Music teacher Ed Klein is still recuperating from a broken jaw.

Music teacher Ed Klein is still recuperating from a broken jaw and concussion suffered when a student slugged him Nov. 3 in his West Philadelphia High School classroom.

A 16-year-old boy punched Klein after the teacher tried to impose order in class.

Klein, 55, suffered nerve damage to his jaw, which had to be wired shut for six weeks. He still has daily episodes of painful ringing in his ears, he said, and is so traumatized that he attends weekly counseling.

In addition, Klein said, he has become guilt-ridden, wondering whether speaking publicly about his assault earlier might have prompted the district to make security changes and spared Germantown High School teacher Frank Burd from a broken neck last month.

Klein, a classical guitarist, has taught music in Philadelphia schools for 17 years. He transferred to West Philadelphia in October after budget cuts eliminated his job at South Philadelphia High School.

While he tried to teach jazz, Klein said, students made phone calls, ate fast food, and listened to their own music.

The school handbook tells teachers to call parents if students misbehave, and that was what he did. On Oct. 27, he said, a student warned him to stop phoning parents or he would regret it. The next Monday, a student sprayed Klein with a fire extinguisher. The next day, a student sprayed him again. On Wednesday, a student threatened to kill him, he said. On Thursday, four students he had never seen walked into his classroom, surrounded him, began picking up papers from his desk, and boasted, "There is nothing you can do about this, cracker."

Throughout days of harassment and threats, Klein said, he reported the incidents to the school security office. When he arrived Nov. 3, he already was planning to seek a transfer, Klein said. That morning, a student he didn't know came into his room, and "it was clear he was looking for a confrontation."

Klein stepped into the hall to look for a school police officer, he said, and the youth moved in front of him. The student squared off like a boxer and began taunting Klein with his fists, the teacher said.

Klein, thinking he was about to be struck, instinctively put up his hands - the last thing he remembers.

District officials say the 11th grader who attacked him was arrested, expelled, and sent to a disciplinary school.

   - Jeff Gammage

In four years with the school district, Ron Dillard was never assaulted by a student. That changed Wednesday at West Philadelphia High School.

Dillard, a nonteaching assistant, was in a third-floor hallway at 8 a.m., urging a group of lingering freshmen to head to class, he said. Most complied, but then suddenly a student sucker-punched him and ran into a stairwell.

"He hit me pretty good," Dillard, 35, said.

Because the students wear uniforms, Dillard was unable to identify his attacker. All he saw was the student's back. School officials said they would review footage to see whether a hallway security camera had taped the attack.

"It's the majority instead of the minority, unfortunately, that's disruptive," Dillard said. "In the past, you had a few bad apples, but it's the other way around now."

   - Nancy Phillips