Advocate: Stop guns in all city schools

At one West Philadelphia elementary school, a loaded .40-caliber Smith & Wesson was discovered in a student's backpack. At another primary school, in Strawberry Mansion, a .22-caliber semiautomatic gun tumbled out of a child's pocket.

Because the city's youngest children are taking a "disturbingly large" number of guns and other weapons to school, Philadelphia's safe-schools advocate has recommended metal detectors in all buildings, not just high schools.

In a letter to Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and the School Reform Commission, advocate Jack Stollsteimer sounded an alarm about the "lack of physical security at the district's elementary and middle schools." The letter, written March 27, was obtained by The Inquirer.

Stollsteimer, an independent watchdog on the state's payroll, reported that 98 percent of the 479 guns, knives, and cutting instruments discovered at district elementary and middle schools last school year had been "brought unimpeded into classrooms, lockers, and other common areas, presenting a serious threat to students, teachers, and administrators."

The incidents took place in 166 of the district's 205 elementary and middle schools.

While the district agrees with Stollsteimer's count, officials say that weapons offenses are going down and that the numbers do not warrant metal detectors in elementary schools.

"On an elementary level, we're not seeing the numbers that would make us go toward weapons detection," district spokeswoman Cecilia Thompson said.

Ackerman declined to comment and directed questions to to James Golden, the district's safety chief.

Golden, a former Philadelphia police officer, said every district elementary and middle school had handheld scanners to be used when appropriate. The district has also moved toward a "single-school culture" - organizing schools with clearer expectations for all students and more consistent correction for poor behavior. This has reduced incidents, Golden said.

"We're taking a proactive approach before incidents occur," he said.

At district high schools - all of which have metal detectors - 75 percent of the 357 weapons were recovered at front doors before students made their way to class, Stollsteimer reported. The incidents happened in 46 of the district's 60 high schools.

Overall, the 842 weapons found in city schools in 2007-08 were down from 941 the year before, according to Stollsteimer's report.

He urged Ackerman to use federal stimulus money to buy "state-of-the-art electronic weapons detectors and scanners" for all schools. He also called for security audits of all buildings.

Stollsteimer has a history of making waves. Last year, his annual report blasted the district for failing to punish and rehabilitate violent students. The state refused to release his document, calling it misleading and inaccurate.

State officials released their own report, which reached virtually the same conclusions. And under Ackerman, who arrived last summer, the district has reinstituted expulsions for the most violent students - a Stollsteimer recommendation.

Stollsteimer declined Friday to comment on his letter.

He is required by law to prepare an annual school violence report. In the letter to Ackerman, he said his 2007-08 report, which is not yet complete, had unearthed "one glaring problem" that called out for special attention: the elementary weapons numbers.

When young children take weapons to school, safety experts say, they often want to show off to their classmates, not harm anyone.

"There's been very few incidents of an elementary school student bringing a gun to school to shoot another student," said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center. Rather, he said, younger children most often want to show off a relative's weapon to their classmates.

But even if students' motives are innocent, the results could be dangerous, said Kenneth Trump, a national school security consultant.

"When you think about the gun being in an elementary child's hand, it's concerning," he said. "You worry about accidental mishandling, accidental discharge."

Three incidents in district elementary schools last year illustrate crises averted:

In June, a custodian discovered an unloaded .22-caliber gun that a student had stashed in a boys' bathroom at Kenderton Elementary in North Philadelphia. Officials notified police and parents; the student was arrested and suspended.

In March, acting on a tip from students, a staff member at Mann Elementary in Wynnefield found a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition in a student's backpack.

In January, an unloaded .22-caliber semiautomatic gun fell out of a student's pocket when he stood up in class at L.P. Hill Elementary in Strawberry Mansion. His teacher took the weapon, and the student was arrested and suspended.

School safety experts said that while metal detectors were prevalent in urban high schools, they were far less common in elementary and middle schools.

Stephens, of the National School Safety Center, said he would "use some real care and review before scanning all the elementary kids."

Locally, Shelly Yanoff, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, blasted the universal metal-detector plan.

"If we want schools to be places that engage and teach and provide good and safe learning environments, that seems to be a terrible overreaction."