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Legislators to seek funding for Philly school-safety post

Since Philadelphia lost its school violence watchdog 18 months ago, anyone who called in a complaint has spoken to someone in Cumberland County.

Since Philadelphia lost its school violence watchdog 18 months ago, anyone who called in a complaint has spoken to someone in Cumberland County.

That's unacceptable, a state representative said Monday, adding that he will introduce legislation to restore and fully fund an Office of Safe Schools Advocate within the Philadelphia School District.

With the office two hours away, parents and children are unable to easily meet with an advocate, the lawmaker said.

Someone is needed to meet with them in Philadelphia, accompany them to court to face their attackers, and visit city schools, said Rep. John Taylor (R., Phila.), who, along with Rep. Bill Keller (D., Phila.), plans to introduce a bill next month.

"This advocate should be right here in this district, right here in Philadelphia, where anyone can come in," Taylor told reporters at a news conference Monday.

In addition to fully funding the office, Taylor and Keller's legislation would assign the office to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to make it more independent. The position formerly reported to the state Department of Education.

Taylor and Keller were coauthors of the 2000 law establishing the Safe Schools Advocate office, hailed at the time as the first of its kind in the nation. But the office was closed in August 2009 - over problems in funding, officials said then, though Taylor and others have said the closure was political.

Jack Stollsteimer, the advocate in 2009, had a contentious relationship with the Department of Education. Its officials said he spent too much time prosecuting the district and not enough time on victim support.

Stollsteimer said officials were out to get him because he was critical of the district and the state. The state denounced his report, refused to release it, and put out its own version, which reached essentially the same conclusions.

The announcement came as The Inquirer is publishing a seven-part series on school violence. The investigation has found widespread violence that stifles learning; pressure to underreport incidents; and failure to spread effective violence-prevention programs.

Taylor said he and Keller have been working to reopen the office since it was closed. Jack Wagner, Pennsylvania's auditor general, has also called on the state to reopen the office.

Funding the office "is not a suggestion that we made," Taylor said. "This is in statute."

Harvey Rice was the first safe schools advocate and is now deputy city controller. Stollsteimer, a former assistant U.S. attorney, held the job after Rice. He is now an attorney for the Pennsylvania Treasurer's Office.

When he held the job, Rice said, he was often in court with victims. He visited schools to talk to students, teachers, and principals. He said reporting was more honest.

With a safe-schools advocate, "it was more difficult to not report or report inappropriately," said Rice, who attended the news conference.

Rice said he dealt with about 800 complaints a year. These were from people who had often gone through district channels unsuccessfully. Violence against them was unreported, miscategorized, or ignored, he said.

Though the fiscal situation in Harrisburg is grim, Taylor said, the legislation would ultimately save money by preventing crime and lawsuits. He plans to seek $1 million per year, but the office could operate on $300,000.

"This is not about metal detectors," Taylor said. "This is about the attitudes of those who enforce the rules."

The Inquirer's series, Taylor said, shows that many of the reasons he created the office initially - pressure to underreport violence, victims with nowhere to turn for help - are still issues.

"The Inquirer's articles suggest to us that a lot of issues have crept back in," Taylor said. "That perpetuates an attitude that you can get away with anything."

In a statement, spokesman Fernando Gallard said the School District supported the legislation. When the job was cut by the state, the district said it supported the position but could not fund it.

"We must leverage every local, state, and federal resource available to deal with the issue of violence in our society," Gallard said. "Our primary goal is to make each and every one of our schools a safe place to learn."