From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Students from Blankenburg Elementary marched through the streets on Wednesday alongside Spiral Q, a nonprofit community arts organization, carrying banners and accompanied by a drumline and giant puppet sculptures.

The West Philadelphia elementary school is one of 17 city schools set for closure after the 2027-2028 school year, despite being one of the few public schools in the area.

“We’re just here to bring some life and joy to a situation that is less than ideal. Folks are disappointed,” Joanne Douglas, Spiral Q’s partnerships and programs manager, said about the school that has been operating for over 50 years. “It is a disruption to the community that they have been building for so long here at Blankenburg.”

Puppet sculptures made by the school’s fourth-grade students were the center of the parade.  They spent 11 sessions with Spiral Q — from February to May — building their puppets.

Co-director Liza Goodell said the annual march aims to elevate student voices through a visible public presence.

“Kids are not usually able to be in the streets and [they are] told to be quiet,” she said.

Spiral Q began 30 years ago by supporting people exercising their First Amendment rights through street-based performances and activism. Over time, the nonprofit expanded its mission into classrooms, partnering with teachers and students on arts-based educational projects. That work evolved into the SPARK education program, which has become a cornerstone of Spiral Q’s mission. The organization has brought SPARK programming to Blankenburg for the past 12 years.

Spiral Q teaching artists are classroom facilitators and help students develop their art.

“You can tell that [the students] want to jump in and start creating…but we always want to incorporate the social justice aspect of it,” said teaching artist Elaine Arias.

Through guided worksheets and creative exercises, teaching artists help students bring community-inspired puppets to life. These characters range from school tutors, online culinary influencers who encourage young people to use their voices and sports coaches who are passionate about advocating against gun violence in their neighborhoods.

Each grade contributes and marches in the annual parade, carrying sculptures and banners with messages saying, “We have passion. We make decisions,” and “Celebrate Children,” alongside chants like “There is no division in our vision,” and “We win, we fly, we flow up high with love for everybody.”

“The big priorities are making sure that these students are able to clarify and articulate what it is that is meaningful to them, and how they can engage in that. Helping them build an understanding of social justice issues, what are human rights, what can [they] imagine devoting [themselves] to, and how can they talk to people about that,” Hemler said.

Angelo Brown was watching his son march in the parade and said he was pleased to see Spiral Q’s programming incorporated into the Blankenburg curriculum. “It’s going to be very difficult,” said Brown. Blankenburg is literally right up the street, which is accessible to us. We needed this celebration.”

The district said it delegated closures to specific schools based on enrollment rates. Blankenburg students will be redirected to Edward Heston School, James Rhoads Elementary, Martha Washington Elementary, or Middle Years Alternative School, according to the district.

“There’s not a lot of schools in this neighborhood. It’s really unfair and disenfranchising and intentional,” Renée Roundy, an educator at Blankenburg, said. “This has been a moment for [the students] to express what they love about their community and what they value in ways that often the district doesn’t see because they’re not here at this moment.”

The William Penn Foundation funds Spiral Q’s SPARK education initiative. Goodell said the organization hopes to continue its partnership with the West Philly school next year.

“We do hope to be in Blankenburg next year. We have funding for it, and I think they want us here,” Goodell said. “We really follow the lead of the school. We don’t want to tell the kids what to advocate for, so we’ve been pretty open about that. We’ll take the school’s lead on what they want to do next year.”

Editor’s Note: The William Penn Foundation, a funder of Spiral Q, is an underwriter of WHYY.