PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Chris Freind
In the real world, scoring 34% on a test would be a colossal failure. But for the school district of Philadelphia, that score is viewed as passing with flying colors. They must be using the "new math".
Case in point: In the 2006-07 school year, 998 students were in violation of federal and state law when they brought weapons to school. Even though the law (Act 26, the "Safe Schools Act) specifically states that such offenses mandate expulsion for at least one year, not one student was expelled. There were no expulsion hearings, nor were there any motions for hearings. The School District's Chief Administrating Officer has discretion not to expel, on a case-by-case basis, but cannot, under law, use that exception to violate the rule.
Since not one student was expelled, then 998 exceptions were granted. Which means the School District is deliberately ignoring the law, choosing instead to impose its own rules on how to deal with student offenders. Last time I checked, that decision is a criminal act in itself. And to think these people are responsible for educating and protecting our students.
So what happened to the 998? Well, they were supposed to have been sent to alternative education schools, which are higher-security facilities designed to deal with problem students. Which brings us back to the 34% number. Only 34% were sent to these alternative schools, meaning that a staggering 66% were not. The district saw fit to leave them right where they were---in our public schools, free to continue terrorizing students, teachers and administrators alike.
Even worse, the District has also chosen to violate its own set of rules, the Student Code of Conduct. This code calls for the expulsion or transfer to alternative education placement any student in grades 5-12 who commits a Level II offense, which are serious crimes such as aggravated assault, robbery, sex crimes, and weapons violations. Of the 5,207 Level II offenses in 2006-07, only 29% were transferred, and none were expelled.
None. And only 64% of these cases were reported to the Philadelphia Police Department, as required by the District's 2002 Memorandum of Understanding with the police.
Think that year was an anomaly? In the preceding two years, the numbers were just as bad: 30% in 2005-06, and 26% the year before.
In a civilized society, the guilty must be punished and victims protected, but that ideal has been turned on its head in Philadelphia. And every time a violator is let off the hook, by definition, no rehabilitation takes place. Students aren't stupid. Since 71% of the time, no punishment is handed down, they are emboldened to continue their disruptive and violent behavior. So much for fostering a safe atmosphere in our schools.
Such malfeasance on the part of the School District highlights one more very significant point. The District's violation of federal and state law could lead to the loss of hundreds of millions in federal funding for the district.
How ironic. All we hear about is the need to throw more money into the public school system, yet the system's own policies are jeopardizing millions. Go figure.
But it's not just the School District that is incompetent. The Pennsylvania Legislature is just as guilty. The state controls the school district, and as such, has discretionary power over how to rectify this situation. So why has nothing happened, even though the violence crisis continues to explode in city schools?
For that answer, I turned to the Office of Safe Schools, the entity created by the legislature in 1995 to be placed inside the Department of Education. This is the office where school districts are required to report crime data each year. No one answered, and for good reason.
There is no Office of Safe Schools.
It has never been established. Granted, our state government has never been known as "efficient", but it's been thirteen years. The best part of this debacle is that the legislature granted additional powers to the Office in 1999. How's that storyline? Our elected officials increased the responsibilities of an office that has never existed, and gave it the power to dispense grant money. Hollywood could not have scripted this any better.
Despite the mind boggling bureaucracy and sheer incompetence that is the Philadelphia School District, there is one bright spot. His name is Jack Stollsteimer, the Safe Schools Advocate for the District. He is the one man with the courage to tell the truth about the horrendous state of safety within our schools, and just did so in his scathing annual report. Despite getting viciously and personally attacked by the Department of Education because he told the real story of Philadelphia's schools---a big no-no in bureaucratic circles---, it is abundantly clear that Stollsteimer's actions have finally put this issue where it belongs. On the front page.
It's about time.
