Opponents to an alternative high school for troubled teens in the East Falls section of Philadelphia should not all be written off as NIMBY reactionaries.
A recent public hearing between the private school operator Delaware Valley High School (DVHS) and local residents brought out a host of concerns. In a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story, it reported that members of the East Falls Development Corporation expressed concerns that DVHS’ proposed high school on 4300 Ridge Ave (map). for 400 at-risk youth, would discourage developers from entering the area and take up prime real estate.
The school would be built near Falls Bridge along the Schuylkill River
What many people don’t realize is that parcel along Ridge Avenue is a big part of the East Falls Riverfront Master Plan. The corridor has been at the center of the EFDC’s high hopes since 1998, when the organization released its vision to revitalize the area, EFDC executive director Gina Snyder told me. “It is the main focus of the plan.” If you’ve been down that area of Ridge lately, you know that it’s probably not quite where planners envision it, but it’s certainly got potential, and the lion’s share of the money EFDC has secured in redevelopment seems to be going to the Ridge Ave/Kelly Drive area. Snyder raised her concerns over the project to City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. in this letter dated July 9. Jones has come out opposed to the school’s location.
DVHS building in the Philadelphia suburb Warminster, PA
David Schulick, owner of DVHS, declined to comment. But an article in the Roxborough Review last week reported DVHS remains undeterred and will go ahead with the development of the new DVHS location as planned. Right now, the only process of recourse left is to lobby the School Reform Commission to disallow the school at the proposed location, which a spokesman for Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr., said the councilman plans to do.
I’m not sure why Schulick chose the site on 4300 Ridge Ave. for the school, but the spot seems truly inconvenient for developers if the area hopes to turn it into the bustling corridor the EFDC has planned - and given the location’s position next to one of the city’s most gorgeous waterfront views, it’s not such a pipe dream. There’s also something slightly disingenuous about how Schulick has addressed community concerns: The lease for the property was signed in October 2008 without anyone else’s knowledge and months before he scheduled any sort of meeting to meet with community members. And even after the community voiced its overwhelming disapproval, the project didn’t seem to slow down. (Snyder said that she sent a list of alternative sites to Councilman Jones, who in turn sent them to a representative of DVHS. DVHS sent back emails to both, saying “Although we appreciate Gina’s efforts on your behalf, we have no need to explore alternative sites at this time,” Snyder said.)
The school would be built in the East Falls section of Philadelphia
That’s not to diminish the importance of schools like DVHS - the only reason the school is moving from its current Bustleton Avenue site in the Northeast is because the 200-student capacity isn’t enough to deal with growing need (DVHS’s other location is in Bucks County). The city has increasingly looked to alternative schools to help deal with the most disruptive students, and rightly so - keeping students in need of alternative education with the less unruly is bad for everyone.
At the same time, a 400-student school full of at-risk kids isn’t an easy sell for any neighborhood, and if the full consent of the community is the litmus for securing a location, you can be sure that the school will never get built.
What do you think: Should the school find another location? Could the school’s operator have handled things better? Is there ever a great place to put a school of at-risk teens in?