Philly will establish a minimum school size, and other takeaways from a conversation with its superintendent

In parts of the city, schools are overcrowded to the point where some lessons happen in hallways.

But elsewhere, some Philadelphia schools have so few students they aren’t able to offer advanced courses, art and music, or algebra to eighth graders.

As the Philadelphia School District prepares to formulate a plan for its 300-plus buildings — which need an estimated $8 billion in repairs — Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. indicated the school system will have a minimum target school size going forward. That target has not yet been set, he said.

“We’ll have to make that determination as a part of this process,” Watlington said in an Inquirer interview Tuesday.

But sheer size alone won’t be the sole determining factor to close a school, officials said.

“We will thoughtfully consider the total impact of the data and what the school means to that community,” said Oz Hill, interim deputy superintendent for operations. “We don’t want to further disadvantage any of the students. There may be underenrollment, but the academic performance may exceed the standards.”

Watlington said he was moved in part by two separate stories from students he met. In one case, a young woman was taking classes at a summer program because she felt that her Philadelphia school, which did not offer Advanced Placement courses, had not adequately prepared her for college. In another, a young man had to double up on math courses in high school because his middle school didn’t offer algebra.

And while the district last closed schools in the early 2010s quickly and for financial reasons, it is doing so with a different agenda now, Watlington said — to better manage its enormous stock of aging buildings, yes, but also to be strategic about the learning experiences the district provides for its students.

“We will be in a position to standardize better pre-K access, more robust art, music, and physical education across the city,” Watlington said. “All of our middle schools or middle-grade bands will have access to Algebra I. We expect all of our high schools to have a minimum number of Advanced Placement courses and to have more equitable career and technical education opportunities across the city.”

Here are some takeaways from the Tuesday conversation with Watlington and Hill.

The last round of 30 closures never yielded the financial gains officials had hoped for. A postmortem analysis showed the district saved only about $24 million annually, a fraction of its current $4.5 billion budget.

Kids also fared worse because of the closures. Students in both closed schools and those that received students from closed schools had worse attendance and academic performance in the wake of the closings.

Without additional aid from its city and state funders, the district projects a deficit within a few years, but it’s not at the crisis point it was in 2012.

Schools will likely have to close, Watlington said. But the district is envisioning reusing closed buildings for public good — and likely in concert with the city.

“I do know that in addition to potentially colocating or rebuilding, renovating, closing some schools, we’ll also be looking at how some school buildings could be repurposed for community benefit,” Watlington said. “It’s premature to say what that looks like just yet. But the mayor is very actively engaged in providing very long leadership in this process.”

Hill had previously mentioned health clinics, food co-ops, or even housing for teachers as potential ways closed buildings might be repurposed.

Officials said they recognize that Philadelphia still bears the scars of the previous “rightsizing” of 2012 and 2013, but this time around, “we’ve been very thoughtful about how to first do no harm, provide more in terms of rigorous course offerings, access, and opportunities to support communities, and to continue to prioritize conditions for improving student achievement,” Watlington said.

More than a dozen listening sessions have already been held to solicit feedback on facilities, but opportunities remain for the public to weigh in on how the district should move forward.

In-person meetings will be held Dec. 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Congreso’s Education and Training Center, 2800 N. American St. (session in English and Spanish) and on Dec. 18, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the district’s offices at 440 N. Broad St. for students only.

Sessions will also be held virtually on Wednesday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., for district staff only; Monday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., for district staff only; Dec. 10, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., for families of unique learners and those with special education plans; Dec. 16, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., on career and technical education and career connected learning; Dec. 19, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., for students only; and Dec. 20, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Registration is required and can be completed here.

In addition, officials are asking for those interested to fill out this survey.

The district last month named a project team that will meet monthly throughout the process to help shape the plan. Its members include: Kenzy Ahmed, student board representative, Philadelphia School District; Soledad Alfaro, chief operating officer, Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia; Darrin W. Anderson Sr., president and CEO, Urban League of Philadelphia; Paul Bonewicz, executive director, facilities management and services, Philadelphia School District; Donna Bullock, president and CEO, Project HOME; the Rev. Bonnie Camarda, director of partnerships, Salvation Army; Debora Carrera, chief education officer, City of Philadelphia; Walette Carter, president, Philadelphia Home and School Council; Peng Chao, chief of charter schools, Philadelphia School District; Donna Cooper, executive director, Children First; Rebecca Cornejo, executive director, Neubauer Family Foundation; Daniel Di Martino, teacher and PFT building representative, Shawmont Elementary, Philadelphia School District; Jannette Diaz, president and CEO, Congreso de Latinos Unidos; Tanya Edmonds, Local 634 organizer, Philadelphia School District; Cynthia Figueroa, president and CEO, JEVS Human Services; Shanée Garner, founding executive director, Lift Every Voice Philly; Regina A. Hairston, president and CEO, African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware; Dorene Henderson, school safety officer and interim treasurer of school police officers of Philadelphia union, Philadelphia School District; Kenyatta James, deputy executive director, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia; Mary Beth Morgan, independent living specialist, youth transition, Liberty Resources; Penny Nixon, CEO, Universal Charter Schools; Sulaiman Rahman, board chairman, Mastery Schools; Deana Ramsey, principal, Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Center School, Philadelphia School District; Charles Rinker, student board representative, Philadelphia School District; Isaiah Thomas, Philadelphia City Council member and chair of Council’s education committee; the Rev. Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor, Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church; and Shakeera Warthen-Canty, assistant superintendent of school operations and management, School District of Philadelphia.

Applications just closed for additional groups that will meet to offer feedback; those teams will be announced on Dec. 19.

If the project meets its current deadlines, the school board is expected to approve the plan in December 2025. The district is expected to provide formal public updates in January, May, and August.