Community members (and they mean everybody) are invited to the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) on Saturday for its first ever Community Fun Day, which will include music, dancing, vendors and a bunch of family stuff.

The day kicks off at 10 a.m. Now this day is not all about fun and games (though it mostly is). The school is looking for some volunteers to help paint. The painting is part of an ongoing project to transform the inside aesthetic of Lea. To help out write: leacommunity [at] gmail.com or call Yvette at 917-602-7998.

Oh, and did we mention that there will be a bounce house?

Proceeds from the community day will also help offset the costs of a new playground.

The Lea School will also unveil their new t-shirts during the fun day, which principal Dr. Lisa Bell-Chiles has approved as a school uniform option for students. The t-shirts will be available in child and adult sizes and sport the phrase “We are Fami-LEA,” a play off the famous Sister Sledge tune (just try getting that song out of your head now).
 

The Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA), an integral player in the formation of the Penn Alexander School more than 10 years ago, agreed last night to draft a statement  calling on the school to admit every child in first grade and above who lives in the school’s catchment area.

Parents new to the neighborhood and those with young children have been dismayed about the refusal of the school to admit many children even though they live within the school’s coveted catchment area. Several people who attended last night’s SHCA board meeting, as well as one association board member, shared stories about children who were not admitted and their frustration about not knowing how to proceed for the coming school year.

School and district officials have said that the school’s lower grades are at capacity, prompting them to advise many parents, even those with siblings already attending the school, to investigate other options. The SHCA board agreed that the policy was unjust.

Longtime Spruce Hill Community Association board member Barry Grossbach said it is the association’s obligation to pressure the school to accept any child who lives inside the catchment boundaries.

“I think we need to be very clear that kids who live within the catchment area need to go to the school,” Grossbach said. “This was the expectation that we had when the school was formed and that is the expectation we have now.”

Board members hope that the statement will help prompt a more open discussion about the enrollment policy, which so far is a mystery to most parents.

Most parents have tolerated a kindergarten enrollment cap because kindergarten is not required in Pennsylvania. But now the cap is being applied to the lower grades. Registration for those grades begins August 15 and many parents new to the neighborhood are unsure if their children will be admitted.

West Philly resident Monica Calkins spoke at the meeting on behalf of a new community organization confronting the enrollment issue at the school. The group, Advocates for Great Elementary Education (AGREE), officially formed last month after several parents commiserated about the lack of information coming from the school.

Like many parents who live in the Penn Alexander catchment, Calkins wants answers.

“We have a lot of questions,” she said.

Some of issues the group hopes to have clarified:

• Extent of the overcrowding at the school.
• The process for determining an enrollment cap.
• Penn’s position on the overcrowding issue.
• Whether other measures, such as temporary classrooms, have been considered.

A key question that many are asking is whether the influx of students to the school is a temporary surge in the population that might be relieved by temporary classroom space similar to what is being done at some crowded schools in Northeast Philadelphia.

AGREE also echoes many residents’ fears about “downstream effects” of the enrollment cap, including a drop in real estate prices.

Property sales, which surged after the school was built, have reportedly already begun to reflect the confusion and anxiety over admission to the school.

Realtor Melani Lamond told SHCA board members last night that if the enrollment policy is not cleared up soon real estate sales will likely drop further and prospective homebuyers will look to buy elsewhere.

“I guarantee you this will be a one-time problem if there is no guarantee that their kids will get into the school,” said Lamond.

School officials have advised some parents to investigate other neighborhood schools, including Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.), which has seen a surge in community interest in recent months.

Many parents who live inside the catchment have said that they would consider Lea, but first want a definitive answer to whether their child might have a chance to get into Penn Alexander.

A small and relatively new West Philly non-profit recently received $100,000 to help keep school libraries open and stocked with books, just as schools look to cut funding.

The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) recieved the grant from the philanthropic organization Impact 100 Philadelphia on June 9 to significantly bolster its “Open Books Open Minds” program, which collects and donates books and staffs closed or severely limited libraries at several West Philadelphia elementary schools. WePAC volunteers help students select and check out books, guide research, read to students and, perhaps most importantly, they have enabled underfunded libraries at several schools just to stay open.

WePAC Executive Director David Florig called the grant a “game changer” for the organization, which started with six volunteers during the 2003-2004 school year. The money aside, the grant will help instill confidence in other potential donors because “a very significant group has chosen to invest in this,” he said.

WePAC will use the money to help keep open libraries at up to five schools and help extend services at several others. The group will also initiate new after-school “newspaper clubs.”

Made up exclusively of women ages 21 and older who each contribute at least $1,000 to a grant fund, Impact 100 Philadelphia chose WePac from some 150 applicants. A day after the grant was awarded, WePac posted a job ad for a coordinator of the Open Books Open Minds program.

Public schools will dismiss at 1:30 p.m. again tomorrow because of the heat, the School District of Philadelphia has just announced.

Spokeswoman Shana Kemp said in a statement:

“According to the National Weather Service, temperatures are expected to again soar to the upper 90’s Thursday in Philadelphia. The expected extreme weather coupled by the high humidity levels could create a situation in which heat illness is possible. The District is taking this heat warning seriously by closing schools, which includes early childhood programs, at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. At the 1:30 p.m. dismissal time, routine transportation will occur for students. “

Afterschool programs are also cancelled.

Philadelphia public and Catholic schools will dismiss at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow due to the heat.

The School District of Philadelphia released a statement tonight stating:

The expected extreme weather coupled by the high humidity levels could create a situation in which heat illness is possible. The District is taking this heat warning seriously by closing schools, which includes early childhood programs, at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. At the 1:30 p.m. dismissal time, routine transportation will occur for students.

All District after-school programs have also been cancelled. Keep an eye on Thursday as well as temperatures are expected to stay well into the 90s.

Tune Up Philly, the unique after-school music program, concluded the school year yesterday with a performance at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School (917 S. 47th St.). The performance featured pieces by the full orchestra and choir as well as quartets and quintets. About 85 St. Francis de Sales students ranging from kindergartners to eighth graders, have taken part in the program, which takes students from beginning musicians to concert-ready over the course of the school year.

JUMP magazine did a great piece on the program last week. Read it here.

Unfortunately we had to leave the concert early and we missed the performance of the full orchestra. We have heard rave reviews though. Below is a slideshow of some of the performances early in the concert.

You will be hearing a lot more about this program in the coming year. Tune Up Philly will be at the Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.) next year and, as you can see in the photos, a film crew was shooting yesterday’s concert.