PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mayor Cherelle Parker got a look at one of her signature initiatives in action on Tuesday afternoon, touring the extended-day school programs at Southwark School, a pre-K to 8th grade school in South Philadelphia.
It’s not year-round school. But it is a chance for students to learn before and after school. Under the new $24 million pilot, 1,400 students attend before-school programs, and more than 2,400 stay after for offerings including coding and robotics at 20 district and five charter schools in the city.
Parker stopped into a media studies program after school at Southwark, where students told her they enjoyed the camera studies program.
The mayor said these experiences are available at no cost to students.
“Those kind of programs are offered in Philadelphia in other schools, sometimes before or after, for a fee.”
Out-of-school-time providers run the programs. Superintendent Tony Watlington says the district is talking with its unions about expanding them next year.