The Board of Education has approved the School District of Philadelphia’s revised plan for the 2020-2021 academic year, which proposes 100 percent remote learning for all students from the beginning of the year until at least the end of the first marking period. The new plan was discussed at the Board of Education’s meeting last night. The Board has also approved proposed changes to the academic calendar, which included moving the first day of school from Monday, Aug. 31 to Wednesday, Sept. 2.

The District’s revised plan will have all public school students in grades K-12 engaging in online learning five days per week and receiving instruction by teachers from their enrolled schools through the first marking period, which ends on Nov. 17. Students may transition to a hybrid model of in-person and digital learning after that if it is deemed safe.  A 100 percent digital learning option will also be available at that time, and the District will explore opportunities for students to be taught by teachers from their enrolled school.  Continue Reading

The Free Library of Philadelphia is still not ready to welcome patrons into its buildings for regular visits. But here’s some good news. This week, some Free Library locations have begun offering limited services including returns, material pickups, and phone reference. In West Philadelphia, the following locations are now open for limited service:

• Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library (52nd and Sansom)

• Haverford Library (5543 Haverford Avenue)

• Walnut Street West Library (40th and Walnut)  Continue Reading

Re-opening of indoor dining in Philadelphia has been postponed until at least Sept. 1 due to COVID-19 concerns, according to an announcement by Philadelphia health officials made on Tuesday.

Philadelphia is currently in a modified Green re-opening phase with outdoor dining allowed. Indoor dining was expected to reopen in the city by the beginning of August, however the number of new coronavirus cases has increased in the past two weeks.

Some 142 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 were announced in Philadelphia on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 29,945.  Continue Reading

The School District of Philadelphia has scrapped a plan that would allow most students to attend school in person a couple of days a week and announced today that all students will start the year online.

The district presented the new plan following public criticism of a plan introduced earlier this month that would allow most students to attend school two days per week. Students will attend school online until at least Nov. 17, the end of the first marking period.

The hybrid learning model, the district’s original plan of a mix of in-person and digital learning, will be reconsidered after Nov. 17.

The Board of Education will consider the proposed changes at its meeting this Thursday, July 30 at 4 p.m.

For more information on the revised plan, please visit the School District website.

A neighborhood group protesting a luxury development in a back alley near 51st and Spruce is organizing a community speak-out and rally tonight at 7 p.m. at Malcolm X Park (51st and Pine).

The group, Neighbors for Healthy Community Development (NHCD), has been protesting the proposal by developer Callahan Ward to build 33 market-rate apartments and commercial space in the lot located at 303 S. 51st Street since May 2019, pointing out several issues with the project, including fire hazard and environmental concerns. The proposed building would be surrounded by the backyards of several adjacent properties and the only access to the property would be via a small alley.  Continue Reading

If your trash/recycling collection days are Monday or Tuesday, please hold on to your recyclables until next week. The Streets Department has been a few days behind with collections for the past three weeks and has suspended recycling collection for these two days to help them return to a normal schedule. Residents can place trash out on their normal trash collection day beginning Monday, July 27.

The delays in collections were due to a few factors, including shortage of staff who called in sick with COVID-19, the tropical storm that hit our area on July 10 and an overall increase in trash/recyclables amount this month due to the holidays.

Recycling continues to be delayed by several days as the Streets Department is focusing on trash collection to mitigate risks to health and public safety. The Department expects to return to a normal recycling schedule on Wednesday, July 29.