Arlene Ackerman, superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, prepares for her keynote speech at the Camelot graduation ceremony. Photo courtesy of Ceislet Media & Issue Advocacy.

From Camelot Schools:

“Don’t ever give up, “ was the message Philadelphia School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman gave more than 200 students — once deemed potential drop-outs – as they received their high school diplomas Tuesday at the Camelot Schools graduation ceremony held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Irvine Auditorium.

Nearly 100 percent of these extraordinary students are moving on to post-secondary programs – college, technical schools or the military. Ninety-six percent of the students who began the school year graduated Tuesday. This is a remarkable record considering that some  of these students had left school and others were on  the verge of leaving school for disciplinary or academic reasons before they enrolled in Camelot.

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Friday –  A Frankford High School student tested positive last week for tuberculosis. A spokesperson for the School District of Philadelphia said both the district and parents of all Frankford High students were notified. Students and staff who spent more than two class periods with the infected student will have to be tested for TB, as well. continue reading »

What is it that motivates, or fails to motivate, an adolescent to learn? Both the Pennsylvania School Board and Abraham Lincoln High School, located on Ryan and Rowland avenues, opted to explore a possible answer to this question by completely restructuring the 60-year-old building.

According to project manager JCMS Inc., the renovation waves a price tag of $70 million on the recently finished construction of the new school building in September 2009.

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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 »

Inside the Excel Academy South in Northwood, Executive Director Milton Alexander stands with Stephanie Buca and a select group of the interviewed honor students. Photo by Maria Konidaris.

Jamirca Delacruz dropped out of Frankford High School. Sarae White was struggling academically. Brandon Ausborne was simply not attending a high school at all.

All three chose to attend the newest Camelot School, Excel Academy South, which opened this year on the grounds of Friends Hospital at Roosevelt Boulevard and Adams Avenue.

“I didn’t want to stay home and not graduate and be a failure,” Ausborne said.

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Members of the Greater Bustleton Civic League prepare to discuss zoning matters at the association's March meeting.

Zoning was the primary focus of last night’s meeting of the Greater Bustleton Civic League, with the first order of business being a presentation from Eva Gladstein, executive director of the Zoning Code Commission, and Michael Thompson, Northeast representative for the City Planning Commission.

GBCL residents, who came together last night for the first time at Baldi Middle School, paid close attention, as neighborhood zoning issues often cause tension at the monthly meetings.

The three-module plan is expected to be presented to City Council by the fall. The revisions have been broken into three chunks:

• administrative procedures
• districts and uses
• development standards

Gladstein said in addition to the monthly community meetings across the city, in the future, the commission will seek to help those who feel their districts require remapping. To make the zoning process more approachable to those who refer to it most — residents and business owners — the new codes will be written more simply and in a less convoluted way. continue reading »

All Philadelphia schools will be closed today due to the impending snow storm. Snowfall began falling, and is expected to continue through Friday morning.

Regional and administrative offices for the School District of Philadelphia will be open today, but will close early at noon. All sports and extracurricular activities are canceled for the day. continue reading »

Parents, get ready for a long weekend with the kids.

The School District of Philadelphia and Archdiocese of Philadelphia have announced that all city schools will be closed tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 12 due to the lasting snow from Wednesday’s blizzard. All administrative and regional offices will open at regular hours.

You can check the School District and Archdiocese Web sites throughout the day tomorrow for updates, or stick with NEast Philly for the latest.

Snow day!

The School District of Philadelphia and Archdiocese of Philadelphia have announced that all city schools will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, Feb, 9 due to snow.

You can check the School District and Archdiocese Web sites throughout the day tomorrow for updates, or stick with NEast Philly for the latest.

Snow day!

The School District of Philadelphia and Archdiocese of Philadelphia have announced that all city schools will be closed tomorrow, Monday, Feb, 8 due to snow. After school activities and yellow bus services are also canceled, but administrators will report to work two hours late.

You can check the School District and Archdiocese Web sites throughout the day tomorrow for updates, or stick with NEast Philly for the latest.