Inquirer Editorial: New approach needed to reduce school violence

Being afraid to go to school isn't new. Bullies who prey on weaker students have existed about as long as there have been classrooms.

But the violence that today's students fear, particularly in urban schools such as Philadelphia's, far exceeds the bullying their parents may have endured.

Too often, students, as well as their teachers, are at risk of serious physical harm. There's no way to call that type of situation a learning environment, unless the learning is in how to be afraid.

Having catalogued more than 30,000 serious incidents over five years, the Philadelphia School District must now retool its approach to school violence.

Toward that end, interim Schools Superintendent Leroy Nunery II should move quickly to implement more of the recommendations made by a blue-ribbon task force after a number of racially violent incidents last year at South Philadelphia High School.

The report, which has yet to be formally released, largely corroborates what The Inquirer reported in a seven-part series. The articles concluded school violence was widespread and underreported in the city, with reporting standards varying from school to school. Some cases in which students had been gravely injured were labeled as merely being "fights" or "disorderly conduct."

Under new guidelines, reports to the city Police Department will be filed by school police officers, and not by principals, who had been given too much discretion in when to notify the police.

That change should reduce attempts by administrators to under-report crimes so schools can appear safer than they are. It's an appropriate step to ensure accountability and restore public confidence in the accuracy of violence statistics.

With the beginning of a new school year, other changes are also needed. At the top of the list should be hiring a new safe-schools advocate to accurately monitor the violence. The position has been vacant since 2009, when the state said it didn't have enough money to fund it. But the toll violence takes on Philadelphia schools is much more costly.

Another good recommendation in the report is to establish support groups and more counseling for violence victims and offenders. It will be challenging to implement sweeping changes after laying off 190 school police officers to close a budget deficit, but the alternative is unacceptable.