Here’s a list of kindergarten open houses scheduled at local elementary schools in March. The list has been compiled by the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools. Date correction: The kindergarten open house at Penn Alexander School will take place on March 4 (not March 3).

A. D. Harrington School
5300-34 Baltimore Ave., 19143
(215) 471-2914
www.philasd.org/schools/harrington
Open House: March 4, 9:00-9:54 a.m.
Note: Please come to main building (address above)

Alain Locke School
4550 Haverford Ave., 19139
(215) 823-8202
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/l/locke
Open House: March 4, 9:30-10:30 a.m.

B. B. Comegys School
5100 Greenway Ave., 19143
(215) 727-2162
Open House: March 4, Call the school for exact time

Henry C. Lea School
4700 Locust St., 19139
(215) 471-2915
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/l/lea
Open House: March 4, 8:45 – 10:00 a.m.

Martha Washington Academics
766 N. 44th St., 19104
(215) 823-8203
www.philasd.org/schools/marthawashington
Open House: March 4, 9:30-11:00 a.m.

Morton McMichael School
3543 Fairmount Ave., 19104
(215) 823-8272
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/m/mcmichael
Open House: March 4, Call the school for exact time

Penn Alexander School
4209 Spruce St., 19104
(215) 823-5465
www.philasd.org/schools/pennalexander
Open House: March 3 March 4, 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Samuel B. Huey School
5200 Pine St., 19143
(215) 471-2901
Facebook page
Open House: Participation unconfirmed, call the school

Samuel Powel School
301 N. 36th St., 19104
(215) 823-8201
www.philasd.org/schools/powel
Open House: March 4, 8:30-9:30 a.m.

The kindergarten registration line at Penn Alexander School in January, 2012. The school switched to a lottery last year. (Archive photo/West Philly Local)

The worst kept secret at Penn Alexander School (PAS) made the Daily News today. The neighborhood elementary school, which last year switched to a lottery from the first-come first-served kindergarten registration, has students who don’t live in the school’s neighborhood catchment.

The Daily News article focuses on a particular family who lives in Overbrook but has kids enrolled in PAS (you can read it here) thanks to connections with former Superintendent Arlene Ackerman. The family’s name came up in comments on West Philly Local last year when the district implemented the kindergarten lottery.

Here are some other details from the Daily News piece:

• 34 students out of PAS’s 550-student enrollment are living outside the catchment, according to the school district.
• Not PAS administration, but former Philadelphia School District superintendents, including the most recent one, now deceased Arlene Ackerman, could and did use admission exceptions for out-of-catchment students for “an extenuating circumstance … that’s for the well-being and safety of the child,” according to Fernando Gallard, the school district’s spokesperson.
• Current superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has not used this privilege, Gallard told Daily News.
• The district won’t pull any children who live outside the catchment from the school to avoid disruption of their education. In the future, however, the district will allow only families living inside the school boundaries to attend the school, according to Gallard.

To read more about PAS and its recent enrollment issues, click here.

Here’s a heads up for parents looking for school registration information for next year at two neighborhood schools.

The registration lottery period for the Penn Alexander School (43rd & Locust) begins next Tuesday, Jan. 21, and runs through Friday, Feb. 28, according to the School District of Philadelphia. The registration is open to students who live within the school’s catchment area. Proof of residence will be required for registration. Applications can be submitted at the school between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. The lottery will be conducted on March 5 and parents will be notified by letter during the week of March 10.

Kindergarten enrollment at the Henry C. Lea School (47th & Locust) also begins on Jan. 21. The Lea School will host an open house on Thursday, Jan. 16 from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The open house will start in the school’s auditorium (the entrance is through the small playground on Locust Street). If you are interested in Lea but don’t live in the catchment the deadline for the voluntary transfer process is this Friday, Jan. 17. Get more information here.

Penn Alexander School (archive photo).

UPDATE (8/29/13, 8:32 a.m.): District spokesman Fernando Gallard said that the wait list will expire each June 30, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. So students on the list before July 1 will retain their spot. Letters should be going out soon, he said. Gallard’s explanation of the new policy is not consistent with what some parents who have contacted the school have been told. Further clarification will be needed and Penn Alexander’s School Advisory Council will take up the issue in the fall. Basically, our original  suggestion still stands: If you are enrolling a student this year, call the school.

UPDATE (8/28/13, 9:30 a.m.): We asked the chair of the School Advisory Committee Terrilyn McCormick about the new process at Penn Alexander School and whether the school is contacting parents directly to let them know about the new policy. Here are her responses: 

“It’s really not clear. I’m going to work with the SAC in September to make it more clear. People need to contact the school right now.”

(8/27/13, 6:00 p.m.): The School District of Philadelphia has changed the admission policy for the Penn Alexander School two weeks before school is due to start, according to the chair of the School Advisory Committee.

Effective this month the school will no longer recognize the previous year’s wait list for spots in grades 1-8, Terrilyn McCormick told West Philly Local in an e-mail. McCormick said that parents who were on the wait list should contact the school immediately (215-823-5465).

Penn Alexander’s wait list for the lower grades, many of which are at capacity, had become controversial in the past couple of years. Parents often complained that the process of getting on the list was not transparent. The District has apparently agreed.

Penn Alexander’s lower grades, particularly grades 1-3, have become difficult to enter, particularly for students who are new to its catchment area or were not admitted to school’s kindergarten. Students from the kindergarten are automatically admitted to first grade, but the school is not obligated to take students from its catchment area once its classes are at capacity, according to the District.

In January the District instituted a lottery for kindergarten admission after students lined up outside the school in frigid temperatures four days before registration was scheduled to begin.

–Mike Lyons

A reader, James, reports that fire trucks responded to a call of smoke at Penn Alexander school at 43rd and Locust at around 8 p.m. Sunday. Some kind of smoke or steam was indeed leaving the top of the domed area on the school building, which might have triggered the call. The trucks left quickly after checking the building.

Photos by James Buckley.

(Editor’s Note: We were not able to attend this meeting between the district and parents at Penn Alexander, but we have received minutes from the meeting that we have corroborated with several people who did attend. Please feel free to write us with additional information at editor – at – westphillylocal.com)

A Philadelphia School District official told a group of parents this morning that a proposed lottery for limited kindergarten spots at the Penn Alexander School will be conducted in late February. That decision follows parent requests that the district find a way to accommodate all the kindergarten students in the school’s catchment.

The announcement follows an inspection of the school by district officials to determine whether more kindergarten space could be added.

“There are no more opportunities for growth in this building,” said Karen Lynch, the district’s chief of student support services. “This building is at capacity. Any further opportunities for growth exist outside this structure.”

Some parents asked for a temporary increase in kindergarten enrollment caps, currently set at 18 per classroom, to accommodate students this year. The district refused. The district will also not offer automatic enrollment to siblings of currently enrolled students, the so-called “sibling preference” that many parents requested.

Lynch announced two important dates for parents:

• The deadline for applications for the computer-run lottery will be at the close of business on Monday, Feb. 11.

• Parents who apply for the lottery can simultaneously apply for a voluntary transfer request to attend another district school (if they are unsuccessful in the lottery) by Feb. 15. Voluntary transfer requests are typically due in November.

Penn Alexander currently has four kindergarten classes with a maximum capacity of 18 students each for a total of 72 spots. Kindergarten spots at Penn Alexander guarantee admission to following grades. Seats in those grades are also capped through an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, which provides additional funding to the school.

Kindergarten spots are guaranteed for students who have enrolled at PAS through Head Start and students who have special needs documented in an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Those students do not have to participate in the lottery.

Lynch told the parents that there are currently 82 students applying for kindergarten spots, including those through Head Start and those with IEPs.

The decision to switch to a lottery was initially made hours after dozens of parents began lining up in front of the school for kindergarten registration, a process which has become sort of a ritual for parents with young children who live in school’s catchment area. This year the line started four days early, prompting Superintendent William Hite to announce that a lottery will determine enrollment in the Fall. The lottery was originally scheduled for April, which left parents little time to make alternative school arrangements.