Posted on December 23, 2025
Categories: News from SDP

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Dear School District of Philadelphia Community,

The School District is completing Phase 8 of the Facilities Planning Process, which has the goal of increasing access to high-quality academic and extracurricular programs across neighborhoods, recognizing that many of the District’s aging and unequal facilities are either under- or over-enrolled. We are working diligently to deliver a set of recommendations for each District facility to the Board of Education later this winter.

Last month, we released a survey asking the Philadelphia Community to provide feedback on the themes that emerged as we reviewed stakeholder feedback and analyzed our facilities data. Those themes are:

  1. Strengthening PreK-8 programming through better use of space
  2. Reducing unnecessary school transitions for students
  3. Reinvesting in neighborhood high schools as community anchors
  4. Expanding access to grades 5-12 criteria-based and CTE schools

The survey generated nearly 8,000 responses, providing valuable input that will help inform the facilities recommendations to be presented to the Board this winter. With responses from every zip code in Philadelphia, 70% of survey respondents reported all four themes as “very important.” Below is a snapshot of survey participation:

  • All key stakeholder groups were represented, including students, parents and guardians, school-based and non–school-based staff, and external District community members.
  • All major racial and ethnic groups within the District were represented: White (38%), Black/African American (34%), Hispanic/Latine (11%), Multiracial (9%), and Asian (8%).
  • A majority of respondents reported annual household incomes below $50,000.
  • Forty-eight percent of respondents indicated a connection to students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans.
  • Thirty-two percent reported a connection to English learners, and five percent of surveys were completed in languages other than English.

In addition to sharing about who participated in the survey, we also want to share some highlights from the feedback that you provided:

  • For each emerging theme, more than 70% of survey respondents reported that they are ‘important’ or ‘very important’.
  • Strengthening PreK-8 Programming Through Better Use of Space and Reinvesting in Neighborhood High Schools as Community Anchors were most commonly rated as ‘very important’ by stakeholders.
  • Students rated Expanding Access to 5-12 Criteria-Based Schools as ‘very important’ most often.
  • Many survey respondents expressed strong support for their local school, desire for a high quality school close to where they live, and requested that schools in their neighborhood be renovated rather than closed.

More specifically:

  • More than 80% of survey respondents rated Strengthening PreK-8 Programming Through Better Use of Space as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.
  • More than 70% of survey respondents rated Reducing Unnecessary School Transitions for Students as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.
  • 85% of survey respondents rated Reinvesting in Neighborhood High Schools as Community Anchors as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.
  • 75% of survey respondents rated Expanding Access to 5-12 Criteria-Based Schools as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

This is only a snapshot of the responses. You can find the full report of survey feedback on the Community Feedback section of the Facilities Planning Process website.

The District has remained committed to robust community engagement and thorough analysis of complex data, throughout the FPP. So far, this engagement has included 47 public listening sessions, 35 data verification sessions with principals, two District-wide surveys that received over a total of 13,000 responses, and the public release of a data website that shares scores for all schools.

I want to thank the entire Philadelphia community for actively engaging with the District as we complete the Facilities Plan. We have, and will continue to take your feedback very seriously, as we know these will be difficult decisions that could impact many families. I look forward to hosting additional community conversations, in order to gather your feedback about the recommendations, before we submit the final plan to the Board.

In partnership,

Tony B. Watlington Sr., Ed.D.
Superintendent
The School District of Philadelphia