Dozens, including Councilman Johnson, protest violence at Bartram High

Dozens gathered Wednesday on the steps of Bartram High - the Southwest Philadelphia school where a staffer was knocked out by a student last week - to make a plea: Help us fix this place.

"You cannot teach children in an atmosphere of fear, thinking that if you reprimand a student you might get knocked upside the head," said Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who along with the teachers' union organized the rally.

That's just what happened Nov. 6, when a student sought out veteran substitute teacher Pewu Johnson after Johnson had corrected the teenager for behaving "inappropriately" with a female student in his class.

The student slammed the 68-year-old Johnson to the floor, causing a concussion and other injuries.

No charges have been filed against the teen, a juvenile whose name has not been released. Philadelphia police are still investigating, school officials said. He has been suspended pending expulsion.

That assault was the third time a staff member had been attacked in a month. Officials, however, said violent incidents at Bartram were down since last year.

Councilman Johnson said the school needed more community involvement and said he would help coordinate it.

Students, staff, and teachers' union president Jerry Jordan said the school needed more resources, both people and supplies.

Bartram principal Abdul-Mubdi Muhammad said the school badly needed more parent involvement - it does not have a Home and School Association.

The principal's biggest challenge?

"Students who don't believe," who are bracing themselves for bad things because that's what they're used to, Muhammad said.

Bartram students are testing adults' resolve, Muhammad said. Many are needy, and some - like the student who assaulted Johnson - have needs that aren't being met, the principal said.

"We've got 900 people in this building, and some slip through the cracks," Muhammad said.

Teachers and students were emphatic. They say the school is suffering because it lacks enough adults to monitor the building and does not have adequate supplies or extracurricular activities.

"This school needs resources," said Chanelle Harley, a first-year Bartram teacher. "How can our students get the free and appropriate public education they deserve when they are scared for their safety?"

Student body president Rashiek High agreed.

"We deserve more opportunities," High said.

This week, three additional aides began working at the school, and the hours of other support staff were extended, school officials said. The extra staff, who will help monitor students, were not added as a result of the assaults, district spokesman Fernando Gallard said, but had been planned for weeks ago and paid for with money released to the school as a result of the district's canceling the teachers' contract.

In an interview, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Bartram's issues were not solely about resources.

"We're trying to provide the principal with as much support as he needs," Hite said. "If he says he needs more, he'll get more."

Turning the school into a police state will not help, he said, but rather, relationships must be built.

Hite, who has visited the school this year, said there had been progress.

"It's a completely different feel in that school," he said, "but it's going to take a while to get to where we need to be."

That was evident Wednesday, when one staffer stood behind those making speeches with a simple sign: "Don't hit teachers."

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