For 113,000 Philly district students, it’s back to school

Over the schoolyard din, the initial bell rang just before 8:30 Tuesday at Bluford Elementary School, and a group of first graders surged into the West Philadelphia building — some with broad smiles, some looking nervous.

Across the city, it was the first day of classes, but the new-year jitters were especially heightened at Bluford, which had been run as a charter school for more than a decade but reverted back to Philadelphia School District control this week after the charter encountered operational, financial, and academic challenges.

Bluford is projecting an enrollment of 505 students, but when veteran Principal Tangela McClam arrived this summer, only 94 had registered. She and her staff spent Monday at the school preparing for a lot of unknowns.

But McClam was ready, with plans to encourage strong attendance and accelerate academic growth, she said.

“We have to be the team that show that neighborhood public education can work,” said McClam.

Among the phalanx of officials who descended on Bluford on Tuesday was Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., who started his morning before the sun rose at the district’s Passyunk Bus Garage, then shook hands as students filed into Bartram High School for a 7:30 a.m. start.

“It’s such a great day,” Watlington said at Bluford. “Every year, everyone gets a chance to have a fresh start.”

Watlington said he was particularly excited about the district’s new math curriculum, part of a $70 million outlay on new learning materials. Students in grades K through 12 will be using Illustrative Math, which Watlington said is “the best math curriculum anywhere in the United States of America.”

Though Bluford is air-conditioned and students will learn for a full day, 74 district schools are unair-conditioned or not adequately air-conditioned and will dismiss early because of excessive heat. Those schools will also close early Wednesday; Watlington said he will make the call about any possible schedule changes Thursday and Friday by the night before.

That a significant number of schools must close early because they lack air-conditioning rankles Watlington, who came to Philadelphia after decades as a teacher, principal, and administrator in North Carolina schools.

In those Southern districts, Watlington said, schools haven’t had to cope with heat-related closures for two decades.

“And those weren’t Rockefeller-rich school districts,” said Watlington. “I think this is one of the vestiges of historical underfunding.”

Tuesday was Jim Kenney’s last first day of school as mayor; he high-fived students streaming into Bluford and said he was particularly proud of being the chief executive who steered Philadelphia’s schools back to local control.

“Our kids are doing better,” Kenney said. “We have to keep them safer, obviously.”

As she waited for her kindergartner’s teacher to collect the students, new Bluford parent Kim Peterson watched her children Marcus, Noah, and Melody eye up the playground equipment.

Peterson said she was excited for her children to become immersed in learning, but wasn’t quite sure how the logistics would work. She had hoped Marcus, a first grader, and Noah, who’s in kindergarten, would be able to attend the same school, but officials told her Marcus had to go to Overbrook Elementary, and Noah to Bluford. (Melody, who’s 3, goes to preschool.)

The schools start at nearly the same time.

Still, Peterson is hopeful that the schedule will work out and is thrilled that Bluford is back to being a district school.

“It looks really nice,” said Peterson. “Maybe the education system is better, with more structure.”

As for the kids? Marcus zipped open his black-and-white backpack and proudly showed off his school supplies — a copybook, a ruler, and a package of markers.

“I’m a big kid,” Marcus said. “I can use these.”

Also excited for their first day were Le’la Hogan, 16, and Oliver Tolbert, 15, the first two students to arrive at Bartram on Tuesday morning, before officials unlocked the front doors and lined the stone steps with balloons to mark the first day of school.

Hogan, a junior, and Tolbert, a sophomore, are best friends and involved students — they belong to the school’s student government, spent their break at school as part of a summer program, and helped out at freshman orientation.

“I’m feeling excited,” said Hogan.

“I want to see my friends, and I’m excited for Keystones,” Tolbert said, referring to state high school exams all Pennsylvania students must take. “I want to get them out of the way.”

But even as they looked forward to another year, the realities of attending a district school hung over them. Bartram has multiple teacher vacancies.

“We’ve had a chemistry substitute for years,” said Tolbert.

At the end of last week, 95.3% of teacher jobs were filled, said Watlington, meaning the vacancy list numbers in the hundreds.

The district is working to recruit more teachers amid a national educator shortage, the superintendent said.

“We’re shifting around some of our people who have teaching licenses,” said Watlington. “But we are ready for students.”