William M. Meredith School is a public

K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * AMD K8, the internal designation for the ...

located in the

Queen Village Queen Village is a residential neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that lies along the eastern edge of the city in South Philadelphia. It shares boundaries with Society Hill to the north, Bella Vista to the west and Pennsport to the south. ...

neighborhood of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. It is a part of the

School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...

. Its historic school building was designed by

Irwin T. Catharine Irwin Thornton Catharine (October 22, 1883 – March 3, 1944) was the chief architect of Philadelphia Public school (government funded), public schools from 1920 until his retirement in 1937. Buildings built during Catharine's tenure ranged from ...

and built in 1930–1931. It is a 16 bay, yellow, white, and brown brick building on a limestone base in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

-style. It features pronounced molded brick mullions, two Gothic arched entrances, and brick piers. ''Note:'' This includes

History

Kristen M. Graham of the ''

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' wrote that Meredith had been "small and failing".Graham, Kristen M.
A sad Meredith School moment Hugs and farewell to Mr. Cooperstein Pupils at the Queen Village school honor their beloved, retiring principal.

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''. June 19, 2008. Retrieved on November 28, 2015. As a way of desegregating the school, the district opened an arts program. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1986. Graham wrote that after the 1970s "Gradually, Meredith turned around." In 2011 Graham wrote that Meredith was "small but high-achieving",Graham, Kristen A.
Parents come to the rescue of a cherished public school

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''. December 8, 2011. Retrieved on November 28, 2015. and the following year she stated that Meredith was one of "the district's stronger neighborhood schools".Graham, Kristen A.
Organizers raise funds to offer free summer school

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''. July 12, 2012. Retrieved on November 28, 2015. Circa 1993 Stuart Cooperstein became the principal, and he served in the position until 2008. Cooperstein stated in 2008 that the staff and teachers have a high level of devotion to students, and Graham wrote that the parent organization, which had financed the cafeteria's air conditioning system through fundraisers, was devoted. Graham added that the school had retained many of its art-related programs, including drama, music, and visual arts, despite budget cuts. In 2011 the district announced that it was cutting $30,370 ($ inflation-adjusted) from the school's budget. To prevent the elimination of support staff positions parents held a fundraiser: teachers raised about $5,000 ($ inflation-adjusted) and parents raised over $15,000 ($ inflation-adjusted) In 2018, the school was awarded the National Blue Ribbon award.. In 2019 one of the school's teachers, Lea DiRusso was exposed to cancer from Meredith Elementary asbestos. This led a talk with the School District of Philadelphia which then removed

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

from many school district buildings and schools.

Student body

In 2017 the school had 517 students. Most of them originated from the surrounding area while some commuted from elsewhere. Graham described Meredith's student body as "diverse and stable with high attendance". As of 2018 about 20% of the students are below the poverty line.

Feeder patterns

Neighborhoods assigned to Meredith are also assigned to

Furness High School Horace Howard Furness High School is a secondary (9th-12th) school in South Philadelphia. It is part of the School District of Philadelphia. Portions of South Philadelphia (including Bella Vista, Passyunk Square, Pennsport, Queen Village, and ...

.A Directory of High Schools for 2009 Admissions

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''. p. 15 (PDF p/ 17/40). Accessed November 6, 2008.Horace Furness High School Geographic Boundaries

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. Retrieved on October 4, 2011.

References

External links

Meredith School
**
William M. Meredith Home & School Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meredith, William M., School School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Art Deco architecture in Pennsylvania School buildings completed in 1931 School District of Philadelphia South Philadelphia Public K–8 schools in Philadelphia