Unfortunately for Philadelphia - where the average school building is about 70 years old - PlanCon money doesn’t go toward basic system maintenance unless it has an explicit educational purpose.
PlanCon determines the amount districts receive through a formula that favors poor districts. Through PlanCon, the state reimburses school districts that have undertaken the “construction of new schools, additions to existing schools, and/or renovations or alterations to existing schools to meet current educational and construction standards,” according to the state department of education. Hughes co-chairs an advisory committee tasked with re-examining a system called PlanCon - Pennsylvania’s byzantine process for seeking and receiving state dollars to aid local school construction projects. Vincent Hughes, who represents the communities surrounding Upper Dublin and Overbrook, toured both schools Monday to hammer home what he sees as the state’s funding inequities. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsorĭemocratic state Sen. The space fell into disrepair because budget cuts restricted the number of science teachers at Overbrook - and thus the number of science labs it could faithfully use. Principal Yvette Jackson hopes to convert an abandoned room into a badly needed science lab, but can’t yet because the room has a drainage problem. Testing recently revealed six outlets with lead levels above the school district’s minimum threshold for lead content. The comprehensive high school in West Philadelphia does have water, but it isn’t always in the right place or in the right state. The natatorium even has its own air-filtration system so the smell of chlorine doesn’t seep into the surrounding hallways or waft in the way of enjoying the tasteful mosaic that adorns the entryway to the facility.Īt Overbrook - built in the 1920s - there is no pool.
Upper Dublin’s new high school, finished in 2012, features an 18-lane swimming pool with two spring-diving boards and a movable bulkhead that allows the pool to be configured for swim meets and water polo matches. Take the matter of water - that most basic element of human life. Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and Overbrook High School in Philadelphia are a mere 15 miles from each other.
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