decisions that will disband, displace, or disrupt a neighborhood must be presented to you all at a minimum of 90 calendar days before any such conversation. And secondly, you can also legislate that no school shall be disrupted, disbanded, or displaced for administrative uses. Case in point, Overbrook Elementary, which is the third time this is being put up for closure. It is only for closure so the district can have some administrative offices. They can use that annex behind the main school at Beeber to put staff in and leave those students -- leave those children-there. Same thing with Robert Morris. They want that to be the Office of Diverse Learners hub. Okay. They don't need to disrupt that community when they can go into Blankenburg, which got more than enough space to put staff in if that's what they want to do. We are counting on you. We voted for you because we want you all to help us. We want you to -- I'm not saying schools need not to be closed, but why is it that when schools are closed, it's always the 3rd District? It's always something in the 4th District? It's never the greater Northeast, which in March of 2025, the district is spending and approved $11 million on trailers, but they can't put a trailer in Lankenau, which they said the reason it is closing is because they don't have a gym, or they don't have an auditorium. You can put one there and then that's the end of that conversation. And let me calm down because I'm getting excited. I just want to thank you for the opportunity to share, and I think the Council President asked, Were there conversations with the community? No, it's not a conversation with the community; it's a dictation. This is what we're going to do, and when the board votes on this, we will plan with you all in that 26/27 school year. They're not listening to the schools that I just mentioned.
And we are appealing to this body to help us save our schools. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your testimony, and thank you, and Lisa, for your service on our school board. It is very much appreciated. Before we move on, I just want to reiterate that we can only allow two minutes for public comment. Yeah, so when you hear the dinging, I'm trying not to interrupt folks because I know you've been waiting a long time, and you have a lot to say, and we want to try to listen to as much as possible. But please think about the person who hasn't spoken yet. We still have a long list of people who want to get their remarks in. So please try to keep it to two minutes so we can get everyone in before our stenographer and other folks need to take a break.
You're fine. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Mia Svenson, or Ms. S, and I'm a special education teacher at Blankenburg Elementary School. This is my first year at Blankenburg and my first year with the school district, but I bring 10 years of experience in public education, curriculum writing, and Early Head Start. And I'm here because I oppose the district's plan to close our school. After winter break, four of my students, a 2nd grader, a 1st grader, and two kindergartners, one of whose mother and grandmother are here today, discovered a dead ladybug in my classroom. They asked if it was dead; it was. Then we talked about the environments in which ladybugs live and how classrooms, our classroom, may not have been the best environment for a ladybug. They noticed the ladybug's wing was broken, and we agreed to keep her and try to fix her name -- fix her wing. We named her Lucy. Every day these four students asked to check on Lucy. One of the kindergartners even completed a puzzle spelling the word bug and insisted on showing Lucy the puzzle. I share this story because Blankenburg may not have been the best environment for that ladybug, but it is the best environment for our students. It's a place where they can be curious and ask questions, where they can be creative and solve problems, from a broken wing to puzzles, to addition, subtraction, and improper fractions, and where they can wonder and work together in spite of age or ability. Blankenburg is part of the acceleration network, meaning we receive additional support to improve academics, such as smaller class sizes and professional development for staff. These supports are working. This can be seen in our change in designation from CSI, Comprehensive Support and Improvement to TSI, Targeted Support and Improvement, our improved STAR test scores, and most importantly, in the relationships between students and teachers afforded by small class sizes. At Blankenburg, we say, Destined for greatness -- AUDIENCE: Updated by progress.
The plan to close our school disregards the progress we have made, derails the progress we will continue to make, and ultimately hurts our students and school community. Thank you.
Thank you for your service, and thank you for sticking to our time limit. We truly appreciate it. And to all of the other members of the school, thank you for being here today.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Will Paul Brown, Stacey Mandell, and Sarah Ambre, please come forward. Also, could Fernando Cordera, Dr. Elena Evans and Samantha Bromfield, please come forward. Okay. Also, Renee Rowdy and Daniel Rothman, Esra Shaharta, please come forward. Sir, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Paul Brown. Hi. My name is Paul Brown. I'm a school psychologist at Roxborough High School. I'm here as a member of Brewerytown Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition and Stand Up for Philly Schools. I'm speaking against the facilities plan. I would just want to highlight the district has been able to find $2.8 billion to implement this project. However, $1.8 billion of that is not guaranteed to ensure the entirety of this plan. The district claims that this plan is to ensure greater equity within the district. But what does that plan mean when the district already does not provide enough adequate funding for our schools, which is one of the reasons why families don't attend neighborhood schools. There's a promise to invest in schools that are receiving an influx of students through this plan, but I don't want the improvements of my school to come at the expense of another. That's not equity. I'm looking at that $2.8 billion and not understanding why it can't be used to expand educational programming at Roxborough High School or any of these public schools individually, but apparently can be used to build two-year round schools that no one asks for. This plan does not expand access to quality education. It shrinks it. When we're talking about these kids, the only thing we should be talking about is pouring into them. And that looks like investment. We shouldn't be closing any of these schools. We should be investing in the ones we have. If people ask about public schools in Philadelphia, the only reason why they're bad is because we don't invest in them. Just give them the money. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Sir, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Hi. My name is Fernando Cordero, a parent representing the parents at Moffet School. We are here talking because our school is about to be merged with Hackett, and they're being turned into a middle school, which affects our students. Moffet is a thriving school in a community that is diverse, and it demonstrates what a sustainable investment can achieve. Removing it as an elementary school risks destabilizing families and increasing inequity and representing -- and repeating past mistakes by shifting students without addressing the root issues like underinvestment, access, and trust. Our big issue is the lack of transparency that makes it seem like there's no good faith. The Moffet merger does not appear anywhere in the district website. Many in the wider community are still unaware about it because it was not announced publicly anywhere. Now, by closing Ludlow and converting Moffet to a middle school, you're leaving South Kensington without a neighborhood elementary school. Young elementary school children in the neighborhood are going to have to make long commutes without transportation or a caregiver who can accompany them. This raises safety concerns if the merger goes through. Moffet's students who are predominantly black, brown, and Hispanic will bear most of the burden in terms of longer commutes into unfamiliar neighborhoods. There is evidence in our neighborhood of further demand. There's new houses being built with young families. The birth rate is going up. Parents want to send their children to Moffet, and they're not being allowed to. Moffet is a high-performing school with robust programming, tight-knit community that also serves a uniquely diverse community. It's not just racially, but socio- economically and linguistically, and also serves a range of educational needs, from autistic support to special education. This is something that cannot be easily replicated. It's not just a school; it's a family. Thank you.
Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your testimony.
Hello. My name's Dan Rothman. I'm the father of Alana Rothman, who's a sophomore at Lankenau High School. I want to thank City Council for this hearing. Since this was announced, the closing of Lankenau on January 22nd, this is the fourth meeting I've gone to. And I want to say that I appreciate City Council, because while the school district and the Board of Education have been present at all these meetings, I really feel like they're not listening. We'll just throw that in there. And I feel that our only voice that's -- the only people that are listening to our voice is City Council. So very much appreciated. Lankenau is a unique institution. I think people don't realize that it's the sum of the mission, environmental science, the location, 17 acres in a 400-acre nature preserve, the unique educators, dedicated staff, and the students who travel from all over Philadelphia to get to that school and who want to be in that school. All of that comes together to form that success story. That unique institution is Lankenau. And if that institution is destroyed, it'll be near impossible to rebuild because all those unique factors will not come together again. You know, the students, they're traveling to Lankenau, they're not going to go to Roxborough. The population will be gone. The teachers will be dispersed throughout the -- throughout the school district. The facility will no longer be there. It's going to be over. And how will we ever get that type of confluence of factors together again to build that type of institution? It won't happen. So we're going to lose this and we'll never get it back. It's very sad. I found that the whole -- this whole sort of journey has been predicated on a lot of assumptions. But in general, I feel that there was a destination, these factors that weren't impartial process. They had a destination. Most of the schools are already closed. We've got ones that they wanted to close back in 2013. The factors were predetermined to get the result. They weren't impartial. And I think it needs to be challenged. And thank you so much for your sympathy and letting us voice our opinions and for your support. Please --
Thank you for your advocacy as a parent. It is very much appreciated. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Samantha Bromfield. I am the school principal at Paul Robeson High School. So I just want to give a little background about my students. I come from a Catholic school background. I've always went to a private school. My oldest son, who is now his second year of college, always went to a private school. My twins, who have been homeschooled prior to COVID, I decided to send them to a school because they wanted to be in a school environment. I tried to send them to Sayre, Sayre was full. God blessed and made it work, so my children could be enrolled in Paul Robeson. Since the day that they entered into Paul Robeson, number one, I've seen nothing but acceleration in their drive. My daughter is now on honor roll. I'm not saying she wasn't before, but knows that she didn't like where she was being homeschooled. So they've given her something that she's been able to grow on and accelerate her drive. Paul Robeson is a very homey school. And what I mean by that is everyone knows everyone, which is something great, something you don't get too often. We have a 95 percent rate of graduation, which is very high. The school may be small, but small means great, and I need everyone to understand that we have not been heard. What I mean by that is no 22 one contacted the Homeless School president to say, hey, this is what our ideas are, so that we can implement options. Please do not close Paul Robeson. The biggest part for me is give us another school, give us another option. But merging students with other students who might not get along in certain areas will lead me to making a choice of making my child be homeschooled again. Because once again, I have a choice as a parent, and my choice comes first. Thank you very much.
Thank you for that perspective. It's important. We definitely appreciate it. Thank you. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Yes. My name is Dr. Alana Evans, and I am the SPECM, which is a Special Ed Compliance Manager at Paul Robeson High School. And at our school -- it's every school. If you don't feel this way about your school, I don't know, but it's a special school. It's a diamond in the rough. It is a high school that I actually started in 2017, because I was part of the first wave of closure, which was University City High School. I was unable to attend University City High School meetings because my father was passing away. And I promised myself if I ever went through this again, that I was going to stand up and make my voice heard. And I don't care where it goes, but I'm making my voice heard. Paul Robeson is a gentleman who believed in this legacy, and this is what we stand behind: to develop well-rounded individuals committed to social justice, racial equality, and global solidarity. It is a very special school and near and dear to my heart. What I love about Paul Robeson is that we teach our children to build your own brand. What does that mean? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? And we will help you build that road to there. We are their bridge. The teachers are their bridge to getting them there. That's why we have someone at Harvard University who is in their junior year. That's why we have a whole bunch of students at Lankenau, Howard, Cheyney, you name it, Penn State. There's so many around. We have dual enrollment. I don't know about -- yeah, dual enrollment, Harrisburg University, community college. They go down there, and they can connect to the CTE programs that are at community college and get college credits. We also have a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, and with that partnership we receive -- and this is just one grant -- $330,000 annually to help us to build certain programs into our school, which no one has asked us about. And I'm just going to say this, and I need to say it because it got underneath my skin. We have been making keystone waves since we've been doing the afterschool program and so forth. We are now leading. If you look at the data, we're leading our network with STAR data because they threw that in as well. Thanks for allowing me to share.
Thank you for the passionate testimony. I'm sure Councilmember Gauthier appreciates that as the person who represents the school that you're talking about. So we definitely appreciate you being here. Thank you.
Could Flora Thomas, Derrick Washington. Mama Gale, Hora Stewart, please come forward.
And while those folks are making their way to come testify, I just want to put on a record that some of the Councilmembers who are not here right now had to leave because there is another community meeting happening at Ben Franklin this evening at 5:30. So if you notice the room 17 is thinning out a little bit, we're human, some folks got to eat. But then on top of that, we do have council representation that will be at Ben Franklin this evening for the community dialogue around this same topic as it relates to school facility. So I just wanted to put that on the record. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony. It doesn't matter. Rock, paper, scissors.
Good afternoon. My name is Florie Thomas. I teach middle school at Blankenburg Elementary School. I am the middle school union rep as well. I just want to start by saying Blankenburg belongs to Network 3. Blankenburg is the success story of that network. It is the only school that moved from CSI to TSI status. Based on the January 22nd announcement, the official reassignment logic for Blankenburg was underutilization and excessive cost for repairs. Blankenburg is a national historic landmark. I do know that there is supposed to be a duty to repair. So it bothers me to know that some of these repairs have existed as long as I've worked there. And I started working there during 2020. Some of the repairs have existed and haven't been acted on. So it's really discouraging and upsetting to now be told that the building is too damaged. I mean, at my house, if you have a bad roof, you get a notice from the township. So I'm not sure how this happened. But in any event, the status of our school is to close and convey. Blankenburg is supposed to be, according to what I've researched, given to the city for the purpose of repurposing it for affordable housing. I definitely support affordable housing for working families. However, affordable housing can become transient housing, especially if those families start to look around and realize that three charter schools that surround them may not even be accessible to the children in that affordable housing space, as those schools are using lotteries and bringing people in from all over the city, so they could possibly find it beneficial to move on. I want to talk about the receiving schools. Oh, was that my time? Okay. The receiving schools: Heston and Rhodes. I just want to say the district said that the students would be moving to better conditions. I have to disagree with that because Rudolph Blankenburg stands as an asbestos-free building in the network, while the other two schools are struggling with asbestos concerns. In fact, as recently as May 2025, Rhodes was flagged for damaged asbestos in student-occupied spaces. It's illogical to move students from a clean, safe building into older facilities that have hazardous material monitoring. The second thing, the capacity and cost. Both of those schools are already up to 90 percent at least capacity. Okay. And -- okay. So I guess I want to stay mostly with the fact that we've moved our students, we have smaller classroom sizes, and to put them in a different school is going to not only impact the status we've obtained, but I think it'll also slow down Rhodes and Heston from reaching their goal, their CSI. So they want to be TSI as well, and I just think all of these changes will impact our students' outcome.
We're sorry to cut you time, but we want to hear from everybody.
Clearly, your remarks are valuable just like in everyone else's, but we truly respect the fact that you're teaching in the building, and you're a building rep. Is it possible for you to get the things that you have written that you didn't get a chance to say to my staff over there?
13 So we can make sure it's getting 14 disseminated to the rest of the 15 members of council? 16
I have 20 17 copies somewhere. I don't know 18 where they are. 19
We make sure that all the members of council get it.
And can I just say we have a dedicated science teacher? That's me. I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th. I go to PDs, and I hear teachers say all the time they don't have time to teach science. Our kids get science every day, all day.
That's beautiful. Thank you so much for your service, and thank you for the work that you're doing. And somebody will meet you in the back to make sure we get that testimony. Go ahead, sir. Please state your name for the record. You may begin with your testimony.
My name is Derek Anthony Washington. And I came here today, and I was standing in the hallway there, and I saw my family tree. My aunt told me many years ago that we come from an indigenous nation. She called the nation -- the Bustle Nation. And they are known as the Bustle to Indian of the Lenape. And I think they're also the civilized tribes of the Iroquois. And I say all this to say that she -- and she also told me then, and it didn't dawn on me till I looked at the family tree out there, that most of my people were free. Most of my people were abolitionists and activists. And you might know them. George Washington. She said he was Native American; not White. He was Native American: my ancestor. Paul Robeson of the Bustle Nation, he was a chief, and he was Native American, and so many others. And she told me that we traveled from Virginia all the way up to Canada and back. And that the Northeast -- we call the Greater Northeast -- was our land. And we gave our rights -- we gave rights to people to use the land, and they thought they owned the land. And it's just a different perspective of things. And I fast forward now to today, and I feel as though they say these people were talking with a forked tongue. I feel today that you have a lot of doublespeak and manipulation of facts and figures and statistics. Anybody can manipulate a fact. Anyone can manipulate a figure, you know. And I just felt like, you know, good people just giving us doublespeak, giving us nonsense. And I want to say that the people -- you know, we have politicians, we have the school board superintendent -- but the people intrinsically have power. And that if we have to stand against this, we should stand against this. If we have to speak against it, we should speak against it. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.
Thank you. My name is Horace Claudin. What I gave you is talking about your school closures. And this is just a sample of 104 K-8s. So with that being said, in 2012, it took over one summer to move students and staff. It can be done. I suggest we rebuild the school district, the 10-year plan, leave the high schools where they are, and invest in six building trades and culinary arts and cosmetology into Bartram, Sayre, Overbrook, Roxborough, and MLK. They would be your comprehensive high schools. Leave the five standalone middle buildings for closure alone with the remaining nine, and add 10, and bring back junior high schools, 7th, 8th, and 9th, for citywide program alignment. The 9th graders are lost in these high schools. Stop adding schools to an underperforming pre-K-8 system. Number one, too many grades to manage: or down to 7 or 8 9 in a pre-K-6. You must separate the 10 younger students from the older ones. The K-6's from the 7th's and 8th's. There are seven pools; only two are open. Plan proposed to open two more. One has been waiting for four years with an approved $13 million action item. Just another talking point on the plan. Save Tilden, make it a junior high school. Build a super- site field on the vacant Pepper Middle School. How many swing spaces are enough? Thank you.
Thank you, sir. And thank you for your dedication as a relates to our schools,
Can I get some of his time? He didn't do his whole two minutes, right?
That don't mean you get them. I know where you were going with it.
But I probably can't tell you no. 14 So go ahead. Please state your name for the record and begin your testimony.
State your name for the record. You may begin with your testimony.
Peace and love. I'm Mama Gail, his wife, 50 years, Claudin. I sit here really disturbed because I find it interesting that for years we've been dealing with people coming in and out of the city, and we are not even celebrating Black History Month. Here we are during Black History Month going through this. This is what our ancestors went through. And I can tell you from being around this district for 40 years. Forty years ago, when my daughter was in elementary school, I asked the superintendent of the region when they were talking about changing the levels of education: kindergarten to 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, that kind of thing. It was a transformation time. And I raised my hand. I had just taken my daughter, the two daughters, out of private school and put them in public school. I raised my hand. I said, so is there a period set aside, if this doesn't work, that you'll go back to what we have now, which was kindergarten to 6th grade, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th. The superintendent at that time told me that my question was so ludicrous he wasn't going to answer me. So I became an advocate and an activist on that day. And I've been in this district all of these 40 years now. We need to look at what's happening right now. We have a system that has always been in Philadelphia when it comes to education. You knew who the -- what the best schools were. You knew who -- where you wanted to put your children. So I'm saying to you, having sat in the 90s and gone through this and saw that no matter how bad a teacher was, he or she was not let go because of the union. So no matter how bad they were, they were passed from program to program in the school because of the union. That's the same now. And so I'm saying that because we're -- I don't want to see any more generational trauma. I saw it the last time, 2012. I saw what happened, how many children were affected, how many families. I'm going to say this as fast as I can. We are dealing with racism. We are dealing with classism. I'm saying while we hear the children say, I don't want to go to that school because of this, that, and the other, it reminds me of the Willie Lynch syndrome where people were put against each other. And I don't want to see that ever again in this life. High schools -- I'm thinking about why Tony Watlington talked about high school numbers going up. Do you know how many people are putting their children in private school all the way up to high school, then they bring them here so that they can get scholarships in high schools? We also have people paying for their children to come to the public school system. I'm going to say this and I'm going to end with this. We got a lot of special needs children that have special needs that are not taken care of in these schools. The lady that was here talked about Blankenburg. Before COVID, there was 30 children. I was told by the principal at Blankenburg they hadn't had an IEP in three years. Come to find out there were those that hadn't had them in four years, and she had been there three years trying to get help. That was before COVID. Can you imagine where these children are today? Special needs is a very serious thing. We've been to -- my family has been to as many listening sessions as possible. The people weren't there. All these people that are coming out now, they were not there. We met -- we may have missed four listening sessions around the whole city. The people were not there because there was no 16 effort to really get the people there. We had sometimes more staff there than the people from communities. We talk about the Northeast, and we see all that going on. I'm from -- sitting with Dr. Clayton to Dr. Ackerman. I'm telling you, bless both their souls. How is it that while our numbers are going down, you can have 800 to a 1,000 overpopulation and nothing said about that? But over here, where the numbers are going down -- and most of the times people thought in the Northeast it was better.
My husband has the data. It's not better for Black children no matter what part of the city they're in, whether it's the top schools or the bottom schools when it comes to mixing. How is it that Black children are doing worse than any other child in that -- in that same class or in that same grade level? So I'm going to finish by saying enough is enough. Dr. Ackerman said to me, Everything in this city is about adults. Nothing is about the children. We have to make it back to the children, back to the basics for new beginnings. That means dealing with the children and their needs, because we have what we have now because those children are now grandmothers. My 52 -- this is my 49-year-old, but my 52 --
Oh, yeah, I say it all the time. My 52-year-old daughter is a grandmother, right? Well, her counterparts back then didn't get the education that she got in this city. And I'm saying to you, we have to fix this. If we're number two poorest city in the country now, we can fix that by making sure that this plan is stopped. And I say, enough is enough. And I mean it. I declare it. I claim it. I decree. It's over.
Thank you, mama. Thank you, Baba. We appreciate your work. We appreciate your testimony, and we know that the people at Strawberry Mansion truly appreciate all the service and dedication that you have put into that school. So thank you both. We truly appreciate you. So thank you for all that. We appreciate you. You can state your name for the record, and please begin your testimony.
Okay. Leah Claudin. Greetings everybody. So we need you all to step up as our representative --
You got to say -- I'm sorry, start all over. State your name for the record and then begin with your testimony because I didn't hear you. So other people might not have heard you.
Okay. Leah Claudin. We need you all to step up as our representatives. Our communities have been taxed out in the name of the children that end up being warehouse. You've even noticed, council people, that the 12 schools that are doing well, you 13 noticed that there was transition, 14 more likely three transitions to get 15 to high school. When it comes to our schools, the majority of the schools, they want to warehouse them to K-8. It doesn't work in our communities because our children are so far behind in academics. We have to be honest about that. Parents are being deceived by their report cards thinking that a child is on a grade level. These children aren't on grade level. So we understand that at that, even with academics, you need to be able to have some skills with your hands. So our campaign as the Claudin's family is that we want to bring back junior high school. We have to figure out a way for our children to become productive citizens in their future. And the only way to do that is not to just try to focus on academics that they are not receiving in any schools. They're being babysat. That's the honest truth. They are being babysat, and it's criminal and they're using federal dollars to do it. And that's just my opinion. I'm not going to say allegedly. My opinion. The district was 11,000 work orders in a hole. I don't know if any of you all noticed that or remembered that, but they were 11,000 work orders in a hole. You all need to ask the question where they are on that because if I'm not mistaken, I was told that they will never catch up. And they're still receiving more work orders. Another thing is the 14,000 surveys that they said they received, out of that, they said at one time 9,000 agreed. If I'm not mistaken, we have 118,000 children in the district. So if you're receiving 9,000 approvals out of 118,000 something -- the math isn't mathing. And so I don't even know how we came to this plan that they're trying to push. Paul Robeson is money. It's a land grab. If you pay attention to every corner near, right there across from Paul Robeson, it's ready to go. You got the excavator on one portion of the land. Everything else is just waiting for whatever bridge they're trying to make. Far as the buildings. Wagner. How do you take Wagner from the children that got trade space? We got all these shops in our middle schools, which is why it's important. Our junior high schools that you have to --
I know. I'm done after -- I'll be done after this one. So with Wagner, to take Wagner and create a trade school for adults is insane. You take it from the children; they have the space, they have a beautiful culinary program, they have an electrical wiring program. I don't understand why it's not implemented during school hours because it's on a Saturday. And also, why isn't it put back into the curriculum like we had when we were in junior high school where we had language metal, wood shop, typing and sewing, cooking, stuff like that. So I'm done. But I just need for you all City Council people to really pay attention to what they're doing. This is a land grab. They're not talking about academics. They're doing everything in reverse. This is a fairy tale that they're trying to concoct and to send children to warehouse them at schools and then say, oh, the program is going to go over there. We're going to do program plan. And that's just stupid. I'm just going to say it. Things should be there before they get there. We've seen what happened when they closed them in 2012 and 2013. Our society has been messed up since that happened, and they don't have no way to bring it back. And the only way to do that is to reimplement junior high schools. Tell them no. Thank you.
Do I have to press anything? No. Okay. So my name is Sherell Robinson. Sherell Robinson --Parker, so I am a parent to a kindergartner at Blankenburg. New to the area of lifelong South Philadelphian. And I didn't know about the timing thing, but I'm going to try my best. So I'm going to try my best to speak from the head and the heart, whoever was at another meeting. Mama mouthful. Mighty strikes again. So my baby is -- basically, if you guys can think back to when you were a child and everybody is picking teams, and you're the child that got picked last and reluctantly, that's sort of what my five-year-old has experienced her whole life because of what she looks like on paper. So she had to put her knees in contact. She has 8 specialists. And in one year I 9 facilitated 216 appointments by 10 myself just for her autism; not for 11 cardiac appointments, not for her 12 seizures, not for anything else. 13 And I've even been told, 14 you know, I'm not going to lose my staff over no one child because they're stressed about supporting her. And the only place that took a chance on her was Blankenburg. And I almost fought to not have her in there actually, because we were closer to Gompers. But they had us go there. The district fought me to put her in there, and now I love it. So in spite of all of her challenges that she has while at the school, my -- I'm going to call her my baby. My baby is five years old, and she reads on a 3rd grade reading level. She has been tested at 99.8 percent percentile in her English. So claiming that the building coincides with bad grades or whatever else, it just doesn't -- it's not real. Aside from being a parent, I also have a 17-year-old, but she's in charter and this doesn't really affect her. But I do want to mention the humanity piece. And the humanity piece is while people were lying to me about putting her on wait list and placating me, even telling me that I had -- I would have to pay $150 to put her on a wait list for two years and still no 23 guarantee, I was below the federal poverty line for four years. So every day that I woke up for four years, I didn't know what we were going to do until Blankenburg actually did something, and I was able to go ahead and sustain work. So the workforce housing that they're proposing would affect somebody like me and I won't even be a part of workforce housing if they take her school away, and I don't find a place for her again. So everything is backwards, and I just wanted to put that on record. And also as a professional in real estate for years and my 17 graduate education and personal experience and development makes me feel that this is a real estate deal that's done. And we're just going through the motions.
Thank you for the story, and thank you for your testimony. We truly appreciate it and we hear you. Please state your name for the record and you may begin.
Good afternoon. I'm Renee Roundy, a fourth-grade ELA and social studies teacher at Blankenburg. One of my students actually mentors her student, and she is brilliant. I've been an educator for five years, though this is my first year at Blankenburg and the place I finally found home. I'll try to be short. My students shared out, in a recent social studies lesson, their thoughts on the proposed closure at Blankenburg. I don't think that we've really discussed the emotional impact that this is having on our babies, who, mine are only 10, some are five. I would've brought these posters here, but they mysteriously disappeared after some students presented at our district community meeting. Luckily, I took photos. Some of the initial unprompted sentiments from my students to What would you like the district to know? were: We are not our STAR scores. We're smarter than they think we are. We love this school. I wish they knew us. They don't know us. To What can we do about the potential closure? We can fix the class up. We cannot do anything because they won't listen. However, written about five times was, We can protest. While district leadership has demonstrated a care for product and money, shown through the disproportional care for white communities and charter schools, the school communities are concerned for our scholars and our families. I don't care how we frame this facilities plan. This plan harms our young people who have now been labeled publicly by the district's plan as vulnerable." And my 10-year-olds have now internalized that their test scores, the building's infrastructure, and the way our school is viewed is their fault rather than a misplaced district responsibility. Do not close our schools. Invest in our scholars, who have only shown up to invest in each other and their community and demonstrated the growth that you have asked us for. As a renaissance school, we're expected to dot every I, cross every T, and we have. So this makes no sense. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your service and the work you do as an educator. We truly appreciate it. Thank you. Please state your name for the record, and you may begin with your testimony.
Hi. I'm Katie Hoffman Williamson. I am representing the families for Moffet Elementary. You might be wondering what Moffet Elementary is because it's not in the facilities plan, but we are going to change from an elementary school to a middle school. So effectively, this is a closure. And for the idea that we're not investing in middle schools, well, guess what? We've got one now at Moffet. So our kids, all of them, will have to go to Hackett, which from the school is about a 20-minute walk. That's if you're in catchment. If you're on the edge of that catchment, that's -- for me, that's 35 minutes to walk to that school. And I am not alone. I'm an out-of-catchment family, but I'm just on the edge of what our catchment is. Our school is a beautiful, magical gem of a school. A lot of our families here have said the same thing about their school. We are doing everything that the school district wants us to be. We have engaged families. We have an incredible principal. We have teachers that go above and beyond what they're required to do. They host afterschool programs they're not paid to do. They host special things inside of the school they don't have to do. We are also beautifully diverse. We are not just black. We are not just brown. We are Asian. We are African American. We are Hispanic. We are Muslim and Arabic. We had many families here that represented that earlier today. It's an incredible school and an incredible community, and all of that will be taken away from us. Also, in the area where we are, we are Moffet. Ludlow is closing as well. So now, for the South Kensington neighborhood, there is no elementary school for us to go to. Me and my family, we go to Moffet. That is closing. We are districted for Ludlow that is closing. Our middle school and high school is Penn Treaty. That is closing. What is my family supposed to do? We're told that the numbers just aren't there. But if you look at our numbers, our first grades have two classes. Twenty-five kids are in each of those classes. Our kindergartens have two classes, 24 kids in each of those classes. Our pre-K classes are -- people couldn't get into them, even with family members in that class. We were told that last year our principal couldn't accept people on the lottery. We heard that there were dozens of families that wanted to go to Moffet, and they weren't accepted. My last thing is that this does feel like this was done in bad faith. This was announced to us after the school selection process. It was after the Penn Charter admission program, the ability to apply for charters. And this was after a lot of private schools, you could apply for them. I would love to speak to you more about this because also Moffet families have not met with the school district yet in person or online. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. For the record, we will have other opportunities for people to communicate to City Council, specifically outside of the school district meetings, concerns and things of that capacity. So if it's not something that you didn't get the chance to say today, you can send that communication to my office as well as the council president's office. But you can also be assured that there will be another platform for people to be able to communicate their concerns. So thank you.
We are Penn State. State your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
So my name is Rashida Renee, and I'm here because my daughter is an anti-social social butterfly. And I say that because my kids, I paid for them to go to school. Like, it was no questions asked. But when they came to them picking their high schools, I allowed them to do that.
When they came to high school, they were able to pick their high schools. So my kids came from a private setting to public school. Both of -- all three of my children are literally, like, like small environments. So that's why Paul Robeson being on the chopping block really pisses me off, because my daughter's senior school year will be impacted. And they keep saying it is a numbers thing, and I'm looking at that we have 78 percent utilization in the building. I'm a numbers person, so if you're telling me something, it has to make sense numerically. So I sat on one of their meetings, which I didn't find out about the meeting until my daughter sent me like a screenshot, like, Hey, our school is closing. And I'm amazed because I'm in the community. I was a former educator. Like, I know usually what's going on. But when it came to the closing of these 20, now 28 schools, I had no clue about it. So that's why I'm here to ask City Council to help fight for Paul Robeson, not only Paul Robeson but the other schools. And as stated, they haven't processed or thought about the safety of our students. Our students, many of them are anti-social social butterflies, meaning that within their little environment they blossom. And so that's what I would like to continue to do. And as I stated, this impacts my daughter's senior year of school, meaning that she would be transferring over as a senior versus -- and most schools don't even accept a senior into their program. And it was stated that we're not merging, is code something, whatever that word is. But yeah, that doesn't work. And I know I'm over my time limit. The important things to take away is that Sayre -- Paul Robeson does not want to be merged with Sayre. They keep talking about CTE programming. We had partnerships with Penn, with CHOP, I believe, if I'm not mistaken.
We got you. You-all golden -- you all had a great basketball season.
Thank you. So listen, and my daughter scored her a thousand points in three years.
That's what's up. What's her name? Say her name.
Thank you. Oh, that's what's up. Shout out to Ashley. That's amazing.
I saw you look at her when the lady said 227. Don't front on us.
Go Robeson. Let's leave it at that. Please state your name for the record. Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you, ma'am, for your testimony, and thank you for the great work you're doing raising your children. We appreciate it. Sorry for playing too much. It's been a long day. State your name for the record, and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Deborah Joel. I am a third generation West Philadelphian. My daughter's fourth generation West Philadelphian. I've attended -- my whole family has attended school in West Philadelphia. I'm a proud Overbrook Elementary school teacher and former parents. And I'm very concerned about the duplicitousness of the conversations that are being had with the parents, with the teachers, with the community members, with the City Council. It's very hard to keep up with the truth and the lies and to tell the difference and quite frankly, as a teacher, we have very little time to dedicate, to find out the truth. So I do appreciate what I heard in here today from all the members. I do appreciate the concern that you have for our students. And as you can see, these are just some of the names of some of the two classes that I particularly teach at Overbrook Elementary in reading and social studies. Because when this was first proposed, we were on the chopping block in 2012. We fought with Gompers School and realized at some point that we conceded to a decision that had already been made. The decision was for SLA to overtake Beeber Middle School and that we would then keep our middle schoolers and stay open. And we were very happy with that because it gave us the opportunity to stay open. However, we realized at a later date that that plan had already been quite well in motion and that there needed to be a cleaning out of Beeber Middle School. There will be no more feeder school for our students from Overbrook Elementary, from Gompers School. And that that was the only decision that we could kind of concede to. So I see it now as it was smoke and mirrors at that time. In 2019 before COVID, there were community meetings regarding Overbook Elementary closing again and some other schools closing again and Cassidy School being the community school. And we brought up the issue that you cannot combine students from different neighborhoods and expect there to be success, because they're going to be some other underlying issues that will be barriers to everyone's success and to their learning. Even to the detriment as we see our young men now who still have very few leaders and are following whatever they can find on social media. I'll be very quick. My concern when I first heard about this in 2019, I thought of a student who is on my shirt, who I taught in 2nd grade and then again in 5th and now in 6th grade, who I know that if he is forced to go to Heston School or Barry School or Cassidy School, where $2 million was spent to demolish the -- to demolish the school, $55 million to rebuild the school to hold 700 students, which would never happen unless it was a community school. My thinking is that money could have been invested in the historic Overbook Elementary, which celebrates 120th year this year. And just a portion of that money could have been invested in us for us to stay open as opposed to the school district determining that we're underutilizing even though we're 75 percent, and we are not doing well, even though our scores are better than where they want to send our students to at Heston and Barry. Cassidy hasn't been proven. They've only had one year in with, you know, very little students and --
In summary, the district is lying when they're saying they're giving the students a better opportunity. Taking our students from Overbook Elementary to Heston, Overbook Elementary to Barry, or Overbrook Elementary to Cassidy is not a solution. Our community is safer. Those schools have students that want to come to us for safety. Those students have schools that want to come to us for success, and we need our school to stay open for the safety of the children of the neighborhood and for our future -- for our future success.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony, and thank you for your service as a teacher.
We appreciate it. Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Good evening. My name is Monica Allison. I'm a committee person in 3rd Ward, 18th Division, where Motivation High sits. I'm a resident of the 5,800 block of Cedarhurst, and I'm an alumni of both Turner Middle School and Motivation High School. So I'm here in more than one capacity, and I have a stake in these decisions. When I attended Motivation, it operated as a Bartram annex, and it was intentionally designed to be separate from the main building. That was 50 years ago. It was a special-admit school event, a college prep program built around small enrollment and individualized detention. At full capacity, we averaged about a hundred students per grade, and that was grades 10 through 12, because at that time Bartram had a freshman center located on 81st and Lyons Avenue. Its strength has always been that it's part of the small school model, and it focused on academic -- an academic mission. Bartram Motivation at that time graduated people like State Representative Jordan Harris and education advocate and nonprofit leader Tamir Harper. I understand enrollment is down, but the school was never designed to be at high enrollment. Closing or relocating it ignores the purpose that the school was built to serve. Enrollment is down due to the district instituting the lottery system in 2021, which systematically caused most special-admit schools to operate under capacity. That is not even taken into account that the system was created by the district. The district invested millions of dollars in the HVAC upgrade and other building systems at Turner. We've also been asking for years for our Olympic-size pool to be repaired so that the community and the students can use it. This building also houses KIPP Middle School, and basically Turner itself is built for 1,500 students. Right now, KIPP has approximately 350 students. Motivation has 150 students, but has the capacity for 300 to 400. Then if you look at Paul Robeson, who actually has an enrollment of 289, we can increase that to about 300, and that would fill the capacity of Turner School, and it would no 19 longer be an underused space. As far as CTE is concerned, we had ample opportunity at Bartram to create CTE and other programs, and we have disinvested in it for years. Bartram was built in 1938. Turner, where Motivation is, was built in 1971. Sayre was built in 1949. Paul Robeson in 1971, again. So we are disinvesting in the younger schools and then investing in the older schools. It just doesn't make practical sense. So in closing, I just want to say that our neighborhood is a neighborhood of seniors and of homeowners. And as committee person in that area, the issue is that Turner would become a flex space where Motivation is housed now, which creates instability and safety concerns in the neighborhood. And I appreciate your time.
So thank you, ma'am, and I appreciate you summarizing. If you can get that information, because that was very valuable. If you can get that information to us, because I know you didn't say everything that was in your written testimony, that will help us -- that will help inform us as we advocate and fight for these different issues. So thank you very much for that. Are there any other questions or comments from members of the committee? Hearing none, I want to say thank you to all of the people who came to testify today, and thank you to all of my colleagues for listening to all of the testimony and your advocacy. This concludes -- I'm sorry. The Committee of the Whole will stand in recess until the call of the chair as it relates to this particular resolution. Thank you, everybody. (Committee of the Whole hearing concluded at 5:40 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by me of the above case, and this copy is a correct transcript of the same. _______________ Samanda J. Rios