WHEN NEIGHBORS and alumni of Germantown High School in
the spring of 2013 began discussing possible uses for the shuttered school, the
community rallied around one idea: another school. But there were myriad
questions - what structure the school would take, how it would be funded and so
on.
Then a glimmer of hope appeared in October when the
Philadelphia School District announced it would accept new applications for
charter schools for the first time since 2008, as part of the deal on the
city's new $2 cigarette tax. The community coalition was one of 40 groups that
submitted an application.
"We want to give our kids things that they can use
that are practical, that you can learn while you're learning your academic
material," said Julie Stapleton Carroll, a Germantown resident and a
founder of Wissahickon Charter School.
The school, which would start with grades six to nine and
gradually expand to 12, would focus on job-skills training, and use part of
Germantown High. Stapleton Carroll said the coalition was ambivalent about
opening a charter school, but agreed to move forward after a series of
meetings. They divided the tasks, spent countless hours writing up an academic
plan, and gathered signatures and letters of support from elected officials in
two months.
"It was crazy," she said. "It's a
Herculean task, so we banded together and got it done."
The group said Germantown needs another school because of
the lack of middle and high schools in the area. Three charters there -
Imhotep, Imani and New Media - are facing non-renewal. Martin Luther King High,
which took many of the displaced Germantown High students, has performed well
below the district's average for reading and math proficiency.
The coalition's hope is that a school would not only
provide a high-quality educational option, but also help revitalize the
community. Despite Germantown's rich history and tourist appeal, there are few
restaurants and no hotels in the area, they say. To address that, the school
would have career tracks for hospitality/tourism along with construction and
building trades.
The long-term vision also includes plans for a private
developer to build a boutique hotel and restaurant on the school's campus that
could partner with the school.
"We had been fighting since the situation with the
school closing, so this is another opportunity to try to bring back what was
once there," said Vera Primus, president of Germantown High's Alumni
Association who would would serve on the charter's board of directors.
The group is talking with Concordia Group, the private
developer that purchased Germantown High and nearby Fulton Elementary, about
using part of the high school, but nothing is definitive.
Joe Budd, a Germantown High alumnus and co-founder of the
nonprofit organization Men Who Care, said the coalition knows the competition
is stiff, but he believes the community support can set it apart. School
District staff will hold the first public hearing on the charter applications
on Monday and Germantown proponents plan totake a busload of supporters.
"We recognize that [the district is] only going to
select a few and we're praying that we'll be one of those," Budd said,
"but it's worth a shot."
Source: Philly.com
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