[Editor’s Note: We did not attend yesterday’s Penn Alexander rally at Penn. The information for the report below comes from some who did. We decided to reprint the statement from a parent below because we feel it provides an important perspective. That said, we hope that ALL of the neighborhood schools in the area could benefit from committed parents like the ones we have come to know from the situation at Penn Alexander.]

Several parents of prospective Penn Alexander School kindergartners rallied on Penn’s campus yesterday. Carrying signs and chanting “10 more in,” the parents hoped to attract the attention of top Penn administrators who were meeting inside Houston Hall and protest the School District of Philadelphia registration lottery held behind closed doors last week.

The district mailed notifications to parents this week indicating whether their child was admitted to the school. Most parents at the rally knew whether their child was one of the 10 who registered and were not selected in the computer-generated lottery.

The statement below is from Spruce Hill resident Eric Santoro, whose son attends Penn Alexander. His daughter was not selected in the lottery. He read the statement during the rally. The bold and capitals are in the original.

Earlier this morning, I learned that a computerized lottery wait listed my daughter for admission into Penn Alexander, her neighborhood school.  Penn Alexander is the school that her older brother already attends. It is the school where my wife is a room parent. It is the school where I became a founding member of the parent communication committee. It is the school that is the very reason I moved back to University City, after I moved away in 1997 following an epidemic of violence and murder against neighborhood residents. Like many of you here today, my wife and I chose to live in the Penn Alexander Catchment, and have made considerable investments of time and resources to the neighborhood, because we want the best urban education possible for our children

Now we are being asked to accept that a computer generated lottery, which was conducted in secret, and about which we were given no information, has rejected my daughter from the neighborhood school that drove us to live here in the first place. I cannot accept this. On January 18, when the school district capriciously changed Penn Alexander’s registration policies, the school disseminated a letter from Superintendent Hite that said:  “In an effort to make this process . . . less challenging for parents in the catchment area, the School District of Philadelphia has decided to conduct a lottery to determine kindergarten enrollment.”

Unfortunately, the School District got it absolutely backwards:  when you implement a lottery and break up families and neighborhoods, you have created the most, not a less, challenging situation for parents in the catchment area.  When the Penn Alexander School was created, one of the stated goals was “[t]o ensure a close and vital relationship between the Neighborhood School and the community it serves.”  This aspirational goal has been turned on its head.  The imposition of a lottery now threatens to make our neighborhood school, the very thing that divides and diminishes our neighborhood. 

Families, like mine, with multiple children cannot be asked to play the lottery over and over again and risk that their families will be strewn across the district.  Families will inevitably move, new families will inevitably refuse to move in, and our wonderful neighborhood will be torn apart – returning it to the days when Spruce Hill was mere transient stop for Penn employs to live for a couple of years before they move to the suburbs. This is also unacceptable.

We are told that the Penn Alexander lottery is a District “pilot” program. I have a better idea:  how about if instead of piloting a lottery, we pilot doing everything possible to allow all children to attend their neighborhood school? How about if instead of piloting a lottery, we pilot increased student enrollment even if it’s a little beyond our typical “comfort” level? How about if instead of piloting breaking up families, we pilot doing everything we can to keep families together? How about if instead of piloting a secret lottery, we pilot transparent processes where all impacted parents can understand how decisions are made about their children? How about if instead of piloting school district ultimatums and capricious decision making, we pilot increased community involvement and open dialogues about decisions that impact our children? How about if instead of piloting school district decision making based anonymous data and hypothetical conjecture, we pilot decision making that takes into consideration the actual, real life people and families who will be affected?

On January 18, 71 families got in line and planned to sleep outside for four days for a spot at Penn Alexander.  If 71 parents are willing to sleep outside for 4 nights in January so that their children can attend this school, then we are surely also willing to commit our time, resources, and diverse skill sets to help develop a solution to the enrollment issues.  Give us that chance! Give us a chance, and I have no doubt that a reasonable solution to the enrollment crunch will be achieved The School District and University of Pennsylvania need to recognize that the parents are not a problem to be dealt with; but rather, we need to be part of the solution.

Parental involvement in a neighborhood school can only be a good thing. And decisions about the school that impact the lives of families and do not involve the input of the community should be viewed as unacceptable and deemed invalid. We should not have to accept an untimely and entirely arbitrary pilot program.  The lottery was supposed to promote fairness, but singling out our children as a test case for the entire Philadelphia School District is the most unfair result of all.

To the School District and to the University of Pennsylvania, I implore you:  Let us help you FIND A WAY TO ENROLL 10 MORE CHILDREN AT PENN ALEXANDER!

 Thank you

(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.

The Penn Alexander School last year warned parents hoping to register their children that there were “no guarantees” that spots would be available, even if they lived in the school’s much publicized “catchment.” This year, that warning became a reality for many parents. Not a single parent this year was able to get their child enrolled in grades 1-4, even those who waited in line for more than 24 hours.

Instead the parents were placed on a waiting list that includes students who were unable to secure a spot last year. Enrollment in Penn Alexander classes is capped lower than most other District schools as part of an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania, which subsidizes the school.

The School District of Philadelphia confirmed that the list includes students from last year who were unable to get a spot last year. A large number of parents in line last year were able to enroll their students, but not this year. Continue Reading

Parents began lining up outside of the Penn Alexander School this morning, a full 24 hours ahead of registration for grades 1-8.

Ten people were in line as of about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, some  sitting in lawn chairs and under tents. One parent even admitted scouting out the spot along the school fence on Locust Street between 42nd and 43rd streets from her car as early as 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. The registration line has become a late-August fixture since the School District of Philadelphia said last year that no spots were guaranteed in the school, but have remained secretive about how many spots were available in each grade.

School officials have also remained tight-lipped about how many spots are available in each grade, leaving parents new to the neighborhood or those returning from long-term absences for things like sabbaticals from university jobs hanging on rumors. That has prompted many parents to wait in overnight lines to register.

Registration at Penn Alexander and Henry C. Lea Elementary starts tomorrow morning. Registration at most other West Philly schools will begin Aug. 20. Click here for more information on registration.

The new school year hasn’t even started yet and already there is confusion. While the School District of Philadelphia has set the official date for new student registration as Aug. 20, at least two schools in West Philly are registering new students starting Monday, Aug. 13.

Henry C. Lea Elementary and Penn Alexander will accept new student registration beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday morning.

“They gave out the date late,” said an official at Penn Alexander referring to the District’s Aug. 20 date. “We’re sticking with our original plan for the 13th.”

Likewise, an official at Lea said, “the secretary will be here Monday morning registering students.”

No one answered the phone at  A.D. Harrington, Samuel B. Huey, Alain Locke, Samuel Powel and Alexander Wilson. New students who plan to attend those schools should call to double-check on registration dates (see the phone numbers below).

Last year, the line for registration at Penn Alexander began at 7:30 a.m. the previous day. Continue Reading

The Spruce Hill Community Association distributed a letter to the dozens of parents waiting in line yesterday to register their children for kindergarten next year calling on “the community” to “make itself heard.” The letter also restates the association’s stance that every child living within the school’s catchment boundaries has a right to attend Penn Alexander.

The letter begins:

“No one should have to line up in the cold for nearly 24 hours to register their child for kindergarten.”

A full copy of the letter is below.

Kindergarten registration began for schools across the District this morning, including at the Henry C. Lea School, which has received a lot of attention in recent months thanks to the work of the West Philly Coalition of Neighborhood Schools.

Pas Letter