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Philadelphia's Great Unless You're a Sick Student at a School Filled With Asbestos and Lead

May 14, 2018 12:00:00 AM

by Zachary Wright 

Philadelphia’s on the rise! The Eagles won the Super Bowl. Michelle Obama led an all star cast of celebrities to celebrate thousands of graduating high school seniors on College Signing Day. Neighborhoods in the northeast section of the city are among the most swiftly developing (read: gentrifying) urban areas in the entire country. New riverside pedestrian walkways, bike lanes, luxury high rises, and innumerable restaurants and coffee shops are transforming Philadelphia into an urban oasis. Unless, of course, you’re a student getting sick at one of Philadelphia’s asbestos and lead-filled schools. In a recent report from the Philadelphia Inquirer, [pullquote position="right"]an exorbitantly high number of Philadelphia’s public schools are filled with insanely high levels of toxic materials.[/pullquote] To put it in perspective, the Environmental Protection Agency considers an environment toxic if there are more than 40 micrograms per square foot of hazardous material on the floor and 250 on a windowsill. Guess how many were found in a classroom in North Philadelphia. 9,800. This, of course, is in addition to the mice, mold, exposed wiring and layers of peeling paint that adorn the learning spaces where nearly 130,000 children spend the vast majority of their young lives. It’s no surprise that children are getting sick. But it’s also no surprise that such conditions exist within a cash-strapped district that is chronically underfunded due to a majority low-income tax base and a state government that would rather not step up to the plate. To me, this is just another symptom of America’s voluntary and tacit racial and economic segregation. There is no way a wealthy suburban community would tolerate such a school environment for their children. Heads would roll. Politicians would make speeches to appease their rightfully infuriated voters. Parents would demonstrate, lambasting the school system for endangering their children. But [pullquote]for urban kids living in poverty, such pathetic learning environments are acceptable, taken for granted, and, thus, ignored.[/pullquote] When I think of these injustices, I picture a student seated at a rickety table or age-old desk. The lights flicker. Wires creep out through missing patches in the ceiling. Mold extends out from the cold radiators while paint chips crunch under the teacher’s feet. And day after day, breath after toxic breath, the child learns that this environment is precisely what they are worth. And that’s the crime.
Photo by @pmxperience, Twenty20-licensed.

Zachary Wright 

Zachary Wright is an assistant professor of practice at Relay Graduate School of Education, serving Philadelphia and Camden, and a communications activist at Education Post. Prior, he was the twelfth-grade world literature and Advanced Placement literature teacher at Mastery Charter School's Shoemaker Campus, where he taught students for eight years—including the school's first eight graduating classes. Wright was a national finalist for the 2018 U.S. Department of Education's School Ambassador Fellowship, and he was named Philadelphia's Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2013. During his more than 10 years in Philadelphia classrooms, Wright created a relationship between Philadelphia's Mastery Schools and the University of Vermont that led to the granting of near-full-ride college scholarships for underrepresented students. And he participated in the fight for equitable education funding by testifying before Philadelphia's Board of Education and in the Pennsylvania State Capitol rotunda. Wright has been recruited by Facebook and Edutopia to speak on digital education. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he organized demonstrations to close the digital divide. His writing has been published by The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Citizen, Chalkbeat, Education Leadership, and numerous education blogs. Wright lives in Collingswood, New Jersey, with his wife and two sons. Read more about Wright's work and pick up a copy of his new book, " Dismantling A Broken System; Actions to Close the Equity, Justice, and Opportunity Gaps in American Education"—now available for pre-order!

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