In some parts of the city, schools are overcrowded to the point that some classes are held in hallways.

But elsewhere, some Philadelphia schools have so few students that they are unable to offer advanced courses, art, music or algebra to eighth graders.

As the Philadelphia School District prepares to formulate a plan for its more than 300 buildings — which require an estimated $8 billion in repairs — Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has indicated that the school system will be a size of minimum target school in the future. That goal has not yet been set, he said.

“We’ll have to make that decision as part of that process,” Watlington said in an interview with the Inquirer on Tuesday.

But size alone won’t be the only determining factor in closing a school, officials said.

“We will take a hard look at the total impact of the data and what the school means to this community,” said Oz Hill, interim assistant superintendent for operations. “We do not want to further disadvantage any student. There may be underachievement, but academic achievement may exceed standards.

Watlington said he was moved in part by two separate stories from students he met. In one case, a young woman was taking classes through a summer program because she felt that her Philadelphia school, which did not offer Advanced Placement courses, had not adequately prepared her for the ‘university. In another, a young man had to repeat his high school math classes because his college didn’t offer algebra.

And although the district last closed its schools in the early 2010s, quickly and for financial reasons, it now does so with a different agenda, Watlington said: better managing its enormous stock of aging buildings, yes, but also be strategic when it comes to learning. experiences that the district offers its students.

“We will be able to standardize better access to kindergarten, stronger art, music and physical education across the city,” Watlington said. “All of our middle schools or groups will have access to Algebra I. We hope that all of our high schools will have a minimum number of Advanced Placement courses and will have more equitable career and technical education opportunities across the city.”

Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s conversation with Watlington and Hill.

This facilities planning process is not about financial panic

The latest round of 30 closures never yielded the financial gains officials hoped for. A postmortem analysis showed the district only saved about $24 million a year, a fraction of its current $4.5 billion budget.

Children have also fared worse because of the closures. Students in closed schools and those who received students from closed schools had poorer attendance and academic performance following the closures.

Without additional help from the city and state funders, the district projects a deficit within a few years, but it is not at the crisis point it was in 2012.

Schools will likely have to close, Watlington said. But the district plans to reuse the shuttered buildings for the public good — and likely in concert with the city.

“I know that in addition to potentially co-locating or rebuilding, renovating, closing some schools, we will also look at how some school buildings could be reused for the benefit of the community,” Watlington said. “It’s still premature to say what that looks like. But the mayor has been very actively engaged in providing very long leadership in this process.

Hill had previously mentioned health clinics, food co-ops or even teacher housing as potential ways to repurpose closed buildings.

Officials said they recognized that Philadelphia still bore the scars of the previous “right-sizing” in 2012 and 2013, but this time “we thought a lot about how to do no harm, how to deliver more in terms of “rigorous course offerings, access and opportunities to support communities, and to continue to prioritize conditions to improve student success,” Watlington said.

The neighborhood offers multiple opportunities to intervene

More than one a dozen listening sessions have already been organized to solicit feedback on the installationsbut the public still has the opportunity to provide input on how the district should move forward.

In-person meetings will be held on December 11, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Congreso Education and Training Center, 2800 N. American St. (session in English and Spanish) and on December 18, from 3 p.m.: 30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at district offices at 440 N. Broad St. for students only.

Sessions will also be held virtually on Wednesdays, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., for district staff only; Monday, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., for district staff only; December 10, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., for families of single learners and those with special education plans; December 16, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., on career and technical education and career-connected learning; December 19, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., for students only; and December 20, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Registration is required and can be completed here.

In addition, the authorities are asking interested people to complete this survey.

A project team to shape the plan has been appointed

The district last month named a project team that will meet monthly throughout the process to help shape the plan. Its members include: Kenzy Ahmed, Student Council Representative for the School District of Philadelphia; Soledad Alfaro, director of operations, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; Darrin W. Anderson Sr., president and CEO, Urban League of Philadelphia; Paul Bonewicz, executive director, facilities management and services, School District of Philadelphia; Donna Bullock, president and CEO of Project HOME; Rev. Bonnie Camarda, Director of Partnerships, Salvation Army; Debora Carrera, Director of Education for the City of Philadelphia; Walette Carter, president of the Philadelphia Board of Homes and Schools; Peng Chao, head of charter schools for the School District of Philadelphia; Donna Cooper, executive director of Children First; Rebecca Cornejo, executive director of the Neubauer Family Foundation; Daniel Di Martino, teacher and PFT building representative, Shawmont Elementary, School District of Philadelphia; Jannette Diaz, president and CEO of the Congreso de Latinos Unidos; Tanya Edmonds, Local 634 organizer, School District of Philadelphia; Cynthia Figueroa, president and CEO, JEVS Human Services; Shanée Garner, founding executive director of Lift Every Voice Philly; Regina A. Hairston, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware; Dorene Henderson, School Safety Officer and Acting Treasurer of the Philadelphia Union School Police Officers, School District of Philadelphia; Kenyatta James, deputy executive director of the Economic League of Greater Philadelphia; Mary Beth Morgan, independent living specialist, youth transition, Liberty Resources; Penny Nixon, CEO of Universal Charter Schools; Sulaiman Rahman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Masters Schools; Deana Ramsey, principal of the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Center, School District of Philadelphia; Charles Rinker, student council representative for the School District of Philadelphia; Isaiah Thomas, Philadelphia City Council member and chair of the council’s education committee; Rev. Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church; and Shakeera Warthen-Canty, assistant superintendent of school operations and management, School District of Philadelphia.

Applications have just closed for additional groups who will meet to offer feedback; these teams will be announced on December 19.

A final plan is expected in a year

If the project meets current deadlines, the school board is expected to approve the plan in December 2025. The district is expected to provide formal public updates in January, May and August.