Community members are invited to support local public schools and participate in these upcoming events at Henry C. Lea, Penn Alexander and Samuel Powel schools.

• Lea Elementary recently received a $3,800 grant from Lowe’s to redesign the school’s interior, brighten up the hallways and make Lea a more welcoming place for students. As a part of this effort the school is teaming up with the Renewal Church to hold a paint day this Saturday, June 2. This is the second paint day (the first one was on May 19) and adult volunteers are still wanted to fill in the afternoon shift from noon to 2 p.m. To sign up, please add your name to one of the teams on the Google Doc here. If you have questions, email David Fox at defox@philasd.org. This is part of ongoing renovations at Lea.

• This Sunday, June 3, Penn Alexander School is holding the 2nd Annual Run for Arts and Sciences. There is a 5k run and a 1 mile fun walk beginning at 8:30 a.m. The course will loop through the University of Pennsylvania campus starting and finishing at Penn Alexander. The 5k run will be chip timed. All proceeds will support the Art and Science program at Penn Alexander. For more information, go here. Note: The online registration with a discounted price is closed, but you can download paper a Registration Form and bring it to the event. Also you can support this event by making a donation at the provided link.

• Alumni & Friends of Samuel Powel Elementary and Powel Home and School Association are hosting a silent auction and fundraising event on Saturday, June 9, from 6 – 10 p.m. This adults-only event will take place at Art on the Avenue, 3808 Lancaster Ave.

This is a very important fundraiser for Powel, as they are trying to raise a substantial sum to buy new Science Kits and other instructional materials for their students and to support additional music classes. This event is for current and future Powel families, friends, alumni and anyone who wants to come out to support Powel school and bid on some great items from local businesses. Go here to order tickets, become an event sponsor or benefactor and see all the great items you can bid on.

Here are three community meetings and public hearings scheduled this week:

• On Tuesday, May 8, the Spruce Hill Community Association is holding its monthly board meeting at the SHCA office at 257 S. 45th Street. The meeting begins at 7:30 pm. For more information, please call 215-349-7825 or visit: www.sprucehillca.org.

• This Thursday, May 10, from 6 – 8 p.m. there will be a School District Community Budget Session at West Philadelphia High School. Neighbors can learn about and discuss the reorganization plan proposed by the School District and the Actual Value Initiative proposed by the Mayor. The Actual Value Initiative’s goal is to reassess properties in Philadelphia based on their actual market value, which basically means higher property taxes for many homeowners. The current proposal would help generate approximately $90 million to support Philadelphia’s schools. To read more about what will be discussed at the meeting, take a look at the following documents: A Blueprint for Transforming Philadelphia’s Public Schools, Actual Value Initiative (AVI), Property Tax Reassessment Talking Points.

• Also on Thursday, community members are invited to attend a presentation and a brainstorming session to generate ideas on how we can create greener, more sustainable schoolyards in Philadelphia. One of the schools whose schoolyard is being proposed for this project is West Philadelphia’s Lea Elementary (47th & Locust). The presentation is organized by the Community Design Collaborative, AIA Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Water Department. The presentation will take place from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Center for Architecture, 1218 Arch Street. To RSVP, go here. For more information, contact Cedar Park Neighbors Vice President, David Hincher, at david.hincher@gmail.com or visit the Community Design Collaborative’s website.

This Saturday, March 31, St. Mary’s Church at 3916 Locust Walk is hosting 2012 Band Extravaganza(!), a fundraising concert to support instrumental music instruction at Lea Elementary. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Penn Jazz, the 2012 High School Honor Band and Play On, Philly! are among featured performers. See the flyer below for more details.
 

Trolley Car Diner eyes West Philly

Newsworks is reporting that the Mount Airy-based Trolley Car Diner, which also has a location in East Falls, is considering opening a spot in West Philly. Trolley Car’s owner, Ken Weinstein, told Newsworks that the University City District came to him about opening a location in University City. “University City District approached us probably six months ago and asked if we were interested,” Weinstein told Newsworks. “I thought that the University City area would be a good match.” Weinstein said he is considering a spot that would include outdoor seating, but that one has not yet been chosen.

Why I Chose Lea

West Philly resident David Hincher and his family were featured this week in Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Miriam Hill’s “Raising Philadelphia” column. Hincher’s essay details why he plans to send his daughter to the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust). He writes:

“The collective hope of all those hundreds of other parents in our area all in the same situation we are in, all working together to find a solution, and improve one school, has soothed that old public school issue panic like a strange balm. For the first time in years, my wife and I are in agreement and will likely apply for a voluntary transfer for our daughter to Lea Elementary when the time comes.”

Play on, Stanford

West Philadelphia resident Stanford Thompson, the man behind the venture Play On, Philly, was profiled this week in the Inquirer. The story reveals his passion of bringing orchestral music to schools in the city. He is currently working at Saint Francis de Sales (4625 Springfield Ave.) and plans to bring the program to the Lea School in January. He hopes to have 10 programs running throughout the city by 2020. He tells Inquirer music critic Peter Dobrin in the piece:

“To be completely honest, I’ve always been obsessed with the – how do I say this? – the lack of engagement of underserved communities. I consider myself to be among the communities I see in West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia and South Philadelphia, and I sit on the trolley and I think: All of those kids could fall in love with the orchestra. I fell in love with it, they can fall in love with it – if we give these kids the opportunity.”

School lunch in Philadelphia is a social justice issue for many.

This summer the School District of Philadelphia closed the kitchens at several schools, leaving just a handful of schools in the City – mostly high schools – with meals cooked onsite. The vast majority of schools serve pre-packaged lunches trucked in for out of the area. Health concerns surrounding these pre-packaged lunches coupled with the fact that 40 percent of kids are at risk for childhood obesity have sparked concern among parents, teachers and activists.

Those folks and others will gather at the Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.) on Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 6 – 7:30 p.m. to discuss where school food comes from and how to make it healthier. Interested community members are welcome to join the discussion.

Speakers will include:

For more information about the event please contact: Bryan Fenstermaker at 215-895-4020 or by email: bfenstermaker[at]theenterprisecentercdc.org.

Students at the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) returned from spring break today to find a giant rabbit hiding in a stairwell. This bunny stands about six feet tall and guards a little nook between the school’s first and second floors and is part of a program that organizers hope will transform Lea’s appearance.

Painted by muralist Jeremiah Johnson, the rabbit is part of Lea’s Mural Arts Program, a cooperative project between students, their art teacher, a former visual merchandiser and volunteers.

Like many public schools in Philadelphia, Lea’s interior has suffered as the school struggles to recruit and retain teachers and serve students’ educational needs on a tight budget. The school was built in 1914, two years after the construction of nearby West Philadelphia High School. Lea’s Visual Arts Program gives students a chance to leave their mark on the school, which serves grades K-8.

“It shows that people care and it gives students a hand in recreating their environment,” said John Try, Lea’s art teacher.

Last week’s spring break gave them a chance to do some major work on Lea’s first floor, where it’s kindergarten, first and second graders spend most of their time and where the giant rabbit, which looks like it jumped straight out of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, stands guard.

The rabbit fits well with the first floor theme in the beautification project – the ground.  The second floor, where third through sixth graders learn, will be painted to look like a biosphere, complete with clouds. Seventh and eighth graders are on the fourth floor, where space will be the theme. The three levels are the visual expression of the overall theme of “ascendency”to reflect students’ movement up through the school.

“They’re ascending in terms of age, but also in terms of maturity so I wanted the theme to reflect that,” Try said.

The program is focusing on transitional and high-traffic parts of the building like hallways, stairwells, cafeterias and rest rooms, where research shows that students feel most vulnerable to violence and bullying.

Yvette Almaguer, a visual merchandiser for luxury retailers like Lancome and Baccarat Crystal for 15 years who is now a graduate student at Penn’s Graduate School of Education, is taking the skills she learned in the retail world and applying them to help improve the aesthetic climate at Lea.

“Everyone talks about school climate,” she said during a break from painting last Thursday. “Positive school climate is not just about behavior, it’s also what you see around you.”

Try, Almaguer, volunteers and a team of students have been meeting after school on Fridays to plan and work on a number of visual projects.

Try and Almaguer hope to oversee the installation of at least a dozen more murals in the school. But they need help. Almaguer has reached out to community groups in West Philly and hopes to attract much-needed grant money for the ongoing project. She also hopes to add a research component that will systematically  investigate her hunch that the improved aesthetic appearance of a school may lead to improved student attitudes about being at school.

Eighth grader Gibron Wynne, a member of the visual arts team, spent his spring break days at school working on the project.

“I feel like I want to leave a little legacy here at my school when I leave,” he said. “They told me I didn’t have to do it for my spring break, but I wanted to do it.”

Wynne will leave his neighborhood school next year to attend the well-regarded magnet high school Academy at Palumbo in South Philly.

The goal of the Visual Arts Program is to get more students like him involved in changing the school. But the program needs adults too. Most importantly, Almaguer said, it needs Lea parents to participate with the students. They also need grant writers to help raise money to keep the project going and mural artists to help bring the “ascendancy” theme to life.

Wynne elaborated a little further on his ideas about what “ascendancy” means to him.

“If you make it to the third floor that means you made it to the stars,” he said.

Those interested in helping out can write Almaguer at yarecess — at — gmail.com or call 917-602-7998.

Here is video of the interview with Yvette Almaguer: