A new $88 million school is being built in Northeast Philadelphia

The Philadelphia school district’s needs are enormous: $8 billion and counting, and the average age of buildings is 73 years.

But on Friday, students, parents and dignitaries celebrated the occasion with the formal groundbreaking of a new $88 million school on Academy Road in Northeast.

Primary School Thomas Holme is currently a pile of dirt and rubble, but its new building is expected to be ready for student occupancy in January 2026. The 88,000-square-foot school — named after Pennsylvania’s first inspector general — will be built there the same place as the primary school. old Holmes.

Although enrollment in Philadelphia’s traditional public schools is declining overall, Holme, like many schools in the Northeast, is growing: It was built in 1950 as a K-12 school; it’s now K-8. The capacity of the old building was 795; it currently educates almost 800 people, and – as director Micah Winterstein said – on Friday, a child showed up at the new facility to register.

“We outgrew the building,” Winterstein said. “We anticipate even more growth.”

The new building will accommodate approximately 1,300 students. Students helped design the building – façade, playground, rainwater management system.

Holme students currently study in the old Meehan Junior High School building, approximately five miles away; they receive a bus to the temporary construction site.

Officials were delighted with the project.

“What a great day in Northeast Philadelphia, a $90 million investment in our children right there,” City Councilman Mike Driscoll said, pointing behind him as heavy equipment roared across the expansive site at the corner of Academy and Willits Road .

State Sen. Jimmy Dillon (R-Philadelphia) said the new school is “our promise to these children and their families that they deserve a safe, modern and inspiring place to learn and grow.”

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. stated that “it is critical that we provide our children with a 21st century learning environment, and today we are well on our way to achieving that goal.”

To meet its significant capital needs, the school system will soon begin a long-awaited facility planning process that is expected to result not only in new buildings in some places, but also in school closures and co-located buildings in others.

Reginald Streater, chairman of the school board, acknowledged that this is a huge task, especially considering that the school system cannot raise its own revenue but is largely dependent on the city and state.

Still, he said, Thomas Holme’s project is proof of what the district can and will do, even with limited resources.

“We will expand where necessary,” Streater said.

That sounds good to Ose Ogbeifun, 5, a preschooler at Thomas Holme. As politicians and school officials took turns wielding shovels and hard hats, it was the Holme students’ turn to lay the foundation stone, and Ose was extremely enthusiastic about the digging and what lay ahead in just over a year.

“I’m very excited!” she said.