Billionaire Philanthropist to AASA: Superintendents Should Tap Their Grads for Big Support, February 15, 2018
“The CEO and co-founder of the Blackstone Group, a global private equity firm with $434 billion in assets, told school system leaders they ought to solicit the successful graduates of their public schools for the same kind of financial support that has flowed regularly to colleges.” Stephen A. Schwarzman, Class of 1965 alumnus of the Abington Senior High School of the Abington School District, announced his landmark gift of $25 million to fund the Abington Senior High School’s additions and renovations project. Mr. Schwarzman “recognizes that public schools are chronically underfunded, so he used the occasion at AASA’s general session to urge superintendents everywhere to seek donations from the private sector and, in particular, from their district’s most successful graduates, whom he indicated could be found among ‘athletes, entertainers and movie stars’.”
This project is the first full-scale renovation and significant expansion of their 1950s-era high school in more than half a century. It involves moving the ninth-grade classes into the building, and implementing a reimagined curriculum that will prepare their 8,000-plus students in the District for college and careers in today’s fast-moving and continually evolving economy.
Gilbert Architects is proud to be a part of this incredible journey for the reimagined Abington Senior High School!