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Philadelphia school officials unveiled a new building for Thomas Holme School Tuesday, creating more space for Northeast Philly’s growing student population as the district plans for school closures and other big facilities changes.
The new building has one of the largest capacities of all district elementary and middle schools, with space for more than 1,000 students from pre-K to eighth grade. It replaces the previous Holme school, which was built in the 1950s and had a capacity of 795 students, according to district data.
Holme’s enrollment, which is now at just over 800 students, has crept up steadily over the past several years as the population in the city’s Northeast neighborhoods has ballooned. Elsewhere in the city, enrollment has fallen over the past decade.
The nearly $90 million project, built on the previous building’s footprint, is meant to provide more space and better facilities to Holme students, who have spent the past two and a half years learning in a temporary swing space at Austin Meehan School, a 10-minute drive away. Along with updated classrooms and learning spaces, the 130,000-square-foot building includes music rooms, a dance studio, a new gym, and a cafeteria.
“This building represents our commitment to delivering the learning environments our students deserve: safe, modern, healthy, and inspiring,” said Board of Education President Reginald Streater at the Tuesday ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The building — one of several new or updated schools unveiled this year — will open as the district pursues a facilities planning process that officials say will lead to closing and colocating some schools, along with modernizing and repurposing others.
But district officials have not yet shared which schools will be closed, colocated, or otherwise affected, and they have delayed the timeline for the process.
Dozens of Philadelphia schools have hundreds of empty seats, while others, especially in the Northeast, are overcrowded. Families and teachers in the Northeast have complained that overcrowding has stretched educators thin and left students without support. The new building may help alleviate some of those concerns.
“They definitely took into consideration the fact that this is a growing community,” said April Tomarelli, an educational facilities planner for the district. “Right now, this will definitely meet the needs of the community.”
Though Holme students gave feedback on the building’s design plans, they have yet to see inside the new building. The school expects to move into the new space in January.
Holme Principal Micah Winterstein said he looks forward to seeing students’ faces when they experience their first day at the new school.
“The space they walk into will say how much we value them,” said Winterstein. “I think every kid deserves a space like this, but I’m so excited for our kids to walk in and know that this is theirs.”
Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org.
