It will validate the vision of educators, philanthropists, and community activists that inner-city children - taught with a private school curriculum and approach - can succeed and move on to rigorous, college-prep schools.
In a first for the nation, Germantown Academy, a private school in Fort Washington, five years ago opened Community Partnership School with a social service agency, Philadelphia's Project H.O.M.E. The school now has 85 students in prekindergarten to fifth grade from its North Philadelphia neighborhood.
"The kids are soaring!" said Sister Mary Scullion, who created Project H.O.M.E., which works to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
"The dream and the hope that this would be a meaningful opportunity and lay a great educational foundation for students to succeed is being fulfilled in ways we could not have foreseen."
"I'm extraordinarily excited this has happened," said James Connor, head of Germantown Academy.
Years ago, he dreamed about opening a school where low-income children could receive the same education as Germantown Academy elementary students whose parents pay $21,000 to send them to the venerable private school, with 1,100 students from pre-K through 12th grade.
Connor spoke to the first graders on the day in 2006 that Community Partnership School opened in shared space at Project H.O.M.E.'s Honickman Learning Center at 1936 N. Judson St.
"Now they're heading off to sixth grade," Connor said. "The opportunities these kids will have is what it was all about from the beginning."
Graduates will attend private schools, including Springside and the Norwood-Fontbonne Academy in Chestnut Hill; William Penn Charter in East Falls; and Greene Street Friends in Germantown, as well as such charter schools as Young Scholars and KIPP in North Philadelphia and Independence in Center City.
