After opening its doors to kindergartners and first-graders this past fall, the Penn-Assisted Public School in West Philadelphia has met with mostly strong support from area residents.
For the 2001-2002 school year, the school has 76 children enrolled in kindergarten and first grade. Construction on the school is scheduled to be completed by the end of July, which would increase the school's capacity to 700 students, ranging from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
The Penn-Assisted Public School opened its doors in September after the University took control of what was once the University City New School, a local private school that was forced to close last June.
The University incorporated the former site of the New School into the Penn-Assisted School, but is also working on constructing more space. Penn is trying to complete construction on the school so that students of all grade levels can start attending.
Students in the Graduate School of Education have been employed to help create the school's curriculum and do some preliminary teaching.
The majority of the area's residents, particularly those with school-age children, have shown nothing but support for the school.
"If you were to interview the parents of students that attend the Penn-Assisted School you would know how committed the principal, the teachers and the parents are to creating a community experience in and around the school," area resident Sharrieff Ali said.
"The school represents our current attempt to believe in public education again," Ali added.
School Principal Sheila Sydnor said that thus far, she has received only positive feedback, both from the community and the Graduate School of Education. She also confirmed that construction on the school is coming along smoothly.
"It's going very well; we're right on target," Sydnor said.
There are community residents, however, who have spoken out against the Penn-Assisted School for various reasons. Elizabeth Campion, a Philadelphia resident, adamantly disagrees with how the school has been arranged and the role that Penn graduate students are playing in its development.
"I do not believe that there can or will be any sincere attempt to export anything more than finished 'educators' who have paid Penn a princely tuition for their [masters in education], or to import any child or family who might threaten the 'feel-good' culture of the Penn-'Assisted' School," Campion said in an e-mail statement.
Beyond the training of the students at GSE, Campion also opposes the credit Penn receives for the work that the students are accomplishing.
Campion said the school "has such good PR spin that Penn gets credit for a 'contribution.'"
She also said she believes that the idea that taxpayers "are building Penn's Education campus" reinforces some residents' fear that the University is attempting to expand further into West Philadelphia.
However, West Philadelphia resident and landlord Al Krigman said that while local residents may be affected by the school, it could prove beneficial to the West Philadelphia community.
"The benefit of [the school] has a cost in that the presence and promise of the new school may raise selling prices of private homes in the area... [and] rental fees," he said.
However, Krigman noted that higher prices would mean that the area is a desirable one, and to him, that's a good thing.
