News in brief
District toughens policies on assaults by students
Germantown middle school faces closure this year
SRC charter decision: 13 out of 13 renewed
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News in brief
District toughens policies on assaults by students
Students who assault or threaten school staff face an automatic 10-day suspension, along with possible expulsion and criminal charges.
That new mandate came out of a March meeting between School District Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas, union representatives, and Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson.
The District will no longer leave filing police reports on assaults by students aged 10 and older to the discretion of the principal; police will be called in all such cases. Cases involving students under the age of 10 will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
In the wake of recent reports of assaults against teachers, the judgment calls of principals have come into question.
“Teachers were alleging that principals were not calling the police even when the teacher wanted them to,” said Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the District. “Now, no matter what, the police will be called, and they will ask whether the victim wants to press charges.”
Some disapprove of the policy change.
“I’m skeptical about a policy that gives teachers total discretion over whether the police are called,” said Len Rieser, co-director of the Education Law Center, a Philadelphia-based advocacy group for parents and students. “The principal should be a part of this decision.”
Sheila Simmons, with the child advocacy group Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, questioned the new approach toward arrests, saying, “We recognize that some situations are serious and require the police, but there is a place where common sense comes into play. The District already depends too heavily on punitive measures.”
Vallas said that it was better for the District to “err on the side of overreacting” and let the hearing process sort it out.
In addition to the arrest policy, the District has also created a new hotline for staff who want to report assaults. The hotline number is 215-400-STOP (7867).
Other new measures include:
- Training in prevention and diciplinary processes at the District’s nine most dangerous schools.
- Placement of a “Distinguished Educator” in those nine schools to support teaching staff.
- Assessment of the District’s alternative schools and their student academic and behavioral performance.
Germantown middle school faces closure this year
A leaking roof and other costly repairs, as well as declining enrollment, could lead to the closing of the Ada H. Lewis Middle School in East Germantown. But parents who want to keep the school open promise to put up a fight.
District CEO Paul Vallas said the school “definitely” needs to be shut down after this school year. When this year’s eighth-grade students graduate in June, the 220-student body will be down to 70 students.
“It will cost $27 million to renovate it, it’s got multiple cracks in the foundation, those walls are going to come down eventually,” Vallas said of Lewis, adding that utility bills are high.
The School District’s five-year plan projects closing 22 schools to save money. Those schools have not been named publicly.
Home and School President Arenda Bethel, whose son is a seventh-grader at Lewis, acknowledges the building does need work. Even so, she and other parents want to find a way to keep Lewis open or, at the very least keep the last 70 students together at another school for eighth grade. Parents argue that they did not get enough notice about the hearings on the closings and that nothing was sent home telling them that the school faced possible closure.
A District spokesman said the District followed proper meeting notification procedures. Vallas said the District would work with parents to find proper placements for the students at other schools.
Parents are concerned about their children being sent to Roosevelt Middle School because of a student rivalry, Bethel said.
SRC charter decision:13 out of 13 renewed
The School Reform Commission at its April meeting approved five-year renewals for 13 existing charter schools, including two cited for declining academic performance and consistent failure to meet federal performance targets.
Nine of the renewals were contingent upon the schools submitting additional evidence of compliance with standards before April 30, but all nine had provided their submissions by the deadline, according to a District spokesperson.
Hope Charter School, a high school in West Oak Lane, was one of the two charters cited for academic declines. The other was the Philadelphia Electrical and Technology Charter School in Center City.
Hope Principal Gail Hawkins-Bush said she was “delighted” about the conditional approval. “I know we have not yet made AYP, but hopefully we will next year,” she said. “But our kids are coming to school, and that is part of the battle.”
The charter renewals included five schools where the SRC noted that there were “substantial compliance issues” in their annual reports. At six of the 13 schools, less than 75 percent of the professional staff has state certification – a requirement of state law.
Other charters receiving renewals are Alliance, Belmont, Family, First Philadelphia, IMHOTEP, Laboratory, Multi-Cultural Academy, Preparatory, West Oak Lane, and Wissahickon Charter.
Approximately 30,000 students are enrolled in the city’s 56 charter schools. Last year, six new charters were approved, but their openings were deferred. In September, four of the schools – Southwest Leadership Academy, Truebright Science Academy, Southwest Philadelphia Academy for Boys, and Planet Abacus – are expected to begin classes for about 900 students in total. The two other approved schools are scheduled to open in 2008, according to District officials.
This year’s crop of 19 new charter applicants was being reviewed by the School Reform Commission in May.
-News briefs by Toni Callas