Northeast natives Mary Guarnieri and Scott Garvin in Central High's "West Side Story." Photo/G. E. Reutter

Northeast natives Mary Guarnieri of Lawndale and Scott Garvin of Chalfont shined as Maria and Tony in Central High School’s production of West Side Story on Saturday evening.

This production of West Side Story marks the second year that Central has returned to its musical theater roots and what has sprouted is a professional-level production. Actors, choreography, orchestra, set design, costumes – all punched up for this performance under the direction of Alan Bronstein and produced by Stephen Wilenski. continue reading »

Louis McKee. Photo by G.E. Reutter

Poet and educator Louis McKee passed away Nov. 21  at the age of 60, (1951-2011) after a long illness.

McKee taught English at Father Judge High School for three decades. Thousands of students passed through his class room, a right of passage at Judge. Many of those students followed in his footsteps, becoming teachers themselves.

Robert Burns, an English teacher at Central High School was one such student. Burns remembered the influence of McKee: continue reading »

UPDATE (Oct. 12 11:05 p.m.) — The fire has been ruled an arson. While authorities search for a suspect and crews clean up the damage, the school will be open Wednesday.

Central High School will be closed today after an overnight fire in the building.

Though firefighters extinguished the second-floor blaze quickly, the extent of the damage has not been assessed.

The original Frankford High School building -- an annex of Central High School. Photo by Jennifer Reardon for Philadelphia Neighborhoods.

Dr. Thomas Mills, the current Frankford Alumni Association president, graduated from Frankford High School in 1948 with 477 other high school seniors. All but two of the 478 individuals were Caucasian males.

Terry Tobin, the Alumni Association’s financial secretary and treasurer, graduated from Frankford High in 1962. In his first year at Frankford, he witnessed the voluntary desegregation of the school.

Joe Farina, a first-year health and physical education teacher and a wrestling and baseball coach at Frankford, graduated in 2004. Frankford’s demographics during his last year there closely resemble the current statistics.

During the 2008-2009 school year, the most recent school year for which data are available, African Americans made up the majority of Frankford’s student population at 62.4 percent. At 9.9 percent of the student population, Caucasians ranked third. Latinos were second at 25.1 percent. The high school had 1,921 students enrolled that year, quite a jump from the 37 students who attended the Central High School annex its first year, September 1910, 100 years ago. continue reading »

Washington's field hockey team. Photo by Jason Achuff.

Coaches and players are encouraged to submit a team roster, or names for members of the Washington field hockey team, to be published on NEast Philly. You may send information via e-mail with the subject Field Hockey.

In a battle of the "Hills", shadowed by Central's Hillary Williams (5), Washington's Hillary McFillin (11), on an offensive surge around midfield, prepares to drive the ball closer to Central's goal. Photo by Jason Achuff.

Lincoln vs. Central

Lincoln's QB Joe McCausland (who also punts, places kick and plays defense) breaks into the open on a run while keeping his eyes open for potential receivers. He's aided in his escape from the backfield by lineman Mike Page (79), and running back Chris Williams (33), who took on Central defenders Richard Drayton (83) and Saleem Rivers (53).

Receiving a key block by teammate Jon Gelin (32) (upper right), Lincoln's dependable running back/defensive back, Omar Black (9) was able to return a kickoff for 20-30 yards. A couple plays later Black would "finish the job" and score a TD off a 50 yard run.

More photos below: continue reading »

Updated: 5/5/09 10:16 p.m., added education and family details

By Christopher Wink

This Thursday, NEastPhilly.com is co-hosting with WHYY a panel discussion among the three Democratic candidates for city controller — incumbent Alan Butkovitz and challengers John Braxton and Brett Mandel. Butkovitz and Mandel both have ties to the NEast, so we sat down with each. The first came yesterday with Butkovitz, and today read our interview with Mandel.

Brett Mandel wants to be city controller enough that he is running against Alan Butkovitz, a high-profile incumbent in a citywide election that rarely garners citywide attention: city controller, charged with overseeing city government spending.

But the Rhawnhurst native says he has to, because Butkovitz is more about show than substance and the city, his city, is in worse shape because of it.

NEastPhilly.com interviewed both Mandel and his opponent Butkovitz and are sharing their interviews.  The incumbent went first – see our Q&A with Butkovitz here. See Mandel’s below.

continue reading »