The School District of Philadelphia is planning on closing Parkway West and merging it with SLA Beeber, a magnet school located over two miles away.  Our administration, staff, students, parents and community partners feel that would be an unwise decision considering Parkway West's essential role in providing a rigorous learning environment centered around a successful CTE program designed to train young educators. Parkway West has been an anchor for the children of Philadelphia dating back to the 1960s when it was affectionately called "The High School Without Walls" because its students traveled to various learning opportunities across the city instead of being limited to a classroom. Once an integrated foursome of schools, Parkway Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta are no more and their missions have changed, but Parkway West has continuously provided quality seats and a educational focus in a small, safe and nurturing setting that has provided many struggling students an environment in which they can shine and develop as learners. 

Parkway West cannot be described as a "failing school". Our 2025 Literature Keystone revealed that almost 70% of our students were proficient or advanced. We also have steady growth on the Biology and Mathematics Keystone Assessments as well.  Our CTE Program and its focus on developing young educators is essential in this day and age when we can hardly find enough certified teachers. Also, consider the fact that our school is predominantly African-American and we have developed many proud young educators who routinely give back to the community by becoming teachers in the Philadelphia School District. Our CTE Program is in the 90/90 club and boasts one of the highest rates for passing the NOCTI exam. 

This closure would also greatly impact the community since our Autistic Support classrooms and Learning Support programs rely upon a safe, quiet and supportive environment that cannot be replicated at a more cramped location. This would be a massive disruption to their emotional and academic development while denying local parents a quality educational opportunity for the children who live in the surrounding communities. 

Although we are a special admission school who can draw students from anywhere in the city, most of our students live nearby in the neighborhood. We are also conveniently located near the Market-Frankford El, trolley and bus lines and the transition to SLA Beeber would add over two miles to their commute and would increase commute times for many of our parents and students. The decision to move or merge Parkway West, Robeson and Bartram Motivation literally eliminates all options for a small school setting in West and Southwest Philadelphia, leaving countless parents without many options. I fear many of our parents will choose Cyber and Charter options to avoid the headaches of dealing with this rushed transition that is financially motivated and does not take the interests of our local children to heart. 

We, the undersigned parents, students, staff and local citizens ask the Board to reconsider its hasty decision to close Parkway West. Small schools do matter. They provide an alternative to the larger programs that surround us. An abundance of options should be the norm in an area in desperate need of quality seats in schools with a successful track record like Parkway West. Please sign this petition and stand up for more diversity in our educational offerings instead of warehousing multiple schools with competing missions in the same space. Much like the closures in 2013, these decisions will be regretted long after they are made as the children will be the ones to suffer in the name of consolidation and educational "progress".