The sale of William Penn High School to Temple University,
blocked temporarily by a community group's legal action, will now go through,
officials said Friday.
Inez Henderson-Purnell, president of the WIlliam Penn
Development Coalition, said the group withdrew action against the transfer of
the deed for William Penn, the sprawling school complex on North Broad Street.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had denied the group's request for injunctive
relief.
"We fought the good fight," Henderson-Purnell said
in a statement.
Temple plans a complex with sports fields and a job-training
center for the site, which is adjacent to its main campus.
Neighbors had expressed concern about Temple's plans, and
about the loss of another school in North Philadelphia. When William Penn
closed in 2009, then-Superintendent Arlene Ackerman vowed the closure was
temporary, that the school would re-open, perhaps as a vocational school for
state-of-the-art jobs. The community clung to that promise.
But the district's financial fortunes soured, and the $15
million purchase price became crucial to the district's bleak budget.
Some neighborhood leaders said they believed that the
school's sale was sped up for political reasons, a charge district and city
officials denied.
Henderson-Purnell said the fight to save William Penn was
more important than just preserving one school.
"William Penn has become a metaphor in the struggle to
ensure our children have access to high quality traditional public
schools," she said.
Priscilla Woods, treasurer of the community group, said that
the William Penn saga "is a cautionary tale about what happens when a
school is deprived of resources."
William Penn was once a district showplace. Over the years,
the building fell into disrepair and students fled.
"We see," Woods said, "how this is happening
districtwide."
Source: Philly.com
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