U.-funded school raises debate

Newton High School '97

Newton, N.J.

Since 1998, Penn has been working with the Philadelphia School Board on plans to build a University-supported pre-K-8 school.

But controversy has surrounded the project, which will cost the city about $20 million, with Penn kicking in an annual $700,000 in operating costs as well as curricular assistance from the Graduate School of Education.

The biggest issue of contention over the school concerns its demographic makeup. At meetings, community members have argued heatedly over the catchment area -- the boundaries that will determine who may attend.

These debates have all contributed to making this project run now two months behind schedule, and eliminating the good will toward the University that was generated immediately after the announcement that Penn would help fund a showcase public school.

The school is one aspect of the West Philadelphia Initiative, one of the centerpieces of University President Judith Rodin's administration. The Initiative aims to improve the area and make Penn a better neighbor.

In the past, there has been outright hostility between the University and local residents.

Construction for the new school was supposed to begin in March at 42nd and Spruce streets, with the intention that it would open in September 2001. But as of the end of May, Steve Schutt, Penn's pointman on the project, said there is no date set for groundbreaking.

"We still anticipate opening at least a portion of the school in September 2001," Schutt said.

Throughout the year, many area residents have met in community meetings like the University City Community Council or in open meetings of the Education Committee of the Philadelphia Board of Education to voice their concerns about the new school.

The catchment area has been a central topic on the minds of community members.

"To have [the school] right in the middle of your neighborhood and then not be able to send your kids there would get people upset," Squirrel Hill Community Association President Amy Williams said.

Some angry residents asked that Penn provide additional funding to the neighboring Lea School at 47th and Locust streets.

Other reactions have varied widely -- from people who have accused the University and School Board of trying to create a school exclusively for the children of Penn faculty and staff, to other residents who say that the proposed catchment area won't include a diverse racial mix.

"I am tired of everybody saying that this is an elite school to serve a small bunch of people," Spruce Hill resident and one-time candidate for City Council Prentice Cole said at an Education Committee meeting in January, pointing out that five of the six regions in University City would be represented in the new school. "Look at the map. It is not."

But discussions came to a halt in March when Mayor John Street overhauled the School Board by appointing five new members. Issues like the budget and school uniforms took precedence over the catchment area.

"The Education Committee has not looked into [the catchment area] recently," said Milton McGriff, a spokesman for the Philadelphia School Board. "Their plate is pretty full."

And Schutt added that issues of design, cost and availability of materials have contributed to the delay. The institutions that currently stand on the site at 42nd and Spruce streets -- the University City New School, the Parent Infant Center and the Penn Children's Center -- are still preparing to move.

"It is not unusual for a construction project of this sort of experience delays," Schutt said.

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