Hundreds of Penn students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members have joined the growing call for the university to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to support Philadelphia public schools. | From The Philadelphia Inquirer (Read more.)
A $50 million proposal to renovate the former Germantown High School site into a mixed-use facility is moving forward, aided by a city provision allowing the adaptive reuse of historic structures — a provision some neighbors say cut them out of the zoning process. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
The Free Library of Philadelphia branches are physically closed due to COVID-19 but many librarians and staffers are still providing online programs and services through the Free Library website and the branches’ social media accounts. Here’s a list of resources you can access from your home. | From: Kensington Voice (Read more.)
In a bid to continue helping families in need after the end of the spring school term, Comcast announced it will extend free internet service to new customers for another 60 days. The company said Thursday that its Internet Essentials program, which was set to expire June 30, will be available to new eligible customers for two more months. The free offer will now be available through the end of 2020, with the company also waiving the requirement that customers not have a past due balance with Comcast to qualify. | From: NBC10 Philadelphia (Read more.)
The district is partnering with the City of Philadelphia to continue providing food to students, expanding on the 2.7 million meals it has already distributed since schools were forced to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, Superintendent William Hite said. He added that food distribution is a “critical” issue for students. | From: NBC 10 Philadelphia (Read more.)
About 20,000 Philadelphia students without internet connections have been unable to attend school for months, and yet, when asked directly by Dr. Hite, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, to open their residential Wi-Fi networks so students could actually use the more than 80,000 laptops distributed by an already fiscally underwater school district, Comcast refused. | From: The Philadelphia Inquirer (Read more.)
As the novel coronavirus pandemic wears on, at least 124,000 U.S. schools containing roughly 55.1 million students have been closed. As schools pivot to remote learning as a result, school districts in cities like Washington D.C., Sacramento, and Philadelphia are working to ensure that students can access their digital classes by putting laptops directly in the hands of students. With more than a quarter of residents living below the poverty line and growing gaps between rich and poor school districts across Pennsylvania, Philadelphia’s efforts are particularly important. | From: Next City (Read more.)
As an adjunct professor, Anderson has no guarantee of work this fall. That’s always been the case. But this summer — with dire enrollment predictions circulating — there’s added uncertainty. Fewer students means fewer classes. And fewer classes likely means fewer adjuncts. | From: WHYY (Read more.)
The public utility of the internet is especially clear now during the pandemic when most of the city’s official communications and resources are accessible only online. | From: The Notebook (Read more.)
Under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Pennsylvania is distributing more than $300 million in SNAP benefits to families whose children are eligible for free lunch. Because all Philadelphia public school students receive free lunch at school, this means all families are eligible to receive an extra $365 in pandemic aid — even those that are financially secure. | From: Billy Penn (Read more.)
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