School Violence

A recently released state report paints the Philadelphia School District as having a far lower rate of violence in its schools than Pittsburgh has in its. But don't be too quick to draw any conclusions. Philadelphia - which, like other districts, supplies the state with the data - doesn't count student fights as incidents of violence. Pittsburgh does. So do a lot of other schools. As a result, some of the report's statistics are distorted and it's difficult, if not impossible, to compare one district to another or one county to another.

Hundreds of teachers, administrators and law-enforcement officers from throughout Pennsylvania attending a two-day conference on school violence yesterday were jolted by the deadly shooting that had taken place in California the day before. Hypothetical scenarios gave way to grave reality as speakers addressing the annual meeting of the state's Safe Schools Initiative Grantees rewrote their presentations to address the latest tragedy. What happened at Santana High School outside San Diego was a grim reminder that violence can happen anywhere, state school officials said.

Imagine a typical summer as a high school student. You probably conjure up visions of time spent lying by the pool, working to save money, or just lounging at home watching television. Do you think of a summer spent tracking how diseases affect different socioeconomic groups? Can you see putting off hanging out with friends to draw plans for a hotel in your neighborhood? Or, how about giving up sleeping late in order to research school-violence prevention plans? This summer, more than 100 North Philadelphia high school students have embarked on a yearlong project researching community issues as part of the Temple University Young Scholars Program.

The Inquirer's investigation of the climate of pervasive violence in Philadelphia's public schools on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the profession's most prestigious honor. The award is the 19th Pulitzer Prize for the 183-year-old newspaper and its first since 1997. The seven-part series, "Assault on Learning," revealed that violence in city schools was widespread and underreported, with 30,000 serious incidents over the last five school years. Those findings were later corroborated by a Philadelphia School District panel on safety, spurred an overhaul of incident reporting in the district, and prompted hiring of a state-funded safe-schools advocate.

The Inquirer's investigation of the climate of pervasive violence in Philadelphia's public schools on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the profession's most prestigious honor. The award is the 19th Pulitzer Prize for the 183-year-old newspaper and its first since 1997. The seven-part series, "Assault on Learning," revealed that violence in city schools was widespread and underreported, with 30,000 serious incidents over the last five school years. Those findings were later corroborated by a Philadelphia School District panel on safety, spurred an overhaul of incident reporting in the district, and prompted hiring of a state-funded safe-schools advocate.

By Masai Skief Parents often tell me school safety is a key factor in their search for a new school for their children. Violence in Philadelphia schools has created a culture of fear for many students, forcing families to explore alternatives such as charter and private schools. A recent blue-ribbon commission report in response to this trend offered recommendations to reduce violence, including building better relationships between adults and students and creating a reporting system to hold schools accountable for safety.

RE THE complaints about school police being too violent and about the students who walked out of classes to protest this: These kids have to be kidding. I'm not only a parent of a child in high school, but I also work at the school. My child is no angel, and I was there so many times they offered me a job. When I heard about the teacher at Germantown High who got his neck broken because he confiscated a student's contraband iPod, I asked myself, where are the parents of these students?

Philadelphia Superintendent Arlene Ackerman should act quickly on recommendations to curb racial and ethnic violence and create a safer environment where students can learn. A report recently released by the city's Commission on Human Relations highlighted a series of problems that demand close attention. The report stems from a series of yearlong public hearings into racially motivated attacks on Asian students at South Philadelphia High in 2009, but it underscores a larger violence issue.

Describing violence in city classrooms as a "very sobering" problem, leaders, advocates, and students gathered Tuesday to focus on the issue - and ways to fix it. The day began with the Philadelphia School District convening a blue-ribbon commission on safe schools. Later, a Youth Power Summit drew 200 students to talk about the issues. The district panel will meet quarterly and issue annual reports. Led by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and Mayor Nutter, the group said its work was spurred, in part, by "the recent surge in youth homicide, school violence, ethnic intimidation, flash mobs, and 'catch and wreck' assaults on citizens.

The student group Youth United for Change launched an initiative Wednesday aimed at making city schools safer. The group's "Safe to Count on Me" campaign promotes preventive discipline programs over zero-tolerance policies in dealing with school violence. At a rally in Norris Square Park, the group shouted chants expressing protest and urging budget reform. They called on City Council to support implementation of a method known as restorative practice, a program tried in other cities that works with students, teachers, and parents to basically get students to learn from their mistakes.

Now that hands have been shaken, hugs shared, congratulations extended, and champagne imbibed, Philadelphians not in the newspaper business may want to take a moment to ask what it means to them that The Inquirer has won journalism's top award — the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. It is a tribute to any city to have an award-winner, but virtually every town with a Pulitzer recipient also has a problem that the newspaper or online publication revealed. In the case of The Inquirer's 19th Pulitzer, a team of reporters, editors, photographers, and videographers pointed out the prevalence of violence in Philadelphia's schools.

The Inquirer's investigation of the climate of pervasive violence in Philadelphia's public schools on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the profession's most prestigious honor. The award is the 19th Pulitzer Prize for the 183-year-old newspaper and its first since 1997. The seven-part series, "Assault on Learning," revealed that violence in city schools was widespread and underreported, with 30,000 serious incidents over the last five school years. Those findings were later corroborated by a Philadelphia School District panel on safety, spurred an overhaul of incident reporting in the district, and prompted hiring of a state-funded safe-schools advocate.

The Inquirer's investigation of the climate of pervasive violence in Philadelphia's public schools on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the profession's most prestigious honor. The award is the 19th Pulitzer Prize for the 183-year-old newspaper and its first since 1997. The seven-part series, "Assault on Learning," revealed that violence in city schools was widespread and underreported, with 30,000 serious incidents over the last five school years. Those findings were later corroborated by a Philadelphia School District panel on safety, spurred an overhaul of incident reporting in the district, and prompted hiring of a state-funded safe-schools advocate.

The Philadelphia Inquirer won a prestigious award today from Investigative Reporters & Editors Inc. for its investigation of violence in Philadelphia schools, "Assault on Learning. " In making the award, the judges praised the series as "local reporting at its highest level. " The Inquirer's work won the print/online large division in the contest which awarded honors in 15 categories. The seven-part series was reported by John Sullivan, Susan Snyder, Kristen Graham, Dylan Purcell and Jeff Gammage.

The Inquirer's "Assault on Learning," a multimedia investigation of violence and unsafe learning conditions within Philadelphia public schools, has earned the reporting team the inaugural Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism. The seven-part series - and a series of follow-ups - spurred an overhaul of incident reporting in the Philadelphia School District and prompted the hiring of a state-funded safe-schools advocate. The reporters - John Sullivan, Susan Snyder, Kristen A. Graham, Dylan Purcell, and Jeff Gammage - will share a $10,000 prize.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's "Assault on Learning," a multimedia investigation of violence and unsafe learning conditions within Philadelphia public schools has earned the reporting team the inaugural Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism. The seven-part series - and a series of follow-ups - spurred an overhaul of incident-reporting in the Philadelphia School District and prompted the hiring of a state-funded safe schools advocate. The reporters - John Sullivan, Susan Snyder, Kristen A. Graham, Dylan Purcell, and Jeff Gammage - will share a $10,000 prize.

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.

By Masai Skief Parents often tell me school safety is a key factor in their search for a new school for their children. Violence in Philadelphia schools has created a culture of fear for many students, forcing families to explore alternatives such as charter and private schools. A recent blue-ribbon commission report in response to this trend offered recommendations to reduce violence, including building better relationships between adults and students and creating a reporting system to hold schools accountable for safety.