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News

Plus, Michael Smerconish gets canceled, both figuratively and literally.

Mayor Cherelle Parker, an advocate of year-round school in Philadelphia (Getty Images)

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No, Really: Year-Round School Is Coming to Philadelphia

Seen here is Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker demonstrating the face that a Philadelphia schoolkid makes when you utter the phrase “year-round school” within earshot of them. I’m kidding, of course. This is actually a photo of Mayor Parker delivering a commencement speech at Lincoln University this weekend.

But back to this whole year-round school business. I first wrote about Parker’s dreams for year-round school in Philadelphia way back in May 2023, when she was a candidate in the mayoral primary. Part of her logic for year-round school was this: “Our children are no longer working the farms during the summertime.” True enough. She called the way we do things now — meaning giving kids and teachers the summers off — “antiquated” and “outdated.”

Candidate Parker has since become Mayor Parker, but she hasn’t forgotten about year-round school. At a City Council hearing last week, Philadelphia school district head Tony Watlington said he’s currently working with the Mayor’s Office on a pilot program involving 20 schools in Philadelphia, as first reported by WHYY.

Now, don’t start throwing tomatoes at Mayor Parker and Watlington just yet, kids. If all goes according to plan, year-round school won’t go into effect until the 2025-’26 school year.

And even when year-round school does go into effect, it’s not like the kids will be going to school every week of the year. They’ll still get off for holidays, and, Watlington explained, there would be additional “small breaks built in.” But as for that three-month-ish summer vacation, it sounds like that’s headed the way of AOL Instant Messenger.

Back when Parker first pitched the idea of year-round school in Philadelphia, she was short on specifics. For instance, how much would year-round school cost taxpayers? Which 20 schools are we talking about? How many school buildings could even host year-round school, considering the lack of air-conditioning and other logistical issues? She didn’t have any of those answers.

I reached out to the school district this morning, just to find out which 20 schools will be part of the pilot. And they weren’t even able to provide that.

“It’s still extremely early in the process,” said a school district spokesperson.

College Cancels Michael Smerconish

Michael Smerconish has done several college commencement addresses in the past, as he recalled for us during this recent interview. And he was scheduled to do one this year at Dickinson College, out yonder in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. But now, he’s not. The college just canceled him, both figuratively and literally, after some students lost their shit over something he wrote in 2004. And here’s what Smerconish himself has to say about the whole messy thing.

Local Talent

I know what you’ve all been wondering: What on earth has become of Susan Noles, the Delco woman who kept us all entertained for weeks on Golden Bachelor? Yeah, I’ve so been wondering the same thing. Can’t sleep at night. The answer is that she’s now dating a man who recognized her at Marshalls and asked for a selfie. You would already know this if you were a subscriber to the dating-themed podcast Noles now co-hosts.

By the Numbers

$23 million: Projected cost for this finally-about-to-be-under-construction business and cultural center in the Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood known as Africatown. I’ve been hearing about this for years and am glad to see that it’s actually underway. Though a bit of a red flag did go up when I saw who one of the developers behind Africatown is: Chaka Fattah. Yes, the disgraced former U.S. Congressman who went to federal prison for his misdeeds. Court records show that he’s still on federal probation. Development in Africatown is a great idea. Hopefully Fattah doesn’t figure out a way to screw it up.

47:33: Time of the fastest runner in yesterday’s Broad Street Run. That would be Kevin McDonnell from Cherry Hill. The fastest woman, Amber Zimmerman, came in at 52:52. She’s a Philadelphia PhD who’s been training for the Paris Olympics of late. There was also a non-binary category, now in its second year, which saw Winter Parts finishing first at 52:39. And in the wheelchair race, Miguel Vergara won. He rolled across the finish line at the 34:14 mark. All grueling, yes. But the alternative is riding the perpetually pee-scented Broad Street Line, so maybe this whole running thing isn’t a bad idea after all.

$1 million: Average selling price for a Toll Bros. home these days. The Montco-based McMansion-maker is aggressively building new McMansions to make up for what is apparently a massive McMansion shortage in the region.

And From the Rockin’-It Sports Desk …

The Phils were in their City Ugly unis for Friday night’s home game against the Giants, so it serves them right that they went down 2-0 early, as starter Aaron Nola gave up way too many walks and a double in the second inning. The Phils countered with three in the third off Giants starter Jordan Hicks, though, as Kyle Schwarber reached first on an error, Bryce Harper walked, Alec Bohm singled, J.T. Realmuto walked, and Brandon Marsh singled. And they made it four in the fourth as Turner singled, stole second, and then stole home on a passed ball, though he had to leave the game with an injury.

Matt Strahm came in for Nola in the fifth, and it was Seranthony Domínguez for the sixth, and they both got it done. Then, in the seventh, the Giants racked up three straight singles off Orion Kerkering with no outs. He got a double play, but a run scored anyway: 4-3. Quite the milestone …

Jeff Hoffman struck out the side in the eighth, but in the ninth, José Alvarado gave up a single and a grounder that put a pinch-runner on second with two outs, then notched a final strikeout. Woo!

Saturday’s game started late with a rain delay, which gave us extra time to absorb that Turner could be out as much as six weeks with the hamstring he pulled stealing home in the series opener. That meant the return of Kody Clemens from Lehigh Valley.

The teams finally took the de-tarped field about 70 minutes late, with Ranger Suárez on the mound, though it was still raining. He walked the first batter, then got two strikeouts and a fly-out. Keaton Wynn — perfect baseball name, BTW — walked Schwarber to start us off, and Schwarbs took second on a passed ball.

J.T. walked, too, and Harper singled, after which Bohn got beaned by a pitch for an RBI. Another single, by Marsh, made it 2-0 Phils with the bases still loaded. One more on a double-play grounder by Castellanos, a bobbled hit for Stott makes it four, and a single for Sosa. Reboot that lineup! And that was the night for Wynn, replaced by Mitchell White. OMG, a single for Johan Rojas before a final ground-out. All righty, Phils up 5-0! Realmuto led off the second with a triple and scored on a wild pitch that drove the catcher out of the game. Bohm singled — making his streak 17 games long.

A Marsh walk to load ’em again … you know what? Let’s pick up this game a few more innings in. Suárez made it through the sixth before José Ruiz came in for him with the score 13-3 and whacked the first batter. Bohm had come out with a hurtin’ hip, and the rain was still pouring down. But did they call the game? They did not. Seranthony pitched the bottom of the ninth, and he held the line for the — gulp — 14-3 final win.

On Sunday, the Giants got the jump in the first inning on a single and a double off starter Taijuan Walker. The Phils got it back in the second, though, as Bohm reached on an error, Stott walked and stole second, and Edmundo Sosa singled off their starter, Logan Webb. And in the third, after Schwarbs walked and J.T. singled, Harper hit a whopper of a homer to make it 4-1. It was only the second off of Webb this season. That wasn’t the end of it, either; after Castellanos singled, Stott doubled him in. When Marsh stole second in the fifth off reliever Sean Hjelle, it was the Phils’ fourth heist of the night. Speaking of Marsh …

In the seventh inning, Thairo Estrada whacked a two-run homer of his own, and that was it for Walker (who promptly slammed shit around in the dugout); Gregory Sosa came in to spell him and hit the first batter, Austin Slater, then walked Nick Ahmed but got out of the fire unscathed. Michael Conforto tripled off Hoffman with one out in the eighth on a ball Rojas just barely missed catching before two Ks put an end to that. It was Alvarado in the ninth, and goddamn if he didn’t give up a solo homer to Jakson Reetz. There was another long fly to end the game, finally: ninth straight home win for us! One last game in the series, tomorrow afternoon at 4:05.

What Else Ya Got?

Some cool news in a cold world: Delran’s own Carli Lloyd and her husband are pregnant via IVF.

Any Doop News?

You betcha. The Union played D.C. United on Saturday in Washington and went down 2-0 in the first half, with Andre Blake out with yet another injury and Oliver Semmle in the goal, not that it was all his fault. But Alejandro Bedoya had a beautiful goal in the first-half overage, and in the 79th minute came this gorgeous strike by Jack McGlynn:

So the Union walked away with one point, averting disaster. They play again Wednesday, away at NYC.

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.

Victor Fiorillo

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