Plaudits and fears at Phila. school

The federal government has honored Pollock Elementary, a public school in the Northeast, with a prestigious Blue Ribbon education award.

The Philadelphia School District recently named it to a short list of schools so successful that beginning this fall, it will have freedom in budgeting, curriculum, and testing.

But some parents and employees say that Pollock is no longer safe - fights are common; staff are attacked. Disruptions are underreported and students are rarely disciplined, they say.

A group of 12 parents wrote a letter to Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, School Reform Commission Chair Robert L. Archie Jr., and other top officials demanding action.

"Many of us have had children at Pollock for years," the July 1 letter read. "It has become extremely unsafe for them, in school and outside . . . We have had students swing at us, curse us out, threaten us that they will get our kids during school when we are breaking up fights in the morning and after school."

District officials have spoken with the letter writers and are scheduling a meeting for this week with senior staff from the superintendent's office, a spokesman said.

The parents sent a copy of the letter to The Inquirer, but they could not be reached for comment. The Inquirer has interviewed 10 other parents who had similar complaints.

"We're moving quickly to appropriately respond to the concerns of the parents," said Fernando Gallard, the spokesman.

Gallard says that the parents may be reacting to the fact that the school's enrollment has increased 20 percent since 2006, to 700. Reported incidents have dropped, however, from 23 to 14; reported violent incidents are down, too, from 9 to 3.

That's just the point, the parents contend. The numbers may be down, but their children see more violence, they say. The school has changed since 2008, when Marilyn Carr became principal.

In their letter, the 12 parents wrote that incidents often go unreported. In interviews, the other parents said the same.

Even when violence is reported, punishment is inadequate, they say. Both groups point to two teacher assaults:

This spring, a third grader struck his teacher. Witnesses say it took several people to subdue the student.

"Our 7- and 8-year-olds watched a teacher get kicked, clawed and punched by this student and all that was done was he was transferred to another room? Where is the no tolerance policy you claim?" the parents wrote to Ackerman.

Gallard said the teacher was attempting to break up a fight and the student hit him once accidentally. The student was suspended, and in a conference with school officials, the teacher said he was "satisfied with the explanation," Gallard said.

At the end of the 2008-09 school year, a school aide was punched in the face by a fifth grader when she tried to break up a fight. The aide was taken out of school by ambulance; she pressed charges against the student.

The student was suspended for the final two days of that school year. The student was transferred to a disciplinary school but never actually reported there, as a hearing officer overturned that recommendation before the school year began.

Gallard said the appropriate disciplinary action was taken in both cases. The parents disagree.

The district wants to know more details about parents' allegations of underreporting and a lack of discipline, Gallard said. It will be a topic at the forthcoming meeting.

Reached at the school on Friday, Carr said she was aware of the letter.

"The district is quite aware of our concerns and circumstances here, which are really not problems at all," said Carr, who referred further questions to the district.

In last year's district parents' survey, the school earned an average grade of B, higher than the district average of B-.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has not heard concerns about the school, said president Jerry Jordan.

While schools always will have some discipline problems, Jordan said, "as far as the school being totally out of control, that's not the case."

The kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school, on Welsh Road, is economically and racially diverse. Thirty-four percent of students are white, 33 percent black, 15 percent Asian, and 10 percent Latino. Fifty-two percent are economically disadvantaged.

In the letter, the parents wrote they want order restored and urged Ackerman to visit the school unannounced. They will, they wrote, appeal to Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell if they have to.

It's so bad that "some of our kids ask to go on the computers in class during recess because they don't want to be in the school yard during recess," the parents wrote.

Anita Schumer, who taught science at Pollock for 20 years and retired in February, concurred with the parents.

"There's no follow-through," Schumer said. "There are fights in the lunchroom. Kids are getting cornered in the bathroom. It happens on an everyday basis."