Starting next weekend, the doors to Philadelphia's public schools will remain locked and that means hundreds of kids will be locked out of recreation league activities.
The kids were running through their basketball drills at the Fox Chase School today.
Next weekend, they'll be locked out of the gym.
The school district needs to whittle away a $61-million budget deficit.
It expects to save close to $3-million by curtailing the use of its buildings.
They'll be closed on weekends and will close an hour earlier on weeknights.
That means kids and their leagues will be out in the cold.
"We have 300 plus kids in our organization and this is citywide so this is going to affect hundreds, if not thousands, of kids that their basketball season is going to end effective next weekend," Joe Grant of the Fox Rok Athletic Association.
The Fox Rok Athletic Association has been using the school gym free of charge for the past 50 years.
Generations have honed their basketball skills here.
"I love basketball. It's my favorite sports. It's really fun to play," Paulina Storck of Fox Chase said.
But the fun may be over.
The kids are right in the middle of their season.
"Most of these kids, the parents paid to play basketball, the seasons are halfway done, and for them to turn around and say 'season's done' just doesn't make a lot of sense," Grant said.
They are the latest to feel the pain of the district's austerity measures.
Thousands of employees have been laid off since September, including 91 school cops just this past Friday.
The district says if the leagues pay to cover the costs, the doors will stay open. Otherwise, it's lights out.
