Months ago, when the school district first announced that it would be closing William Penn HS, almost no one doubted that that would be the case. However, thanks to the quick and effective organizing of the community around William Penn, the school is going to remain open and there is a new plan to turn it into a cutting edge career and technical school.
The building, located on Broad and Master Sts., is on prime real estate for developers, and there was a lot of pressure to close it so it could be put up for sale. However, the strong and organized messages put forth by the Committee to Revitalize William Penn made it clear that the district could not get away with ignoring the school's problems for decades and then saying that is was too much to fix.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the campaign to reinvest in William Penn High School!
This piece was narrated by Candace Carter and recorded by Dan Jones for On Blast Radio with the Philly Student Union.