It is no secret that the School District of Philadelphia is closing 23 schools which leaves many confused about the opening of SLA Beeber.
The opening is controversial. Many Philadelphians feel as though it’s unfair to close so many schools and open a new one, or even expand an already-existing one.
Others feel as though the new campus has something to offer, considering SLA has a reputation of outstanding academics and innovative ideas. Moreover, moving into the Beeber Middle School building allowed that school to stay open.
A similar situation surrounds stocking the school. Much of the furniture and supplies for classrooms, such as desks, tables, chairs and science equipment will be coming from schools around the city that are being shut down. Some people find whole situation unfair, while others think SLA is putting the supplies to good use.
From the outside, there are pros and cons to opening a new campus. But from the current SLA students, many questions have been circulating regarding SLA-B. Will we doing joint projects with SLA-B? Will there still be the same streams at the new campus? Will there be one big field day? Will we have different sports teams?
While many of these things may be unclear at the moment, there are definitely some concerns and excitements upon the opening at the new campus.
From the perspective of our school, SLA-B offers many great benefits. It will ensure that all SLA students will have access to an auditorium and gym, and opens up possibility for cross city collaboration between the two campuses.
One worry that SLA is working hard to dismiss is that SLA-B will now be seen as “second best” as compared to the original campus. This could make students feel less special if they don’t get into the campus they had hoped for — although the long-term plan is for students to interview to attend SLA and then be equally distributed between the two campuses.
So, opening a second campus at SLA gives a great deal of students the opportunity to attend SLA.
While opening SLA-B provides more opportunities for children to receive a better education, it comes with a cost.
It might be difficult but we have to separate emotions from actions and not have hard feelings– but instead look forward and discuss how we are going to fix the problems.
It’s important for people to understand that in the climate of the district there is no benefit without some cost. A good thing can happen in the midst of a lot of awful things.
Unsigned editorials are written and approved by the SLAMedia Editorial Staff. They do not reflect the opinion of Science Leadership Academy and its employees.
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