This Letter to the Editor is in response to recent DP coverage on proposed Philadelphia school closures.
The Water Center at Penn remains strongly opposed to the proposed closure of two of Philadelphia’s most prominent local public schools, Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School and Paul Robeson High School. Our work with these schools provides students with hands-on learning in environmental science, water management, and sustainability while also offering Penn students meaningful, community-based educational experiences. The relationships and programming we have built depend on the schools’ current locations and structures.
At Lankenau, its 17-acre campus and proximity to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education create a setting that allows Penn and the Water Center to engage students in ways few schools can support. Penn students and staff work with Lankenau students through field-based projects, mentorship, and hands-on environmental learning that relies on the school’s outdoor campus and nearby natural areas. These place-based opportunities allow students to connect classroom learning to real landscapes and environmental careers. Because this partnership depends on Lankenau’s land, location, and environmental focus, it would be difficult to replicate elsewhere.
Similarly, our partnership with Robeson has flourished precisely because it is a small, career‑focused school where educators know students well and can connect classroom learning to real futures in environmental fields. In this setting, our staff and Penn students work side‑by‑side with teachers to co‑design projects, mentor students, and build lasting relationships. If Robeson is folded into a much larger school, that close-knit, relationship‑driven model of engagement will be much harder to sustain, and the distinct contributions of Robeson students and educators risk being overshadowed rather than elevated.
Closing or relocating these schools would disrupt years of carefully cultivated relationships and programming. The educational experiences these students receive are inextricably tied to their school’s physical and organizational structure. Moving them would not only displace students, but also diminish opportunities for engagement, learning, and growth that extend far beyond the classroom.
For these reasons, the Water Center stands with Lankenau and Robeson in urging the School District of Philadelphia to preserve these schools in their current locations. Our city and our students deserve sustained, place-based educational opportunities.
HOWARD NEUKRUG is the Executive Director of The Water Center at Penn. The Water Center can be contacted at watercenter@sas.upenn.edu.
