SLA, Ben Franklin High School won’t open until Thursday

A major district project to merge the two schools into Ben Franklin's building on North Broad Street fell behind schedule.

Ben Franklin High School will soon house Science Leadership Academy. SLA and Ben Franklin will remain as separate schools in the six-floor building on North Broad Street.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

by Maddie Hanna

Published Aug. 30, 2019, 4:47 p.m. ET

Students at Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy and Benjamin Franklin High School won’t be going back to school until Thursday, after construction on a major project to locate the two schools in one building fell behind schedule.

School District officials announced the change late Friday. They said the building’s elevators — used to transport construction materials and classroom furniture — weren’t working, “significantly impacting the complex’s construction schedule.”

The rest of the district’s students will start school Tuesday.

The district has invested $34 million in the project to bring SLA into the building used by Ben Franklin on Broad Street near Spring Garden. SLA, one of the city’s top magnet schools, had been housed in rented space that was costing the district $1.5 million annually, while Ben Franklin, a neighborhood school, has lost students over the past decades.

Now, the schools’ 1,000 students will share a building with new air-conditioning and lighting.

The district said principals at both schools have communicated with families. Both schools will be open from 8 to 10 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday to distribute TransPasses and serve breakfast to students. The entrance to Franklin is at 550 N. Broad and SLA is at 1482 Green St.

The district said that construction will continue over the weekend, and that it’s hiring additional workers “to manually transport materials.”