Frankford High announces fall plan after asbestos closure — with some students returning to its building

Some Frankford High students will return to the storied Oxford Avenue building in September, after all — a shift in plans after officials had initially announced damaged asbestos would keep students and staff out for the entire 2023-24 school year.

Students in grades 10 through 12 will be in the school’s annex — what is now being called “the new wing” — and the ninth grade will relocate to Roberto Clemente Middle School, on West Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia, district officials announced Thursday.

The school’s long-term future is still uncertain; district officials have said that Frankford may need to be razed and rebuilt.

» READ MORE: Philly schools are ramping up asbestos work but are three years away from meeting federal requirements

Damaged asbestos first closed Frankford in April, when officials initially said the closure would be short-term. But they soon learned that inaccurate environmental records did not tell the whole story, and damaged asbestos was located in areas throughout the building. Frankford students were forced to learn virtually for the last months of the 2022-23 school year.

Leaders had hoped to keep the school — 900 students, plus staff — together in one location in close proximity to Frankford, but no suitable location could be found.

“While we were unable to accomplish our ultimate goal of getting all of our students and staff into a single space, we believe that this model will still provide a great learning experience for our students and allow us to maintain the school culture that has been established here at the Home of Champions,” principal Michael Calderone wrote in an email to Frankford families.

Monique Braxton, district spokesperson, said Frankford’s “old wing” will be sealed off, and that workers will spend the summer reconfiguring the annex and ground-floor gymnasium for sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

“Abatement of damaged asbestos in those areas has been completed and air testing was conducted where abatement took place,” Braxton said in a statement. “Other environmental issues, such as lead paint, will continue to be addressed with updates regarding progress forthcoming.”

More than 300 Frankford freshmen will occupy Clemente’s third-floor classrooms but share a cafeteria and auditorium with 350 Clemente students and 320 students attending the Linc, a district high school whose facility is also on the same campus. They will receive shuttle bus service from Frankford, and will be able to return to Frankford in time to participate in after-school activities if they choose.

Arrival and dismissal times for the Frankford freshmen and Linc and Clemente students will be staggered, Braxton said.

» READ MORE: Frankford High School, shut out of its building because of asbestos, rallies: ‘You can’t shut us out’

Braxton said the decision to split Frankford’s students came from district and school leaders, parents, and community members, and underscored that the district has improved its asbestos management program in the past year, with better recordkeeping and more resources for environmental work.

The school year is scheduled to begin Sept. 5.

“I know the uncertainty of our future has been a tremendously stressful time for all of us. I hope that with this new information, we can all get back to the business of gearing our students and ourselves back up for the 2023-2024 school year,” Calderone wrote. “We will continue working to provide a safe and engaging learning environment for our students regardless of where they are. The bricks and mortar that house us do not make us a school; rather, it is we the people that make Frankford High School what it is.”