With temperatures in the lower 20’s, it has been reported that a West Philadelphia elementary school has no heat. Alain Locke Elementary, located on the 4500 block of Haverford Ave, is currently not heated and will close at noon, according to CBS Philly.

Despite problems with their heat, classes at the school were in session this morning. The school enrolls over 460 students.

The School District of Philadelphia will provide an update about the school later this afternoon.

Samuel B. Huey School (Google Street View image)

Global Leadership Academy Charter School may soon take over the Samuel B. Huey elementary school at 52nd and Pine. On Monday, the School District of Philadelphia announced Global Leadership Academy as a match recommendation for Huey, through the Renaissance Charter Schools initiative.

Global Leadership Academy currently operates a K-8 school at 4600 West Girard Ave.

Jay Cooke Elementary in North Philadelphia is also slated to become a charter school.

“The Renaissance Charter Schools initiative is one of our most successful interventions to improve student achievement at struggling schools,” superintendent Dr. William R. Hite said in a statement.

The next step in the school conversion process is consideration by The School Reform Commission (SRC), which will consider both schools in the Jan. 21 action meeting. If approved by the SRC, Global Leadership Academy would take over Huey this fall, in the 2016-17 school year. The charter operators will be invited to submit a Renaissance Charter School application subject to a vote at a future SRC action meeting.

Huey and Cooke parents protested the conversion last year.

The School District of Philadelphia released on Thursday the 2014-2015 School Progress Report (SPR), which measured performance of both District and charter schools during the school year. According to the report, Penn Alexander School (PAS) is the best K-8 school in the district and is the only school to attain the highest performance ratings across all the domains – Achievement, Climate and Growth. In 2013-2014, PAS was ranked 6th among the district’s K-8 schools.

Samuel Powel Elementary, a small K-4 school in Powelton Village, is ranked 5th best elementary school in the district and is one of the three Peer Leaders (the school achieved the highest SPR scores among others with similar students). The school enrolled about 260 students in the 2014-2015 school year.

Paul Robeson High School for Human Services was honored for the highest four-year graduation rates among non-special admission schools.

To view the report, go to the School District website.

Kindergarten registration for the 2016-2017 school year will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 19. A couple of area schools will soon start the lottery application process.

Penn Alexander School.

Penn Alexander School (43rd and Locust) will start accepting applications for Kindergarten lottery also on January 19. Applications will be accepted through Monday, Feb. 29. Applications received after Feb. 29 will be placed on a wait list. Only children residing within the PAS Catchment are eligible for the lottery (two proofs of residency within the catchment are are required).

The lottery will be conducted on the week of March 7, and student households will receive lottery letters the following week. For more information about kindergarten registration at PAS, go to the school website.

The School District of Philadelphia introduced somewhat controversial lottery process at PAS in 2013 after the school had received an overwhelming number of applications in the previous few years. The first public school in the district to introduce admissions lottery, the PAS lottery was called a “pilot” for other schools.

One of the new charter schools in the area, Independence Charter School West has been accepting lottery applications since November 2015. The school is enrolling students in grades K-3 for its inaugural 2016-2017 school year in Southwest Philadelphia (the school will open at 56th and Chester in September 2016). Children residing in Southwest and West Philadelphia and in Overbrook are welcome to apply (priority will be given to students from the Bartram, Overbrook, and Sayre high school catchments). Th  lottery application deadline is February 1, 2016 and the drawing will be held on February 16. For more information and to apply, go to: http://www.icswest.org/Admissions.aspx. If you have questions, email:  icswestinfo@icscharter.com

Winter break is over for Philadelphia public school students, who are heading back to school on Monday, Jan. 4. Click on the images below to view breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus to be served in Philadelphia public schools in January 2016. Click here if your school uses the Satellite menu.

January 2016 K-8 breakfast, lunch and dinner menu

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Henry C. Lea Elementary School (47th and Locust)

Dock Street Brewery is joining efforts to support public education in Philadelphia, with a focus on West Philly schools.

Every month, they will be tapping a special beer (aged, soured, oaked, irresponsibly hopped, blended…) and giving it away. In return, they ask that you bring in and exchange school supplies that will be donated to West Philadelphia public schools. This month, Dock Street will be working with Lea Elementary at 47th and Locust.

Photo from Dock Street Brewery’s Facebook page.

If you like beer and want to help Lea Elementary, come to Dock Street at 50th and Baltimore this Wednesday (Dec. 16) and bring one ream of 8 x 11 copy paper (paper is an essential tool in most classrooms and is often in short supply). In return, you’ll get a 6 oz pour of Mah Nà Mah Nà, a Belgian Golden Ale, aged for eight months in a freshly drained tequila barrel. If you want you can bring more school supplies; they will be gladly accepted and delivered to the school. The event starts at 3 p.m. and goes on all night.

If you can’t make it to Dock Street this Wednesday, you can follow them on Facebook for information on future school supply drives. You can also donate to Lea Elementary and other schools on the Donors Choose website. Check out this list of school projects that need funding, compiled by the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools:

Lea Elementary School

1. Reaching Higher Resources
This project is about halfway to its goal but only has 15 days left for funding. Ms. Harris is hoping to buy sets of reading and math games to offer her students hands-on practice.
http://www.donorschoose.org/…/reaching-higher-reso…/1660214/  Continue Reading