Philadelphia places course of for planning faculty constructing upgrades on maintain

Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington stated the district has paused the method it’s developed to determine on upgrades to high school amenities, to be able to align it extra intently to the district’s future five-year strategic plan. 

Throughout a college board assembly Thursday, Watlington stated the amenities planning course of will likely be placed on maintain till the district adopts that strategic blueprint, however added that constructing work that’s already been authorised will proceed. 

The district’s “amenities planning course of” units long-term priorities for constructing and different infrastructure upgrades. In April, Philadelphia officers unveiled an interactive map that permit individuals study particular situations at neighborhood colleges. And in Could, the district introduced public boards the place individuals may talk about one of the best ways to restore and improve town’s getting older public colleges; the typical Philadelphia faculty constructing is about 75 years outdated. 

Nonetheless, these strikes occurred earlier than Watlington took over as superintendent in mid-June. Since then, Watlington has centered a lot of his consideration on making an attempt to create that five-year roadmap for colleges by — amongst different issues — gathering enter from the general public and completely different teams and officers. The district goals to undertake that roadmap subsequent yr.

Watlington has a near-term objective of constructing Philadelphia one of many quickest bettering giant faculty districts, and a long-term objective of being probably the most improved.

Though district plans to improve amenities have stopped and restarted earlier than, Watlington characterised the brand new pause as not simply one other delay. 

“The distinction now’s that we’re shifting in a course to be very clear about what our tutorial methods will likely be,” he stated Thursday.

For instance, he stated, if the district’s work on the five-year plan discovers a necessity for extra superior placement courses, profession and technical teaching programs, or perhaps a reconfiguration of the present Okay-8 construction right into a middle-school format, that might dictate how and the place cash can be spent.

Watlington famous that he would “completely” think about the potential for reconfiguring grades at colleges if warranted.

“We’ve got to take the time to determine the precise methods and what we’re going to do in a different way within the faculty district of Philadelphia to get a lot improved outcomes,” he stated.