Four Fewer Philly Schools on "Persistantly Dangerous" List

[thoth]

40% drop in Philly schools on state ‘dangerous’ list

This coincides with a story I had heard about the Mastery takeover of Gratz being coupled with a new disciplinary program where troublemakers get sent to a seperate floor of the school and follow a much stricter day schedule. Apparently the program worked wonders, but it's all second hand info so I wasn't sure how much credence to place in that story. I had also heard that there was some kind of change made in how "promise academies" or "renaissance schools", or whatever the hell name they're using, are able to discipline students.

Any idea what might cause the overall decline in violent incidents? Or is this state list just BS? I know NE was never even that bad of a High School, relatively speaking.

[raider.adam]

BAsed on the recent coverage of faked test scores, what are the odds the incident reports may have a possibility of being faked too?

[thoth]

I have no clue, I don't know how this list was compiled and if the state does any auditing on violence levels at PSD schools, or checks with police about incidents.

I'm particularly curious if anyone has any compelling reasons for why these results may not be fake. If not, I'd say your intuitions may be correct.

BAsed on the recent coverage of faked test scores, what are the odds the incident reports may have a possibility of being faked too?

[Hospitalitygirl]

NEHS should never have been on the list.

[OldMama]

My son student taught at NEHS and LOVED it there. They may have been on the list because they have a dynamite principal who doesn't take any BS. I bet she reports everything and good for her. Maybe the miscreants decided to go terrorize someplace else.

[Hospitalitygirl]

My son student taught at NEHS and LOVED it there. They may have been on the list because they have a dynamite principal who doesn't take any BS. I bet she reports everything and good for her. Maybe the miscreants decided to go terrorize someplace else.

One of the commenters on philly.com wrote about the anomaly that could have skewed the results against NEHS initially. Most of the larger schools that report have 1000+, and the figures are based on that level population; NEHS has well over 3000 students and the trigger point for them was the same as a school significantly smaller. I will have to find that comment since the commenter did a good job of explaining it.

[annie]

I'm particularly curious if anyone has any compelling reasons for why these results may not be fake. If not, I'd say your intuitions may be correct.

It could be that reporting is down, either because of administration treachery or because there's so many fewer adults in the buildings due to all the layoffs, especially school police.

IIRC, individual states get to determine the criteria for persistently dangerous and it's not always done in ways that make sense (see HG's comment on NEHS). For instance, because of the way California defines things, LA doesn't have a single persistently dangerous school.

[OffenseTaken]

IIRC, individual states get to determine the criteria for persistently dangerous and it's not always done in ways that make sense (see HG's comment on NEHS). For instance, because of the way California defines things, LA doesn't have a single persistently dangerous school.

Could that also explain why no school outside the SDP has ever made it to Pennsylvania's list? Or are we just that mother****in' street?

[annie]

Could that also explain why no school outside the SDP has ever made it to Pennsylvania's list? Or are we just that mother****in' street?

Yes, my understanding is that people in Pittsburgh were kind of surprised to find out that they don't have any persistently dangerous schools.

[JackStraw]

Reply to comment | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

[OldMama]

I have been in two charter middle/high schools and I was astounded at the number of people they have patrolling the halls. Meanwhile, security in the public schools has been cut to almost nothing.

[FKD19124]

Wouldn't doubt that. My wife's school in Strawberry Mansion, people have swept incidents under the rug for a long time.

BAsed on the recent coverage of faked test scores, what are the odds the incident reports may have a possibility of being faked too?

[taxgirl]

I'd like to take a more optimistic view which is that the climate in schools might be changing.

Rox High, for example, was removed from the list after the new principal made changes at the school. This year, the school has made even more strides and is expanding the curriculum (adding German!) and adding more extracurriculars: What's New at Roxborough High School? - Roxborough-Manayunk, PA Patch. The community wanted this to happen and supported it.

Maybe that's happening in other schools?

I know that our little school (Cook Wiss) has made great strides. We were never on "the list" but with parent involvement have become a great school. Schools can get better. Let's not lose sight of that.

[billy ross]

I have been in two charter middle/high schools and I was astounded at the number of people they have patrolling the halls. Meanwhile, security in the public schools has been cut to almost nothing.

It's crossed my mind that maybe instead of policemen patrolling the hallways and grounds maybe Center City District-type 'ambassadors' are what are needed. I've noticed that my kids' school uses semi-retired men to act as eyes and ears, watching over things like drop off, pickup, kids crossing driveways and even a street, and who comes and goes during the day. They have golf carts and a little van to tool around in. I imagine they're much, much cheaper than unionized policemen, and thus relatively plentiful. Maybe charters have a similar program?

[OldMama]

No the charters hire non-teaching assistants. They are young and able-bodied. We used to have them in the public schools but many have been lost to budget cuts.

I liked having a school police officer in the building. The school was not at all dangerous but I thought it was good for the kids to interact with a uniformed officer in a positive way. I never felt it made the school appear dangerous but saw it as a positive. Alas, he is gone. No money.

[raider.adam]

No the charters hire non-teaching assistants. They are young and able-bodied. We used to have them in the public schools but many have been lost to budget cuts.

I'm guessing the point to be raised is the how do charters that have a smaller budget afford them?

[annie]

I'm guessing the point to be raised is the how do charters that have a smaller budget afford them?

Well, I just saw a Mastery Donors Choose high school project requesting funding for textbooks. Not supplemental textbooks that the teacher was hoping might add to class's learning experience but the actual basic textbooks needed to teach the class Mastery assigned. So that's one cost-savings.

[raider.adam]

Well, I just saw a Mastery Donors Choose high school project requesting funding for textbooks. Not supplemental textbooks that the teacher was hoping might add to class's learning experience but the actual basic textbooks needed to teach the class Mastery assigned. So that's one cost-savings.

Spectacular.

[billy ross]

I'm a big believer in schools fund-raising from voluntary donors. Buy-in is huge.

[annie]

I'm a big believer in schools fund-raising from voluntary donors. Buy-in is huge.

Yeah who cares if the Donors Choose doesn't get fulfilled until well into the school year and they don't have textbooks until then. Buy-in!