School Reform Commission hears plans to curb violence in 46 Philadelphia schools

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission Wednesday heard plans to zero in on safety and discipline at 46 district schools where violence is particularly problematic, and recommendations for changes to promote racial and cultural harmony.

A disproportionate number of the district's violent incidents, expulsions, suspensions, and truant students come from what it's calling the "Focus 46" schools, officials said.

These schools share many of the same characteristics - often, they have a violent incident rate of more than five per 100 students, an average daily attendance rate of less than 90 percent, and greater than 40 percent of students who are chronically truant.

"That's where the majority of the drama is," said Tomas Hanna, an assistant superintendent. "Let's focus heat and light right there."

District officials said Wednesday night that they could not immediately release the full list of 46 schools, but said that 20 of the schools are on the state "Persistently Dangerous" list and the other 26 were either past persistently dangerous schools or are trending that way.

Hanna, Deputy Superintendent Leroy Nunery, and Chief Inspector Myron Patterson, the new school safety chief and a member of the Philadelphia police force, said the district would focus on improving instructional practices at the schools, clarifying districtwide reporting standards, and creating a "school climate action team" to monitor safety, violence, and discipline.

By Nov. 1, each school must submit to the district a plan that details the strategies it will use to fix safety problems, truancy, and bullying issues.

The district wants to expand to 24-hour coverage the district's 215-400-SAFE bullying and violence hotline and improve its callback time. Officials also said they would create a blue-ribbon panel of city leaders to monitor the district's progress.

It will implement new anti-bullying programs and start an anti-bullying campaign at some schools next month.

Nunery said the district would work to make sure dangerous incidents are properly recorded.

"We assume that everyone knows to make a report, but at times, that doesn't happen," Patterson said.

There will be a new focus on violence prevention, Hanna said.

"In the past, it was more reactive to incidents as they happened," said Hanna. "Now, we want to take a look in a more proactive manner."

"This is a new day," Nunery said.