School district officials, including superintendent William Hite, will be at the Alexander Wilson School (1300 S. 46th St., near the southern tip of Clark Park) on Wednesday to hear public input on the school’s proposed closure ahead of a vote scheduled for March 7 that would shutter three dozen schools across the city. The public hearing will be held from 4-5:30 p.m.

The district’s facilities master plan released in December calls for the closure of Wilson, a neighborhood K-6 school, and the relocation some of its students to Lea Elementary School (47th and Locust). Wilson is one of 23 elementary schools that would be closed under the plan.

The District expects the closings and subsequent sales of the schools to save the district some $30 million per year.

But district officials have said those plans could be changed before the School Reform Commission’s vote on March 7. A key factor in the district’s recommendations to the School Reform Commission will be the public backing of a school, so everyone in the neighborhood is encouraged to attend the meeting.

As enrollment at the Penn Alexander School tightens every year, nearby schools are going to continue to feel some enrollment pressures, at least in the lower grades. The closure of Wilson will ratchet up that pressure.

Also, the City Council is holding hearings on school closings on Tuesday beginning at 11 a.m. in room 400 of City Hall.  Hite and SRC members are expected to attend and testify. Council members are expected to negotiate a reduction in the number of school closures. For more on those meetings, go to The Notebook story here.

(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 Philadelphia School District is hosting a community meeting tonight, from 6-8 p.m. at the University City High School (36th and Filbert). The purpose of the meeting is to provide parents and community members with an opportunity to learn more about the Facilities Master Plan recommendations in the District’s West Planning Area. According to the recommendations, the following schools in the area are slated for closure: University City HS, Robeson, Wilson, Leidy, and McMichael. If the School Reform Commission (SRC) approves the proposed recommendations, these and many other schools in the city will be closed this summer. The SRC will vote on the proposed closure list in March.

Community members are welcome to ask questions, and share their input on the recommendations at tonight’s meeting. Please visit this page for more information on the Facilities Master Plan.

If you are not attending the meeting, you can watch it online here.

Editor’s Note: Reporters were barred from this meeting so that parents could feel free to speak their minds without fear that their names would be used. As a parent, I was able to attend the meeting, but honor that principle. No names – other than Superintendent William Hite – are used in the story. In another note, everyone has had a chance to vent about the line and those who participated in it. I, like many of you, know many people who were in the line and they are good, hard-working people who want their kids to go to the best school possible. So as of now, any comments that are of a personal nature or do not further the search for a solution will be deleted.

Superintendent William Hite speaks to parents at the Penn Alexander School on Tuesday.

Superintendent William Hite told a group of about 125 parents on Tuesday that the School District of Philadelphia would explore several options to address the kindergarten registration crisis at the Penn Alexander School. But he offered no immediate solution and did not take the proposed lottery off the table.

The options, he said, could include a lottery, but that the best long-term solution is to find out whether it’s “possible to serve every student in the catchment area,” a statement that drew applause from many parents present.

Hite seemed willing to rescind the lottery announced Friday if an equitable solution could be found.

He announced in a letter to parents on Friday that Penn Alexander would switch from a first-come, first-served process to a lottery to be held sometime in April. That announcement angered many parents who began standing in line to register Friday morning, four days before registration.

“Quite frankly I saw a process that from my perspective was not equitable,” said Hite, who told parents that he was only alerted to what might happen at the school during a meeting on Thursday evening.

Hite told parents that, while he understood that the line has become a protocol for registering at Penn Alexander, that it is unofficial.

“From my perspective the process begins when registration begins,” he said. “(That) is not the official start of the process to register.”

Several parents from Friday’s line requested that the district honor the list that circulated through the line indicating when each person began to line up.

“We got in that line because the school district steadfastly stood behind the first-come, first-served policy,” said one parent. “The line is the de facto school policy.”

That parent like many others who testified said they felt a mix of embarrassment, shame and chagrin to be forced to stand in the line, but that added that district was being disingenuous to change the policy with such late notice.

“I stood in that line not because I thought it was right, but because I thought it was what I had to do for my child,” one single mom said.

But another single mom testified that she couldn’t get off work to be in the line. Still another parent said that she refused to stand in the line.

One alternative to the lottery that gained traction during the meeting was to roll back kindergarten enrollment caps at the school, which are currently set at 18. One parent suggested raising them to 25 as a way to accommodate most, if not all, the students who want to register.

That solution raises questions about how those children will be accommodated in subsequent grades, where enrollment has also been capped. Caps in other grades is what has made kindergarten admission so coveted. Once a student gets into kindergarten, he or she is guaranteed a spot in the other grades.

One parent of a child who attends Penn Alexander middle school grades asked that those grades not be targeted in the quest for more space. The middle school grades, which have smaller classes than lower grades because students often leave in fifth grade for magnet schools, have been eyed before as a way to create additional classroom space.

“I beg you not to remove the middle school as you consider these plans,” she said.

It became clear during the meeting that more data should be collected and released that details the number of prospective kindergartners who live the catchment.

“We believe that decision are being made with the absence of data,” said one parent.

Here are some more outcomes of the meeting:

• The district asked for members of the community to volunteer to be on an advisory committee that would be part of the decisionmaking process. Several people lined up after the meeting to sign up.

• A meeting between district officials and that advisory committee will likely take place in the next week.

• No decision was made today to rescind the lottery.

• Some parents requested that Alexander Wilson School, which could be an alternative for those who are not admitted to Penn Alexander, not be closed.

• A call for more transparency between parents, the community, school officials and the school district.

A public meeting to discuss kindergarten registration at the Penn Alexander School will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 22) beginning at 11 a.m. in the school’s gym. In e-mail exchanges with parents who lined up Friday for registration, district spokesman Fernando Gallard said the meeting will be “open to anyone that would like to make a statement on the issue of Kindergarten matriculation at Penn Alexander.”

Gallard said that a microphone would be available for those who wanted to make statements. He encouraged people with similar statements to choose one or two representatives to speak on their behalf. The district has not made an official announcement of the meeting and there is no indication yet which district officials will attend.

The meeting follows the announcement Friday evening that the school would go to a lottery for kindergarten enrollment, ending the long-standing “first come, first served” policy that in recent years has lead to parents lining up well before registration started. This year the line began four days ahead of registration, which was supposed to open tomorrow at 9 a.m.

District officials announced the new policy some eight hours after the line had formed, angering many parents who said the change in policy limits their school options if their child is not selected in the lottery. In a letter distributed to parents in the line, Hite said the policy change will make the registration process “more efficient and less challenging for parents in the catchment area.”

The deadline to apply for the lottery is April 1 and it will be held in early April. The district has not announced a specific date.

The controversy over kindergarten registration at the Penn Alexander School has moved from “the line” to “the list” and “the lottery.”

The School District of Philadelphia announced yesterday that kindergarten registration would move to a lottery system, ending the first-come-first-served process.The lottery will be held in early April.

“In an effort to make this process more efficient and less challenging for parents in the catchment area, the School District of Philadelphia has decided to conduct a lottery to determine kindergarten enrollment for Penn Alexander,” Superintendent William Hite wrote in a letter distributed last night to parents in line.

Reactions were mixed from some 70 parents who started lining up yesterday morning, four days before registration was scheduled to begin. Some parents threatened a class-action lawsuit. Others requested that the district honor the list that each parent had signed next to a number indicating their place in line. Still others were relieved by the news.

One person who asked not to be named said that parents’ feelings seemed to correspond to their place in line. Those in the front protested the change, sometimes vociferously, while many near the end felt that transitioning to the lottery was a good decision.

A sign posted by parents at the entrance to the school makes note of “the list.”

“Families on the list will continue to advocate for enrollment based on the ‘first come, first served’ policy,” the sign reads.

A nearby sign posted by the district reads in bold letters “the process is no longer conducted on a first-come first served basis.”

The deadline for lottery registration is April 1 and children with siblings already attending Penn Alexander will not receive preference, according to the district. Penn Alexander currently has 72 kindergarten slots spread over four classes. Some of those spots will be reserved for children with documented special needs and children coming from early intervention programs like Head Start.

Applications for the lottery are available here. For more information call the district’s Office of Student Placement at 215-400-4290.