Edison says it was not liable for school safety

Although it is paid to run multiple Philadelphia schools, Edison Schools Inc. is not ultimately responsible for the safety of its pupils, a company lawyer maintained in court yesterday.

In 2004, a 12-year-old boy was raped in Stetson Middle School by an 11-year-old classmate after they argued over a ball, authorities said. The 11-year-old pleaded guilty to the assault.

The 12-year-old's family is suing Edison and the alleged attacker in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. The trial began yesterday before Judge Nitza Quinones Alejandro and is expected to last up to eight days.

The alleged assault occurred in an unmonitored fire tower during the middle of the school day. Stetson, in Kensington, is a public school that for-profit Edison managed from 2002 until the end of this school year.

The Philadelphia School District just took back control of Stetson and three of Edison's 20 original schools. Evaluating academic performance and school climate, including violent incidents, the district concluded that the schools' progress - and that of three schools run by other private managers - was insufficient.

In her opening argument, Edison attorney Mary Kohart said the company was responsible only for educational programs and training. Stetson's principal, teachers, school police and nonteaching assistants were school district employees, and the district's chief safety officer was responsible for security at the school, Kohart said.

The victim's family says Edison was responsible for problems at the school and seeks damages. The boy and his mother, whose names are being withheld due to the nature of the accusations, sat in court yesterday, weeping and leaning on each other. The family has moved out of state.

According to witness and police accounts, the assault happened about 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 16, 2004, when the 12-year-old asked his teacher for a bathroom pass. Shortly after he entered the fourth-floor boys' restroom, the 11-year-old boy came in, tried to choke the 12-year-old, and took a pink rubber ball from him.

The two then left the bathroom, descended a staircase to the basement, and then climbed up to a third-floor fire tower. The 11-year-old forced the 12-year-old to do push-ups before he raped him, according to officials.

He was told not to tell anyone or he would be killed, the 12-year-old said. But he told a teacher minutes after the attack and school officials called police.

At the time of the alleged rape, Stetson was having problems with safety and security - students were skipping class, walking halls and assaulting teachers. From the beginning of the 2004-05 school year until the day of the alleged attack - a little over two months - students assaulted teachers and other staffers 14 times.

An Edison official described Stetson as its "toughest" middle school at the time.

In October, a month before the alleged attack, an Edison administrator had met with Stetson staff and promised improvement by the end of 2004. A representative from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers had met with Edison officials to say he was worried that students or staff might get hurt.

And on Election Day, just before the alleged rape, nearly 20 staffers called in sick to protest conditions at Stetson, officials said at the time.

Immediately after the alleged attack, the school's principal was reassigned.

Robert Englert, an attorney for the 12-year-old's family, said Edison had warning that a tragedy could occur.

"The climate at Stetson was so scorching that it should have been patently obvious that someone was going to get hurt, and someone did," Englert said.

Paul Vallas, who was chief executive of the district at the time, said that school climate was part of Edison's responsibility. If Stetson officials had requested things like more security cameras to monitor the school, the district would have helped, Vallas said in a deposition.

Englert rejected the notion that Edison was removed from managing the safety of its students.

"Edison Schools and its principals were running the show," he said. "They were more than happy to come to Philadelphia and run the schools, but when something bad happens, 'That's not our fault.' "

Though Stetson personnel were school district employees, the district looked to Edison for guidance on whom to hire and when to transfer staff, Englert said.

The school district was originally named in the lawsuit, but the court agreed in pretrial motions to drop it from the suit.