Rally Presses Parker to Halt 17 School Closures Planned for 2027-28

Dozens of parents, students, teachers and City Council members gathered Thursday outside School District of Philadelphia headquarters in Spring Garden, calling on officials to abandon plans to shut 17 schools starting in the 2027-28 school year and asking Mayor Cherelle Parker to intervene.

The closures are part of a $3 billion, 10-year facilities plan the Philadelphia Board of Education approved 6-3 in April. The plan also modernizes 169 other buildings. District officials say 60,000 seats sit empty and millions of dollars go each year to maintaining aging, under-enrolled structures.

Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, rejected that reasoning. "Guess what? The solution should be to win students back, fix the buildings, do not close them," Steinberg told the crowd. A student at the rally said the people most affected by the decisions are not being heard.

Several council members used the gathering to press Parker to act. Councilman Isaiah Thomas said he repeated his public message privately to the mayor: "we need you to get involved." Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier said power flows upward and added, "she's the only one who could stop this, and she could do it right now." A request for comment sent to Parker's office has not been answered.

Rodrigo Fernandez, who teaches Spanish at Parkway Northwest High School, said the changes would hit students and families hard. He described students who completed a high school selection process only to be told they cannot attend, and families asked to travel 10 or 20 blocks to reach a replacement school. "That's unfeasible for many families," Fernandez said.

A district spokesperson said Thursday the plan drew on 47 public listening sessions, 35 meetings with principals and two surveys that drew 13,000 responses from every ZIP code. After the rally, many attendees went to the school board meeting and raised their concerns during public comment.