Students push back at meeting on School District of Philadelphia's new facilities plan: "Don't shut our doors"

The Philadelphia Board of Education heard more than 100 people who mostly spoke out against the School District of Philadelphia's controversial long-term facilities plan.

Student after student spent their Thursday night speaking out against the school district's facilities master plan. Lawmakers, parents and members joined them too as the Board of Education listened to nearly five hours of testimony.

"You are taking away these opportunities from students who are working hard to better themselves," a student said. "We are asking the school district to look beyond the numbers and see the faces of the students whose features depend on this institution. Please don't shut our doors. Invest in us. Believe in us."

The 10-year, $2.8 billion proposal has drawn a lot of criticism from some students, parents and teachers because it calls for 18 schools to be closed, and affected students would merge into other schools.

"Closing one school is like closing a million schools, and that just does not make sense," Ernie Bristow, a grandparent from Logan, said.

The meeting at school district headquarters was so packed upstairs that they had to send people to an overflow space, downstairs.

Shari Jackson, of Mount Airy, came with her 14-year-old daughter, Shayla, who is a freshman at Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School. The two weren't slated to speak, but came to show their support.

"I just want to make sure that somebody is speaking up for us," Jackson said. "I want to hear it. I want her to experience it."

During the town hall, several board members addressed the crowd.

"We are listening," Wanda Novales, the vice president of the Philadelphia Board of Education, said. "We have not made a final vote, and that's why we have put this meeting and town hall together."

Philadelphia Board of Education President Reginald L. Streater echoed that sentiment.

"We have $7 billion of deferred maintenance and 2018 money," Streater said. "We have a structural deficit that is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We know that in order for our children to succeed and provide them with the educational opportunities they have, we can't continue doing the same thing and expecting a different result."

"That decision is either going to have to happen either for us or to us," he added. "I'd rather we do it in a way that is thoughtful, like we're trying to do now, as opposed to how it's been done in the past."

The next Philadelphia Board of Education meeting is on March 26, but there is no date set for the board to vote on the plan.