The Closing of schools

In the article " Philadelphia superintendent identifies schools he intends to close"' Kristen A. Graham discuss the superintendent reasons and the outcomes of closing down so many schools. They released a number on Thursday that is staggering and considered the largest reduction of the Philadelphia Scholl District. Thirty-Seven school buildings are closings and all closings decisions a has made two goals-" boosting throughout the district and ensuring it's long-term viability," said superintendent William R. Hite Jr.

The closing of the schools will save about $28 million. The Philadelphia school district recently borrowed $300 million just to pay bills. " If we don’t take these actions now, we will actually no money to spend," Hite said. Academics are also a major factor in schools closing. The District is struggling academically. Eighty-two percent missed the standard testing mark on math and/or reading.

 

There are those who oppose the closing of so many schools and suggest that the school closings are a tactic to weaken or destroy the public system. Jerry Jordan, the president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teacher accused the district of trying to "kill the neighborhood public schools."

 

I can understand the saving money part but what I don’t understand is cramping schools together will solve what ? It only makes the class rooms bigger and more crowded but they are supposedly laying off teachers in the process as well. They are not giving these schools more scrutiny because a lot of teenager’s these days have huge fights against certain schools.

 

For example what if they close Germantown High school and merge them in Martin Luther King . That will cause complete turmoil. My cousin attends Germantown High school and always talks about the fights between schools.

 

 A lot of schools they are merging together are like that and stuffing the classrooms aren’t going to help either. What really needs to happen is for people to stand up and take action against so may school closing. The superintendent needs to sort this problem out from all angles and not just based on money and academics.