If a school can be structured around military policies and practices, why can’t one be created around pacifist themes, too?
That’s the idea behind Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Conflict Resolution in Philadelphia, which will reopen this fall as the city’s first school focused on peace and social-justice issues. The school is one of several new schools with vocational and academic themes established as part of the 196,000-student district’s efforts to break up larger high schools into smaller ones.
Parkway, which will serve 375 students, will incorporate the studies of peace, social justice, and conflict resolution into a traditional academic curriculum, district spokesman Vincent Thompson said. It will also have a peer-mediation program for students, and host speakers and seminars on relevant topics, he added.
Members of the community asked the district to consider launching a high school structured around peace and social justice after the opening of the Philadelphia Military Academy at Leeds Middle School, Mr. Thompson noted.
