Alternative School

Taylor Frome looked forward to teaching scores of high-school dropouts who decided to turn over a new leaf this fall by getting their GEDs. But she may not get the chance now that funding for her North Philadelphia alternative school has been cut by the school district, which has canceled or put on hold contracts with alternative-school providers across the city. The district's chief business officer, Michael Masch, blamed the state budget impasse for the funding glitch and said that funding for the accelerated diploma programs likely will be restored pending the outcome from Harrisburg.

An alternative school in South Philadelphia was evacuated this morning after a staff member reported smelling acrid fumes. Some 25 students spilled from the Ombudsman South Accelerated School, on the 2700 block of S. Front Street, about 10:40 a.m. as officials called the fire department. One student was taken to Methodist Hospital for chest pains, and two other students were went home early after reporting they did not feel well, said district spokeswoman Deirdre Darragh. Darragh said an inspector traced the fumes to the school's air-conditioning system.

A request to permit an alternative day school for troubled teenagers was unanimously approved Monday night by the Middletown Township Zoning Hearing Board. The school, which serves the Neshaminy, Bristol Township, Pennsbury and Morrisville School Districts, will use a room, two bathrooms and an office in the Brethren Church of Fairless Hills on Hoe Road in Highland Park, Levittown, according to Bernard G. Hoffman, deputy superintendent for the Neshaminy School District. It will serve as a classroom for students who have had trouble with alcohol or drug abuse and need to be taken out of the regular school environment temporarily to deal with their problems, Hoffman said.

Vincent Phillips described the new alternative school program at Rancocas Valley Regional High School as a game of tug of war. "We might have to get dragged into the mud a bit, but eventually we'll get them over to the other side," said Phillips, an English and math teacher who will head this year's new program at the high school. Alternative schools are for students who disrupt regular classes. Typically, these students are frequently absent, cause discipline problems and have repeated several grades in school.

The Philadelphia School District has completed negotiations on a five-year deal with a private, for-profit company to run an alternative school for disruptive students in the city, beginning in the fall. The school, to be run by Community Education Partners Inc., which also operates schools in Texas, plans to start with 600 middle and high school students and grow to 1,500 by April, according to the contract signed by district and company officials. It likely will not be ready to open in September, but rather later in the fall, Board President Pedro Ramos said yesterday after a school board meeting.

After waiting six years and spending nearly $2 million, Middletown residents will finally get some use out of the 150-year-old Moon barn. Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday night to lease the township-owned barn, on Langhorne-Yardley Road, for 10 years to Youth Services of Bucks County, a private nonprofit organization that educates troubled youngsters. Youth Services will renovate the barn for use as an alternative school for about 40 students. Initially, 25 of them will come from the Neshaminy School District.

Though Lansdale officials have come out against a plan to put an alternative school in an empty building on Main Street, the agency that proposed the school is moving ahead anyway. Ted Wachtel, executive director of Community Services Foundation Inc. (CSF), said he was waiting to find out whether his bid to purchase the former Feldi's Furniture store would be accepted. If it is, Wachtel will go to the borough's Zoning Hearing Board in an attempt to have the parking requirements for the building waived.

A proposed charter high school for drug- and alcohol-dependent teenagers, which only months ago seemed dead in the water, has been resuscitated by a plan to fold it into Gloucester County's alternative school. Earlier this year, the state Department of Education turned down an application by Mary Cormier of Marlton to open the Gloucester County Charter High School for students in the ninth through 12th grades who are recovering from bouts with substance abuse. State officials said they liked the idea, but wondered if it could best be incorporated into an existing alternative-school setting.

The Delaware County Intermediate Unit board last night decided to take legal action, including a federal lawsuit if necessary, to allow the Aston alternative school to relocate in Middletown. The move has been opposed by a group of neighbors who fear the conduct of the students, who have social and emotional problems. The township has said that the IU needs conditional-use approval to use the former Christian Academy property on South Old Middletown Road for the alternative school.

A proposal to establish a charter school in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District apparently did not die with last summer's approval of the $25 million renovation project at Strath Haven High School. The Partnership for Alternatives in Education, a Swarthmore-based parents group that promoted a magnet or charter high school last year, said it was now focusing on the possibility of establishing a second middle school in the 3,400-student district. The partnership will sponsor a forum on charter schools at 7:30 p.m. next Monday in the library of Strath Haven Middle School, 200 S. Providence Rd. Lisa O'Brien of Swarthmore, a former school board member and spokeswoman for the group, said the forum would provide an update on what is happening with charter schools in Pennsylvania.

Milagros Torres joined a chorus of parents advocating for alternatives to public schools in Camden after her 9-year-old daughter was attacked in March by bullies in a Thomas H. Dudley Elementary School bathroom. Moneke Ragsdale, however, says it was the Lanning Square School, a traditional, public elementary school, that made sure her son Eric Lee wouldn't fall behind. Lee, now 19, went on to graduate with honors from Camden High School, just finished his first year at Camden County College, and hopes to go on to medical school.

An alternative school in South Philadelphia was evacuated this morning after a staff member reported smelling acrid fumes. Some 25 students spilled from the Ombudsman South Accelerated School, on the 2700 block of S. Front Street, about 10:40 a.m. as officials called the fire department. One student was taken to Methodist Hospital for chest pains, and two other students were went home early after reporting they did not feel well, said district spokeswoman Deirdre Darragh. Darragh said an inspector traced the fumes to the school's air-conditioning system.

Another fatal school shooting, this one in Ohio, again has parents across America wondering if their children's schools are safe. Details slowly emerging depict the alleged shooter as another troubled youth whose aberrant behavior wasn't predicted, but perhaps should have been. T.J. Lane, 17, allegedly walked into the high school cafeteria with a knife and a .22-caliber handgun and randomly opened fire. Three students died after the rampage Monday at Chardon High School near Cleveland.

Students and elected officials gathered in the sweltering heat Thursday to demand that the School District of Philadelphia restore funding to 13 accelerated schools that educate overage, undercredited youths. Student Princess Rahman, 19, dropped out of Martin Luther King High. At King, she said, she was bored and disengaged; she fought and attended school only sporadically. Now, she attends North Philadelphia Community High School, one of the accelerated programs. Because of a $629 million budget gap, the district has cut funding to all 13 schools for next year.

School-district officials have contended that to stop the massive cuts they want to make to close a $629 million deficit, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, anybody must swoop in with more money to save the day. But in the latest wave of protests against the district's cuts, several concerned taxpayers, parents and community activists said yesterday that they've had enough of officials' putting the blame on Harrisburg and demanded that district officials...

Brandon Johnson's life changed instantly after a butter knife fell out of his pocket earlier this school year. He was handcuffed to a bench in his former school's police office, arrested, and then suspended for 10 days. He was later transferred to a disciplinary school. "I am not receiving the same quality education as I was before," said the 16-year-old 10th-grader, "and now I'm behind. " Rather than a trip to the principal's office or an after-school detention, students punished for a wide array of offenses now face suspension, expulsion and even arrest under the district's controversial zero-tolerance policy.

At 7 a.m. Wednesday, the conspirators - including a high-ranking school administrator - assumed hiding places near the office of their target: an unsuspecting guidance counselor at West Chester's Henderson High. They held their breath as 41-year-old Kathy Teague entered a room overflowing with balloons, photos, flowers, crepe paper, and confetti. The surprise makeover was an unconventional thank-you from seniors Shane O'Donnell and Billy Mumford and their families on graduation day - a day none of them thought would happen two years ago. " What is going on?

It's a warm Friday morning at South Philadelphia High, where the school's 50-50 Club, with its half-Asian, half-African American membership has gathered to talk. All the black kids sit on one side of the room. All the Asians sit on the other. An African American girl offers: "You know the stereotype all Asians look alike? Well, they don't. Since you get to hang around them and know them, they're actually cool. " The Asian students were asked what they had learned. One boy slowly raised his hand.

A Philadelphia high school student was treated for a concussion Wednesday after he was caught up in a fight at University City High School, authorities said. About 10 students were involved in the brawl, which broke out about 11:15 a.m. between class periods, said School District spokesman Fernando Gallard. A sophomore reported feeling dizzy after the altercation and administrators sent him to Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania. The fight remains under investigation, and some students may be suspended or transferred to an alternative school depending on their involvement, Gallard said.

A Philadelphia high school student was treated for a concussion Wednesday after he was caught up in a fight at University City High School, authorities said. About 10 students were involved in the brawl which broke out about 11:15 a.m. between class periods, said school district spokesman Fernando Gallard. A sophomore reported feeling dizzy after the altercation and administrators sent him to the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania to have him checked. The fight remains under investigation and some students may be suspended or transferred to an alternative school depending on their involvement, Gallard said.