Small Philadelphia Elementary School keeps Students Safe

In order for children to want to learn and get good grades, they need to feel safe and to feel encouraged, and know that they matter.

The Jubilee Elementary School in Philadelphia (4211 Chester Ave, Philadelphia PA 19104) focuses on these views.

Karen Falcon, Co-Director/Founder of Jubilee held that exact position when she launched Jubilee October 1977.

Starting a school was not her initial intention.

“I moved to Philadelphia and hoped to find a teaching job,” said Falcon.

Even though she was unable to find one, she got to know many of the children who lived near her in West Philadelphia.

“I started a reading program in my neighborhood,” said Falcon. “Children were coming to my house after school to read and to write in their journals. I had so many children that I had to break it up into two groups. I had the older students teaching younger students. The enthusiasm for learning was so apparent. Meanwhile, our local public school was not meeting children’s needs.”

And that was how it started.

It was initially a preschool kindergarten class.

“I started with 10 students in the back of a storefront Church,” said Falcon. “I was so impressed with all the learning that took place.”

She soon added grades.

“When my daughter turned 6, I didn’t want to send her to the public school, so I added first grade, then second, all the way up to sixth,” said Falcon.

In the beginning, it was just African Americans (who enrolled). Now, we’re more diverse.” The first White student was Falcon’s daughter.

“We’re a close-knit community and their voices are heard,” Falcon said. “We pay very close attention to their ideas. - we respect their ideas. They know that they have a voice in everything.”

Jubilee’s way of teaching the students differs from a traditional standard method.

According to Falcon, students write their own text books; they learn about foundational Americans, people who might be overlooked in public school, such as W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963), one of the NAACP founders. They also study The Harlem Renaissance.

“Here, they learn who they are, what they’re good at; they learn how to learn, and how to discover things they don’t know,” said Falcon.

For the most part, Jubilee graduates go to private and charter schools.

“Many of our students go to Science Leadership Academy, which is a charter school,” said Falcon. “They have a similar approach to learning that we have.”

One of her biggest allies is her husband Larry, who describes himself as a Jubilee gofer.

“I do what needs to be done,” said Larry Falcon, who is also a pastor.

Like Karen, he sees the importance in reading and getting an education.

Larry moved to Philadelphia from Louisiana in 1970, and he unexpectedly started working with city children.

“It happened one day when they broke my windshield while playing ball,” he remembered.

“I confronted them, so they asked where else could they play ball, so I worked something out with them.” At the time, he was studying at a nearby seminary. He made it possible for those kids to use the gym. In return, he taught them the Bible.

Soon Larry’s Bible program was Christened, “The Jesus Club.”

Both Larry and Karen Falcon see a need for Jubilee to continue to flourish because they believe that public schools have not improved much over the years.

To learn more about the Jubilee School, log onto

https://www.jubileeschool.net/