Winter recreation programs to remain, but consolidated

Mayor Michael Nutter announced today that winter recreation programs, which engage more than 12,000 Philadelphia schoolchildren, will remain, albeit some in different locations.

“The city will work with the district and consolidate recreation programs from 83 locations to 48,” he said. “This will provide real savings as far as energy costs and staff costs.” The city is also contributing $175,000 to keep the programs afloat on weekends and until 9 p.m. weekdays.

The arrangement was forged by a collaboration between City Council, the School Reform Commission and the city. “Hopefully, this will be a template for moving forward with other problems related to the school district,” said Council President Darrell Clarke.

Officials said that the schools chosen to house the programs were chosen based on size and location.”There were 154 groups using 83 schools. We moved groups from smaller schools to larger schools,” said Deputy Mayor for Environmental and Community Resources Mike DiBerardinis. “We were able to fit pretty much everybody. In fact, there wasn’t a group I’m aware of that we weren’t able to fit.”

The compromise will save the city $1.2 million, as opposed to the $1.6 million that would have been saved by cutting the programs altogether, Pedro Ramos of the SRC said.”We still have, easily, a $40 million more gap to cover by June,” he added.

Nutter, too, warned that there would be more painful cuts ahead in light of Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget, which slashed funding for education and social services.

Below is a full list of the schools that will house the consolidated recreation programs: