This Philly high school is ‘a model for what can happen in Pa.,’ Gov. Wolf said

In 2013, Paul Robeson High School was on life support, targeted by the Philadelphia School District for closure as the school system coped with the fallout from crippling state budget cuts.

On Tuesday, Gov. Tom Wolf and a stage full of dignitaries called Robeson a school that the rest of the state would do well to emulate.

“What you’ve done is not just impressive in terms of one city or one school district,” Wolf told students, staff, and community members gathered in the West Philadelphia school’s auditorium. “I believe that Paul Robeson’s a model for what can happen in Pennsylvania.”

The West Philadelphia school’s rise is well-documented: After the Robeson community organized to ask the former School Reform Commission to spare the school from closure, the district sent in principal Richard Gordon IV. Gordon built on the school’s strengths, working with staff to improve school climate and broaden opportunities for students.

It worked. Robeson has won 45 separate awards in the last five years, including most improved school in the district. It has continued to grow, even through the pandemic and a full year of virtual schooling. Gordon has been recognized three times as national principal of the year.

Gordon said that honor is all about his students — most of whom come from economically disadvantaged homes — and the Robeson staff.

Robeson is a citywide admissions school, accepting students from all over the city, and “almost 85% of our kids are not prepared for high school,” Gordon said Tuesday. “This staff here grows our students at a clip of 100% academic growth. Even in a pandemic.”

(And, Gordon said, he wanted to make sure Robeson was a school that was good enough for his own children. The proof? His daughter, Madison, is now a sophomore at Robeson.)

Last school year, Robeson notched its highest academic growth ever.

It is, parent Kevin Ryant said, a place that takes chances on kids who don’t thrive elsewhere. Ryant used to lie awake at night worrying about his son Kanaan’s struggles at another Philadelphia school. He knew it was time to find another place for Kaanan, and heard about Robeson.

Ryant was impressed when students kept coming into Gordon’s office during a meeting about Kanaan’s possible transfer. He was impressed with Gordon’s message.

“You said to him, ‘We have our issues here and we’re not perfect, but what I do expect of you is that you can do better, you will do better,’” Ryant told Gordon on Tuesday. “All of that started resonating with me.”

Now, Kanaan is a senior, and he comes to school early and stays late. He’s thriving.

“I no longer have sleepless nights,” Ryant said.

Wolf came to Robeson in the waning days of his second term as governor in part to do a victory lap on his educational achievements, including $3.7 billion in new money for public schools.

State Sen. Vincent Hughes, one of Wolf’s top surrogates since before Wolf’s election, called him “the education governor.”

Hughes, who has long pushed school-facilities issues, highlighted Robeson’s infrastructure needs and said this school and many others needed new buildings. Both private companies and the state will have to step up to make that happen, Hughes said.

“The moment is here and the resources are here — because of your great stewardship,” Hughes said to Wolf.

Though the crowd had hearty applause for Wolf, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., and others, it reserved its heartiest cheers for Hughes’ wife, the Emmy-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph. Ralph plays Barbara Howard, a teacher on Abbott Elementary, the ABC series based on conditions inside Philadelphia schools.

An animated Ralph said she was delighted to be at Robeson, with its 95% four-year graduation rate and dedicated staff. (To Gordon, Ralph said, “I am happy to say that you a far better principal than Ava Coleman could ever be,” referencing the self-centered fictional Abbott principal.)

“I commend you, I applaud you, I appreciate you, and I am so happy to have a platform like Abbott Elementary where we can shine a light on all of you and what you’re doing and what it means to bring more to the city of Philadelphia,” Ralph said.