The Philadelphia School District's campaign to reform its public high schools recently took a leap forward.
In conjunction with Microsoft Corp., the district is planning the construction of a new "high-tech" high school in West Philadelphia as part of its "Secondary Education Movement."
The project, dubbed "School of the Future," calls for an 800- student facility to be built on about seven and a half acres of land in West Fairmount Park. The parcel lies adjacent to Girard Avenue and is bordered by Parkside Avenue and 34th Street.
School of the Future was inspired by Paul Vallas, the CEO for the School District of Philadelphia, and members of the Microsoft Education Solutions Group.
The $46 million construction plans will be funded entirely by the district, which approached Microsoft for more of a technological contribution.
Microsoft "will provide software solutions for the everyday management of the school," said Fernando Gallard, a school district spokesman. "This will make the technology [at the school] work better."
Gallard emphasized the district-Microsoft partnership as a mutual exchange.
"We get their knowledge base, and they get the ability to test solutions within a market where they are not yet established," Gallard said.
The school, which is tentatively scheduled to open in September 2006, will feature several facilities, including a fitness center, a 480-seat auditorium and two gyms.
Other building plans, including Microsoft's specific contributions to the school, are "details that are still being worked out," according to Gallard.
While many of the plan's specific details remain in their infancy, the project has shown progress nonetheless.
In a hearing held Wednesday, the Fairmount Park Commission approved the "development of the concept" of the plan, one of the crucial stages of city approval.
Over the next three to four months, significant architectural, traffic-related and environmental studies must be conducted by the district. Although these studies must be approved before the commission releases the land, Gallard said he was confident in the project's progression.
"There's definitely support for the project throughout the city," Gallard said.
Gallard especially focused on the location of the school as a strength of the project.
The facility will be built in a "very dynamic location that is centrally located," Gallard said. "The building of the school [would be] the ultimate signal that this neighborhood is changing for the best."
At the hearing, concerns were raised regarding the school's location.
While supporting the plan, City Councilman Michael Nutter said he would have preferred the school to be built in a park area near the Mann Center.
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown also approved the project but voiced concerns about the availability of parking at the location.
Gallard said that few parking studies had been conducted at the site. Still, he noted that in a city district, traffic is usually limited to teacher commuting, as students rarely drive to school.
