Philly.com / March 25, 2017
Mayor Kenney bet big on community schools, a concept started elsewhere and brought to Philadelphia this school year. He ran on a promise to bring 25 of them to the city in four years, and pledged $40 million over four years to fund them.
This year, the city has budgeted $3.75 million for Southern and the other community schools – Cramp, F.S. Edmonds, Gideon, Logan, and Southwark elementary schools; Tilden Middle School; and Dobbins and Kensington Health Sciences Academy high schools.
The program looks different at every school; community schools are driven by what the neighborhood and the school needs. At Logan, for instance, the push is toward bringing in fresh fruits and vegetables and on shoring up safety for kids going to and from school; Southwark created mentorships and offers free physicals for students in partnership with the city Health Department…
Kenney and other city and district officials toured Cincinnati’s Oyler School as they built their vision for Philadelphia’s community school model. Oyler has vision, medical, and dental clinics, a daycare center, and a mental-health center with five therapists. Southern and the other Philadelphia schools are a long way off from that…