Although Penn will fund a new kindergarten class next year at the Penn Alexander School, some believe the University could be doing more to improve education in West Philadelphia.
The School Reform Commission approved Penn’s proposal to add a fourth kindergarten class last Thursday. The proposal still awaits approval from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Penn will pay an additional $1,330 per child for a total of $24,000 ever year to “provide additional activities for the children that the school budget ordinarily wouldn’t spend,” Vice President and Chief of Staff Joann Mitchell said.
It will also pay $99,500 a year to go toward teacher salaries.
Mitchell applauds the initiative that allows more students to take advantage of PAS — the “shining star in Penn local engagement efforts.”
The 18 children for the new class will be chosen from the waitlist. Every year in January, parents camp out in front of the school for their children to attend the school.
Sam Falkoff, a local resident whose stepchildren currently attend the school, said the school is a great educational experience.
“The test results are phenomenal,” he said. He added that he appreciates the 30-student cap on class sizes.
But he and his wife, Laura Fernandez, think Penn founded PAS as a selling point to bring in more professors.
College junior Allyson Even, who has interacted with local schools through the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project and Community School Student Partnerships, also believes Penn founded the school to attract professors to the area.
Mitchell assured, however, that Penn affiliates do not have any advantage in enrollment over others.
Since the school opened, residents have been moving to the area to enroll their children in PAS, which has led to overcrowding.
According to Falkoff, “the socioeconomic diversity has diminished greatly” in the school’s catchment area.
“It’s Penn’s gentrification of West Philadelphia,” Even said.
To make positive changes in West Philadelphia, Penn should be more involved in other schools in the area, instead of “putting all that money in one school,” she added.
Fernandez thinks that instead of focusing on enrolling more students at PAS, the catchment should be expanded to improve other public schools in the area.
“Everyone who’s in is happy, everyone who’s out isn’t. There has to be a better solution,” she said.
Because of the school’s success, some parents have founded Advocates for Great Elementary Education to protest the enrollment cap at PAS. Their goal is to get every student living in the catchment zone enrolled.
Monica Calkins, the founder of AGREE and a Penn assistant psychology professor, wrote in an email that the additional class is a positive step. “I can say that the Penn administration has been very receptive to our meeting requests and expressed concern about the community’s reaction to perceived overcrowding at PAS,” she wrote.
But she added that she hopes for additional expansion at PAS in the future. “Naturally, it also raises questions about future planning, which we hope to learn more about as the plan unfolds in the weeks and months to come.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.
