Students protest school closures last year (photo courtesy of the Unionresourcecenter.com)

Residents are invited to weigh in this Saturday on the School District of Philadelphia’s cost-cutting measures that will likely include dozens of school closures.

The School Reform Commission meeting on the District’s Facilities Master Plan at West Philadelphia High School (4901 Chestnut St.) will run from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Residents will hear about the District’s plan to shutter up to 60 schools over the next few years to close a budget gap that could balloon to more than $1 billion.

Enrollment in the District has dropped 21 percent since 2003, leaving classrooms at many schools far below capacity. Enrollment in charter schools increased dramatically during that time span, taking students out of District-run facilities. In a report released last month, the Boston Consulting Group estimated that the District could close 40 to 50 schools by next year and another 15 or 20 over the next five years. District officials estimate that the closures could save as much as $35 million a year. The SRC is expected to announce next month which schools could be closed next year.

Closure decisions will be based on the condition of the school, its current capacity and the academic performance of its students.

Proposed closures will likely have a profound impact on schools in West Philly. Last year Drew Elementary near 38th and Powelton closed and its students were spread among other West Philly schools. The grade configuration at Alexander Wilson School, which the District has deemed is under-enrolled, will change from K-6 to K-5. The closure and changes have placed more pressure on other schools, including the Henry C. Lea (4700 Locust St.), Alaine Locke (4550 Haverford Ave.) and Samuel Powel (301 N. 36th St.) Schools. Enrollment issues are also a prime concern at Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St.).

But Saturday’s meeting is about more than just school closures. The District is also looking for resident input on a host of issues that will arise when schools start closing. Those range from getting rid of middle schools and making K-8 the only option to changing the way students are assigned to elementary schools. To record resident input at past meetings, the SRC has distributed devices that attendees click in response to a variety of questions.

For example, one question is:

“On a scale of 1 to 9, how important is it for 3rd graders to be able to walk to school?

Meeting participants can respond by pushing the appropriate button on the device. Click here for the full list of questions. Benjamin Herold from The Notebook and WHYY’s NewsWorks has a great story on the meetings earlier this week here.

A plan to keep middle school students in the Powelton Village neighborhood closer to home got a significant boost yesterday.

The Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) awarded a $215,000 grant to devise a plan that would add a fifth grade to Powel Elementary, which is currently K-4, and create a new middle school in the neighborhood. The grant marks the first time that PSP, which manages a philanthropic education fund, has invested in a public school in the city.

“The Powel community has long imagined an expansion of our current program to include fifth grade, and the opportunity for our students to attend a high-quality middle school in our neighborhood,” Powel principal Kimberly Ellerbee said in a statement.

PSP awarded the grant to a consortium that includes Powel, Science Leadership Academy (SLA) and Drexel University. Drexel President John Fry sits on the board of directors at PSP, which has raised about $50 million in grants for private and charter schools. As a vice president at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1990s Fry was a key architect of the changes in the neighborhoods around Penn, including the creation of the University City District and the Penn Alexander School.

Officials from SLA, a top magnet school in the city, will consult on the creation of a middle school.

The Inquirer‘s Kristen A. Graham reports that members of the School Reform Commission approves of the plan in concept. The SRC, which is currently considering another round of school closures, would need to sign off on adding a grade and a new middle school.

Powel hopes to add the new grade by next fall and the middle school could be open as early as the fall of 2014.

A Mennonite choir performed in Clark Park this morning under the watchful eye of Charles Dickens and Nell. Luckily they left before the sword-fighting kids showed up.

Officers from the 18th Police District will be visiting homes and businesses in the district tonight to share information about crime prevention.

According to the PhillyPolice Blog, officers will particularly focus on the area from Baltimore Avenue to Cedar Avenue, 57th Street to 62nd Street.

The tools they will talk about include Operation Safe I.D., which was put in place to help prevent burglaries and thefts and the department’s SafeCam project, which allows residents and businesses to register security cameras with the police department.

Longtime resident Fran Byers (center) during the re-opening of Clark Park last year.

A piece of advice for would-be purse snatchers: Don’t mess with the lady who organizes the meet-and-greets with the police.

Plain-clothes officers nabbed two teenage purse snatchers on bikes after they grabbed a shoulder bag from longtime resident Fran Byers near 48th and Baltimore at about 2 p.m. on Monday. That’s the same Fran Byers who organizes the monthly community meeting with officers from the University City Division of the 18th Police District. In fact, she was passing out flyers for the meeting when it happened. The teenagers rammed Fran from behind then grabbed her bag, pulling it so violently that her shoulder was dislocated, according to friends.

Fran won’t be at tonight’s meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at the usual spot in the basement of the Calvary Center for Culture and Community (801 S. 48th St.) The meetings provide an opportunity for residents to share information and concerns with police about crime and neighborhood issues.

Obama on the right, Romney on the left on 45th Street. Don’t forget to register to vote. Also, don’t forget that you will need ID, so get on that. Election day is November 6.