Old West Philly High School building at 48th and Walnut. (Archived photo)
Among the proposed new charter school applications that will come under public scrutiny this week is the “Philadelphia Music and Dance Charter School,” a K-12 school that could be housed in the old West Philadelphia High School building at 48th and Walnut.
The siting of the school at the old West Philly High building would require the building’s likely developer, which is in the process of purchasing it to convert to lofts, to lease a sizable chunk of the building – as much as 90,000 square feet – to the school. The school expects up to 900 students when it hits full capacity in a few years.
The developer, New York-based Strong Place Partners, has apparently agreed to do that, according to the school’s application submitted in November. The public hearing for Philadelphia Music and Dance Charter School’s application is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. on Thursday.
According to the school’s application, Strong Place “intends to lease to us if the charter school is approved and this use is supported by the community.”
Strong Place is reportedly finalizing the purchase of the property from the school district. The parcel was rezoned in June to accommodate residential and commercial uses. The school’s possible back-up locations include 23 S. 52nd St., 4021 Market St. and a “loft like space” at 851 N. Preston Street, according to the application.
The proposed school’s founding board includes Andrew Porter, the dean of the Graduate School of Education at Penn and Erica Atwood from Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration.
In its application, school officials argue that, “Having families in this blighted part of western University City will greatly support the resurgence of the community.”
A Virginia-based company, Pansophic Learning, will run the educational operations for the school, which will also partner with U.S. Performing Arts, according to the application.
Several other applications for schools in West Philly will also have public hearings on Thursday at the School District of Philadelphia headquarters at 440 N. Broad Street. The full schedule of hearings for schools across the city is available here. Each charter school applicant will make a 15-minute presentation. The public comment period begins at 3 p.m. The public is invited to comment on any presentation made during the day. The School District of Philadelphia is asking those who wish to speak to register at 215-400-4010 and arrive by 6 p.m.
– Mike Lyons
December 8th, 2014 at 1:13 pm
This is an outrage. Reading the application, the Music and Dance name is an intentionally misleading gimmick. The proposal is a “blended-learning” school meaning kids are warehoused in front of computers for long periods each day to cut down on staff costs leaving plenty of money for an out-of-state investment firm’s management fees.
Are the families already living here somehow not good enough for this crackpot model? Why the reference to bringing families to “this blighted part of western University City”? Who starts their introduction to a neighborhood by insulting it?
December 8th, 2014 at 1:32 pm
I was also shocked to read that i live in a blighted part of western University City.
December 8th, 2014 at 9:16 pm
“Blighted part of western university city??!!” Thats offensive to say the least. For the record its not “western UC” Its west philly
December 8th, 2014 at 9:47 pm
A K-12 “blended learning” charter run by an out of state investment firm? I might consider sending my kid there NEVER. What we need is investment in neighborhood schools. What is the Dean of Penn GSE thinking?
December 8th, 2014 at 10:17 pm
The GSE dean will no longer be dean after the end
of this year.
December 8th, 2014 at 10:35 pm
I am wondering what “Community Organizations” were in support of this proposal and who are the residents on the street that they spoke to. Being a father of a student at the Lea School, and Vice President of Garden Court Community Association as well as friends and partners of the President of Walnut Hill Community Association and its board, I learned of this support by reading their proposal.
I am in support of any opportunities which will help educate our children but when a outside group makes outright false statements that they have spoken to “community organizations” when WHCA and GCCA are the registered entities for the area the old West Philly High School lies in and know nothing of this proposal other than by reading it says a lot.
Also to describe the area as blighted means they know nothing about it. They know nothing about the renaissance at Lea, the Culinary Center, GCCA, and WHCA’s work in the area along with Cedar Park Neighbors and Spruce Hill Community Association’s collaborations together with the fore mentioned associations.
They know nothing about the Penn Lea Partnership which was advocated and negotiated for by West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools, parents and community members. Not the School District of Philadelphia or Penn being the catalyst for this partnership but the community.
Also for the outgoing Dean at GSE to be on the board knowing the strength of the collaboration between Penn and Lea is in a word unfortunate and not representative of the outstanding and respectful work that this Penn division does at Lea.
We are a welcoming community to those who respect us and our values. For those who try to be disingenuous we stand up for ourselves and so it shall be against this backdoor proposal presented.
December 10th, 2014 at 9:49 am
Just one more chorus of….”blighted”????? I can see the old school building from my porch, and a small house across the street from me is on the market for almost 400k.
December 10th, 2014 at 11:15 pm
My son is a kindergartener at Lea and I have to agree that this is sad that they’re referring to this area as blighted. My wife and I forwent having our son attend Penn Alexander so that he could be part of the renaissance of Lea. I’m all for the old high school being used, especially since it’s on my block and I think that it would be great for the area, but this looks precarious.
December 11th, 2014 at 11:36 am
Just what we need, a school with a questionable background from outside people disparaging the neighborhood. I’d love to see something happen at the old WPH building, but bringing in a group who has no concept of the neighborhood (what the heck is “West University City?!) isn’t the answer.
December 11th, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Does anyone know who is the grammy-winning artist that is also backing this school as alluded to in their charter application testimony?
December 11th, 2014 at 8:38 pm
That certainly backfired, didn’t it? They kept referencing a partnership with a Grammy winning artist only to have the hearing officer finally bite and ask who it is. Turns out they can’t actually name the person because it’s not finalized yet. What a joke of an application!
February 8th, 2016 at 8:37 am
Seems like there could be movement here again. Looks like it is back to apartments now. Would be nice to see some retail added but not a lot of details on the project at this point.
http://www.phillymag.com/property/2016/02/05/west-philadelphia-high-school/