Parents and pupils worried about Philadelphia school closings take their concerns to City Hall
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Khyrie Brown, 12, a seventh grader at L.P. Hill Elementary School in Strawberry Mansion,… (KRISTEN A. GRAHAM / Staff )
What do students from L.P. Hill and Duckrey Elementary Schools - two among the 37 Philadelphia School District buildings slated for closure in June - think about officials' decision to shutter their schools?
"I feel down," said Shemar Bates, 11, a sixth grader at Duckrey, in North Philadelphia on the edge of Temple University's campus. "I feel shocked. I don't want them to close my school."
Shemar was one of a handful of students, parents, and members of the community organizing group ACTION United who met at City Hall on Friday, hoping to hand-deliver petitions and dozens of letters directly to Mayor Nutter. They want the mayor, governor, School Reform Commission, and anyone else with clout to listen and, they hope, intervene to halt school closings.
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