This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
After two weather cancellations, the School District will finally launch its second round of community meetings tonight to discuss its Facilities Master Plan.
The meeting, at Germantown High School, begins with registration at 5:30. The meeting will start at 6 p.m.
Attendees tonight should not expect data like capacity vs. enrollment, demographic trends, and building conditions about individual schools, but instead will be given area-wide information, according to Elizabeth Childs of the District’s communications office.
The District has divided the city into six planning areas and will hold 10 meetings in all, through Feb. 17.
They will be asked to give their five "most important educational programs and facilities improvements" and provide input on how the District should implement "its closing and consolidation" plans.
In flyers and in a video presentation (click on one of the regions to see the video) by Deputy for Strategic Initiatives Danielle Floyd available on the District’s website, officials have finally acknowledged publicly and definitively that the comprehensive planning process will include school closings.
Barring more weather delays, the meetings will run through Feb. 17. All regions but Southwest, North-Central and West will have two meetings; those three will have one.
Most of the meetings are at night, but two will be held on Saturdays, the first on Feb. 5 at School of the Future. The other is Feb. 12 at Lincoln High School.