School District of Philadelphia ready to 'ring the bell' come August 26

"Ring the bell, PHL!"

With the ringing of a few dozen bells, the start of the back-to-school season is upon us.

In two short weeks, the School District of Philadelphia will ring the school bell as classes resume.

On Tuesday, the Phillies organization helped to usher in excitement with the Phanatic running the bases with some student-athletes

For Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington, there are big goals to achieve.

"We are ready to go in the new school year. We've hired some 800 new teachers and counselors, and we are excited. We anticipate that our student attendance will go up, the four-year graduation rate will go up and the dropout rate will go down," he said.

Even after 800 new hires, the district is still hiring teachers to lead classrooms, promising that a "qualified adult" would be in each class by August 26.

In Kensington, new air conditioning units are making all the difference.

"This is one less obstacle," said Awilda Balbuena, principal of Gloria Casarez Elementary School.

READ MORE : Eagles' Jalen Hurts donates $200K for 10 schools to get air conditioning units

Gloria Casarez Elementary School is 1 of 8 schools benefitting from a $200,000 donation from Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.

"He has no idea how that one donation will change so many things," said Balbuena. "We'll have kids in school more often because attendance, when it's hot, parents won't send them to school because they know they're going to welt in here."

Across the district, there's a new approach to the English Language Arts curriculum with the same tools and strategy in every classroom. This is in an effort to streamline learning in a district with many students in transient housing situations.

"We're building a system around students where we're being one school system rather than a system of schools. I'm really excited about that," says Dr. Watlington.