Officials in the School District of Philadelphia are in the middle of evaluating how to upgrade its aging buildings.
An article on the Philly Voice website announced the unveiling of a website that will detail the state of the district’s 200 buildings. The average age of the district’s buildings is more than 75 years.
According to the article, the buildings will be evaluated based on four factors: facility condition, suitability for providing education, the weighted combined score of the first two factors, and the utilization of each building. The Board of Education will be presented with the results in Spring 2023, then determine how to proceed.
The district started evaluating its facilities in 2019, but the process was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial study only included select buildings but has now expanded to all buildings.
The facility upgrades will be funded with $325 million the district received from the American Rescue Plan and must be spent by September 2024.
The evaluation of district buildings comes on the heels of a February study that revealed that 98 percent of the district’s schools tested for lead included contamination in drinking water samples.
Dave Lubach is managing editor, Facility Group.
