Study: School closings a mixed bag

REBECCA POYOUROW, like other interested parents, attended a community meeting at Roxborough High School last spring, eager to learn about the school district's plan to close some schools and consolidate others.

The mother of two soon felt that the whole event was "a charade," she said yesterday.

"There was absolutely no real information and lots of expectations. . . . An outside consultant was there to facilitate the meeting, so it felt like no one from the district was there," said Poyourow, one of 1,500 participants citywide who attended 23 community meetings between November and May.

"It felt like we were being handled."

The district was correct in presenting early in the process the need for downsizing, according to a study released yesterday by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Philadelphia Research Initiative. It examined the impact of school closings in six other urban areas: Milwaukee; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Detroit; and Kansas City, Mo.

"No matter how well this is done - for the family involved, for the district, for the community - closing a large number of schools is difficult," said Larry Eichel, project director of the initiative.

Opinions like Poyourow's could prompt discontent that leads to political fallout in school closings, the study also noted. In D.C., the process helped lead to the downfall of the mayor and the schools chancellor. A state law governing future school closings in Chicago was passed after closings in that city.

The study was released ahead of district plans to present its package of school closings, consolidations and grade configurations to the School Reform Commission. The proposed closings will be revealed at the Oct. 26 meeting or in early November, said district spokesman Fernando Gallard. The SRC could call a special meeting at another time to hear the proposal, he added.

The earliest that the SRC can vote will be in February, after another round of community meetings, said Danielle Floyd, the district's deputy for strategic initiatives.

"The 70,000 empty seats [in city schools] did not occur overnight," and the changes to correct that will be implemented over time, Floyd said. "We need time to plan."

The study also found that:

* Closing schools provided minimal savings. On average, urban districts saved less than $1 million per closed school. "In the context of school budgets, it's not a tremendous amount of money," Eichel said.

* Students at schools scheduled to close initially suffer academically but quickly bounce back the following year.

* It's hard to sell school buildings or put them to good use. At least 200 properties stood vacant in the six other cities as of the summer, many empty for several years, the study said. Of those vacant, 92 were in Detroit. The buildings draw vandals, thieves and illegal activity.