Groups advocating for healthy school lunches in the city are urging parents and community members to sign a petition opposing the planned closure of more than two dozen full-service school kitchens, including the one at the Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St.).

The proposed closure of the full-service kitchens, which are part of the School District of Philadelphia’s plan to balance its budget, would mean that Penn Alexander students and some 16,000 students at 25 other schools would no longer receive meals cooked at school but would be served pre-packaged meals shipped in from a company located in Brooklyn.

More than two-thirds of the district’s schools, which lack full-service kitchens, already serve lunch this way and the district estimates that closing the 26 full-service kitchens would save an additional $2.3 million. Many of the schools that serve pre-packaged meals now never had full-service kitchens.

But advocates from Fair Food, The Food Trust and a growing number of parents oppose the decision, which has not yet been finalized, arguing that the pre-packaged meals teach children bad eating habits.

These groups are asking parents and community members to sign this electronic petition, which will be sent to Superintendent Arlene Ackerman.

Fair Food and The Food Trust are also trying to save the “Farm to School” program at Penn Alexander and two dozen other schools in the city. The program contracts with local farmers to supply schools with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Alyssa Moles, the Farm to School program coordinator for The Food Trust, said by e-mail that her organization is lobbying the District to retain the program. She wrote that she has been assured that, even if the full-service kitchens are closed, that “it will not affect the Farm to School program at those schools and they are also looking at ways of making sure that the schools that were not part of the program will continue to receive fresh fruit and vegetable offerings every day.”

Many schools nationwide have made the transition to pre-packaged meals prepared off-site. These meals are not always hot. For some insight into what pre-packaged lunches are like, check out this blog from “Mrs. Q,” a teacher in Illinois, who ate (and photographed) them every school day in 2010.

The District’s proposal has also garnered national attention. Writing in Mother Jones magazine, Tom Phillpott argues that the cuts are indicative of a new austere reality in the United States.

The school’s losing cafeterias (from the Inquirer):

Baldi Middle, Barratt/Childs Elementary,Beeber Middle, Conwell Middle, DeBurgos Elementary, H.R. Edmunds Elementary, Feltonville Arts and Sciences,  Finletter Elementary, Franklin Elementary, Harding Middle, Hunter Elementary, Jones Middle, Juniata Park Elementary, Marin-Munoz Elementary, Marshall Elementary, Meehan Middle, Overbrook Education Center, Penn Alexander Elementary, Penn Treaty Middle, Pepper Middle, Shaw Middle, Spruance Elementary, Tilden Middle, Grover Washington Middle, Wagner Middle, Wilson Middle.

Other ways to follow the story:

Good School Food for Philly Kids (Facebook group)

Philadelphia Inquirer story on the proposed closures

We are starting to get an indication of what the cuts to the School District of Philadelphia budget will mean for local neighborhood schools.

The Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.) has lost its full-time librarian for the 2011-2012 school year. Luckily a combination of grassroots groups are stepping in to help out. The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) will bring its celebrated program Open Books Open Minds to Lea. That means that volunteers will keep the library open and help younger students with reading and older students with research for school projects.

Click here if you are interested in volunteering at Lea through the WePAC program. WePAC asks for a minimum commitment of two hours every other week.

Also, the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools is sponsoring a book drive through the summer to provide more books for in-classroom libraries at Lea. You can drop off books at Bindlestiff Books (4530 Baltimore Ave.) during business hours or on the porch at 4317 Larchwood Ave. All books appropriate for children K-8 are appreciated. A group of teachers will go through the books over the summer and divide them into the appropriate grade levels.

The Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) has sent a letter to Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and Penn President Amy Gutmann to draw attention to the enrollment cap at the Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St.).

SHCA board members agreed last month to draft a response to the enrollment cap that would demand that children who live within the school’s boundaries be admitted to the school. The thrust of the letter includes that request. It reads:

“Any child living in the catchment area has the right to attend Penn Alexander and should have that right guaranteed from first grade through eighth grade.”

See a copy of the letter below.

 
Penn Alexander letter

An article in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer reflects the anguish that many in West Philly are feeling as their children approach school age: Go to the neighborhood school? Look at other schools in the city? Or, move to the suburbs? The anguish has been compounded in recent months as confusion about admission to West Philly’s Penn Alexander School has grown.

One Queen Village parent, whose children attend the well-regarded Meredith Elementary School, told Inquirer staffer Miriam Hill:

“If you hurt Meredith, you will rip the heart out of this neighborhood,” he said. “It’s the primary driver of economic and social development in this part of Philadelphia because education-minded, working, taxpaying, civic-minded parents move here or don’t leave here because of Meredith. It sounds very suburban, but here we are.”

The real estate premium that residents in the Penn Alexander catchment pay, of course, gets a mention in the story, as does the effort to help improve other neighborhood schools.

Read the full story here.

The School District of Philadelphia is considering a plan that would close Alexander Wilson School and redraw catchments for the nearby Henry C. Lea School and possibly the Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St.), according to a confidential district document that the The Notebook published on Saturday.

Options include moving students from the under-attended Alexander Wilson School (1300 S. 46th St.) to the Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.). The Wilson building, which currently serves 226 students, would become a “surplus” property that the district could sell. The Lea School, according to the report, is currently less than half full. This option would also require redrawing the catchment for Lea and the report also recommends considering the redrawing of the Penn Alexander School  catchment. No further details were available on how they might be redrawn.

The report is clearly marked “For Discussion and Review Only.” Issued by the URS Corporation, a consulting firm, the report lists several options for “right-sizing” the district – reducing the number of classroom seats and buildings to correspond to a declining number of students.

School district officials cautioned that it was a preliminary report and may not be reflective of the final list of closures scheduled to be released to the School Reform Commission in October.

At the very least, though, it provides some insight into the substance of the changes that the District is considering.

Other changes in West Philly could include closing University City High School, which is under capacity, and constructing a smaller building for the school.

Here are two excerpts from the report (click to enlarge). A link to the full report follows.

School Closings report (preliminary)

The School Reform Commission, as expected, has formally approved the partnership agreement between the Penn Alexander School and the University of Pennsylvania for another 10 years.

The agreement between Penn, the District and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, requires Penn to contribute $1,330 per student per year to the school to help maintain reduced class sizes and support other services.

Penn President Amy Gutmann praised the partnership.

“Nothing is more important to the health and vitality of a community than the quality of its public schools, and the Penn Alexander School illustrates this important fact every day,” she said in a statement. “This agreement recognizes the partners’ wish for Penn Alexander’s continued success and supports the University’s goal to enable every child to benefit from proven educational practices at this award-winning public school.”

Penn Alexander has come under much scrutiny in recent months after an announcement from the district that the school would have an enrollment cap that would prevent some children who live within its catchment area from attending. A parents group formed last month, Advocates for Great Elementary Education, is trying to get specific answers from the school, the District and Penn about the enrollment limitations.