DN editorial: Making over that old-school mindset in Philly district

NEIGHBORHOOD high schools have been the orphans of public education in Philadelphia.

The number of adult graduates of schools such as Germantown High, Edison, Frankford and Martin Luther King number in the thousands. Enrollment of 2,000 or more students was once the norm.

Those days are gone. For many parents, neighborhood high schools are their last choice. They prefer charters; the district's array of special admission schools, such as Central and Masterman; Catholic and private high schools - almost anything except that big school in their own neighborhood.

As a result, in recent years, enrollment in neighborhood high schools has plummeted. Five years ago, these schools enrolled nearly 30,000 students. This year, the number is 17,500.

Some of the high schools, such as Strawberry Mansion, Overbrook and South Philadelphia, are operating at 70 percent below their capacity. Overbrook High, which had 1,600 students in 2010, has 645 students this year.

Last year, Public Citizens for Children and Youth released a study that underlined the dire conditions in neighborhood high schools - also called comprehensive schools by the district.

The list included a high turnover rate among teachers and staff, pervasive poverty among students and other factors. "Impossible circumstances," the report concluded.

That's why we were glad to see five neighborhood schools - Bartram, Ben Franklin, Fels, Kensington Health Sciences and Overbrook - on the list of 11 district schools targeted for an overhaul next year.

Superintendent William Hite said the schools were selected because their performance ranks among the lowest in the district. In the past, the district often turned operation of such schools over to charter companies. Hite said that is not an option in this round because that so-called Renaissance system is under review.

But it could mean major changes in leadership and staff, hiring an outside company to take over management, merging with a higher-performing school and providing additional resources.

These possibilities could upset parents and staff, which is why Hite announced it during the current school year, so the district can begin a round of talks with the parties involved.

One model the district may want to follow is the one recently embraced by Roxborough High School, which has just begun following the career academies model. After freshman year, students will be able to choose among four topics: visual arts, health sciences, technology and business, and focus on those. It's the high school equivalent of choosing a major - and their electives will be concentrated in these areas.

Last week, Roxborough got a $1.1 million grant from the Philadelphia School Partnership, a nonprofit whose stated goal is to improve education in the city.

Other high schools in the district have career academies with limited enrollment. Roxborough is the first neighborhood school to embrace it for the entire student population.

It's not a new model. Philadelphia Academies Inc., which is run by Lisa Nutter, the former mayor's wife, has advocated for career academies for years: Students acquire the skills needed for 21st-century jobs, though, unlike the old Vo-Tech model, the students are expected to go on to college.

Advocates say career academies are a way to break large schools into smaller parts, give students more attention - they have the same teachers for three years - and focus them on concrete skills.

If the Roxborough experiment succeeds and spreads, neighborhood high schools could become places that attract students - and begin filling those empty seats. They would be orphans no more.