Shame SHAME on Ackerman!

[BobGS]

Point 1: There has now been filed, or will soon be filed, a Federal Complaint that the asian children victims' Rights have been denied them under the 14th Ammendment of Equal Protection. The schood district, ipso facto, has NOT provided a safe enviroment for protecting the Asian students (or any others, as well!).
Point 2: The actions that raised this legal action were a series of HATE Crimes (see any definition) committed purpously and deliberately against a particular racial group- asian youth (who have a documented history of these abuses), weather they spoke english or not- and what has the response of Law Enforcement been as yet???? NOTHING!!!
I am very concerned that Ackerman and the Philadelphia Human Rights Commission (who met today in an effort to "avoid litigation") may obscure and deflect these points and try to gloss over flagrant breaches of Law and Rights.
Keep focused.

[Glenn Quagmire]

After reading this story you realize the old double standard is alive and well

Rights group demands probe into student beating | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/14/2009

[phillycat]

Not seeing the double standard. It seems all racial groups are equally capable of filing litigation, but not of proposing any responsible solutions.

[Glenn Quagmire]

Protesters want outside probe of incident at Frankford High | Philadelphia Daily News | 12/15/2009

My point was that Al Sharpton's group could find Frankford High, but not South Philly High

[phillycat]

Did you want Al Sharpton at South Philly High? would that help the situation in some way?

[Cya]

The principal at SP High is new this year. I didn't know that.
Who hired her? And did they do a background check on her? If they did, why was she hired? If she was booted out of Atlantic City's school district, what made anyone think she would be successful in one of Philadelphia's most dangerous schools?

Unreal.

South Phila. High principal left A.C. post under pressure | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/15/2009

During nearly a decade in Atlantic City, a tenure that included running the city's major high school, Brown became involved in numerous disputes with parents, teachers, and staff. Her time there ended in 2008, when she resigned ahead of a school board vote on her dismissal.
Marcia Genova, president of the Atlantic City Education Association, the teachers' union, said yesterday that she was surprised Brown had been hired in Philadelphia because "we had so many problems with her here."
"She just did not know how to treat people," Genova said. "It was constant. I was constantly at the high school. I constantly filed grievances."

Brown was hired in October 1999 as the first female principal in the history of Atlantic City High School. She arrived amid great expectations and pledged to create "a blue-ribbon school."

But three years later, Superintendent Fredrick Nickles recommended that Brown not be rehired. The school board overruled him.

The next year, high school teachers and employees expressed "no confidence" in Brown by a vote of 168-29. The teachers' union held the April 2003 balloting in response to what it said was a "hostile work environment" created by the principal.

Two months later, Brown was transferred from Atlantic City High to a new alternative school.
In July 2007 Brown was transferred from that school, Viking Academy, to the New York Avenue Elementary School. The next month, she was suspended by school officials for unspecified charges of insubordination. In late April 2008, still under suspension, she resigned from the district, effective Dec. 31, 2008.

The Atlantic City Press documented incident after incident during Brown's tenure.

[sometimesilie]

Phillycat, if we should ignore the racial aspect of what is ongoing at SP High, than we should ignore the racial aspect when it is happening to black kids? I think that you are very much in the minority when it comes to ignoring the double standard. I don't remember people being so eager to play down the racial aspect in any of the recent cases involving discrimination against blacks. Oh wait, I do: The (mostly white) school admins and "adults" in Jena, Mississippi whose attempt to downplay racial tension by distracting and minimizing blatant examples of bigotry allowed for the creation of a seething, festering environment that resulted in the same kind of explosively charged racial atmosphere that has been ongoing at SP High. It was right for people to protest those admins and it is equally right for people to go after Arlene and LaGreta. They have not done their job to create a safe atmosphere for kids to attend school.

I would agree with you in principal that we *should* ignore the racial aspect, but in reality the current pass we've arrived at comes precisely from SP High admins and School Board Admins doing precisely that. Ackerman et al have proven by their actions that they would like nothing more than to sweep this under the rug and, like little children, they believe if they ignore the problem it will go away. This time it's not going to work.

[sometimesilie]

The principal at SP High is new this year. I didn't know that.
Who hired her? And did they do a background check on her? If they did, why was she hired? If she was booted out of Atlantic City's school district, what made anyone think she would be successful in one of Philadelphia's most dangerous schools?

Unreal.

South Phila. High principal left A.C. post under pressure | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/15/2009

I read that today. It wasn't the most well-written of articles, but illustrative of why some of the problems at SP High have gone unaddressed.

[sometimesilie]

Did you want Al Sharpton at South Philly High? would that help the situation in some way?

LOL! No.

[lankenau]

I almost think she got the job at South Philadelphia high because not many Principals would want it....

[Geno]

You could say the same thing for just about any of the neighborhood high schools in Philadelphia. None of them are vastly different from South Philadelphia HS.

[Cya]

I almost think she got the job at South Philadelphia high because not many Principals would want it....

I don't know about that. What's a HS principal make these days? Are we to believe that there were no candidates in the current teaching/admin staff who would have accepted this position? Anyone who was NOT driven out of their previous district of employment due to some pretty suprising accusations?

Nah.

She gets booted from Atlantic City and quite miraculously lands on her feet right away here in Philly.

I think her hiring should be looked at. If nothing else, I'm sure this article will be raising some eyebrows from the parents and staff at the school.
Let's hear what else people have to say about her after only 3.5 months on the job.

[drewrob23]

Can we just agree that school district failed when it came to it's responsibility to make sure that all students are safe, irregardless of ethnicity? Students shouldn't be roaming the halls between classes and obviously they're being allowed to. What are the NTA's doing? What about the teachers?

On the topic of a double standard, I don't believe that's the case. If anything it comes down to a difference in culture, imo. When black people feel slighted, they'll let you know how they feel and they will cause a ruckus until they feel the matter is resolved, no matter . If you look at the Asian-Americans in this case it seems like they're not really trying to cause a fuss. They just want their children to be safe. It would probably work out better for them if they were more forceful. They're not even really blaming the teens, even though they play a major role in what happened.

[kotter]

This is something that has not be clarified. Was the black kid actually handicapped? As someone else mentioned, there hasn't been any info on the initial attact that spawned this whole thing.

I agree- Ackerman needs to go. Nutter brought her in. He should see her to the door.

I am not sure a black kid was even attacked. I have not read any specifics on the attack. Does anyone have a link to a story on the initial attack?

According to an article I read on Philly.com, SPHS has 12 full-time cops in the school. WTF??? How many cops does it take to get that school under control?

The school district has 650 cops in the schools. 650??? That is 10% of the city cops. I would guestimate that most of the cops are dedicated to kids 6-12 which is probably only half the kids.

[kotter]

I almost think she got the job at South Philadelphia high because not many Principals would want it....

Actually my friend who is a Penn grad with a principals certificate left the Philly SD because he could not get a job as principal..

[kotter]

It seems that people would only be satisfied if Ackerman beat the offending children/thugs senseless herself.

This whole incident has really been poorly reported, but the issue for the district shouldn't be about race, it should be about safety in the schools. All the hysteria around the race issue from the s just shows exactly where the kids get it from.

Beat them? No but she could discipline them and not make excuses for CRIMINALS.

[kotter]

I those two incidents are very different. I just don't see that students' interests are served in this case by increasing the racial tensions by the s taking sides.

I'm sure back in the day the Italian kids beat the Irish ones, and vice versa. It just shouldn't be acceptable for any reason, and leave the race out of it.

Exactly why Ackerman need to go. She tried to justify the attackes and she didn't leave race out of it.

[BluegrassCat]

I am not sure a black kid was even attacked. I have not read any specifics on the attack. Does anyone have a link to a story on the initial attack?

According to an article I read on Philly.com, SPHS has 12 full-time cops in the school. WTF??? How many cops does it take to get that school under control?

The school district has 650 cops in the schools. 650??? That is 10% of the city cops. I would guestimate that most of the cops are dedicated to kids 6-12 which is probably only half the kids.

OK, I'll be the first to say it. I think Ackerman is lying when it comes to this incident of asians beating on a disable African American boy, and here is why.

Just today, the daily news ran a story on a high school girls menstruation cycle and how how it affects her ability to wear a school uniform. You can read it here:
School not treating mom uniformly? | Philadelphia Daily News | 12/15/2009

And a second story from today about a Frankford High junior that appears to have been beaten by school police. You can read that story here:
Protesters want outside probe of incident at Frankford High | Philadelphia Daily News | 12/15/2009

But no story about a gang of asian thugs preying on a disabled african american boy!?!?!?! Considering the history of the daily news sensationalizing stories this all seems very suspicious to me.

[phillycat]

Exactly why Ackerman need to go. She tried to justify the attackes and she didn't leave race out of it.

That's the point, I don't think that she did. I think she just mentioned in passing that there had been other racial incidents that went the other way in order to make a larger point that the important thing is to restore safety and send the message that intolerance of any kind is unacceptable. It might have been a poor choice of words, but it was reported totally out of context in order to fan the flames of the racial angle. An awful lot of people seem to think she is on the "side" of the offending students. Her remarks don't really seem to justify this so I can only assume it is for some other reason.

If someone else was there and heard her say something else, I would be interested to hear it.

I really don't get all this concern for some "double standard." If black kids were being beaten by white kids, or Asian kids, it would be a concern, just as much as if it goes the other way. The problem isn't race, it is violence and intolerance. That's where the focus should be.

[kotter]

I really don't get all this concern for some "double standard." If black kids were being beaten by white kids, or Asian kids, it would be a concern, just as much as if it goes the other way. The problem isn't race, it is and intolerance. That's where the focus should be.

Sounds good but it isn't true. The asians have been complaining about this situation for months. The school district is so concerned they did nothing.


It is funny when some people say it isn't about race even though statistically the problems are about race. Do you think it is a coincidence that the 25 most dangerous schools in the state are ALL in Philly?