Saul High is set to absorb Lankenau. Staff and students say the details are still missing

W.B. Saul High School, the agricultural sciences school in Upper Roxborough, is slated to take in Lankenau High School, the district's environmental science magnet, under the School District of Philadelphia's facilities plan. Months after the school board approved that plan in April, people at Saul say basic questions are still unanswered, WHYY reported on Oct. 30.

This affects more than two schools. The district plans to close 17 schools starting at the end of this school year, Chalkbeat reported, and the way the Saul and Lankenau merger plays out is an early test of how those transitions will work.

What's unsettled

According to WHYY:

• The plan: Lankenau would move into Saul as a career and technical education honors program. The district calls Lankenau's facilities "severely underutilized." Saul has just over 400 students; Lankenau has more than 200.
• Open questions: teaching jobs and seniority, curriculum, class sizes, schedules and space. Students want to know whether Saul's block schedule, which gives seniors three hours a day in some classes, survives. Saul's majors include animal science, food processing science and horticulture.
• Building work: Saul will get a new fire alarm system. Wider upgrades, such as windows, floors, paint and furniture, depend on funding and would not start until the 2033 school year.
• Planning: Staff told WHYY they have not seen the "dedicated planning year" the facilities plan describes.

District spokesperson Monique Braxton said the decision is moving forward, that district leaders have visited both schools six times recently, and that transition committees for affected schools will be announced soon, WHYY reported.

What Council has done

The Lankenau site's zoning is now law. Bill 260298, from 4th District Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. with Isaiah Thomas and Nina Ahmad, rezones the Lankenau property from RSD-3 residential to SP-CIV, a civic and institutional district. It passed 17-0 on Oct. 15. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker returned it unsigned, which lets it become law without her signature. Her letter questioned the "long-term unintended consequences" of limiting future uses of school-owned land. Our story on the five unsigned school bills.

The rezoning does not stop a merger. It limits what the Lankenau site could become if the district stops using it.

Jones filed another remap nearby. On Oct. 29 he introduced Bill 260924, which would change zoning in an area bounded by Ridge Avenue, Sunset Avenue, Harner Street, Port Royal Avenue, Hagys Mill Road and Cathedral Road in Upper Roxborough. Our record does not yet include the bill text or a committee assignment, so it's not clear which parcels change.

Members rallied Thursday. At a rally outside district headquarters on Oct. 29, Education Committee chair Isaiah Thomas urged the mayor to "step off the sideline," and at-large Councilmember Rue Landau said the mayor "has to come to the table" to keep schools open, Chalkbeat reported. The district's facilities plan is estimated at $3 billion, including $2 billion in grants not yet secured, Chalkbeat reported. Parker's office did not respond to Chalkbeat; in August, her chief education officer said she supports the plan.

Closing and merging schools is the Board of Education's decision, which it made in April, Chalkbeat reported.

What's next

• The district says transition committees will be named soon.
• Council's Education Committee has a joint hearing on school meals authorized (Resolution 260930), with no date set.
• Bill 260924 will need a committee hearing before any vote. Council's next session is Nov. 12.