City Hall goes to school

Mayor Kenney used plain language to describe his vision for Philadelphia's government during his inauguration last week: City services will be effective and efficient. One tangible element of his strategy is to use existing school buildings to deliver social services - such as adult English-language instruction, health care, and homeless assistance - to neighborhoods, making them available to people where they live and sparing those who don't have the time or ability to trek to Center City for help.

"The vision that will guide my administration is that city government should first and foremost deliver efficient, effective services to all Philadelphians," Kenney said in his inaugural address at the gilded Academy of Music. "That may sound like a 'back to basics' approach. But in reality, it is as large and as difficult a goal as has ever been announced on this stage."

The reality can indeed be daunting. Consider the idea of using existing school buildings to bring services into neighborhoods. While the School District may be amenable, it is not capable of helping much. It has been so stripped down by a state government unwilling to meet its constitutional obligation to properly fund public education that many schools don't provide adequate nursing, counseling, or academic services.

Kenney's City Hall would ideally fill some of those gaps, providing students with services like health care and day care at school. That could allow teachers to concentrate more on academics.

But students would have to be safely separated from members of the public using the services, which could require enhanced security as well as modifications to very old, very deteriorated buildings. The district can help identify the buildings that have the space for services, but security, renovations, and administration would likely have to be handled by the city and, as Kenney suggested, the community at large.

Kenney wants 25 community schools opened during his term. In November, he led a delegation to Cincinnati, which is converting all 55 of its public schools into community schools. Starting about a decade ago, that city invested $1 billion in state and local funds in the effort, and officials say administration costs $65,000 per building. New York City also plans to create some community schools, and other urban districts are experimenting with the concept.

If business, which rushed to support Kenney when it was clear he would win, and labor, which sponsored his candidacy early on, want the administration to succeed, they should lend a hand to this promising project.