Here’s some great news for two West Philly-based high schools and one high school located in Southwest Philadelphia. Overbrook, West Philadelphia, and Bartram High Schools have been designated by the School District of Philadelphia as locations for a new “21st Century Schools Model.” The new education model will provide these schools with blended instruction and hands-on experience that will prepare them for success in the following high-demand industries after graduation: Transportation & Logistics, Entertainment and Urban Development.

Overbrook High School will provide Entertainment Industry programs in Digital Design, Film & Television, Music Industry and Entertainment Management. Continue Reading

Police are investigating the origins of a package received at West Philadelphia High School this morning that contained racist materials and a news article about the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

A police spokeswoman would only say that the material in the package, which was delivered just before 9 a.m., was “not so good.” She did confirm that the materials were racist in nature. Philly.com is reporting that the package also contained a note that read “you are next.”

We’ll update with details when we get them.

The old West Philadelphia High School on Walnut between 47th and 48th.

The School District of Philadelphia will be asking for input on the sale of the old West Philadelphia High School (47th and Walnut) during a public meeting Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. at the new West Philadelphia High School (4901 Chestnut St.).

The District has received bids from private contractors interested in converting the building to apartments on the upper floors and mixed uses, including commercial operations on the ground floor, according to a recent report in the Philadelphia Public School Notebook.

District officials will not talk about bid specifics, but an official told The Notebook that several of the dozen recently shuttered District properties have received competitive bids. The bids have come from private developers and charter schools interested in the properties. The District has placed a $6.5 million price tag on the old West Philadelphia High School.

Congratulations to the West Philly Hybrid X Team, a group of 15 West Philadelphia High School students who received the “Next Generation Award” yesterday at the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards. The awards honor innovators in many fields, from medicine to automotive design to space exploration, “whose work will transform the world in years to come.” Other award recipients included James Cameron who was honored for one of 3D camera rigs he created to film Avatar.

The Huffington Post has a nice piece on West Philly Hybrid X and how they came up with the idea of building this “badass hybrid” car. Here is a Popular Mechanics article dedicated to the team.
 

Students returned today to a brand new West Philadelphia High School, which many people hope will serve as a symbol of a new era.

Junior Sydney Dickerson told hundreds of students, alumni and dignitaries, who ranged from Mayor Michael Nutter and State Senator Vincent Hughes to the Philadelphia Eagles mascot “Swoop,” that she hopes the new school building at 49th and Chestnut will help break through stereotypes.

“For some it means a new experience, a new beginning,” she said of the school. “For others it means a chance to prove that they’re smart. For me the new West means a chance to fight the stereotype about us West kids. About how us West kids are stupid. About how we’re bad. Well, that’s not true and I’m standing here to tell people that that’s not true. This new school provides us with the ability to fight that stereotype.”

The student body as well as dozens of alumni, many of whom wore the school’s colors of orange and blue, applauded Dickerson.

Approximately 900 students attend the school. The 170,000-square-foot school has a three-story, state-of-the art design with computer labs, science classrooms, two gyms and an auditorium. It replaces the Gothic-style building that has stood along Walnut Street between 47th and 48th streets since it opened in 1912 and was one of the longest continually operated school facilities in the state.

The new building, along with the designation of West as a “promise academy,” meaning among other things that the school will have extended days and enrichment programs, is an effort to help improve a school with chronically low test scores.

“It’s a brand new day,” State Senator Vincent Hughes told students gathered in the school’s gymnasium, which sits along Market Street. “This is about your future. Don’t let anybody snatch that future from you. It’s yours. Take it.”

The school will benefit the community as well. Its gyms, libraries and auditorium will be open to the public and have separate entrances in an effort to make it a true neighborhood high school.

The school was designed with West’s “academies” in mind. These include special programs in urban leadership, creative and performing arts and business technology.

Nutter reminded students that a new building will only get them so far.

“Great buildings are wonderful, but education is more than a great building,” he said. “Great students are even better.”

No decision has been made about the fate of the old West Philadelphia High School building, which stands in an area that could see much development in coming years.
 

Some of the nearly 100 students who walked out of West Philadelphia High School last week talk with reporters. (Photo courtesy of The Notebook.)

West Philly resident, professor and blogger Drick Boyd published an insightful post on Sunday about what is happening at West Philly High and the lengthy string of changes that have been made this year, including three different principals. About 100 students voiced their anger at the changes by walking out of the school on Feb. 11.

Today about 40 students walked out of Audenried High School on Tasker Street to protest their school’s conversion to a charter school. The “process” that Boyd writes about at West Philly High is the sweeping nature of the changes with seemingly little consultation with students or parents.

He writes:

The mild “uprisings” in West Philadelphia and South Philadelphia are a sign that people in those communities care about education and their kids and they want an authentic seat at the table. They don’t want to be pawns in quick fixes or faddish educational ideas. More than anyone, they know that the future of precious lives are at stake, because those lives are either theirs (students) or the lives of people about whom they deeply care (parents and community members).

Boyd’s post also appeared on The Notbook site today.