The City Of Philadelphia is a prime example of how a beautiful city can become a dark place with the wrong leaders. In 2012 the city acknowledged the terrible job deteriorating schools were doing & blamed the lack of funding. During that same year (2012) they found $110 Million to build a juvenile detention center. Then told residents they were doing everything they can to fix the broken school district. After building a $110 Million Juvenile detention center they closed 30 schools because well they said they couldn’t afford to keep them open. A total of 17,000 kids were affected by this. All the schools closed was in poor neighborhoods and this move allegedly saved the school district $24M/yr. The schools in the middle class neighborhoods remained opened. The city set these kids up for nothing but failure with by using the blueprint for the School To Prison Pipeline. What happened to the 30 schools the City Of Philadelphia closed? They were sold to developers & in result gentrification went into full effect. Some schools became bars for white people to hang out & some were turned into “luxury apartments/lofts”. Why does any of this matter? Currently the city is witnessing the result of not investing in the youth. There aren’t many after school programs, recreation centers or programs for these kids to go to. While parents are at work who raise these kids? THE INTERNET & THE STREETS. The city said they don’t have any money then cut pretty much all of the music programs & other extra curricular activities in the school district (2012). But I found it very funny because the city give a 10yr tax abatement to developers with new construction. If the city really cared they wouldn’t let new york investors come here & build overpriced homes/apartments then get a tax break for 10yrs. That’s a lot of money left on the table that could go towards something like our broken school district. Then there’s the terrible crime & murder rate…. I don’t have all the answers & I don’t know everything but what I do know is the programs they give $155M to is not doing shit.
Current Status Of Shuttered Schools (not all)
| School Name | School Address | Owner Name | School Use |
| Bok Technical | 1901 S. 9th St. | Scout | Mixed-use space |
| Abagail Vare | 1619 E. Moyamensing Ave. | The Concordia Group | Residential |
| Fulton Elementary | 60 E. Haines St. | 56 E. Haines St. Investment Partners | Vacant |
| Germantown High | 40 E. High St. | Jack Azran | Vacant |
| Walter G. Smith Elementary | 1900 Wharton St. | OCF Realty | Residential development under construction |
| Charles Carroll High | 2700 E Auburn St. | Hightop Real Estate and Development | Residential development under construction |
| Sheridan West Academy | 3701 Frankford Ave. | Archer Property Development | Vacant |
| John Greenleaf Whittier | 3001 N. 27th St. | Tran Chinh Van | Operating as car lot |
| Roberts Vaux Promise Academy | 2300 W. Master St. | Philadelphia Housing Authority | Open (Big Picture Philadelphia School) |
| West Philadelphia High | 220 S 47th St. | Strong Place Partners | Residential |
| Gen. John F. Reynolds | 1429 N 24th St. | Philadelphia Housing Authority | Vacant |
| Stephen A. Douglas High | 2700 E. Huntingdon St. | Maritime Charter | Open (Maritime Charter School) |
| Shaw Anna H. Middle | 5400 Warrington Ave. | Mastery Charter Network | Open (Mastery Charter Network) |
| Joseph Leidy Elementary | 1301 Belmont Ave. | Belmont Charter Network | Open (Belmont Charter Network) |
| Leslie P. Hill Elementary | 3133 Ridge Ave. | Philadelphia School District | Educational Space |
| Fairhill Elementary | 601 West Somerset St. | Philadelphia School District | Vacant |
| Communications Technology HS | 8110 Lyons Ave. | Philadelphia School District | Vacant |
| George Wharton Pepper Middle | 2901 S. 84th St. | Philadelphia School District | Vacant |
| Anna B. Pratt Elementary | 2200 N. 22nd St. | Philadelphia School District | Open (Great Philly Schools Early Childhood) |
| Joseph C. Ferguson | 2000 N. 7th St. | Philadelphia School District | Open (U-School) |
| John L. Kinsey | 6501 Limekiln Pike | Philadelphia School District | Open (Building 21) |
| Alexander Wilson | 1300 S. 46th St. | University of the Sciences | Demolished for residential hall |
| University City High | 3601 Filbert St. | Drexel University & Wexford Science | Demolished for Ucity Square development |
Fact Check:
The 41st Amendment 