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Maddi Etxebeste

Staff Writer

Students at Science Leadership Academy have always known that the building in Center City would not be their permanent home. Since the building is not owned by the district, the School Reform Commission has to approve the renewal of the contract every couple years since the original lease ran out.

In the past couple years the school has been thinking of finding a new home, a permanent home, this time. The options would be moving to an empty school or even into the School District Headquarters at 440 N. Broad Street.

Last month, April 2017, a flyer of the Student Union was passed around the students at SLA. It was stated that the school was “officially” moving, and there were rumors at the school about being moving to the empty Vaux High School building in Lower North Philadelphia.

In late April, the district informed SLA that they would like to do a last renewal before moving to a permanent location. They said it would be a 2-year-lease, it would expire in June 2020.

The vote meeting was scheduled for last week, but it was re-scheduled and planned for May 25th. Then, a few hours before the meeting, the district communicated to SLA that they only would be voting for a 1 year lease, contradicting their words from a few weeks ago. Finally, that is what they got. The SRC gave SLA the 1 year extension for the lease of the building.

Last year, at the meeting where SRC and SLA discussed about the future of the school, the SRC said they would give the school enough time to find a new home, but with the duration of the lease being shortened, the time to find a new building is shortened to.

Finally, on Thursday, May 25th, the vote meeting which decided the future of the location of Science Leadership Academy took place. Some students left with the teachers from school around 4:00 PM to go together to the meeting place, at the School District of Philadelphia (440 N. Broad Street).

Junior Tamir Harper, who was at the meeting, said “The meeting was long, it was hard, and it also upsetted me, it went as expected.”

Co-Principal Chris Lehmann explained: “SLA kids made their feelings known. It was important that students were there. They always support me with a degree of passion and energy they have for the school that is amazing. The students there took the opportunity they had to speak out about how important it’s the school for them.”

Lehmann acknowledged that the vote is a complicated issue, and remains hopeful for the future.

“Even if the results were not what we expected, we understand it, because the SDP is in a difficult financial crisis, and our lease is very expensive. Though, I have a lot of faith in the community to make sure that no matter where we end up we will remain the same and we will keep SLA as the transformative place it is.”

Harper also said: “It was tragic, because didn’t get the outcome we expected, but they did what they believed it was right. Even if the results were not what we wanted, we are not going to give up, we will continue fighting.”

Harper was happy with how SLA showed up to the vote.

“There was a lot of support from students who went to the SDP, of course Lehmann went too, and so did many teachers like Hull, Pahomov, and Kamal. After the meeting, SRC stated that they would work with us.”

Junior Kaamil Jones was one of the students who attended the meeting, and was inspired to speak before the SRC and give testimony as to why the vote should have been postponed.

“I think the amount of students that were there could have been more but we were also told last minute and it was benchmark season. It was a great turnout. I was kind of upset because of the results, but I feel like everything we fought for and said they didn’t care at all about that.”

Deja Harrison

Staff Writer

The popular Netflix series 13 Reasons Why is about a young girl named Hannah Baker who commits suicide and leaves 13 cassette tapes addressed to people who she believed contributed to her life-ending choice.

Recently, the show has been stirring up a lot of drama in both the media and in Philadelphia schools.

A letter addressing the show’s content was sent out a few weeks ago the SLA community from co-principal Aaron Gerwer. The letter sought to make both students and parents more aware of the serious issues being addressed on the show. The letter included a list of suggestions about how to engage with the series, including thinking “ carefully about whether or not you want to watch the show ” and to  “ consider watching it with others and take breaks between episodes instead of binge watching.”

So why not address the show when it first came out?

“ We heard about the show a while ago and at first we just wanted advisors to talk about it with students so they could be more aware. That’s why i didn’t send a letter out sooner because it was just supposed to be talked about. ” Mr. Gerwer explained.

“A student at Penny Parker Middle School committed suicide recently so we thought we should talk about it now. “

The letter seemed to turn a few students off and made them question the structure of the school;s support system.

“ I feel like the school tried to make it as though we aren’t mature enough to handle the content of the show,” said Junior Madison Harrison. “It just feels like they are trying to little kid us, I mean monitoring us while watching the show really.” She believes that the school shouldn’t have sent it to students at all.

Other students were upset because they feel as though the school should have addressed this issue earlier rather than waiting for an incident like the actual suicide of a student in order the send the letter out.

“ I don’t understand the delay in talking about the show,” said Junior Imani Williams. “It obviously raised a lot of awareness and made people feel a certain way so why not discuss it.”

Williams believes that the schools disorganization and delay with writing the letter drew less attention and awareness to it as a result. “ It is a serious issue and should have been addressed properly.”

The letter definitely drew controversy towards the organization of the school. But to clear things up, the letter was not initially for students.

“It was targeted more at parents so that they know what’s going on and so they can discuss and guide kids who might be feeling the way.”  Mr. Gerwer explained.

Shortly after Mr. Gerwer sent the letter, the school district also sent a letter to teachers with a similar message. So however late SLA’s response might be, the district response was even slower.