William Penn High School (Philadelphia)
| William Penn High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
|
1333 N Broad Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122 United States |
|
| Coordinates | 39°58′26″N 75°09′32″W / 39.974°N 75.159°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| School district | School District of Philadelphia |
| Principal | Patricia Randzo |
| Faculty | 65.3 (on FTE basis) |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Enrollment | 1204 (2005-06) |
| Student to teacher ratio | 18.4 |
| Campus type | Urban |
William Penn High School was a public high school serving grades 9-12, located at 1333 N Broad St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a part of the School District of Philadelphia (SDP).
The school opened in 1973.
In 2009 Penn had 633 students. That year, the school district proposed closing Penn, because its declining enrollment was far below the building capacity and because the building was in poor condition. The district proposed rezoning Penn zone residents who were also in the Clymer School zone to Simon Gratz High School, and it proposed rezoning Penn zoned residents who were also in the zones of Dunbar, Ferguson, Harrison, and Hartranft to Benjamin Franklin High School.
Some individuals opposed to the closing argued that if Penn was closed and its students were moved to Franklin, students would engage in "turf warfare" and the abandoned school building would become a haven for criminal activity. The closing was approved.
In 2014 Temple University paid $15 million to acquire the Penn site. In February 2015 the Philadelphia City Planning Commission approved the demolition of the school. Demolition began in December 2015, with demolition of the campus's east side scheduled to end in February of the following year, and with the west side demolished by the summer of 2016. Temple planned to install an athletic center on the east side. Athletic activities were scheduled to begin on the former Penn site in October 2016.
It was located at a convenient location near Broad and Girard Ave that had local eateries, three major fast food chains, a gas station, a CVS Pharmacy, public transportation to the Girard subway station and two major bus routes. This school sat on a beautiful campus that held five buildings that were all connected by bridges. There were so many students in the school before its rapid decline in enrollment, that street lines were put on the floor of major hallways to control student traffic. One building was divided in half and provided two full sized lunchrooms on the second floor. On the first floor of this building was a childcare facility for students that were parents. On the top floor was a greenhouse.
Penn housed an Olympic sized swimming pool that only went from three to four feet to teach students to swim. There was also a diving pool with a depth of twelve feet for students that were comfortable with swimming. There was a three story rock wall in the gym where basketball games were held. A ping pong and tennis room and state of the art gym equipment was available to the students.
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