Northwood Academy
has expansion plans

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

According to the administrators of Northwood Academy Charter School, most of the 550-plus students come from the areas of Summerdale, Oxford Circle, Frankford and Northwood.
"We want it to be a community school," said CEO Brien Gardiner.
The school, located in a former nursing home on Castor Avenue, houses kids in kindergarten through seventh grade. In September, it wants to welcome eighth-graders.
To make room, the school needs to build a 9,000-square-foot addition at a cost of about $1 million, preserving trees and a field. It would replace a temporary trailer. The total capacity would be 610 students, with many more on a waiting list.
Gardiner and principal Amy Hollister made a presentation at last week’s monthly meeting of the Northwood Civic Association. Members generally favored the plan.
The educators are hoping the construction is completed by the early fall, but that might not be realistic.
"When we take the Christmas tree down, we’ll cut the ribbon," Hollister said.
Northwood Academy uses the gym at Simpson Playground to play basketball. In exchange, the school has made various improvements to the recreation center, and its janitor visits weekly to see if anything needs to be done.
The school’s average class size is 22. The teachers are certified, non-union employees.
"If you don’t do your job, you can’t stay," Hollister said.
The school does not tolerate bullying or littering.
"If I catch you throwing a piece of litter," Hollister said, "you have to pick up ten."
Gardiner, whose school supports the civic association by sending home meeting announcements with the students, invites the community to see the school in action.
"Everybody’s welcome to visit," he said.
Gardiner also oversees the Thomas Shallcross School, a facility for court-adjudicated kids at Friends Hospital. Bob Lysek, the chief operations officer, has a similar policy.
"I have an open invitation to everybody," he said.
Shallcross educates boys and girls in fifth through 12th grades. Every month, the children deliver 1,500 fliers to doors announcing the civic association’s agenda. Of course, they are supervised.
Lysek told the crowd that the students wear uniforms and walk in lines. They also clean up the portion of Roosevelt Boulevard in front of Friends Hospital.
In other news from the March 20 meeting:
• Joe Menkevich, the civic association president, is challenging local politicians to help fund costly repairs to a 22-foot-high soldiers monument in North Cedar Hill Cemetery, at Frankford and Cheltenham avenues.
The marble structure features cannons, an American flag, an American eagle with outspread wings and the names of more than 150 soldiers killed in the Civil War. Thirty-three Union soldiers are buried in unmarked graves in a circle around the monument.
Local history buffs are hoping to order 33 gravestones and complete renovations by 2011, the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.
• The civic association sent a letter of non-opposition to the zoning board regarding a bid by People Acting To Help to set up a residential facility for 12 young adults with mental health and mild mental retardation diagnoses at Friends Hospital.
The grounds are zoned for such care, but PATH needs a variance because it is renovating an existing structure and building an addition.
Menkevich supports the proposal, but could not get a majority of board members to side with him.
• Impact Community Development Corporation and OKKS Development, of Bensalem, have invited the civic group to a meeting on April 10 at Romano’s Catering to discuss the construction of 50 homes on Wingohocking and Cayuga streets.
The ground is open for construction since the city claimed former businesses by eminent domain.
• Supremo Supermarket opened on Saturday at 900 Orthodox St. The site had been vacant since an Acme closed in March 2002.
• The Philadelphia Water Department will hold a public meeting on Thursday, March 29, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Historical Society of Frankford, at 1507 Orthodox St.
Residents are invited to comment on the Frankford Creek Greenway project, which is intended to provide individuals with access to the creek, along with opportunities for restoration, recreation and renewal.
Other goals include cleaning up the creek and creating trail linkages to transportation stops.
• The civic group is bracing for more legal action now that the owners of Greenwood Cemetery are appealing a Commonwealth Court decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The lower court overturned a Common Pleas Court ruling that affirmed a zoning board decision giving the cemetery owners the right to build a crematory, funeral home and parking lot.
The civic group wants to preserve the cemetery site, located at 930 Adams Ave., because it’s the former home of Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The 43-acre cemetery is on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
The future of the cemetery has been debated since Ron and Carol Hancock bought it in January 2000. The property was in a shambles, and some residents fault the couple for not doing enough to rehabilitate it.
• Northwood Civic Association will meet on Tuesday, April 17, at 7 p.m., at St. James Lutheran Church, at Castor Avenue and Pratt Street. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com