AGREE petition spurs disagreement among residents in Penn Alexander zone

Despite efforts to instill solidarity among community members in West Philadelphia, AGREE is only creating more disagreement.

Advocates for Great Elementary Education was founded in the spring of 2011 to protest an enrollment cap at the Penn Alexander School on 42nd and Spruce streets that was put in place due to overcrowding.

As stated on the group’s website, one of AGREE’s main goals is to “work with the entities that play a role in PAS to ensure that … all children within the current PAS catchment to enroll at PAS.”

While Penn has been in contact with AGREE, members of the community who are not involved in the group have yet to voice their concerns.

“I know that I’m not the only member of the community who [disagrees] with AGREE,” local resident Laura Fernandez said.

Fernandez, who lives within the PAS catchment zone, has two children who attend the elementary school.

“As far as the petition that I’ve heard about and seen, [AGREE’s] statement is that everyone in the catchment should go to the school. But that’s not possible anymore,” she said, noting that while PAS is at 72 percent of its maximum capacity in older grades, it is at full capacity in its lower levels.

“It feels like a little bit of a witch hunt because things were getting so intense about the cap,” Fernandez said. “They want to know if there’s any kid from outside the district. It’s just getting really crazy.”

“I just hope that their efforts don’t shortchange other kids — kids who come here and really deserve to be here,” she added.

AGREE members were not available for comment after multiple requests for an interview.

After forming, the group created a petition of 461 signatures to present to Penn administration. Despite AGREE’s claims that the petition was submitted to the University in October, Vice President for University Communications Stephen MacCarthy said the petition was actually submitted in July 2011. Penn administration sat down with members of AGREE in early September to address the group’s concerns, MacCarthy said.

Since the petition was submitted, Penn has been working cooperatively with the group on an ongoing basis.

“[We are] trying to work with operating stakeholders to try and address overcrowding,” Vice President of Government and Community Affairs Jeffrey Cooper said.

As overcrowding at PAS continues, parents — including those involved with AGREE — are frantic to place their children in the school. Over the years, PAS has been a true benefit to the area.

“I think the premise of the school was to improve the neighborhood,” Classical Studies professor Emily Wilson said.

Wilson lives approximately one block outside of the Penn Alexander catchment zone and has three children. During her move to West Philadelphia, Wilson looked to buy a home within the Penn Alexander catchment zone but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Fernandez agreed. “There’s no question that the school has changed this area. The change has been very rapid and more expansive than anyone anticipated,” she said, adding that house prices drastically changed across the catchment’s boundaries, and realtors in the area often market houses as belonging to the catchment even though spots at PAS are not guaranteed.

Molly McGlone, assistant dean of academic advising in the College of Arts and Sciences, has a two-year-old child and lives on campus. While she currently lives within the Drew Elementary School catchment, Drew is expected to close in the future. McGlone does not know what her future catchment will be.

Instead of looking for a solution to Penn Alexander’s overcrowding, McGlone suggests that Penn look to improve other elementary schools in the area, such as Lea Elementary.

“It would be great if Penn would use some of our social and monetary capital to assess other schools,” she said. “It would be great to see the community rally around the idea that everybody deserves a good public school.”

This article has been updated from a prior version to reflect that the petition was submitted in October, not December.

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