Students urge Philadelphia school board to keep their school open: “Lankenau is worth fighting for”
By Dan Snyder
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — Students, teachers and lawmakers in Philadelphia continue to push back on the school board’s decision to pass a plan last month that would see 17 schools close.
The facilities plan was not on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting, but it is still top of mind for so many across the city.
City lawmakers, teachers, students and supporters gathered outside district headquarters Thursday with one demand: Come back to the negotiating table.
A handful of city councilmembers participated in the rally, joined by more than a dozen students from Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School. That’s one of the schools on the chopping block.
“I came out today to show that you never give up when there’s a fight, and Lankenau is worth fighting for, so I think we should continue on with it,” Lankenau ninth grader Aasiyah Rivea said.
“We still have hope,” ninth grader Habib Traore said. “Everybody here really thinks that Lankenau won’t close, so I want to support that.”
Thursday marked the board’s first meeting since a very heated April 30 vote on the facilities plan – a $3 billion plan that would close 17 schools and renovate another 169.
The vote and process leading up to it led to a major rift between board members and some lawmakers, who said the district did not address their questions or those from the community. Now, councilmembers are calling on the board to come back to the table and fix a plan they call unacceptable. And they warned – they’re not going away.
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