Unity is the theme for Childs-Barratt pupils

It wasn't that long ago that parents and teachers of G.W. Childs Elementary School in South Philly protested plans to move their students to the Barratt Middle School a few blocks away.

But during an open house yesterday at the newly-combined Childs-Barratt, at 16th and Wharton streets, attendees were singing a different tune.

A revamped security plan, an updated facility and promises from school and district officials to foster collaboration between the two student bodies, helped appease a lot of people, said a Childs teacher after the event.

"In the beginning we were apprehensive, but now that we're here and we see everything they've done, I think we're going to try to be positive and try to have a good outlook on the new school year," said Erica Blaker, who teaches third and fourth grades.

About 100 parents, teachers and students, joined by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, toured the renovated space with its fresh floors and paint, new lighting, several interactive whiteboards and wireless Internet.

In May, Childs parents told the Daily News stories about their children being bullied and attacked by Barratt pupils. Parents were outraged by the district's plan to merge the two and demanded that a new school be built.

Initially, district officials were against keeping the two student bodies - which will continue to wear their respective uniforms - apart. The plan calls for separate entrances and staggered start and dismissal times. Now, unity is key, said Ackerman.

"People often don't get along with each other because they fear each other, they fear each other because they don't know each other, they don't know each other because they cannot communicate, and they can't communicate when they're separate," she said, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. during her remarks.

Childs' newly-minted principal, Daniel Peou, and Barratt principal, Roy McKinney, agreed and said they look forward to making a fresh start. "It seems we have the same concerns for our students," Peou said of him and his colleague. "He has the ability to speak to my children as I do to his. It's going to be one school with two administrations."

Roughly 90 Barratt eighth-graders will remain in their school come September and attend classes on the fourth floor, while just over 600 Childs students will populate the rest of the building. District officials said Childs has extensive roof damage too expensive to repair. Plans call for selling the building.