An Open Letter to the Philadelphia City Council

Dear Councilmember,

I’m writing to you in response to the school district’s recent proposal to eliminate all of the city’s alterative schools, including my own, El Centro de Estudiantes. When I enrolled in El Centro in Late September 2009 I had been out of school for a month ½. I was going to school at The Young Women Leadership School of Rhodes. My most recent opinion of that school is horrific, and it still is. I attended that school for about 2 ½ years. Reason being was because my third year I got beaten almost to death by 4 girls who nearly killed me in my own neighborhood. Yes, they did attend the school I went to, yes I reported that incident, but unfortunately my school’s Principal suspended me as well as the 4 girls, for several days. After the several days, we got reinstated to return to school and that was the end of it.

El Centro gave a peace of mind. That school guaranteed me that I would be safe. If there was a time that someone would try to put a hand on me, disciplinary action will be taken place immediately. This is my second year at El Centro and I’ve made more progress here the any other school I’ve tried or attended. For example my vocabulary has extended, I learned that I want to become a Interior Designer. In the first 6 months I’ve met 3 Designers from 2 firms: Ewing Cole and ACP3 Architects on 7^th & 8^th and Arch street in Center City Philadelphia. And finally I’ve made my decision to attend Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) for 2 years  then get transferred to Drexel University, for Architecture, Design, Business, and Marketing.

My point is if El Centro is to close, it WILL be the BIGGEST mistake. To every student who already is enrolled in any El Centro, for some this is their last chance to make a difference in the world or their own lives. It’s El Centro’s main idea of an alterative school. All of us at El Centro including me are committed to doing every last thing we can to keep our doors open for our students and supporters. We’re asking city council to push the district to keep our Alternative Education schools open. We need your help; we need you to hear our voices.

 Sincerely Yours,

Anyeah Dominique Stover 

Student of El Centro