School District of Philadelphia to close 20 schools

The School District of Philadelphia announced that it plans to close 20 schools and modernize 159 facilities if its Master Plan recommendations are approved by the Board of Education on Feb 26. 

The 10-year, $2.8 billion Master Plan is a product of Accelerate Philly, a comprehensive facilities planning process that began in 2023. 

Over the past year, the district has gathered data, developed a decision-making framework, obtained community feedback, and formulated a final plan to address its lapses in staff and resource efficiency. For instance, the district’s buildings are meant to accommodate 180,000 students, but total enrollment is only 132,000. Out of 223 school buildings, 56 schools are “severely under utilized.” 

The facilities plan — which recommends to either maintain, modernize, co-locate, repurpose, or close schools — is meant to improve student educational results. According to a district press release, 90% of students will be reassigned to schools with comparable or better academic outcomes, and the receiving schools will be provided with additional support. 

Some key investments include strengthening PreK-8 programming through better use of space, reinvesting in neighborhood high schools as community anchors, and expanding access to 5-12 criteria-based and CTE schools. 

If the plan is adopted, no changes affecting students or staff will take place before the 2027–28 school year.

“Though we acknowledge that some of the decisions we have to make will be difficult, I believe that we have developed a plan that incorporates deep, public feedback and will help us increase access to high-quality academic and extracurricular programs across neighborhoods and accelerate our journey to become the fastest-improving, large urban school district in the country,” said Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr. Ed.D., the School District of Philadelphia. 

According to analysis from KYW Newsradio, here are the biggest changes outlined in the plan:

Pre-K-8 Changes

• Reassign Robert Morris students to William D. Kelley and Bache-Martin
• Reassign Samuel Pennypacker students to Franklin Edmonds and Anna B. Day
• Reassign John Welsh students to John Hartranft and William McKinley
• Reassign James Ludlow students to Paul Dunbar, Spring Garden and General Philip Kearny
• Reassign Laura W. Waring students to Bache-Martin
• Reassign Overbrook ES students to Cassidy, Barry, Heston and Bluford
• Co-locate the Martha Washington program as a K-4 school on the same site as Middle Years Alternative (5-8)
• Reassign Rudolph Blankenburg students to Heston, James Rhoads and the newly co-located Martha Washington/Middle Years Alternative
• Phase out Fitler Academics Plus

Middle School Changes

• Phase out Wagner Middle School and grow Hall, Pennell Rowen, Howe and Ellwood to become K-8
• Phase out Stetson Middle School and grow Elkin and Cramp to become K-8
• Phase out Harding Middle School, with Sullivan moving to the old Hardin site. Sullivan, John Marshall, Lawton and Carnell to become K-8.
• Phase out Tilden Middle School, and grow Morton, Patterson and Catharine to become K-8. Tilden property becomes sports facility for Bartram HS
• Phase out Academy for the Middle Years at Northwest

High School Changes

• Merge Lankenau HS into Roxborough HS as an honors program
• Merge Motivation HS into Bartram HS as an honors program
• Merge Paul Robeson HS into Sayre HS as an honors program
• Merge Parkway Northwest HS into Martin Luther King HS as an honors program
• Co-locate Building 21 at Martin Luther King HS
• Co-locate Workshop School at Overbrook HS
• Co-locate the U School at Edison HS
• Phase out Penn Treaty HS, moving Bodine HS to this site

Expanding 5-12 Criteria and CTE Programs

• Add 5th grade to Hill-Freedman Academy to make it a 5-12 school
• Add 5th-6th grades to Carver HS to make it a 5-12 school
• Increase capacity at Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush in a new facility and add 5th-8th grade to make it a 5-12 school
• Invest in South Philadelphia High’s CTE spaces and add grades 5-8 to make it a 5-12 school
• Merge Parkway West HS into SLA-Beeber as a new CTE program
• Open a new 5th-8th Palumbo MS co-located with Childs Elementary
• Reassign Conwell students to AMY at James Martin as a 5th-8th program
• Expand the number of seats at Bodine HS
• Move Masterman’s middle grades to the Waring building to expand access

Other Investments

• Modernize Bache Martin facility
• Build a new school for Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush (5th-12th) at the old Fels site
• Repurpose current Rush building as a new catchment high school to reduce overcrowding in the Northeast
• Modernize and add to Edwin Forrest and Laura Carnell schools
• Co-locate a year-round K-8 school at Bethune Elementary
• Renovate the pool facility at E.W. Rhodes School