In an eleventh-hour surprise, Philadelphia schools chief Arlene Ackerman yesterday halted the planned closing of William Penn High School.
"We have a moral responsibility to do the right thing by this community," Ackerman said last night. "I'm going to work with this community to give them what others already have."
The School Reform Commission was set to vote on a recommendation to close the campus at Broad and Master Streets, which was targeted because of declining enrollment, poor academics, and crumbling facilities.
At the end of an emotional three-hour meeting, Ackerman withdrew the motion to close William Penn.
When the campus was built 35 years ago, it was a showpiece packed with amenities, including a television studio, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and a dance studio.
Today, it's hardly a shell, with three of its five buildings shuttered, critical systems on the verge of failure, and millions of dollars in repairs needed to keep it operating. William Penn, which can hold up to 3,000 students, has fewer than 600.
Ackerman said yesterday that she was moved by the dozens of community members who decried years of broken promises and neglect, and asked the district to consider repurposing the school as, perhaps, an academy for career and technical education.
Keeping William Penn open comes at a cost. The district has roughly 40,000 more seats than students, and another school or schools must close in its place, Ackerman said. No decisions have been made on what other schools might close, she said.
Come September, it will house only a senior class. After June 2010, it will close for two years either for renovation or new construction. Students would return to William Penn - either as a neighborhood school or some other kind of school - in the fall of 2012.
It's estimated that it would cost $29 million to renovate the most structurally sound William Penn buildings, and about $53 million to build a new school.
After Ackerman made her recommendation to take William Penn's closure off the table, dozens of sign-waving people rose, whistling, cheering, and clapping. A few wiped tears from their eyes.
State Rep. W. Curtis Thomas (D., Phila.), who led the Coalition to Save William Penn High School, said he would work with Ackerman on a facilities master-planning committee.
Miriam Evans, president of the school's alumni association - the school's roots go back nearly a century - said she was thrilled by the turn of events, but remained cautious.
"We're going to make sure they keep up their end of the bargain and that the school is open for our children in two years," said Evans, who is organizing a 100th-anniversary gala for the school in November. "But we still have William Penn. We're just delighted."
Commission member Johnny Irizarry said he understood the initial recommendation to shutter Penn.
"But your statements were a lot more compelling to me, in regards to the opportunity for the district to really implement true reform by working in partnership and collaboration with the community," Irizarry said to the audience.
Gillespie Middle School in North Philadelphia was not as lucky. The district is moving away from the middle-school model, and the commmission voted to phase out Gillespie. Its remaining eighth graders will move to Gratz High School next school year, where they will be housed separately from other students.
In other business, the commission voted, 3-1, to approve about $9 million in contracts with private firms that previously ran 28 district schools. The providers, including for-profit EdisonLearning, received one- or two-year contracts to provide supplementary services, not to manage the schools.
Benjamin W. Rayer, an associate district superintendent, has said that the once-heralded privatization experiment has not worked over the seven years it has been in place, but that it should be transformed, not jettisoned.
Each private firm gets $500 per student regardless of services provided. The district has paid the private providers more than $100 million since the state took over city public schools.
Saying she was not comfortable with the decision, Commissioner Heidi Ramirez voted against the contracts for the firms.
"As an educator and a researcher, I'm not yet convinced that we have real evidence of progress at all of these schools," said Ramirez, who directs the Urban Education Collaborative at Temple University.
Ackerman said she understood Ramirez's concerns, but felt that the private managers could bring value to the district. Part of her strategic plan includes potentially using private managers to run schools beginning in the fall of 2010.
"I wasn't willing to pull the curtain down and say, 'Never again,' " Ackerman said.
The commission also approved $45 million in contracts for alternative-education providers. The district will reduce the number of spots for students with discipline problems, but more than double the number of seats for dropouts or students in danger of dropping out.
Some previous providers will lose seats, and others will gain. Camelot, which has had 950 students in alternative education and disciplinary schools, will serve 1,550 and get $15.8 million.
Community Education Partners will serve 1,550, down from 1,850.
Contact staff writer Kristen Graham at 215-854-5146 or kgraham@phillynews.com.
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