Happy Mother’s Day
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Saturday in the park Volunteers will clean up local open space and learn about becoming more involved in their continued maintenance. By Erica J. Minutella Review Intern
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y 2015, residents desiring to take in a summertime dose of nature may no longer feel the need to travel beyond the city limits. Mayor Michael A. Nutter’s Greenworks Philadelphia campaign aims to plant 300,000 new trees within the next five years. Saturday morning, local groups will participate in a variety of projects designed to enrich and improve Philadelphia’s urban park system in the city’s annual Love Your Park Day. Last year, approximately 1,200 Philadelphians contributed to park cleanup efSee LOVE YOUR PARK page 11
Sports
Vincena Small, the mother of three George W. Childs Elementary School children, joined other concerned parents and students outside the school prior to an April 28 meeting with School District of Philadelphia officials.
Fight to the nish
S ta f f P h o t o b y G r e g B e z a n i s
Two years later, parents have started round two of trying to prevent the school district from relocating their children’s school four blocks away. By Amanda L. Snyder
Documenting the champs As the current Flyers face off against the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals, HBO is currently airing a special on the city’s last Stanley Cup championship squad.
By Bill Gelman................Page 56
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eisha Walker was out of work for a month standing up for what she believed was right. While the Temple University Hospital nurse returned to work on Tuesday with a new contract, she was encouraging fellow parents at her son’s school to stand together in support of their children last week. “Now I’m here tonight standing up for the safety of my son,” the resident of 19th
and Dickinson streets said at the April 28 three-hour meeting. “I hate to say this, but Barratt is not an options for my son. That’s just not an option … In September, my son will not be there.” The School District of Philadelphia has proposed to shutter George W. Childs Elementary School, 1541 S. 17th St., at the end of the current school year due to the building’s age of 116 years and relocate the pupils to Norris S. Barratt Middle School, located four blocks away at 1599 Wharton St. Eight school district officials
including Childs’ Principal Alphonso Evans formed the panel that addressed the proposed move — which must first be approved by the School Reform Commission — inside Childs’ auditorium as about 200 residents listened. The district met with Childs’ parents again on Tuesday and has more sessions scheduled leading up to the commission’s 2 p.m. May 26 meeting at 440 N. Broad St.. Regardless, Walker refuses to send her See CHILDS SCHOOL page 10