The Nov. 29 fracas is typical of the violence plaguing Philadelphia public schools, as documented in The Inquirer's seven-part series, "Assault on Learning." And it shows how intractable the problem can be, even as the School District's newly installed leadership confronts the severity of the situation and has begun taking a variety of steps to accurately document violent incidents and curtail them.
For Pedro Ramos, the new chairman of the School Reform Commission, making schools safe places to learn is "a threshold issue."
"Without it," he said, "you don't get to anything else. Safety will determine whether people even come through your door."
Some school and city officials believe that Overbrook - patrolled by eight unarmed school officers as the first line of defense, with two armed city police officers often on the premises and on call - can serve as a model for how city and school police can work together to improve safety, while allowing for discretion as to whether to make an arrest.
Everett Gillison, Mayor Nutter's chief of staff who oversees policing in the city, spoke especially of the rapport the city officers have forged with some Overbrook students as something to be emulated in other schools where city police are deemed necessary.
Yet even the level of policing at Overbrook and rapport-building has not stopped assaults such as the one that sent the bloodied teen to the hospital. It was one of two recorded at the school that day - and in both incidents school police were the first responders with city police summoned later.
By design, city police "don't engage too much," said Overbrook principal Ethelyn Payne Young, generally staying on the five-story school's first floor, tracking truants among other tasks. "If they get out there too much, they're mandated by the role to make arrests."
Test-drive phase
