Why This Matters
School closures are not neutral administrative decisions. Research consistently shows they destabilize communities, harm student achievement, and disproportionately target Black and Brown neighborhoods. The proposal to close Blaine and Kelley continues this troubling pattern.
Our Position
Working Educators opposes the closure of Blaine Elementary School and Kelley Elementary School. These schools serve as anchors in their communities—not just educational institutions, but gathering places, sources of stability, and symbols of neighborhood identity.
The arguments for closure—"underutilization," "building condition," "budget constraints"—ignore the systemic choices that created these conditions. When you defund a school for years, then point to its struggles as justification for closure, you are not making a neutral decision. You are completing a cycle of disinvestment.
The Pattern
Philadelphia has closed dozens of schools over the past two decades. The pattern is consistent:
Neighborhoods Targeted
Closures concentrate in historically Black and Latino neighborhoods—the same communities that have faced decades of housing discrimination, job loss, and public disinvestment.
Community Impact
Studies show closed schools don't just affect students—they accelerate neighborhood decline, reduce property values, and remove vital community infrastructure.
What We Demand
- 1. Halt the closure process for Blaine and Kelley until genuine community engagement—not just a rubber-stamp hearing—has occurred.
- 2. Invest in these schools rather than closing them. The money saved from closures rarely materializes; the harm to communities is immediate and lasting.
- 3. End the pattern of targeting Black and Brown neighborhoods for school closures while wealthier areas see new construction and program expansion.
- 4. Transparent accounting of where savings from previous closures actually went—and whether students in closed schools saw any benefit.
To the Blaine and Kelley Communities
You are not alone. Working Educators stands with you. We will show up at hearings, amplify your voices, and fight alongside you. Your schools matter. Your communities matter. Your children deserve better than a district that sees them as line items to be eliminated.
For Media Inquiries
Working Educators is available to comment on school closures, community impact, and education equity. Contact us through our contact page.