Recent comments in /f/philadelphia

HealthyScratch_ t1_j9osea3 wrote

Reply to Can anyone else just not breathe? by worriedaboutlove

Maybe all the Kensington trash fire smoke is making its way to you. I used to walk to work in the summer and fall but when they started burning ANYTHING to stay warm I literally couldn't breathe walking. It's like chemical warfare here in Kensington. The toxic fumes are constantly in the air. It's horrible. It smells like what I'd assume a milk crate factory would smell like if it was burning down. ...Sigh. I hope you feel better.

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AbsentEmpire OP t1_j9osdgp wrote

Reply to Every year, there are more applicants to Philly charters than seats. But demand is still lower than before the pandemic. by AbsentEmpire

The highlights:

>More than 26,000 students applied for seats for the 2023-24 school year at the 72 Philadelphia charter-school campuses participating in a centralized application process — up from two years ago, though still below pre-pandemic levels, according to the nonprofit that manages the system. ...

>About 7,600 of this year’s applicants received at least one offer to attend a charter, leaving more than 18,000 students on waitlists, according to Elevate215, which manages the Apply Philly Charter website. ...

>Much of the demand appeared to be concentrated at several charter schools in the Northeast, where the three MaST schools likely account for about half of the wait-listed students. ...

>Fewer students are applying to charters than before the pandemic. The number of applicants grew from 29,500 in 2019-20 to more than 34,000 in 2020-21, then fell to fewer than 24,000 the next year. Over the last two years, the number of applicants has rebounded to more than 26,000, though it has yet to reach the levels seen several years ago.

The interesting idea here

>“These are areas where families are traditionally engaging at looking at different options,” Peterman said, adding that the number of charter applicants “shows a desire to stay in the city. ... I think that’s something that can’t be overlooked or underappreciated right now.”

I hadn't thought about this before, curious what others think on the idea, that charters encourage families who would otherwise move out of the city for schools, to stay in the city.

Personally I'm not convinced about that idea, but with the explosion of housing costs in the suburbs since 2020, perhaps families on the edge of being able to afford a place in the burbs are taking this into consideration.

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KFCConspiracy t1_j9or1h7 wrote

Reply to comment by internet_friends in Mayoral candidate Helen Gym and ex-Mayor Michael Nutter clashed during a live event: ‘We are just in total disagreement’ by thefirststoryteller

> I also like the focus she puts on Philly's school system

Well, for what it's worth, without fixing the state's school funding formula, that's probably not getting fixed either. There's been some progress on that front through the courts, but the mayor and city council don't have much power to fix that. Hell, we didn't even have a locally controlled schoolboard until very recently.

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