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.

Wind and rain whipped through the area this evening. This downed tree branch is probably a familiar site to those who live near 45th and Spruce. This tree drops a branch every time the wind gets serious. But this storm did some damage. Thousands in the city are reportedly without power. If you are one of them let us know.