Middle School

The mood was tense, but the music was beautiful. Officials at GAMP - Girard Academic Music Program, the city's elite public magnet school for gifted musicians - have been notified that they will lose the yellow school buses that transport middle school students from points around Philadelphia to the school at 22d and Ritner Streets. So on Thursday night, dozens gathered in the GAMP auditorium for a concert and rally to voice their displeasure to the Philadelphia School District.

I WAS NEVER a fan of the whole anti-bullying hysteria that has whipped so many adults into a frenzy over the past couple of years. I say "hysteria" because it sometimes seemed that even garden-variety mean-spiritedness along the lines of "I know you are, but what am I?" was being turned into a hate crime. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule in the social-media maze of tweeting, Facebook-ing and YouTube-ing. And yes, some of what passes for juvenile joking is much more sinister, especially in the Lord of the Flies group- thuggery scenario common to middle school.

A North Philadelphia charter high school is set to add a 635-pupil middle school to its burgeoning population by next year, thanks to a $2 million grant from the Philadelphia School Partnership. Esperanza Academy, founded in 2000, already serves 750 students in North Philadelphia's Hunting Park neighborhood. About 17 percent of the majority-Hispanic student body speaks English as a second language, and while anyone in the city can apply to attend Esperanza, the school largely serves lower-income students in and around Hunting Park.

Powel Elementary, a tiny K-4 public school in West Philadelphia, has long been regarded as an oasis in its neighborhood - a safe and strong school where children achieve. But parents often worry: With a dearth of good post-Powel options, what happens after children finish fourth grade? They got a boost Monday when the Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) awarded Powel a grant to plan to add a fifth grade and develop a brand-new middle school modeled after Science Leadership Academy (SLA)

Powel Elementary, a tiny K-4 public school in West Philadelphia, has long been regarded as an oasis in its neighborhood - a safe and strong school where children achieve. But parents often worry: With a dearth of good post-Powel options, what happens after children finish fourth grade? They got a boost Monday when the Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) awarded Powel a grant to plan to add a fifth grade and develop a brand-new middle school modeled after Science Leadership Academy (SLA)

DEAR READERS: Involvement in after-school enrichment is making a positive impact on the lives of many Philadelphia children, and they are eager to show the way to others. Senior Mohamed Marzouk, an enthusiastic debater at Science Leadership Academy, will put his debate knowledge to good use. He plans to volunteer as an assistant coach at a middle-school debate program to pay it forward. "I wanted to help kids because I was never given the chance to debate when I was in middle school," he said.

THE NUMBER of "persistently dangerous" schools in the Philadelphia School District has dropped for the second year in a row, according to statistics released Wednesday by the state Department of Education. The city's persistently dangerous schools have dwindled from 10 last year to six this year: Beeber Middle School, in Overbrook; Douglas High School, in Port Richmond; Frankford High School; Kensington Business High School; Lincoln High School, in Mayfair; and Strawberry Mansion High School.

When New Jersey approved nine new charter schools on Monday, it also announced a new accountability system aimed at setting uniform standards to evaluate the success of charters over time. The annual "Performance Framework" will examine academic achievement, financial performance, and governance in the state's 86 charter schools. Schools will do a self-review, evaluated by the state. Previously, the state simply relied on each school's initial application plan to hold the schools accountable, said Barbara Morgan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.

NEW YORK - Four seventh-grade boys from upstate New York who were caught on video mercilessly taunting a 68-year-old bus monitor have received their punishment. The school system in the Rochester suburb of Greece says it will suspend the middle school students from school and from using regular bus transportation for a year for bullying Karen Klein. The students will be transferred to a special alternative education program because the district is legally required to give the students an education.

THE FIRST DAY of classes at the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School last fall had "kind of an Oprah moment," recalled Jason Corosanite. All 250 of the school's sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders were gathered at its Broad and Oregon location. Each was presented with an iPad to use throughout the school year. "You could hear the shrieks for blocks," said Corosanite. Clearly, it's not every student who gets to start (as opposed to end) the school term with the chant "no more books.