Latest news with #SchoolDistrictofPhiladelphia
CBS News
27-06-2025
- General
- CBS News
Philadelphia adds 15 schools to extended day, extended year program, bringing total to 40
Another 15 Philadelphia schools have been announced in an expansion to the city's extended day, extended year program. A total of 40 schools now offer the extended before- and after-school care and camps during winter, spring and summer breaks. Mayor Cherelle Parker announced the new additions in a news conference with officials from local charter schools and the School District of Philadelphia. The public schools on the list are: Anne Frank School Frances Willard School Edward Steel School James Rhoads School Delaplaine McDaniel School Edwin Forrest School James Lowell School Roberto Clemente School Lewis Cassidy Academics Plus School Tanner Duckrey School And the charter schools on the list are: Wissahickon Charter Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter Esperanza Academy Charter General David B. Birney Charter Universal Alcorn Charter Parker previously stated the program is aimed at keeping students sharp through the summer. The pilot program began with 25 schools before Friday's expansion.
Technical.ly
26-06-2025
- Science
- Technical.ly
Philly's student robotics scene is running on empty
Four years ago, the Philly robotics community celebrated an influx of funding to support youth programming. Now, student teams are struggling to find funds to keep competing. Since the end of a three-year contract between the Philadelphia Robotics Coalition (PRC) and the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) last summer, the inconsistent nature of funding for school robotics in the city means there are fewer opportunities for students to gain valuable skills outside the classroom, educators told For a city that recently boasted an international champion in youth robotics — Central High School's RoboLancers — the loss is widely felt. 'My kids are coming into the competitions with less equal footing than what they were doing before,' said Anne-Claire Merkle-Scotland, robotics coach at Andrew J. Morrison School. Her team only attended one regional competition this year, where it competed against schools from outside the city. It was obvious that those students had more time and resources, which discouraged her students, who don't have the same opportunities, she said. 'It was all Philadelphia kids,' Merkle-Scotland said of the PRC-hosted competitions they used to attend. 'The judges were more aware of what the kids' experience levels were.' PRC only hosted one event this past school year, its first Innovation Project and Festival Academy, in March. Local teams and teachers have kept robotics alive through grassroots support. Without a sustainable funding source, though, the programming remains inconsistent. '[The students] care about what they're doing,' said Savvy Gurule, coach of the robotics team at Science Leadership Academy (SLA) at Beeber. 'More people need to understand that funding and time and money for things like this for these kids is so important.' Grants and community partners fill gaps, not the void As the future of funding from the school district remains unclear, PRC is focusing its energy on grant opportunities and partnerships to get by. From 2021 to 2024, PRC had a contract with the School District of Philadelphia funded through a portion of the $1.1 billion that the school district received from the American Rescue Plan Act. That contract expired last summer, leading the org to stop hosting events and cut support for high school robotics teams, focusing instead on kindergarten through eighth grade. Now, PRC is cobbling together funds from different grant programs. Specifically, the nonprofit received an $11,000 grant to help schools continue their teams this year, according to Dia Jones, executive director of PRC. The nonprofit has also formed partnerships and received grants from multiple charitable foundations and a Department of Defense STEM education program. This money goes towards operations, materials and training. One specific concern educators had last summer was a lack of funds to pay teachers for their time; however, the school district secured a grant to pay robotics coaches in January, according to Jones. The School District of Philadelphia did not respond to request for comment. 'We were able to get enough of the grants to stay afloat, to make sure that we were able to support the elementary and middle schools that wanted to come through,' Jones said. This year, PRC supported about 75 teams in 50 middle and elementary schools across public schools in Philadelphia, she said. Philly's youth robotics footprint is shrinking Over the last few years, the number of robotics teams in the school district has been declining, with its lowest team count this past school year. When PRC was officially incorporated in 2018, 77 teams were competing in FIRST Robotics, a national org that designs robotics challenges and competitions, in Philly public schools. Team numbers peaked during the 2022 to 2023 school year at 131, but have since declined to 103 last year and just 73 this year, RoboLancers head coach Michael Johnson told 'It's been a year of reassessing what partnerships are available, what resources are available, and getting stuff figured out,' he said. PRC initially focused on getting more schools to start FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), a mid-level robotics program, Johnson said. Now, there is a push to recruit more FIRST Robotics Competition teams, FTC's more advanced counterpart for high schoolers. Even though FRC is more expensive, Johnson found it attracts more financial and mentoring support. For example, Bodine High School for International Affairs' team is only two years old, but secured Amazon as a sponsor. 'It requires more skill and know-how, but it also attracts much more support,' Johnson said. 'Both in terms of outside money and mentors. By being bigger and more exciting, you draw more attention and that support comes.' Where schools fall short, the community steps in While PRC and RoboLancers are focused on robotics teams within the school district, external partners are also providing robotics programming to youth. PRC wants to develop partnerships with the library system, Police Athletic League and Boys and Girls Clubs, Jones said. 'Our goal is to have robotics in every neighborhood, and that's going to come through with the conversations,' she said. 'So if there are not robotics programs in schools, there can be robotics programs in the neighborhood.' Other orgs like the Caring People Alliance (CPA) have already been hosting robotics programming outside of school for years. The CPA hosts after-school programming through three Boys and Girls Clubs across Philly. The org participates in the SeaPerch Challenge, an underwater robotics challenge sponsored by the US Navy and Office of Naval Research. Jessica Bachrach, STEM coordinator for CPA, has coached the team for the past decade. This year, her students even qualified to attend SeaPerch's international challenge. 'For the most part, the kids are not coming to Caring People Alliance for robotics,' she said. 'They were coming here and maybe heard about it and thought that it was cool … that's a way to reach more kids that might not have thought that they'd be into it.' CPA's program is only possible because of a consistent funder, Bachrach said. The org is partnered with Temple University, which hosts SeaPerch's Philly regional competition and provides materials and mentorship support, she said. 'I don't have my own budget. I do a lot of science with whatever materials I can find,' Bachrach said. 'We're very lucky with this partnership that they've been able to provide the supplies that we need.' No funding, no future For most robotics teams, funding is inconsistent and leaders need to always be thinking about potential sponsors, according to Frank Farrell, executive director of FIRST Mid-Atlantic, an implementation org for FIRST's programs in parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware that helps schools find money and partnerships for these types of programs. A lot of teams have a 'guardian angel' to support them, but losing that sponsor can put a team at risk of shutting down, Farrell said. One of these guardian angels, Drexel University, funded Gurule's team from SLA Beeber last year because she was still a student teacher at the time, she said. This year, an unnamed private donor funded the program, she said. Usually, it takes two years to convince a school district to shift money to a new activity, Farrell said. FIRST Mid-Atlantic is in conversation with city government and state representatives to get more money allocated. 'The opportunities are in the conversation,' he said. 'The challenges are in the distribution of funds and making sure that they really do get to the teams that need them.' The elementary school teams compete in the FIRST Lego League, which typically costs between $600 and $1,000. But for high school teams competing in FIRST Robotics Competition, the costs can range from $15,000 to $100,000, Farrell said. Philly teams usually only have a fraction of the funds required. Merkle-Scotland's team from Andrew J. Morrison School couldn't afford the $200 cost to buy a more advanced robot kit, but PRC provided one for them so they could compete this year, she said. PRC also covered the entrance fee for Merkle-Scotland's team to attend a competition, but in the past, it also would have covered transportation and food, she said. This year, she had to figure those things out herself. 'It's really going to come to a commitment of all the vested partners in Philadelphia to say, no, this is what we need to do in order to be effective,' Farrell said. 'We need to transform how we're funding STEM education.'
Axios
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
7 Philadelphia principals wins Lindback Foundation award and $20K
Seven principals from the School District of Philadelphia took home the Lindback Foundation award for distinguished leadership yesterday. Why it matters: The honor comes with $20,000 for a project of their choosing that benefits students and the community. Here's what the school district told us they'll do with the cash: 🩰 Paula Furman from AMY at James Martin: Provide arts-based experiences for students, including trips to the Philadelphia Ballet and Philadanco, as well as safe spaces for students-athletes to practice. Plus, boost parent engagement opportunities. 🎙️ Marla Travis Curtis from West Philly High School: Expand the school's career technical education programs, including creating a recording studio and providing a fine arts learning laboratory. 🤖 Nichole Polk from Potter-Thomas Elementary School: Build out the school's digital media and robotics programs. 🗣️ Melissa Bragg from John Hancock Demonstration School: Create a dedicated language lab at the school, which will particularly support English language learners and those who are deaf and hard of hearing. 🚌 Awilda Balbuena from Gloria Casarez Elementary School: Pay for a schoolwide team-building trip to the College Settlement's outdoor school program to help students improve their social-emotional skills. 😊 KaTiedra Argro from Philly High School for Girls: Set up a dedicated space at the school for students to take scheduled breaks, promote their mental well-being, and earn points through positive behavior, attendance and academic achievements.
CBS News
02-04-2025
- CBS News
Philadelphia youth lead community conversation about violence prevention after weekend shootings
Young people had the opportunity to raise their voices about issues that matter to them during a youth-led conversation at Temple University in North Philadelphia Wednesday. The conversation came days after a violent weekend in Philadelphia . There were seven shootings that injured a total of 13 people and killed two. Seven of the 13 injured were juveniles. A 17-year-old girl was also killed. The program called The Group Chat: A Safe Philadelphia included dozens of students from the School District of Philadelphia. "We have worked diligently to build more spaces for students to elevate their thoughts and ideas," said Aja Holden, who works with the district. Davonti' Haynes, an assistant professor at Temple, helped lead the conversation. He says the mission is to also assist in connecting students to various resources. "Because that is another issue that we see, which is something that some of the youth talk about, is that the opportunities are out there but they just don't know about them," he said. "Hearing directly from them adds a different level of power to it." Despite the weekend violence, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel says the city has seen significant progress on crime. He says homicides involving youth are also down by 50% from last year. Rickey Duncan, who is the founder of the NOMO Foundation, offers mentorship for young people as a violence prevention nonprofit in the city. Duncan says the recent spike in violence shouldn't take away from the good work community-based organizations like NOMO are doing. "It's working. Don't be discouraged about one bad weekend and let that ruin a whole great year. Let's continue to provide and pour into the cup," Duncan said. "Right now, it may be half-filled with a little room to go but it's no longer empty. So, let's continue to pour into the cup. Let's continue to be a part of the solution and not complain too much about the problem." Duncan says he and others will continue to have boots on the ground to help the city's youth however they can.
CBS News
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Watch live: Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker announces summer programs for young people
Philadelphia leaders across multiple departments are announcing a slate of summer programs for children and families for 2025. Mayor Cherelle Parker and heads of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, School District of Philadelphia and other agencies will speak in a press conference in City Hall on Wednesday. The event is set for 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. You can watch live on CBS News Philadelphia or wherever we're streaming. Many of the programs are returning from 2024 and are listed on . There are several pools set to open (and the city is recruiting lifeguards to staff them). The city branding for the programs is #ItsASummerThing 2025. This is a developing story and will be updated.
