Philadelphia City Councilmembers, union leaders call on Mayor Parker to prevent school closures

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. 

For more than a year, Philadelphia students, teachers, and community members have protested the district’s plan to close 17 schools.

But Mayor Cherelle Parker hasn’t been a particularly loud voice in the closure debate. Now some prominent figures are calling her out.

“We’re asking the mayor: Please get involved. Step off the sideline,” said Education Committee Chair Isaiah Thomas at a rally against the closures in front of the district’s headquarters Thursday. “Help us fix this problem. Save our schools.”

Parker has positioned herself in support of the closures, which the board of education approved in April. But she’s mostly skirted the discussion and largely dodged blame from families and community members. Members of City Council and labor union leaders are calling on her to step in to keep schools open as the district’s timeline to begin the closures at the end of this school year approaches.

“The mayor has to come to the table … to broker a deal to keep our schools open,” said Councilmember Rue Landau Thursday.

Board President Reginald Streater has said the closures are necessary to ensure students go to class in high-quality buildings. The plan, which includes renovating nearly 170 schools, is also meant to address the hundreds of empty seats at some schools as district enrollment continues to decline. It would also give families more access to desirable programming, such as AP classes and prekindergarten, district leaders have said.

Members of the Board of Education serve at the pleasure of the mayor, giving her a level of influence over their decisions.

“Who appointed the board? The mayor,” said Nicole Hunt, president of Unite Here Local 634, which represents cafeteria workers and other school staff. “If we don’t want this same mayor to close more schools, we vote her ass out of there.”

Parker’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the councilmembers’ and union leaders’ demands.

Debora Carrera, the Parker administration’s chief education officer, said in a statement to Chalkbeat in August that “Mayor Parker supports the plan” and will work with the district, City Council, and state lawmakers to help fund it.

In 2024, when the district had just begun considering school closures, Parker said she would convene a committee to guide the plans. “We are boldly moving ahead with our plans to improve public education in Philadelphia,” she said at the time. But that committee has not materialized.

Earlier this year, Parker co-authored an op-ed with Superintendent Tony Watlington that stated the district’s plan to close schools while modernizing others “is about opportunity.”

She has also said she wants to use empty school buildings to increase housing supply, one of her main priorities.

But she has not addressed concerns from students, teachers, and community members that the plan will fracture school communities and leave neighborhoods without a resource they depend on.

Parker also has also not publicly responded to several members of City Council who have said they want to explore creating an elected school board due to their outrage over the school closure plan.

“Where’s the mayor?” students, teachers, and community members chanted Thursday, holding signs calling for a stop to the closure plan.

District’s school closure plan is already underway

Despite Thursday’s protests, the district’s plans to begin closing schools are well underway.

Some students have already visited schools they’ll move to next year. The district has launched a school transition office meant to help families affected by the change.

The district estimates the facilities plan will cost $3 billion. It expects to pay for it with $2 billion in public and philanthropic grants that it has not yet secured.

That means it’s unclear how the district will pay for some of the school upgrades laid out in the plan. But it’s moving ahead anyway.

On Thursday evening, the Board of Education is expected to vote to spend $200 million to begin some of the plan’s “highest priority projects,” according to the resolution included in the board meeting agenda.

That includes building improvements for Bache Martin School, Joseph W. Catharine School, John M. Patterson School, and Franklin S. Edmonds School, such as increasing school capacity, updating heating and cooling systems, and adding gyms and cafeterias.

Chalkbeat Philadelphia Bureau Chief Carly Sitrin contributed to this story.

Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at [email protected].