'Structured recess' tried at Ogontz school to prevent bullying

It was recess time in the Pennell Elementary school yard, and in one corner, some students were sitting on soft blue gym mats, figuring out puzzles.

Closer to the iron gate, another group played with wooden hockey games, using red plastic sticks to knock a pint-size puck back and forth. School aides in bright T-shirts watched over the groups, directing activities.

Pennell, in the Ogontz section of the city, is one of several Philadelphia School District schools that have moved to "structured recess," using time traditionally allotted for lightly supervised free play for organized activities to curb bullying and prevent violence.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) watched over the activities Friday, waving to a few students brave enough to say hello to the visitor from Washington.

"We've got a big problem in the country in regards to bullying," said Casey. "Tens of thousands of students don't go to school every day because they're afraid."

Casey came to Pennell to highlight the problem of bullying in schools. He's cosponsoring the Safe Schools Improvement Act, a bill that would require any school receiving federal money to have effective prevention programs - such as structured recess - in place to address bullying and harassment.

The legislation would also require schools to have codes of conduct prohibiting bullying and harassment, and to report data on bullying to the Department of Education.

The senator hailed the Philadelphia School District, which in September adopted a new anti-bullying policy.

"It's great when the School District of Philadelphia gets ahead of legislation in Washington," Casey said. "Philadelphia has demonstrated that by putting in place a policy now, we can prevent incidents - get ahead of them, rather than wait for trouble to happen."

Despite a decline in reported incidents of violence over the last two years, the district still has 20 schools on the state's Persistently Dangerous list. No other districts in Pennsylvania earned that designation under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

In an attempt to reduce violence, the district recently announced a plan targeting 46 troubled schools for extra help.

Pennell is not one of the 46, but it is one of more than 100 district schools adopting an anti-bullying curriculum.

Deputy Superintendent Leroy Nunery told Casey that the district realized that violence was tied to poor academics. He said the district was committed to working on issues of bullying and school violence.

"If we solve that," Nunery said, "we think we can cut 100 years off this long trajectory to getting everyone to proficiency."

Officials have said that if the district continued to make the incremental progress in standardized test scores that it has over the last eight years, it would take until 2123 for all Philadelphia students to be proficient on state exams.

Pennell principal Gina Steiner is effusive about what prevention programs have done for her school, which educates 438 students.

The programs, she said, take intensive training, real buy-in from the staff, and even extra money.

"But," Steiner said, "they have made a big difference."