Overview
- Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. announced a K-8 and a high school that will replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone approach with Geoffrey Canada’s reported support.
- The district will run the schools as choice options in existing buildings, with a planned partnership with Temple University’s Future Scholars program to bolster college readiness.
- Bethune Elementary principal Aliya Catanch-Bradley will lead planning, with the K-8 slated to open first but no timeline, funding, or staffing details yet.
- A districtwide facilities blueprint due this winter will recommend closures, colocations, modernizations, and repurposings, with no specific sites named for the new schools.
- Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is pursuing a strategy for more than 20 persistently vacant school properties and promoting expanded extended-day and year-round learning.