Newly arriving school stirs up Rhawnhurst

The relocation of a privately managed disciplinary school to a site in Northeast Philadelphia has some neighbors - and lawmakers - in a tizzy.

The former Shallcross School is moving to the old Orleans Technical Institute building on Rhawn Street in Rhawnhurst. Its students are public-school children referred to an alternative placement after disciplinary infractions.

Neighbors say they fear the impact that 500 fifth-through-12th-grade students with a history of disruptive behavior will have on their neighborhood. The building sits amid houses, a synagogue, and a retirement home.

Resident Nicole Caplan, who lives five blocks from the school, is beside herself. Students who cut class at nearby Northeast High have already caused problems.

"It's only going to get worse," Caplan said. "Who knows what these kids will do?"

But Todd Bock, vice president for education services for Camelot Schools Inc., the for-profit company that runs the school, said people were exaggerating the impact that the school would have.

"There is a lot of misinformation, people saying that all our kids are parolees with ankle bracelets," Bock said.

Bock said the students primarily hailed from the Northeast, would arrive on buses to a private lot, and had no after-school or weekend activities. They will not be allowed to leave the school at lunchtime.

"The impact is going to be minimal," Bock said. "Just like every other community deals with, there will be more activity when school's going on. But the students won't really be intermingling with the community."

Camelot officials spent the summer negotiating a lease from the group that runs the technical schools, then designing and retrofitting the building. Bock dismissed one of residents' main concerns - that the school is opening without notifying neighbors.

"What is there to discuss?" Bock said. "It's always been a school. We thought there really wasn't a need to go and do that."

Still, Bock said, at a meeting of residents scheduled for last night, he planned to announce Rhawn Academy would form a community advisory board of interested people in response to residents' concerns.

State Rep. John Sabatina Jr. (D., Phila.), who lives near the school, has already met with representatives from Camelot.

"It's a different type of school," Sabatina said. "This is a very residential area. We don't know what problems the kids are going to have, because no one's bothered to tell us."

Sabatina said he would try to keep an open mind, but he and other lawmakers - many of whom planned on attending last night's meeting - intend to keep a close eye on the situation.

Caplan hopes so.

"This is literally a scandal as far as I'm concerned," she said. "To go ahead and do this without any community involvement, it just seems wrong."