Amen.
For Hackney, 38, these minutes of solitary prayer are the standard start to his day, as essential as breathing.
They give him confidence to confront the job ahead and confirm its central truth: To change and heal South Philadelphia High is going to take bedrock faith - and a whole lot more.
At Southern, as the school is called, the daylong, anti-Asian violence of Dec. 3, 2009, hovers like a ghost.
Groups of mostly African American students attacked 30 Asian classmates, sending seven to hospitals, sparking a contentious weeklong boycott, and provoking international news coverage. A subsequent federal investigation found that the district was "deliberately indifferent" to violence and harassment against Asians, prompting a settlement that mandated broad remedies.
This year under Hackney the school has crept forward, becoming a calmer, more orderly place - but it was thrown into new upheaval in January, when Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman announced that Southern would become a "Renaissance school." The designation means teachers and staff can be forced out as part of a sweeping overhaul that includes longer days, Saturday classes, and summer sessions.
Hackney, the only person in the building guaranteed to keep his job, supports the Renaissance plan as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to remake Southern. But the announcement deflated the enthusiasm that had been building all year among the teachers.
"The morale went right in the toilet," said math teacher Dean Coder, the teachers union representative at the school. "We finally had great leadership here, and most of the people were buying into it. To then turn around and blow that up . . .. "
In the halls, day-to-day relations between Asian and black students remain fragile.
"Everyone knows their place," said senior Rashon Brewster, who is African American. "Everyone's here to get an education. We're not really here to make friends."
