Revised facilities policies approved
by Benjamin Herold on Jun 14 2011 Posted in Latest news
The key building blocks of the School District's new facilities master plan are now in place.
Monday night, the School Reform Commission (SRC) unanimously approved new "Adaptive Reuse" and "Rightsizing" policies without comment. Taken together, the policies will guide the District's efforts to close and sell up to 50 school buildings as part of a broad effort to reduce by half its current number of "empty seats," currently estimated at 70,000.
The SRC was originally scheduled to vote on the two policies last month. But following public testimony from parent activist Cecelia Thompson, the SRC moved to delay the vote and allow for further revisions.
As a result, the final Adaptive Reuse Policy now calls for the District to create "evaluation rubrics" that teams of District staff, city and legislative representatives, and community residents will use to evaluate proposals for each building listed for sale.
"We appreciate the comments and suggestions from stakeholders that helped inform these policies," said District spokesperson Elizabeth Childs following Monday's vote. "We will now proceed this summer with clear guidance in disposing of excess property and considering rightsizing options for schools across the city."
This story is a product of a reporting partnership on the district’s facilities master plan between PlanPhilly and the the Notebook. The project is funded by a grant from the William Penn Foundation.
Comments (2)
Submitted by Timothy Boyle on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 08:24.
Is the "rightsizing policy" retro-active the decisions made about the grade configuration changes at Ethel Allen, Smedly, Gratz, and Ellwood as well as the closure of Ellwood Annex?
I would like to see each of the six catagories of the "written report to pubilshed on its (SDP) website" regarding decisions that have already been made
Submitted by PhillyStandUp (not verified) on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 17:16.
Can you be there on Tomorrow?
On Thursday, City Council will make critical decisions about the future of education for Philly's kids. Unfortunately, the needs of our children will be drowned out by the opponents unless we make ourselves heard. As a City, we are in support of City Council finding the money to fund our schools--no matter where it is. We know that our communities will be safer and more productive places if we have quality schools. Council will be feeling pressure from lobbyists. They also need to feel the pressure of a City demanding that they commit to funding our schools.
Be There Thursday! Bring your sign and support of public education.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 - City Council doors will open at 8:15am. Come as soon as you can!
City Hall, Room 400 - Enter at the Northeast corner of City Hall (bring photo ID).
City Council Vote - The battle for funding for our schools and our kids and our city is not over - it’s decision time.
Councilman DiCicco: 215-686-3458
Councilwoman Verna: 215-686-3412
Councilwoman Blackwell: 215-686-3418
Councilman Jones: 215-686-3416
Councilman Clarke: 215-686-3442
Councilwoman Krajewski: 215-686-3444
Counciwoman Quinones-Sanchez: 215-686-3448
Councilwoman Miller: 215-686-3424
Councilwoman Tasco: 215-686-3454
Councilman O'Neill: 215-686-3422
Council-At-Large
Councilman Goode: 215-686-3414
Councilman Greenlee: 215-686-3446
Councilman Green: 215-686-3420
Councilman Kelly: 215-686-3452
Councilman Kenney: 215-686-3450
Councilwoman Brown: 215-686-3438
Councilman Rizzo: 215-686-3440
Tell them we need: Kindergarten, Yellow Bus Service, Accelerated Schools, Early Childhood Education, Small Class Size, Counselors, School Nurses and Art and Music in Our Schools.
Post new comment