By Mike DeNardo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – An influential Philadelphia church has been holding its own community meetings, to gather input on the plan to close 37 Philadelphia public schools.

Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cedarbrook has wrapped up a series of meetings at many of the 37 schools on the school district’s closure list.

“We were not fact-finding for them. We were fact-finding for ourselves independent of them.”

Pastor Alyn Waller says the church was not compensated by the district. He says Enon has always been involved in education and it’s giving the district a report on its findings.

“Everything that I’m getting seems to suggest there are still more things that we need to talk about.”

Rev. Waller says safety is among the concerns. “We know that Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods with very strong characteristics that include turf.”

Waller says he believes “rightsizing” the district is necessary, but he wonders if it’s happening in the best way.