The state Department of Education defines a persistently dangerous school as having dangerous incidents equal to 2 percent or more of its overall enrollment for the most recent school year. Schools with more than 1,000 students make the list if they have 20 or more such incidents that year.
Overall, the number of persistently dangerous schools in the city last year dropped 47 percent from the previous school year - from 19 to 10 (eight from the previous list and two additions). The number of violent crimes throughout the district decreased slightly, from 3.1 incidents per 100 students in 2009-10 to 2.7 incidents per 100 students.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Myron Patterson, who has been temporarily assigned as the district's chief safety executive since August 2010, said that the reductions resulted from cooperation at various levels.
"I cannot emphasize enough that it's just not one entity," Patterson said, adding that the district, city agencies and school staffs, as well as police officers, contributed to the reduction.
Implementing the same computerized crime-mapping system used by the Police Department to track incidents in schools helped to identify and target problems, Patterson said. He said that training personnel in best practices and requiring safety teams to meet at least twice monthly in schools on the list were other factors.
Edward Penn, principal of Roberto Clemente Middle School, another of the schools taken off the list, agreed that cooperation was key to changing the school environment.
At Clemente, on Erie Avenue near Front Street, school personnel and student-government members received training to defuse and mediate incidents, and an emphasis was placed on visibility of adults in school, Penn said. The number of violent incidents there decreased from 58 in 2009-10 to 39 last year, district spokesman Fernando Gallard said.
At Roxborough, the number dropped 59 percent, from 107 incidents in 2009-10 to 44 last year.
"To establish a good culture and climate was paramount," Brandt said. "Rallying around a vision of a college preparation and keeping everyone on the path to achieving that vision has been key."
Patterson said that despite gains made each year, there's a long way to go.
"It's a great accomplishment that means we're making the community better," he said. "But I won't be satisfied until there is no school on that persistently dangerous list."
