J.S. Jenks Academy of Arts and Sciences sent 350 students home early Wednesday after parts of the Chestnut Hill school lost running water, leaving students without a way to wash their hands. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the school dismissed students early Wednesday at the 1922 building.
The elementary school on Germantown Avenue faced a water outage Wednesday, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Inquirer reported that parts of the building had no water, students were told not to flush toilets, and they could not wash their hands with running water.
After school let out, students were walked to a nearby recreation center with running water to wait for family members.
District Points to a Leaky Boiler Room and a Third-Floor Outage
In a letter to families, District Chief Operating Officer Teresa Fleming said the building-wide loss of water pressure stemmed from a loss of water service on the third floor and a leak in the domestic water line inside the boiler room. Facilities and maintenance staff were working to address the issue.
Jade Ward, president of the Jenks Home and School Association, told the Inquirer she was frustrated that students spent roughly three hours in a building without running water before dismissal. Ward also raised concerns about food safety because the school had served breakfast and lunch.
A 104-Year-Old Building Stuck at the Back of the Line
Built in 1922, Jenks is an aging school building. The Inquirer has reported that aging buildings with years of deferred maintenance can develop problems that disrupt student learning.
The district's plan includes investments in pre-kindergarten classrooms and full-service kitchens.
Jenks' Place in a $3 Billion Citywide Overhaul
The School District of Philadelphia’s Board of Education approved its Accelerating Opportunity facilities master plan by a 6-3 vote in April 2026, according to the district. The district describes it as a 10-year roadmap to modernize school buildings and align resources with student needs, with the aim of expanding access to high-quality academic and extracurricular programs across neighborhoods while addressing under- and over-enrollment at many of its aging and unequal facilities. The plan lists a $3 billion investment, including $1.1 billion in District bond funding and a request for $1.9 billion in new government and philanthropic funding.
What the Funding Request Specifies
The district’s funding summary describes the $1.9 billion as a request for new government and philanthropic funding; it does not name a specific state funding program or say how much of the request would come from state sources. For Jenks, the facilities report says the planned pre-kindergarten classroom and full-service kitchen would require significant philanthropic or state funding beyond the district’s $1 billion allocation for higher-priority projects.
That plan's price tag grew as it moved toward approval, from $2.8 billion to $3 billion in the district's final version.
