Chaos At Huey Elementary School In West Philadelphia

Classroom In Chaos At Samuel Huey Middle School

In a video obtained by FOX 29 the classroom at The Samuel Huey Middle School in West Philadelphia is more along the lines of a battle zone than an educational environment. Children are running around on the floor, groping a girl, fighting, carrying on after school when they should be on their way home. One has to wonder who is running the schools today the children or the adults. In the meantime, with all the crazy violence going on in The School District of Philadelphia they can still sit comfortably letting go 91 School Police Officers and other essential staff that are needed to patrol the halls to keep school staff and students safe. One would think with all the violence in the city skyrocketing the past year alone that safety would be the number one agenda.

Though the administration talks of improvements in fact they have been have talking for years of making life better and safer in Philadelphia schools it amounts to nothing more than a bunch of small talk. I cannot help but wonder what it will take to get the School District to employ enough stuff to keep everyone safe. This has been a long-standing policy with the District along with Principals pressuring staff to under report serious incidents to make their school shine as a diamond in the rough. Truth is the only thing it's doing is hurting the staff, children, and community the schools serve.

It is refreshing to hear the School District has hired a team of individuals to look into the school violence at all the schools. Known as the Blue Ribbon Commission last month they relayed a report according to CBS that pointed out huge gaps in statistics of violent acts being properly reported. There is hope though as Mayor Nutter and his administration is attempting to rectify a problem that has plagued the Philadelphia Schools for years. One such aspect that the Commission pointed out that has already begun is turning over the responsibility of reporting serious incidents to School Police Officers who actually deal with the situations firsthand. When left to administrators, it's the brush under the carpet treatment.

My Story

Two years ago, I was in a second grade classroom where I was assisting the teacher with one of our students when he refused to corporate and do his assigned work. When I proceeded to tell him that he would not have recess if he would not do his work, he immediately attacked me. This same little boy had attacked several weeks prior by kicking me in my leg and a month prior to that, he bit a staff member on the hand when she broke up a fistfight between him and another student. At that point, the Vice Principal told his mother to take him for counseling. The mother never did this leaving me as his next victim.

The child who had attacked me with his fists and chairs had been assigned one hour in the in house suspension room. Trust me folks violence in our Philadelphia Public Schools has been a long time issue and it must be stopped before someone is seriously hurt. I respect that the Mayor has taken the appropriate steps but now calls for a time when measures that are more aggressive need to be taken before someone is truly hurt. Stop violence in our schools before it is too late.