In  1956,  when  I  was  3  years  of  age,    my  parents  moved  their  growing  family  from   Germantown   to  a  house  on  Wakeling  Street,  across  the  street  from  Frankford  Stadium  in  the  Northwood  section  of  Frankford.

Because of that move,   the Stadium always figured significantly   in our lives.     We  used  to  love  Frankford  High  School  football   game  days  in  the  Fall,  because  then  we  would  get  to  hear  the  band   parading  down  Wakeling  Street   back  to  the  high  school  after  victories.    Then  we  would  watch    the  track  and  field  events  at  the  Stadium  in  the  Spring.

But,  the  Stadium   was  also  a  place   where  we  got  into  trouble.    In  1960,  I   was  a  meek  kid  at  7  years  of   age,  and  at  that  time  the  youngest  in  our  crowd.   One  day,  while  grounds  keepers  worked  at  the  far  end  of  the  Stadium,  near  the  Dyre  Street  gates,     the  older  kids   decided   that  we  should  try  to  sneak  around   the   inside  the  Stadium,  to  see  if  we  could   do  so  undetected.     I was reluctant,   but   went along.  There  were  several  ways  into  the  Stadium  when  it  was  locked.    On  that  day   we  used  the  most  dangerous  –  over  the  top  of  the  front  gates,  with  its  pointed  iron  pikes.

We  crept  behind  the  walls  at  the  front  of  the  bleachers  in  the  direction  of  the  grounds  keepers,    and    into  the  giant   hedges  behind  the  Dyre  Street  side gates.  I  felt  very  guilty   about  sneaking  around  behind  adults  backs  like  that.   One of our little group whispered, “Here come the men!  Duck down!”    But I was frozen with fear.   The grounds keepers saw us.  The one in charge said, “CALL POLICE!”   I burst out crying.    When  they  heard  that  reaction  they  relented,  opened  the  gates,  and  told  us  to   never  do  that  again.     The  other  kids  were   glad  that  my  crying  had  “tugged  on  their  heartstrings”    and  moved  the  grounds  keepers  to  let  us  go.

A  few  years  later,   as   little  boys  sometimes  do,  I  discovered  fire,    and  I  became  “the  kid  who  played  with  matches.”  Mrs.  Hughes,  in  the  stone  building  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Wakeling  and  Rutland,    would  see  me  hiding  in  the  nook  between  the  pine  tree  and  bushes  and  the  Stadium  building  on  the  corner,  building  little  fires  there,    and  warned  me  to  stop  or  I  might  accidentally  set  the  tree  on  fire.   A  few  weeks  later,    one  of   my  fires   went  out  of  control,    and  first  the  bushes,  and  then  the   tree,  caught  fire.     I was horrified.     I  ran  home  and  saw   police   and  fire  trucks   arrive  and  put  out  the  fire.      I watched Mrs.  Hughes   talking  to  police,     and  I   became  sick  with  fear,    and  waited  upstairs  in  our  bedroom  with  a  terrible  bellyache  for  the  knock  at  the  door,  which  never  came.     Mrs.  Hughes,  bless  her  heart,  lied  to  police,    blaming   the  fire  on   “a  white  kid”  she  had  “never  seen  before.”  She said, “Peter, I lied for you.    You have one more chance.   Never do it again.”       I  promised,  and,  shocked  at  the  consequences  of  my  own   bad  behavior,  I  kept  my  promise.

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Mr. Creighton won the buffalo wing eating contest

On December 22, 2011, the Frankford High School Senior Committee hosted a fundraiser at the Buffalo Wild Wings located on the BLVD. It raised around $1000!   The fundraiser was for the senior class of 2012. The money will be used for various senior activities.  The fundraiser was open to the public.  There was a huge turn out from the Frankford high school students, staff, and faculty. Over 50 people from Frankford attended.

Frankford Pioneer Battalion
1LT Lee Nguyen
S-5 Public Affairs Officer

Check out this flyer for more details on how to mentor at Frankford High!

Mentor_Brouchure

Since we have had some discussion about Frankford High recently, I’m posting this link to “The Notebook” article on Rightsizing Philadelphia High Schools.  This paragraph is the most relevant to Frankford.

Frankford High is another example of a big high school (1,800) that is at or over ideal capacity (99 percent compared to the ideal of 85 percent) and in bad physical condition (66 percent FCI). The surrounding community is among the fastest-growing in the city, but almost 63 percent of the families opt out of Frankford to attend another high school. One of Frankford’s feeder schools (Smedley Elementary) is already a Renaissance charter, and two more (Edmunds Elementary and Harding Middle) are on the Renaissance alert list. District officials have hinted on multiple occasions that they may be trying to steer new charter growth to this part of the city. As part of a larger strategy to ease the pressure at Frankford, could there be a new high school charter option, perhaps as part of the Renaissance process, for the lower Northeast?

Here at the Frankford Gazette, we applaud all those who choose to teach! Dedicated teachers are inspiring dreams and shaping the future! We would like to especially congratulate Mr. Linwood Stevens, a Math Teacher at Frankford High School, who was one of the recipients of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

The Lindbacks wanted to promote teaching excellence so they established a foundation which awards distinguished teachers in our area. Mr. Stevens received his award on May 10, 2011. Perhaps some of our readers are familiar with Mr. Stevens. We would love to hear from you!