Philadelphia’s public school district released a facilities plan that includes closing 20 schools, relocating nearly 5,000 students in the coming years, merging schools, co-locating programs, modernizing buildings, and repurposing dozens of properties across the city. The proposal reorganizes where students attend school and how school buildings are used.
District leadership said the plan is intended to improve academic outcomes, modernize deteriorating buildings, and use resources more efficiently as enrollment declines and facilities age. The plan includes closures, relocations, co-locations, mergers, grade expansions, and building repurposing across multiple neighborhoods.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, chair of the City Council Education Committee, opposed multiple parts of the plan. He said he would never support closing Russell Conwell Middle School, which he attended. Conwell is located in a 100-year-old building in the Kensington neighborhood and is listed for closure in the district’s proposal. Thomas cited the school’s alumni network, culture, and community role as reasons for his opposition. He also opposed the plan to merge Parkway Northwest High School into Martin Luther King High School and convert Parkway Northwest into an honors program inside King. He questioned how the district plans to expand Ellwood School of East Oak Lane from a K–5 school to a K–8 school while the building is already nearing capacity.
Other elected officials did not publicly state positions on specific closures. A spokesperson for Mayor Cherelle Parker said she was not available to comment. Members of the Board of Education, who were nominated by Parker, are scheduled to review the plan at next month’s board meeting. The plan requires board approval to move forward.
Although district leaders had said for months that closures were coming, families and educators said the timing was unexpected. Information about a list of closures circulated on Tuesday and Wednesday before the official announcement.
At Motivation High School in West Philadelphia, students learned during a school assembly that their school would close. The district plans to merge Motivation into Bartram High School as an honors program beginning in the 2027–28 school year. The Motivation building is scheduled to become the district swing space. Students expressed concern about the size of Bartram High School, which has nearly 600 students enrolled, about four times the size of Motivation, and some families said students would attend different schools if the plan moves forward.
District officials said no teachers will lose their jobs as a result of closures and that staff from closed schools will fill vacancies elsewhere.
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Arthur Steinberg described the announcement as devastating and disheartening for staff. He said he could not state support or opposition until the district provides more information explaining how decisions were made. He said the district previously shared factors such as enrollment and building conditions but did not explain how those factors were weighted. He said he is not an advocate for closing schools and referenced years of chronic disinvestment and aging infrastructure.
Robin Cooper, president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators, said she appreciated that the district surveyed families and staff before releasing the plan and said closures would create problems for school communities and staff.
In West Philadelphia, Rhemar Pouncey said she is worried about her grandson if Overbrook Elementary School closes. Under the proposal, Overbrook students would be reassigned to John Barry Elementary, E.W. Rhodes Elementary, Edward Heston Elementary, and Guion S. Bluford Elementary. The Overbrook building would be modernized and repurposed as district network offices. Pouncey described Overbrook as a community where staff know students by name and neighbors organize food and gift drives. The district said it will create transportation plans for students whose schools change, but has not released details. Pouncey said she is concerned about her grandson walking through dangerous areas to reach another school.
Philadelphia operates a Safe Path program that hires adults to patrol school perimeters and sometimes walk students home. The city also runs a Safe Corridors program to escort students before and after the school day.
Several teachers said they were instructed not to speak to the press. A teacher at Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School, who requested anonymity, said staff were surprised to learn the school would close and its program would move into Roxborough High School as an honors program. The teacher said Lankenau’s programming depends on its location, including a beekeeping and honey collection partnership and programming connected to a neighboring environmental education center, and that the program cannot be transferred intact to another site.
The district’s proposal includes closures, mergers, relocations, co-locations, grade expansions, and building repurposing across nearly every region of the city:
- Academy for Middle Years Northwest: School will phase out; building to be conveyed to the city or sold.
- Anna B. Day School: Will receive students from Samuel Pennypacker School.
- Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush: Will relocate to the old Fels School site; add grades 5–8; current building becomes a new catchment high school in the Northeast.
- Bache-Martin School: Will receive students from Robert Morris and Laura W. Waring schools; facility will be modernized.
- Bodine High School for International Affairs: Will relocate to the Penn Treaty High School site; Constitution High School will move into the Bodine building.
- Building 21 High School: Will be co-located with Martin Luther King High School; facility to be conveyed to the city or sold.
- Carver Engineering and Science: Will add grades to become a grades 5–12 school.
- Central High School: Building will be modernized to create a performing arts center and increase capacity.
- Constitution High School: Will move into the Bodine High School building.
- E.W. Rhodes Elementary School: Site will be partially repurposed to accommodate a renovated pool facility without disrupting programming.
- Edward Heston School: Will receive students from Overbrook Elementary and Rudolph Blankenburg schools.
- Edwin Forrest Elementary School: Building will be modernized to accommodate more students.
- Ellwood School of East Oak Lane: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from General Louis Wagner Middle School.
- Fitler Academics Plus: Will phase out; building to be sold or conveyed to the city.
- Franklin S. Edmonds Elementary School: Will receive students from Samuel Pennypacker School.
- General Louis Wagner Middle School: Will phase out; students transition to Prince Hall, Joseph Pennell, William Rowen, Julia Ward Howe, and Ellwood schools; building to be conveyed to the city or sold.
- General Philip Kearny School: Will receive students from James Ludlow School.
- George W. Childs School: Will have a new Palumbo Middle School co-located on its site.
- Guion S. Bluford Elementary School: Will receive students from Overbrook Elementary.
- Henry W. Lawton School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from Warren G. Harding Middle School.
- Hill-Freedman World Academy: Will add 5th grade to become a grades 5–12 school.
- James J. Sullivan Elementary School: Will relocate to the Warren G. Harding building and add grades to become a K–8 school; Harding students absorbed; Sullivan building repurposed for district uses.
- James R. Ludlow School: Students reassigned to Paul Dunbar, Spring Garden, and General Philip Kearny schools; building proposed for conveyance to the City of Philadelphia for affordable workforce housing and/or job creation.
- John B. Stetson Middle School: Will phase out; students transition to Lewis Elkin and William Cramp schools; building repurposed as district swing space.
- John Barry Elementary School: Will receive students from Overbrook Elementary.
- John Bartram High School: Will receive students from Motivation High School; Tilden campus becomes a modernized sports facility.
- John F. Hartranft School: Will receive students from John Welsh School.
- John M. Patterson School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from Tilden Middle School.
- John Marshall School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from Warren G. Harding Middle School.
- John Welsh School: Students reassigned to Hartranft and McKinley schools; building repurposed as a new year-round high school with no timeline.
- Joseph Pennell Elementary School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from General Louis Wagner Middle School.
- Joseph W. Catharine School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from Tilden Middle School.
- Julia R. Masterman High School: Middle grades will relocate to the vacated Waring building, expanding seats at Masterman.
- Julia Ward Howe School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from General Louis Wagner Middle School.
- Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School: Students will merge into Roxborough High School as an honors program; building to be conveyed to the city or sold.
- Laura H. Carnell School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from Warren G. Harding Middle School; building will be modernized to add space.
- Laura W. Waring School: Students reassigned to Bache-Martin School; building becomes home of Masterman Middle School.
- Lewis C. Cassidy Academics Plus School: Will receive students from Overbrook Elementary.
- Lewis Elkin Elementary School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from John B. Stetson Middle School.
- Martha Washington Academics Plus School: Will be co-located at Middle Years Alternative School; Parkway West High School will close; building repurposed as district swing space.
- Martin Luther King High School: Will have Building 21 co-located at its site.
- Mary McLeod Bethune School: Will have a new year-round K–8 school co-located at its site.
- Middle Years Alternative School: Will have Martha Washington co-located at its site and receive students from Rudolph Blankenburg and Parkway West High School.
- Motivation High School: Students will merge into Bartram High School as an honors program; building will be repurposed as district swing space.
- Overbrook Elementary School: Students reassigned to Lewis C. Cassidy, John Barry, Edward Heston, and Guion S. Bluford schools; building will be modernized and repurposed as district network offices.
- Overbrook High School: Will have the Workshop School co-located at its site.
- Parkway Northwest High School: Students will merge into Martin Luther King High School and Parkway Northwest will become an honors program; building repurposed as district swing space.
- Parkway West High School: Students will merge into Science Leadership Academy Beeber; Martha Washington will co-locate at the Parkway West/Middle Years site.
- Paul L. Dunbar School: Will receive students from James Ludlow School.
- Paul Robeson High School: Students will merge into Sayre High School as an honors program; investments into career and technical education spaces and enrollment opportunities; building to be conveyed to the city or sold.
- Penn Treaty School: Will phase out; students move to the Bodine site.
- Prince Hall School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from General Louis Wagner Middle School.
- Robert Morris School: Students reassigned to William D. Kelley and Bache-Martin schools; building repurposed as a hub for the district’s Office of Diverse Learners.
- Roxborough High School: Will receive students from Lankenau High School as an honors program.
- Rudolph Blankenburg: Students reassigned to Edward Heston, James Rhodes, and Martha Washington/Middle Years Alternative schools; building proposed for conveyance to the City of Philadelphia for workforce housing and/or job creation.
- Russell Conwell Middle School: Will phase out; students transition to AMY at James Martin as a 5th–8th grade program; building repurposed as district swing space.
- Samuel Pennypacker School: Students reassigned to Franklin S. Edmonds and Anna B. Day schools; building proposed for conveyance to the city for affordable workforce housing and/or job creation.
- Science Leadership Academy at Beeber: Will receive students from Parkway West High School and become a new career and technical education school.
- South Philadelphia High School: Will add grades 5–8 to become a grades 5–12 school; building modernized to become a career and technical education hub.
- Spring Garden School: Will receive students from James Ludlow School.
- The U School: Will be co-located at Thomas Edison High School; building to be conveyed to the city or sold.
- Thomas A. Edison High School: Will have The U School co-located at its site.
- Thomas G. Morton School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from Tilden Middle School.
- Tilden Middle School: Will phase out; students transition to Thomas G. Morton, John M. Patterson, and Joseph W. Catharine schools; campus repurposed into a sports facility for Bartram High School.
- Warren G. Harding Middle School: Will phase out; students transition to James J. Sullivan, John Marshall, Henry W. Lawton, and Laura H. Carnell schools; building will be repurposed.
- Watson Comly School: Building will be modernized to accommodate more students.
- William Cramp Elementary School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from John B. Stetson Middle School.
- William D. Kelley School: Will receive students from Robert Morris School.
- William L. Sayre High School: Will receive students from Paul Robeson High School; will become an honors program; investments into career and technical education spaces.
- William McKinley School: Will receive students from John Welsh School.
- William Rowen School: Will add grades to become a K–8 school and absorb students from General Louis Wagner Middle School.
- Workshop School: Will be co-located at Overbrook High School; Workshop building repurposed as a training facility for the district’s operations division.
