Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Tom Ferrick Jr. | Clear the

air on violence

Unless he acts and acts soon, the issue of violence and discipline in Philadelphia's public schools is going to be Paul Vallas' Waterloo.

The schools' CEO is running out of time - and running out of excuses on why the schools aren't safer.

The issue has come into high relief because of the recent assault on a teacher at Germantown High School, whose neck was broken by two students miffed because he confiscated one of their iPods.

It turns out the teacher was a good guy, popular with students, dedicated to public education. From his hospital bed, he even expressed concern and compassion for his assailants.

You know things are bad when they beat up Mr. Chips.

In the aftermath of that incident, the district was forced to release a 2005 study by Ellen Green-Ceisler, former director of the police Integrity and Accountability Office, that lays out just how bad things are.

Green-Ceisler's report is nuanced, smart and well-documented. She certainly doesn't underestimate the tough job the district has in educating students, many of whom live lives that are - to quote the report - "marked by chaos and instability, poverty, neglect, violence, crime and fear, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, teenage pregnancies, and drug and alcohol abuse." But that is not an excuse for poor handling of discipline. The district has rules of conduct. It has penalties for violating them. As Green-Ceisler's report shows, it simply does not enforce them.

As revealed in an appendix to the report, only 19 out of 100 Level II discipline cases result in a student being transferred from his or her school.

Level II are the most serious offenses, involving such things as assaults, theft, drugs, bullying and harassment.

In many cases, the code calls for students to be transferred, preferably to a disciplinary school, but at least away from the site where they are causing trouble.

Why is it that in 81 percent of the Level II cases the offending students are not removed? Green-Ceisler told me that trying to get a straight answer from the district was "like trying to grab smoke."

After reading her report, though, I came to the conclusion that most of the blame lies with the district's central bureaucracy for not providing clear policies and procedures. You can also add poor record-keeping, a maze-like hearing process, and a lack of focus on the problem.

In short, cases get lost in the smoke.

As a result, teachers and principals have lost faith in the system. As Green-Ceisler wrote: "I encountered widespread frustration and cynicism about the disciplinary process and a general consensus that the disciplinary system is failing on many levels."

You can see why the district administration sat on Green-Ceisler's report. It's a classic bureaucratic response to news the bureaucrats do not want to hear about a problem they do not want to acknowledge.

In her original draft, by the way, Green-Ceisler included exact data on the district's miserable record of handling Level II cases.

She was asked to remove it by the district. She did. Later, the district, in explaining why it had suppressed the report for more than a year, said the report was "vague" and lacked supporting data.

In other words, administrators criticized her for not including data they asked her remove in the first place.

The smoke machine in action.

Green-Ceisler had no magic-wand solution to the district's discipline problems, but she did forcefully suggest that Vallas name a cabinet-level officer to coordinate and oversee all discipline matters.

At first, Vallas was cool to the idea.    As he told my colleague, Susan Snyder, "The bottom line is this: There are two things that you need, and it goes beyond coordination. You need to be able to expedite the process, and you need to be able to expel students permanently."

He's partly right. The rules governing expulsions are drawn up by the state, not the city. They need to be changed, but the state Education Department (another smoke machine) has been reluctant to act.

But it is up to Vallas - not the state or anyone else - to make sure hearings are expedited and the district's discipline efforts are coordinated and effective.

Paul Vallas is a bright guy, and he's done a lot of good things since he arrived on the scene in 2002. But the book against him is that he's too PR-oriented and not a good administrator.

Hence, the emergence of a surprise, gaping hole in the district's budget. Hence, a lot of talk about discipline, but not enough in the way of tangible results.

It won't do. It is time to turn off the smoke machine and get serious about discipline.

Tom Ferrick Jr. |

You can read a copy of the report at: http://

go.philly.com/

disciplinereport

EndText