Description

At Dimner Beeber Middle School in Philadelphia's Overbrook neighborhood, students, parents, teachers, and community members are passionate about saving their school. In this episode of MMPTV, we hear from three members of the Beeber Middle School community about why their school matters. "Students are passionate about keeping their school open", says Adrian Allen a 7th grader at Beeber Middle School, "Kids came, they wrote letters, they came out to the rallies, and they really voiced their opinion. I hope they see that there's people who care, that aren't just going to let them do whatever they want to us" "We need our public schools, and the majority of the people who are in those offices making those decisions came through public school", says Nancy Widnor, Beeber Home and School President, "So now why are they saying public schools are no good and charters and other schools are better? They're better because they took the money from the public schools and gave it to them". Beeber was one of the last schools to be added to the School District of Philadelphia's closure list this year, with a vote scheduled for April 18th. In early March the School District voted to close or relocate 23 other public schools. The School District's plan for Beeber involves sending the school's 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students to Overbrook High School. In recent testimony at the School Reform Commission, Beeber community members said that when they visited Overbrook to learn about the plan for relocating the students, they were shown the school's basement as a possible space for relocation. Many Beeber parents are also concerned their children might their opportunity to apply for special admissions schools, given the late date of the closing vote.