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Wanted: Nice Neighborhood Flush With Strollers

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The liberti church is a young Christian worship network with sites around the city. Most are united not only by a belief in Christ, but also by certain ancient creeds (the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed) and historic confessions (the Heidelberg Catechism, for instance, which is not related to Breaking Bad).

Each outpost engages with its neighborhood in its own way, but all branches seem to share the purpose affirmed by liberti Center City and liberti Main Line: "to live, speak, and serve as the very presence of Christ for the neighborhoods."

Now some liberti folks are on the hunt for a spot for the Philadelphia Classical School, slated to have its first class in 2013. But which neighborhood? The tuition will be just under $12,000 a year for kids between kindergarten and second grade—a bargain compared to other private schools in the region but extremely pricey for the average Joe. The school will offer financial aid but the amount of that aid depends on the funding they get. So realistically, they'd want to open in a neighborhood where:

1. There's a large population of parents with young children
2. Residents aren't desperately poor
3. The neighborhood public schools are terrible (i.e., not in a great catchment)

That would be perfect, right? They've pitched the school to the following communities at a series of information sessions: Fairmount (the session was at 22nd and Mt. Vernon), South Philly (12th and Carpenter), Fishtown/NoLibs (2424 E. York) and Center City (123 S. 17th St.). Each of those communities have liberti sites.

It'll be interesting to see where the Classical School ends up, and even more tantalizingly (real estate junkie rubs hands, starts sweating, breathing heavily), whether they buy, rent, lease or build. We'll keep you posted.

· Philadelphia Classical School
· A New School Coming to Philly [PhiladelphiaSpeaks]