Today we’re joined by Colonel Oz Hill, Deputy Superintendent of Operations for the School District of Philadelphia. With decades of leadership experience and a deep commitment to community engagement,. This summer, the District is hosting community engagement sessions as part of Phase Eight of its comprehensive Facilities Planning Process. These sessions give families, students, and school staff a chance to help shape how the District uses its buildings—whether by modernizing, co-locating, or reimagining school spaces to better serve Philadelphia’s diverse neighborhoods.
To learn more and stay up to date, visit philasd.org/fpp and follow the District on social media:
📘 Facebook: @PhillySchools
🐦 X (Twitter): @PHLschools
📸 Instagram: @philly_schools
But before we dive in, a special shout-out to former State Representative and WDAS air personality Louise Williams Bishop. She was recently honored at a surprise birthday celebration at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As always, she shared some words of wisdom during this heartfelt event.
To learn more and stay up to date, visit philasd.org/fpp and follow the District on social media:
📘 Facebook: @PhillySchools
🐦 X (Twitter): @PHLschools
📸 Instagram: @philly_schools
But before we dive in, a special shout-out to former State Representative and WDAS air personality Louise Williams Bishop. She was recently honored at a surprise birthday celebration at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As always, she shared some words of wisdom during this heartfelt event.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow before we dive in a
special shout out to former state representative and w DAS
Air personality Louise Williams Bishop. She was recently honored at
a surprise birthday celebration at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
As always, she shared wisdom during this heartfelt event.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Say I love back and see all of the great
people that you're able to know, to influence, to all the.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Way to bless you and.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You could take you to be able to do what
you're doing to be an incre to those who try
to get God pleasure.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Well here you, Happy birthday to a true icon.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Now let's talk about how you can help shape the
future of the School District of Philadelphia. The district is
inviting community input on how its buildings are used. We
have on the line Oz Hill, who is Superintendent in
charge of facilities for the School District of Philadelphia, and
there's a great opportunity for citizens, parents and other concerned
citizens to have some input in the facilities planning engagement sessions. So, sir,
(01:38):
thank you so much for joining us here today. Tell
us what the purpose is of these series of opportunities
and tell us more details about them.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Absolutely, thank you so much for the opportunity to share
and be with you and your listeners. During the month
of July, the School District of Philadelphia is hosting sixteen
facilities planning community engagement sessions that will allow our stakeholders, students, families,
school based staff, school leaders, and community members at large
(02:09):
to see how the decision making will work that will
lead to recommendations regarding our facilities planned. The recommendations will
fit into one of five categorical areas. We will look
at either maintaining a school facility or making investments to
(02:31):
modernize the school facility, repurposing a school facility, co locating
programming into one site, and then in some instances we
will also make recommendations around the closure of facilities. To
this point, we have conducted thirteen of sixteen community engagement sessions,
(02:55):
all of we will have completed this phase of our
community engagement sessions, so all sixteen of them will be
completed as of Thursday of this week, but we will
still provide an opportunity for community stakeholders to provide input
based on a survey and the website that has been
(03:19):
established for input around our facilities planning process to date,
and I think it's important to share that to date
we have convened nine advisory groups consisting of more than
one hundred and seventy members. Starting last fall when this
process or this phase of the process was implemented, we
(03:43):
conducted thirty three community listening sessions and we have received
more than fifty seven hundred responses through the survey that
we published around facilities planning. We really want to engage
the community fully in this process. As our superintendent, Doctor
Tony B. Watlington, Senior, says, nothing for the community without
(04:08):
the community.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I do want to ask you what are some things
that you would like those concerned citizens to understand about
this process, because certainly everyone who has a school that
they are connected with might have a certain loyalty and
familiarity and would hate to see it go or be
downsized or whatever. So I wonder if you can maybe
give our listeners a better idea of what are some
(04:31):
of the factors that go into the decision making process,
and when they give you that feedback, what are you
hoping to learn from the citizens as going forward? The
ability to continue to provide feedback through this link online.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Thank you so much, Lorrain. That's the perfect question. When
we talk about the factors, we're talking about four fundamental
categorical areas that we're looking at. The school building score,
which really looks at the building systems. Look at the
program alignment score, and that's a score that determines whether
(05:06):
or not the facility is aligned with the programming in
the school and that we desire to have in the school.
We look at whether or not a school facility is
over enrolled or under enrolled based on its capacity. And
then most importantly, we look at the neighborhood vulnerability score.
(05:28):
So those are the primary factors. And when I talk
about the neighborhood vulnerability score, it's composed of two components.
One component is the Center for Disease Control Standard on
Social Determinants. They provide a analysis that produces a score
for every neighborhood, so we use that. And then we
(05:50):
also look at whether or not the neighborhood has been
impacted by the school closures of the past. We do
not want to further adversely impact neighborhoods that are already
bore the brunt of school closures from twenty twelve and
twenty thirteen. This process is a bit different than the
(06:13):
traditional facilities planning process. A traditional facility planning process really
looks at the structure, the building systems, and determinations are
made about the long term viability of the school facility
based solely on that. This is an equity based process
looking at or considers the impact on people first, our
(06:37):
school communities, our students, and what folks are going to
gain out of this, what our stakeholders are going to
gain out of this, and this is the most exciting
part to me. We have identified six fundamental outcomes. First
of all, this is designed to improve student achievement. First
and foremost, to ensure that our students, after their matriculation
(07:01):
through the school District of Philadelphia, can satisfy what we
call one of the four e's. Either they're going to
enroll in a institution of higher education, They're going to
have employment or be prepared for employment in a great
career field. They're going to enlist in the military in
a career field that will provide them with opportunities after
(07:25):
their military service or entrepreneurship, and so first and foremost
it's about student achievement. Then we want to maximize the
use of our schools in the neighborhoods where they sit
for the community's benefit. We want to ensure that there's
more access to pre K programming around the city of Philadelphia.
(07:48):
We want to have more rigorous academic offerings with algebra
and advanced placement courses. And we know that a well
rounded education experience includes arts, music, and physical education. We
want that programming to be available and last, but by
no means lease it is career and technical education programming
(08:11):
more equitably throughout the school district of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
So at the end of the day, when can we
expect to see the completion of this report and where
can people still go to provide their input. Before you
complete your study and your.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Input, there will be additional sessions being scheduled beginning in
August within eight engagement opportunities into the fall. The report
itself will be presented to the Board of Education in
December of twenty twenty five with the recommendations. What all
of our stakeholders can do is to go to our
(08:51):
website phill asdwww dot philsd dot org and put in
facilities planning and they will be able to access all
of the information as well as the survey to provide input.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Well, this is a very important process and it sounds
like you're really making an effort to get a lot
of input from the neighborhoods for the community that it's
going to impact. We thank you so much for joining
us here today to share with us the opportunity that
people still have to have input. Is there any final
words that you'd like to share with us before we.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Close again, I would just like to reiterate that this
is not a school district plan. This is not a
plan that's just for educators. This is the City of
Philadelphia's plan to educate our children. Look forward to the
input from every corner of the city.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Fantastic. I want to thank you so much. Colonel oz Hill,
Deputy Superintendent of Operations for the School District of Philadelphia.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with us
and giving this this opportunity for our citizens to have
input on the future of schools in the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Thank you, Loreene.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
We'll have more or insight after these messages.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
MHM.
Good morning and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow before we dive in a
special shout out to former state representative and w DAS
Air personality Louise Williams Bishop. She was recently honored at
a surprise birthday celebration at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
As always, she shared wisdom during this heartfelt event.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Say I love back and see all of the great
people that you're able to know, to influence, to all the.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Way to bless you and.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You could take you to be able to do what
you're doing to be an incre to those who try
to get God pleasure.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Well here you, Happy birthday to a true icon.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Now let's talk about how you can help shape the
future of the School District of Philadelphia. The district is
inviting community input on how its buildings are used. We
have on the line Oz Hill, who is Superintendent in
charge of facilities for the School District of Philadelphia, and
there's a great opportunity for citizens, parents and other concerned
citizens to have some input in the facilities planning engagement sessions. So, sir,
(01:38):
thank you so much for joining us here today. Tell
us what the purpose is of these series of opportunities
and tell us more details about them.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Absolutely, thank you so much for the opportunity to share
and be with you and your listeners. During the month
of July, the School District of Philadelphia is hosting sixteen
facilities planning community engagement sessions that will allow our stakeholders, students, families,
school based staff, school leaders, and community members at large
(02:09):
to see how the decision making will work that will
lead to recommendations regarding our facilities planned. The recommendations will
fit into one of five categorical areas. We will look
at either maintaining a school facility or making investments to
(02:31):
modernize the school facility, repurposing a school facility, co locating
programming into one site, and then in some instances we
will also make recommendations around the closure of facilities. To
this point, we have conducted thirteen of sixteen community engagement sessions,
(02:55):
all of we will have completed this phase of our
community engagement sessions, so all sixteen of them will be
completed as of Thursday of this week, but we will
still provide an opportunity for community stakeholders to provide input
based on a survey and the website that has been
(03:19):
established for input around our facilities planning process to date,
and I think it's important to share that to date
we have convened nine advisory groups consisting of more than
one hundred and seventy members. Starting last fall when this
process or this phase of the process was implemented, we
(03:43):
conducted thirty three community listening sessions and we have received
more than fifty seven hundred responses through the survey that
we published around facilities planning. We really want to engage
the community fully in this process. As our superintendent, Doctor
Tony B. Watlington, Senior, says, nothing for the community without
(04:08):
the community.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I do want to ask you what are some things
that you would like those concerned citizens to understand about
this process, because certainly everyone who has a school that
they are connected with might have a certain loyalty and
familiarity and would hate to see it go or be
downsized or whatever. So I wonder if you can maybe
give our listeners a better idea of what are some
(04:31):
of the factors that go into the decision making process,
and when they give you that feedback, what are you
hoping to learn from the citizens as going forward? The
ability to continue to provide feedback through this link online.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Thank you so much, Lorrain. That's the perfect question. When
we talk about the factors, we're talking about four fundamental
categorical areas that we're looking at. The school building score,
which really looks at the building systems. Look at the
program alignment score, and that's a score that determines whether
(05:06):
or not the facility is aligned with the programming in
the school and that we desire to have in the school.
We look at whether or not a school facility is
over enrolled or under enrolled based on its capacity. And
then most importantly, we look at the neighborhood vulnerability score.
(05:28):
So those are the primary factors. And when I talk
about the neighborhood vulnerability score, it's composed of two components.
One component is the Center for Disease Control Standard on
Social Determinants. They provide a analysis that produces a score
for every neighborhood, so we use that. And then we
(05:50):
also look at whether or not the neighborhood has been
impacted by the school closures of the past. We do
not want to further adversely impact neighborhoods that are already
bore the brunt of school closures from twenty twelve and
twenty thirteen. This process is a bit different than the
(06:13):
traditional facilities planning process. A traditional facility planning process really
looks at the structure, the building systems, and determinations are
made about the long term viability of the school facility
based solely on that. This is an equity based process
looking at or considers the impact on people first, our
(06:37):
school communities, our students, and what folks are going to
gain out of this, what our stakeholders are going to
gain out of this, and this is the most exciting
part to me. We have identified six fundamental outcomes. First
of all, this is designed to improve student achievement. First
and foremost, to ensure that our students, after their matriculation
(07:01):
through the school District of Philadelphia, can satisfy what we
call one of the four e's. Either they're going to
enroll in a institution of higher education, They're going to
have employment or be prepared for employment in a great
career field. They're going to enlist in the military in
a career field that will provide them with opportunities after
(07:25):
their military service or entrepreneurship, and so first and foremost
it's about student achievement. Then we want to maximize the
use of our schools in the neighborhoods where they sit
for the community's benefit. We want to ensure that there's
more access to pre K programming around the city of Philadelphia.
(07:48):
We want to have more rigorous academic offerings with algebra
and advanced placement courses. And we know that a well
rounded education experience includes arts, music, and physical education. We
want that programming to be available and last, but by
no means lease it is career and technical education programming
(08:11):
more equitably throughout the school district of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
So at the end of the day, when can we
expect to see the completion of this report and where
can people still go to provide their input. Before you
complete your study and your.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Input, there will be additional sessions being scheduled beginning in
August within eight engagement opportunities into the fall. The report
itself will be presented to the Board of Education in
December of twenty twenty five with the recommendations. What all
of our stakeholders can do is to go to our
(08:51):
website phill asdwww dot philsd dot org and put in
facilities planning and they will be able to access all
of the information as well as the survey to provide input.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Well, this is a very important process and it sounds
like you're really making an effort to get a lot
of input from the neighborhoods for the community that it's
going to impact. We thank you so much for joining
us here today to share with us the opportunity that
people still have to have input. Is there any final
words that you'd like to share with us before we.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Close again, I would just like to reiterate that this
is not a school district plan. This is not a
plan that's just for educators. This is the City of
Philadelphia's plan to educate our children. Look forward to the
input from every corner of the city.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Fantastic. I want to thank you so much. Colonel oz Hill,
Deputy Superintendent of Operations for the School District of Philadelphia.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with us
and giving this this opportunity for our citizens to have
input on the future of schools in the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Thank you, Loreene.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
We'll have more or insight after these messages.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
MHM.
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