Update (7:37): Superintendent William Hite, in a statement about the lottery, said the new plan will make the process of registering “more efficient and less challenging for parents in the catchment area.” See the full statement below.

Update (7:20 p.m.): Parents in the line are not moving. Several parents have said that they are “protesting” the decision to transition to a lottery. Some parents in line called the decision unfair.

Kindergarten registration for the Penn Alexander School will become a lottery, the School District of Philadelphia announced. The announcement is in response to the registration line that began this morning, four days before registration opens on Tuesday morning.

District officials told the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Kristen Graham that the Penn Alexander lottery will become a “pilot” for other schools.

Here is the statement from Superintendent William Hite:

As of about noon, 66 people were in line. If it continues, the duration of this year’s line will be measured in days not hours.

UPDATE: The School District of Philadelphia decided tonight that Penn Alexander will go to a lottery system for kindergarten. See Superintendent William Hite’s statement here.

At the risk of contributing to the hysteria surrounding kindergarten registration at the Penn Alexander School, we feel compelled to post something. The line has already begun and as of about noon included about 70 people.

Registration for next year’s kindergarten class begins Tuesday morning. Small clusters of parents nervously huddled and strategized along the 4200 block of Locust Street this morning. They spoke about the provisions and shelter they will need to stand in line for four days. One parent said she rented an RV to park near the school.

All vowed that they would not start the line, but that they would be nearby ready to join it if someone else did. That happened about two hours later, when a woman – a prospective student’s grandmother – started the line.

“I am a nervous person, I saw people standing around and I didn’t know what to do,” said the woman, who is holding a spot for her son.

She was in a line that had started earlier – at about 8:20 a.m. – but broke up after parents of current Penn Alexander students, who had just dropped their kids off, asked the lined-up parents to leave. One reader wrote us:

“I could hardly believe my eyes but at 8:20 this morning there were parents lining up outside Penn Alexander for registration, which I believe starts Tuesday morning.  Other parents or community members were confronting them and asking them to leave, threatening to call the cops to disperse them.  A child was shivering in her mother’s arms.  Is there any talk of moving to a lottery next year?  The current way seems insane.  If kindergarten registration is going to be a physical endurance test they might as well schedule a footrace from a mile away and award spots to the parents that finish first.  (Not a serious suggestion, just pointing out the absurdity of awarding spots to parents who camp out in the cold for 4 days.)”

Here is a timeline to illustrate how we got here.

• 2010 – The line started in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. This is the year where things seemed to have changed.

• 2011 – The line started at about 10 p.m. the night before registration began, prompting television news crews to interview parents. A spot in kindergarten becomes even more coveted when the District announces that students who did not attend PAS for kindergarten may not get a spot in first grade due to overcrowding.

• 2012 – The line last year started 24 hours before registration began. The Spruce Hill Community Association distributed a letter to parents in line calling for community residents to make their voices heard on the issue. It began, “No one should have to line up in the cold for nearly 24 hours to register their child for kindergarten.”

If the trend of lining up earlier and earlier continues, that 24-hour wait will soon seem like the good old days of kindergarten registration when all you needed was a cup of coffee, some snacks and a sleeping bag. Now you need an RV.

The line could become a public health issue. It is already a social justice issue.

The first-come-first-served system, of course, favors those who are connected and can rearrange their lives for a few days. Some will just not be able to compete – those who work inflexible jobs, single moms or parents for whatever reason simply can’t spy on that stretch of Locust Street along the school’s north side waiting for the line to start. That said, no parents can be blamed for doing what they perceive is best for their child.

The School District of Philadelphia last year approved a additional kindergarten class that the University of Pennsylvania funded. But some kids were still turned away. The District and the School Reform Commission has bigger, whale-sized fish to fry – budget shortfalls, school closures, failing schools. Those are profoundly important issues.

Shouldn’t devising an admission system that keeps parents off the sidewalk be comparatively easy?

– Mike Lyons (editor)

The new look for Lea Elementary schoolyards? Designers, community and school groups hope so.

That big slab of asphalt surrounding the Henry Lea School (47th and Locust) is an urban space designer’s dream. Tomorrow you can see what a team of designers came up with to turn the schoolyards of Lea into “vibrant, active, fun, ecological, educational, green schoolyard and community space.”

Collaborative Designers will present the “Greening Lea” plan tomorrow (Wednesday) from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the school’s auditorium (enter through the small playground off Locust Street.)

The result of the school’s participation in the Community Design Collaborative’s “Transforming Urban Schoolyard Design” workshop last year, the plan combines the efforts of school and community groups (including the West Philly Coalition of Neighborhood Schools), professional designers and public agencies.

The School District of Philadelphia yesterday proposed the closure of 37 schools across the city, one sixth of the City’s public schools. Some 17,000 students would be affected. Now it’s time for members of the public to have their say.

A series of community forums is scheduled over the next couple of months “to help the public understand how we got here, the proposed recommendations, and where the District is headed,” the announcement on the District’s website reads. The School Reform Commission will vote on the proposed closure list, which includes Alexander Wilson Elementary at 46th and Woodland and University City High School, in March.

The full facilities master plan is available at the bottom of yesterday’s story, here. A full list of the community forums is available here. You can watch Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.’s announcement of the proposed closings here.

In West Philly, a forum will be held Monday, Dec. 17 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Sayre High School at 58th and Walnut.

The forums will continue after the holidays. Here are others scheduled for West Philly (all run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.):

• Jan. 22, Overbrook High School, 5898 Lancaster Ave.
• Jan. 23, University City High School, 3601 Filbert St.
• Feb. 19, Overbrook High School
• Feb. 20, University City High School

Read more on the proposed closings here:

“Across Philadelphia, strong reactions to school closings plan,” Philadelphia Public School Notebook.
“For adults and children, shock over school closings,” Philly.com.

Several schools in West Philadelphia, including Alexander Wilson Elementary and University City High School, will be recommended for closure next year, according to a School District of Philadelphia facilities plan expected to be released later today.

The plan, which The Philadelphia Public School Notebook reports was sent to district employees this morning, calls for the closure of Wilson, a K-6 neighborhood school at 46th and Woodland, and the transfer of students from there to Lea Elementary at 47th and Locust. The plan also calls for the closure of Shaw Middle School at 54th and Warrington, which includes grades 7-8. Students there will be offered spots at Tilden Middle School, Longstreth Elementary and other nearby elementary schools that include grades 7-8.

Wilson students and their parents rallied last fall to keep the school open during the first round of closures, which shuttered Drew Elementary at 38th and Powelton. Wilson stayed open, but it was clear that District officials were still trying to figure out how to reconfigure schools in the area.

The West Philly Coalition of Neighborhood Schools released a statement this morning that expressed concern about the closing of neighborhood schools.

“We believe that every child should be able to walk to school and that a neighborhood can be strengthened by its elementary school and an elementary school by its neighborhood,” the statement read.

WPCNS also called on the School Reform Commission to fulfill the requirement to hold community hearings on the closures.

“Transparency, community inclusion and the opportunity for school communities to make their cases in opposition to closure are of the utmost importance,” the statement continued.

Some 37 schools in all are on the list to be shuttered as the School District of Philadelphia looks for ways to consolidate resources and cut costs (see the full document below). If approved the schools on the list would close their doors for good at the end of this school year.

University City High School (36th and Filbert) is one of eight high schools across the city to be slated for closure. Students at the school, which includes grades 9-12, will be given the option to transfer to schools elsewhere in the city or transfer to neighborhood high schools, including West Philadelphia High School, High School of the Future, Sayre High School or Overbrook High School. Bok, Germantown and Strawberry Mansion high schools are also on the closure list.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that no teachers will lose their jobs as a result of the closures, but that other school personnel could.

Superintendent William Hite is expected to announce the full list of closures today at 2 p.m. You can watch the press conference live on PSTV Comcast Channel 52, Verizon Fios Channel 20, or online here.

The full list:
School Closures and Reconfigurations – 2013-2014

Spark, an award-winning national nonprofit that provides professional 10-week apprenticeships for at-risk 7th and 8th graders to “spark” their engagement in school, is partnering with three West Philly schools – Lea, Mastery Shoemaker, and McMichael – to serve approximately 60 7th and 8th grade students. The programming starts in late February 2013, and currently, Spark is seeking mentors – local businesses and organizations in West Philadelphia and Center City.

Jim Schroder, the Program Launch Director and a West Philly resident, is particularly hopeful to recruit mentors from the West Philly community. “One of the things I love most about Spark is the bridges it creates for professional adults to work with at-risk students in a specific and relational way. I think our neighborhood in particular has a ton of professionals who really care about the community but who often don’t have a natural way to productively support a struggling student, especially a way of doing it that’s so integrated with what someone is already good at and passionate about,” Schroder said in an email.

Here’s how mentoring works:

Over the course of an eight-week session, students meet with their mentors once a week for two hours and work on a project for a culminating Discovery Night graduation ceremony held at the end of the program. A mentor does not have to have previous experience working with youth. Training and support before and throughout the apprenticeship will be provided.

Spark Philadelphia is seeking to recruit 60 mentors by January 1. After that, mentors are expected to attend preparatory events, such as an orientation to get to know Spark and a match day to get acquainted with their student.

For more information about the program, visit www.sparkprogram.org. If you’re interested in mentoring or have questions, call: 267-519-4591 or email: philadelphia@sparkprogram.org