What's Going On At Strawberry Mansion High School?

What is The School District of Philadelphia up to now with Strawberry Mansion high school is the question members of the Strawberry Mansion community and public school advocates are wondering.  During a recent SRC meeting the district approved a contract with NET treatment center to provide resources for the community. In the language of the approval was also stated that the district was looking to turn Strawberry Mansion into a community school.



Renewal of Lease Agreement with Northeast Treatment Center – L. P. Hill School
"Description: The School District of Philadelphia is exploring the idea of transforming existing school buildings into “community schools”. In a community school, resources of the school and community are organized to promote student success. While the primary focus is on students, community schools are intended to be centers of activity that promote partnerships which benefit all members of the neighborhood.
One such partnership has developed in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city, where the U.S. Attorney’s Office has worked with Strawberry Mansion High School to implement violence prevention programs. To advance these programs, and to incorporate additional partnerships with the community, the School District intends to lease space at the closed Leslie Pinckney Hill Elementary School building (“LP Hill School”), located at 3133 Ridge Avenue adjacent to Strawberry Mansion High School, to additional community service agencies.
The LP Hill School was closed by the School District as of August, 2013. LP Hill School’s location adjacent to and partially connected with Strawberry Mansion High School renders it difficult or impossible to sell as a separate building, but the buildings have enough separation that LP Hill could be used for purposes other than education.

The benefits to the School District, Strawberry Mansion High School and the community include the following:
1. The building will be occupied and overhead expenses of the School District in maintaining and securing the building will be defrayed.

2. Programs offered will benefit the families of the students attending Strawberry Mansion High School as well as the surrounding community.
3. Programs will be able to take advantage of bringing together entities with similar missions and, in some cases, funding sources, that will encourage collaboration and growth to assure that the community is efficiently and effectively served."

Wednesday, August 16, 2017 a meeting of stakeholders was held at Strawberry Mansion with SAC member Tanya Parker, Eric Becoats from the district, The new principal Dr. Tony Oyola, several of his staff, a member from State Rep. Donna Bullock office, several alumni, Strawberry Mansion business owners, Lisa Haver and Tonya Bah from APPS. We met for an hour and half discussing a possible partnership with Camelot. Camelot was not at the table nor was the contract that was made three months ago with Camelot at the table for those of us in attendance to view. I asked if Strawberry Mansion was being considered as a community school and was told that according to Mayor Kenney list of schools, Strawberry Mansion high school was not being considered as a community school.

Mr. Becoats and Dr. Tony Oyola gave Camelot a tour of Strawberry Mansion. Dr. Oyola was impressed with Camelot and feels that sharing the building with Camelot is a good idea because those students could possibly feed into the high school. Camelot is proposing to open their first middle school at Strawberry Mansion. The middle school serving grades 6, 7 and 8 would be made up of high school aged students who have been left back. These students would be offered accelerated lessons to get them into their proper grade. There is no guarantee that the Camelot students would enroll in Strawberry Mansion high school or that the students enrolled in Camelot would be from the Strawberry Mansion community. 

Concerns from the stakeholders attending the meeting were what's going on with our existing students at Strawberry Mansion high school and can the community partner with the existing administration asked Mr. Melvin Sharpe. Mr. Sharpe was there with Brother Haji Salim A. Ali founder of Strawberry Mansion Tennis and asked if they could start a Tennis program at the high school. Principal Oyola said yes they could. Other concerns were the catchment area of the students. Being that Camelot is a private company can we have the contract read that the students will be from Strawberry Mansion? Can we meet with Camelot to discuss their plans and our desires? If the community decides to okay Camelot coming into the school can we revisit the contract yearly to hold Camelot accountable and transparent. If the Camelot youth start trouble, that will be reflected on Strawberry Mansion high school and not Camelot. How will that concern be addressed? Will their students get the same supports once in high school? If Camelot plans to bring middle school students who should be in high school to Strawberry Mansion, who is to say that they won't look to take over Strawberry Mansion if their students are feeding the high school. We all asked to see the contract that was created without community input. And was told that the contract would be emailed to us. None of us have gotten a copy of the contract as of yet. 

CREATING POSITIVE CHANGE & VALUE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

Camelot Education is a contributing partner and value-added resource to the communities we serve. Our students and staff work with community leaders, families and educators to create value and positive change. Together we strengthen and improve the communities we serve.

During the August 17th, 2017 SRC meeting former principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman stated that she was told by Dr. Byrd that Camelot would not be moving into Strawberry Mansion. Mrs. Wayman expressed her concern for her students and refernced the students as her babies and that having Camelot in Strawberry Mansion is a bad idea. This link will take you to Mrs. Wayman statement to the SRC as well as Lisa Haver and Karel Kilimnik questioning about Strawberry Mansion. https://vimeopro.com/user3379601/src-meeting-august-17-2017-raw-footage

Video by APPSPhilly Ken Derstine

There was also a request to have a town hall meeting where we could have more community input on this concern. Camelot needs to meet with the community and not just the district. Our community is looking to heal and not accelerate to what others feel we should be.