CSSP withdraws from West Philadelphia High

Recent developments at West Philadelphia High School have served as further examples of the uncertain climate that contributed to Community School Student Partnership’s decision to stop sending tutors to the site.

After students walked out of West protesting reform on Feb. 11, stating they want “Education, Not Incarceration,” school functions have resumed without problems last week, School District of Philadelphia spokeswoman Shana Kemp said.

“The climate has been fairly stable,” Kemp said. “Students are now waiting for additional information explaining how the entire transition will occur and what they should be expecting.”

Kemp was referring to the district’s attempt to transform West into a Promise Academy — a new model with reforms including a faculty turnover rate of at least 50 percent and stringency in enforcing student conduct policy.

While stability has been restored at the moment, the recent walkout serves as an example of the general unrest and instability of the school, which has gone through three principals this year.

This chaotic climate is one of many factors that contributed to CSSP’s choice to send tutors to other locations, said Chris Bower, director of Community Schools at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, which houses CSSP.

“There’s been a lot of turmoil at West this year,” Bower said. “To some extent it’s connected to that, to some extent it’s not.”

Communications were further complicated when the Netter Center lost control of West’s Student Success Center — a higher education hub that facilitated the partnership between CSSP and West — to Community Schools in West Philadelphia. The Netter Center’s contract with SSC expired Feb. 1.

“If the district decides to change principals again due to various reform efforts, we’ll be supportive and go with it,” Bower said.

“There are going to be principals that leave and principals that come, so it’s going to be tricky in terms of making that transition work and helping explain that we’re there to help the principals realize that our resources are their own,” Bower added.

Communications were made increasingly difficult without SSC’s former employee Adrienne Ralston, a liaison between SSC and the Netter Center.

When taken together, these factors led to College senior and CSSP director Jasmine Hoskins’ decision to reallocate resources.

“Jasmine and I agreed that given the experience the tutors were having, given that the Success Center was leaving and given the need for tutors in other schools, CSSP’s resources would be better utilized in other schools,” Bower said.

“There’s a lot going on at West and the situation is very complicated, but it’s definitely been a learning experience for us,” Hoskins said.

The potential for a new relationship between CSSP and West remains unsure, Bower and Hoskins agreed.

“It all depends on whether there’s an infrastructure that can support the tutoring and the partnership [CSSP] does,” Bower said. “There also has to be authentic demand for their services.”

Teachers at West valued CSSP’s resources, but with the school’s lack of stability in leadership and administration, principals were unable and unwilling to monitor the service amidst larger issues.

CSSP has maintained stable partnerships with its other sites. It continues to send Penn students to University City High School on 36th and Filbert streets, and many students who tutored at West last semester now work at Lea Elementary School, located across from West at 47th and Locust streets.

The Netter Center continues to host various programs between Penn and West that occur after school, including a partnership between Wharton and the high school’s Business Academy and programs with Penn Athletics.

“These programs are doing well and participation is higher than it is at any of our other high school programs,” Bower said.

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