Real estate agents in the Riverwards have been faced with an ongoing quagmire: How can they continue to sell amazing (and pricey) homes to young families but not know a thing about that catchment’s public school, which essentially should act as the heart of the neighborhood?

John McDonald, a local real estate agent and developer with SPACE & Company Real Estate Collective, found himself a bit embarrassed at the situation.

“I would say to my clients, ‘you gotta find a school that works well for your kid’,” McDonald said. “By this, I meant a private school.”

Sasha Best, an NYC transplant and one of McDonald’s satisfied Northern Liberties home buyers, did just that.

“[My husband and I] fell in love with our house, bought it and sent our kids to a great private school.” Best and her husband hadn’t even considered public school when they first bought three years ago.

It wasn’t until Best got settled into her home and more involved in the neighborhood that she thought about public school as a viable option. “Another couple in Northern Liberties had just put together a group called Friends of Kearny… [and through that], I met the principal.”  For Best, this positive public school exposure provided her with an ‘Aha-moment.’

Taking a page from a Mt. Airy/Germantown area realtor-public school tour that took place in early 2015, Best contacted McDonald for his help in organizing a Riverwards tour of four public schools. The purpose was to have realtors meet the school leaders, explore the facilities and find out how the current students are performing academically so agents can properly inform potential home buyers.

On Tuesday, October 27th, over a dozen realtors and parents from the neighborhoods toured four schools located in the Riverwards. Appropriately enough, school leaders at H.A. Brown Academics Plus Elementary School (K-8) , Horatio B. Hackett Elementary School, Alexander Adaire School (K-8) and John Moffet Elementary School wowed the crowd.

First stop on the tour was H.A. Brown Academics Plus Elementary located at 1946 E. Sergeant Street. An autistic and ESL friendly school, Brown maintains critical partnerships with public and private organizations which help to support a rigorous and diverse curriculum for all learners; including, Friends of H.A. Brown, H.A. Brown Home and School, GEAR UP, Temple University and the Philadelphia Opera Company.

Connie Carnivale, a veteran school teacher and the school’s current principal, shared what gives her school the competitive edge.

“We are constantly questioning how to make sure that our faculty is teaching to a 21st century student,” Carnivale said.

 

While they don’t have the money for a full library, every classroom has a mini-library and each grade has a Chromebook cart.

Despite the lack of government funding, Brown still offers a variety of programs such as student government (grades 2-8), choir (grades 1-8), art enrichment (grades 3-8), string and percussion instrument lessons (grades 3-8) and Mentally Gifted Club (grades 2-8). Eighth graders are offered Algebra 1 and free PSAT testing. This could contribute to some impressive statistics; 93 percent of the past year’s 8th grade class got into their choice of high school.

Carnivale shared that she “always loved opportunities to display how public education does work and does provide students and their families with a terrific option.”

Next stop on the tour was Horatio B. Hackett Elementary School located at 2161 E. York Street.  Met by teacher leader, Teesa Donnelly, realtors learned that Hackett has a population of over 330 kindergarten through 5th graders and that their students perform well above those from other city schools in math, reading and science on the PSSA tests. Additionally, Hackett has a Special Education curricula and a strong extra-curricular component, offering choir, service learning and music classes.

With the help of Friends of Hackett, an organization lead by parent Allison Dean, the school has engaged in a $1.4 million capital campaign for The Hackett Schoolyard Revitalization Initiative. Additionally, the library is nearly ready for opening after being reorganized by Dean and other parents.

“Whenever something needs to get done here, we are able to easily get 150 families out on a Saturday to help.” Dean said.

With relationships to the Philadelphia Art Museum, Portside Arts Center and Villanova University, Hackett is one the the neighborhood’s “best kept secrets,” according to Donnelly.

The third stop was Alexander Adaire School located at 1300 E. Palmer Street. Principal Anna Jenkins, a 20 year school district veteran, met with the attendees in the school’s art-filled hallways. She shared their plans for outdoor renovations that will encompass a rain garden, a fenced in park and raised walls.

Having built strong relationships with organizations such as Friends of Adaire, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Portside Arts Center and Temple University, Adair is able to enhance its students’ coursework with lots of extra curriculars, including arts programs like pottery wheel, batik making, creative writing, music lessons and after school clubs like choir and sports.

According to Jenkins, Adaire’s graduating 8th graders have gained entrance into 15 different high schools throughout the city.

Jenkins highly recommends that parents with school-aged children moving into the neighborhood stop by for an in-depth tour of the school.

The final stop on the tour was the John Moffet Elementary School located at 127 W. Oxford Street. Principal Carmen Novarro shared that Moffet has strong, long running partnerships with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Friends of Moffet and the Taller Puertorriqueno Puerto Rican and Latino visual arts program.

“Moffet is already a good school,” Meehal Lele, the President of the newly formed Friends of Moffet, said. But for this school, which was built in 1974, there are “a lot of opportunities in front of us to build lots of new relationships [to benefit the school.]”

Novarro noted that most of the 31 teachers have been there for years, which is a great sign of educators enjoying the environment they teach in. Additionally, the school offers a plethora of extracurricular activities that have continued to enhance Moffet’s culture. Notably, a William Penn grant provided 50 students the chance to partake in an Arabic drumming program. Students in that program went on to perform at the Kimmel Center and City Hall.

“I was blown away by the tour,” McDonald, realtor and developer with SPACE & Company Real Estate Collective, said.

“The passion and the inspiration I experienced once inside these schools was just amazing.”

Kate Hughes, a parent of a four year old and a two and a half year old who is already working with Friends of Adaire, noted: “What the [realtors] saw didn’t necessarily align with the stories they’ve heard from the media [in the past], but  great things are happening inside our neighborhood schools.”

For more information about any of these schools as well as others in the Riverwards, go to

https://webapps.philasd.org/school_profile. Here you can enter the name of the school that you would like to search. Additionally, school leaders encourage curious parents to visit the school directly for a tour.