Budget cuts pose a threat to safety in Philadelphia schools

When a fight erupts at Edison High School, staff calls a "code blue," and among those who hurry to the scene to assist is Janet Bundy, a 23-year veteran in her job, known as a "nonteaching assistant."

But Bundy likely won't be at Edison - one of the Philadelphia School District's 19 "persistently dangerous" schools - to help next year. She's slated to be laid off along with 31 other assistants and hundreds of others who have a day-to-day impact on safety in the 155,000-student system.

Under a budget adopted by the district, school police, counselors, paraprofessionals, psychologists, and "climate managers" - administrators who oversee noneducational duties including safety - are on the chopping block to help close a whopping $629 million deficit. (Watch Mayor Nutter discussing the effects of budget cuts on school safety programs here.)

Even though City Council voted last week to raise property taxes and give the district an additional $53 million, district and city officials have not decided which cuts to undo. What is clear is that there will be fewer adults next year to keep order in the hallways and classrooms.

The cuts could worsen safety conditions in a district already plagued by violence. A seven-part Inquirer series published in the spring found that more than 30,000 serious incidents had taken place in the city's schools over the last five years and that on any given day, 25 students, teachers, or other staff members were beaten, robbed, sexually assaulted, or became victims of other violent crimes. (See Associate Superintendent Tomas Hanna discuss plans to keep city schools safe here.) Violence, the series found, is underreported, widespread, and stifles learning.

The series also identified out-of-school suspension as a problem that district officials had begun to address by increasing in-school suspension. The district, the series found, had excluded students from classes at a rate more than three times higher than the rest of the state.

But the new budget cuts $1.3 million, or 38 percent, of funding for in-school suspension, meaning more unruly students could be banished to the streets next year or allowed to remain in regular classes. District spokeswoman Shana Kemp said in-school suspension would remain in effect at the so-called Focus 46, particularly troublesome schools that have been targeted for help.