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Seventeenth District Police re-routed the SEPTA 2 bus for two hours starting 8 a.m. Dec. 12 when about 25 people took to the streets around G.W. Childs Elementary, 17th and Tasker streets, for a peaceful demonstration. Many brandished signs that read, "Save G.W. Childs School."
On the heels of a Dec. 3 community meeting, Judy Walston — whose 12-year-old daughter Monique is a sixth-grader at the school — and other parents were joined by community members Kenyatta Bey of the Philadelphia Anti-Violence/Anti-Drug Network and Kenyatta Johnson of Peace Not Guns to rally against the institution closing and students being transferred to Barratt Middle School a couple of blocks away at 16th and Wharton streets.
Or at least that’s what many have heard through the grapevine and trustworthy school sources. But the School District of Philadelphia is telling a different story and not only denies the closure but also the transfer of students.
Felecia Ward, the district’s media relations manager, and other district officials have heard the rumors brewing since the end of November.
"[The Capital Programs Office] might have internal discussions, but I can’t confirm or deny that. Sometimes a rumor gets out about a particular thing, but I can tell you that publicly and officially on the record we have not made any formal announcements at this time," Ward told the Review.
Officials from the Capital Programs Office attended the Dec. 12 rally/meeting and said as much publicly. "The Childs closure was on the Dec. 12 agenda, where they addressed rumors of closure and confirmed that Childs School was not closing," the spokeswoman said.
Melissa Solomon, whose 5-year-old daughter Tajanee White is in kindergarten and 12-year-old son Tijai Frazier is in sixth grade at Childs, attended the rally and walked away more confused than clarified by district officials, adding the noise level left her with gaps in information. But it was her understanding from parents and community leaders at the rally Childs was closing because of structural and roofing issues, the resident of 17th and Dickinson said.
Childs Principal Alphonso Evans did not return phone calls by press time.
Ward denied rumors infrastructure was the reason for the alleged shutdown, as Walston and others believe. "No definitive plans have been officially or publicly announced by the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Capital Programs to the School Reform Commission, parents or community organizations for any future building renovations or transfers to the Barratt School," Ward said.
Walston, from the 1400 block of South Bouvier Street, who founded Concerned Parents of Childs School earlier this year with fellow parent Kim Smith, believes the district’s wording is just semantics. The committee was formed to give parents a platform to express their concerns and have them brought to the attention of Childs administrators, Walston said.
When the district said Childs is not closing, technically they are right because pupils will be elsewhere, Walston said. "The building is closing. We know there is still going to be a Childs School somewhere. We don’t want our building to close, we want our children to go there," Walston, whose 20- and 21-year-old sons are Childs alum, said.
Walston and others believe if the shutdown is about repairing the 113-year-old structure, then the district should find the money to do it without closing the school. "They can find the money to build everything else they want to do in the city — a parking lot, stadiums, housing — and you can’t find money to educate our children by keeping them in a building that is already equipped for our children and safe?"
Solomon echoed her concern: "If there’s a problem with the school then fix it before the 2008 school year. [The district’s] got money to fix everything else, why can’t they just fix the school without closing it? It’s a good school, my kids are learning a whole lot. It bothers me to send them somewhere else with new teachers and older kids."
Johnson, a community activist and Childs alumnus who organized the Dec. 12 rally/press conference, agreed. "The relocation of Childs School is an injustice to the children. The school district should not balance their budgets on the backs of our children. If the school needs repairs, then they should find the money to fix them," the Point Breeze resident told the Review.
Ward said just because a building is old does not mean it need a rehaul.
"Granted we do have a lot of antiquated school buildings that we have to take a look at, and people hear rumors and make conclusions from this," the spokeswoman said.
Childs has a Head Start program and serves kindergarten through sixth grade; Barratt is for grades five through eight.
Safety is a major concern for Walston and other parents because designwise Childs’ building structure is geared toward the ages it serves. "At Childs, they only have to walk up nine steps to the first floor. At Barratt, it’s 25," Walston said.
Barratt does not have a schoolyard, but Childs does. "Childs kids line up in our schoolyard to go in and out of the building. Barratt, they go right out into the street. The extent of their schoolyard is a parking lot and basketball court," she said.
Then there’s the issue of pre-schoolers and elementary children mixing with middle-schoolers, Walston and Solomon agreed. "I am worried because they want to send them to a junior high school. I’m not so much worried about the older one, but my younger one should not have to be exposed to the cussing and the fighting," Solomon said.
Ward maintains all those concerned about Childs closing "are putting the cart before the horse" because the district has a set of definitive guidelines it must follow for any change — be it something as innocuous as construction or as significant as a closing.
All plans start as proposals and must go through the School Reform Commission, a governing body consisting of five commissioners and a chairwoman, Ward said. The Office of Capital Programs makes a presentation of its proposal to the commission at a public meeting. A series of community meetings for public input follow, but the forum is no consolation to Walston.
"By the time you have community meetings, it’s all said and done. [The district] is just going to tell us what to do," Walston said.
Something as big as a closure must be announced in general circulation newspapers and more community meetings would likely follow, Ward said.
"That would be the series of events that would have to take place," the spokeswoman added. "The [School Reform Commission] can’t just unilaterally decide tomorrow that we are going to close the Childs School. It takes almost a year to close a school."
