Numbers tell the story as to how rough the school year started out for students and teachers this year in Philadelphia. In the first two months of schools there were:
460 cases of assaults on staff
468 incidences of students ganging up on other students
A total of 1048 serious incidences all together
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20081229_Editorial__Education_Interrupted.html
Despite these unbelievable and unacceptable numbers the Pennsylvania State Department of Education ignored all reports of out of control violence at Philly schools. When State Auditor Jack Wagner blasted the state for failure to monitor school safety and called for proactive engagement to ensure students’ safety, the state criticized Mr. Wagner.
“Department of Education Officials disagreed with nearly of Wagner’s’ six findings and his 25 recommendations saying the auditor general overlooked improvements, that they chose to funnel resources to classrooms rather than bureaucracy, and their oversight is accurate.”
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/20081203_State_auditor_blasts_failure_to_monitor_school_safety.html
Fortunately for Philadelphia Dr. Ackerman our CEO has stepped up. She will see that students who are violent are expelled.
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20081218_School_district_resumes_formally_expelling_students.html
While we don’t know exactly what actions would result in an expulsion this is at least a step in the right direction. Timeliness has to be considered. A student at my school hacked into the school computer network, took down a teacher’s power point presentation, and replaced it with porn. This happened over a month ago. The student came back from suspension and while still awaiting expulsion, was reportedly involved in a fight. The student was back in school today. Students have not yet gotten the message that discipline is real and serious.
Are we moving in the right direction? Maybe. The goal is not to kick kids into the street. The goal has to be to engage every student in a meaningful education. It’s just the student I described above can’t be in a regular classroom right now. The student is bright and the parents are involved. We may not be able to save everyone, but in the past we’ve sacrificed many willing and able students. Dr. Ackerman will change that and hopefully with alacrity. In the meantime, we keep trying.
