This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Radio Times this morning aired a radio documentary by WHYY/NewsWorks education reporter Kevin McCorry, who spent a year documenting the turnaround efforts at Blaine Elementary, an academically struggling school in the poverty-stricken Strawberry Mansion section of North Philadelphia. Through interviews with those involved, McCorry tracks progress at the school and grapples with the question of whether the School District can find a path to revitalize its neediest schools in the midst of an ongoing budget crisis.
Listen to the story and the subsequent discussion above.