Thank you very much. Just relative to Councilwoman Miller's question on guard supervision and responsibility, what you're saying is, is that that responsibility for staffing the corners is being moved to the Traffic Division away from the district captain? POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: That's going to be -- We feel as though that they should be part of the training, and we feel as though that traffic is more connected with them, at least at this point, although the captain will be in touch with the traffic people. But at the same time I think the training and information will probably be going to the traffic. 126 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04
Who would be the supervisor responsible for knowing, first, whether a corner has personnel there or not, whether a crossing guard is there, whether she's sick, whether she's injured? Would that still be the captain? POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: The district captain should be, but that might change.
Okay. Our captains, I think, again -- And I want to preface what I say because I think you guys have so much on your plate. I mean, I look at some of the issues you're dealing with, just with the drug and violence side, and it's not a criticism. As we know, we have varying degrees of capabilities with supervisors in every industry and every department. Some captains care about it, and some care less than others. And I think part of the consistency is, if you have a captain that's proactive, somebody that's really out there, he or she 127 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 is, you know, on top of all the things in their district, that will be a priority for them. POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Right.
If it's not that type of captain, if it's somebody that's maybe to looking to, you know, leave soon, it may not be a priority at all. And that's, I think, part of my recommendation which I will sit on the shelf for the time being, is moving supervision to the School District. If you guys, if the Managing Director and the Commissioner here, can tell me, Commissioner, that you're going to look at this, retool it, revamp it, I don't -- you know, I don't particularly care who supervises, as long as someone supervises them. POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I think -- At least I am very open minded. And I assure you and myself, I'm going to do what's best for our children. So, no matter who it comes under, whosever best as at to do 128 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 that, we're willing to do.
Yeah. I just want to make sure that what happens -- See, from my perspective, the captain of the 39th District, right, on Councilwoman Miller's example, is the person that should be responsible for -- for making noise that if either the guard's out for a long period of time or they need a replacement or it's not manned properly -- or, you know, covered properly. POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yeah.
I'm trying to get to the point where there's one identifiable person in that district or in the department that is responsible for making sure that the corners are covered. POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I agree with you.
All right. POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank 129 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 you very much.
Delores Shaw, Fran McFadden, Sarah Rodriquez. Just everybody from Mepop that's going to testify, and there's... How many people will actually be testifying; do you know? UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Four.
Four. Okay. You can all come up together, and whoever would like to start is fine.
I'll start. I'm Father Graff from the Free Church St. John in Kensington.
And I just wanted to introduce our organization to you. We are the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project.
We are a 130 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 multicultural organization. We are a faith institution, schools, neighborhood institutions who are committed to building strong relationships based on a vision of justice for all people. And our agenda includes education reform and adequate resources to insure that our children complete elementary school and are able to read at grade level, and graduate high school prepared for college or career. Integration of city services, so that departments work together to respond rapidly with effective solutions to community problems. Real welfare reform that supports education and literacy is the root to stable employment and strong families. Changes in Police Department deployment, to put officers on the street, in direct contact with neighborhoods in which they work. And investment in communities, in neighborhoods, to promote affordable housing and economic development. And particularly related to the issue of school violence is 131 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 our agenda around education reform. And some of the issues that Mr. Vallas referred to, in terms of older kids being in grades that they are too old for, and being bullies, and that kind of a thing. And also the integration of city services, how we can put together a system so that all of the players who have something to do around safety and children are on the same page, and working off a comprehensive plan, a systematic approach to this problem. And also changes in the Police Department deployment, that puts their resources and SEPTA police and the school police and whoever... the university police from Pennsylvania -- University of Pennsylvania and Temple, and so on, that they're all communicating and coordinating, and so forth. And so we're here to be a catalyst, in a sense, to bring these people to the table. We had a meeting this morning here at City Hall with Council President Verna and some other Council people, and others from 132 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 SEPTA police, to make a commitment to having some kind of meetings in the Councilmanic Districts, that would lead to a summit to come up with a comprehensive plan, similar to the idea of having a development plan in each Council District that you have. What's the safety plan for each Council District, and what is our citywide plan. Thank you.
Fine. Okay. We were going to ask Councilman Ortiz -- or Councilman Ramos. Okay. Please proceed.
Well, as a parent for 133 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 Edison High School and being in the organization of parents, we've noticed that there is a large increase in drugs, sales around the school. Two weeks ago, I've had an incident with one of the big drug dealers from the neighborhood around the school. And what is happening is that the gentleman that he has had the incident with continues to say, I run the neighborhood and I run the school. Trying to push the drugs out of the schools so that the kids don't bring them into schools. Another incident that has been brought to my attention is to have... town safe... Town Watch. 13 years ago when I came here, there was -- for that long there's been drug sales at an elementary school in North Philadelphia which has happened. And what I'm noticing is that it just gets continuously hard to do the things as a parent to make it safer for my children. 134 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 As a parent, it just gets frustrating where, you know, we constantly keep uniting, and we keep facing the problems of drug dealers. And it's getting increasingly hard to continue that without the necessary help that we need. Pretty much at this point we need a lot of help from the city agencies to help us to continue the fight that we're working, to get rid of the drugs that are within our schools. Truancy is a big problem which, you know, the kids get out of the school. And the funny thing is, they continue to hang in front of the schools, and nothing's being done. Again, as a parent, when you walk up there and you explain to them that they have to leave or whatever, going to the schools, it just doesn't work. You know, and it just seems like people are just turning the other way, looking at children just standing right in front of the school. As a parent I can only do so much, 135 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 because I can't touch someone else's job. And it gets frustrating.
Edison High School. The percentage of kids in Edison, for instance -- the number is pretty low at this point -- with the problems. Shepherd, which is also in the 25th District is, the drugs have never left there. And it's getting worse as time goes on.
There are people here from the School District and from School District police that can coordinate with the 25th District to inform Inspector Green. Chief Inspector Green has taken the information now. Perhaps you ought to have some corridor number that you could get ahold of him with and try to coordinate with school police and with the 25th District on the movement of the children away from the school after dismissal. And any other drug information you 136 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 may have that they could coordinate with the Philadelphia narcotics people, to try to intercept.
Do me a favor, please. Could you please identify this gentleman for our records.
Just to tie this in a little bit, what you've done is great to understand that traffic in our school areas is extremely bad. I sat on B and Allegheny and watched SEPTA buses fly through that, let alone cars. But as this is continually taking its own shape, it all boils down to, as I'm hearing, is the safety of our children which is the biggest concern. Yours is just like -- Just seems like it's just one of the problems that we have, that we continue to 137 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 face as parents. My children are still small, two and three. But the reason I'm behind all this is, I don't want to be sitting in City Council three years from now, four years from now discussing the same problem. One of the things I think I got out of this morning was -- even at the Summit, was that we have a lot of people doing a lot of things, but it isn't put together. And there's lapse, and there's holes, and there's gaps. And it's not no 14 more about pointing the finger. I think what it is, it has to be, is that we all have to get together somehow, put it all together, and give it a plan. Just like this morning I heard, in order for someone to build in the community, he has to go through Council or wherever to have a plan. We have to see your plan before you build a building. Well, then, let's build a plan to have my children go back and forth from school safely. Whether it is a traffic 138 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 issue. Whether it is a drug problem, Councilman Ramos. It's all there. The thing is is, like I heard you say, I don't know how to take care of this. Well, then, I know alone you can't, but I know if Councilman Kenney helps you, Councilman Ramos helps you, and we help you, then there's an answer to it. Somewhere underneath there, there's an answer. Thank you.
We'll keep trying. By the way, just on the bus issue, one thing about buses. They always have numbers on them. You can take a number on that bus and give us a call. We'll be happy to make sure that that driver gets better training than apparently they have. Just one of the items. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. Please identify yourself. MS. McFADDEN: Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. 139 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 MS. McFADDEN: My name is Fran McFadden. I live at Incarnation, at 5th and Lindley which is a Catholic Church. And I'm a mom, and a grandmom. And I have children in Catholic school, charter school and public school. The safety of our children going to school and coming home from school saddens me because I know the children aren't safe. There's a lot of violence that goes on, and it's not reported. For example, I was standing on the corner, waiting for the 47 going to 5th Street. A young man approached me who goes to North Catholic High School, a freshman, who attended Incarnation of our Lord School who went all through school there. When he approached me he was actually shaking. I asked him what was the matter. And he said to me, can I just stand here with you and wait for the bus? I said, well, what's wrong? And he told me that he was afraid of 140 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 the younger fellows that were all on the street with him. He did not know them. He didn't know whether they were going to approach him or beat him up. So, I told him, I said, you can stand with me. And there was another lady with me. And he stood there. And he said to me, thank you so much. And we got on the bus, and we traveled north on -- south on 5th Street. And when he got to his stop he turned around and he thanked me again. But it saddened me to think that this boy felt so intimidated by those other youths that are out there that are coming from different schools and they're causing problems. Also, there's another incident that took place coming across on Duncannon Avenue one afternoon after school from Morrison School, because Incarnation and Morrison are on the same street, on 4th Street. 141 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 There was about young people coming from Morrison, heading over to 6th and Duncannon. And all they could talk about on the way was to beat the people up when they got there. The police were called. They ran, but they came back, and they did fight. So, there's violence going on all through our city. It's not just in Olney. It is everywhere. I talk to many leaders that I'm associated with in EPOC, and we have all the same concern. And we feel if -- since we are children of God, each and every one of us should think that every child that is out on the street belongs to each and every one of us. And we should respect them and make sure that they feel safe going to school and coming home from school. And EPOC will not stop until that happens. That's what we have pledged ourselves to do.
Thank you. 25 Please identify yourself. 142 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04
My name is Delores Shaw. I'm a parent of two children that attend public school. I'm a product of the Philadelphia public school system. I'm going to begin by saying that I have a eighth grader who I'm making decisions now about high school. And the current situation in Philadelphia comprehensive high schools and even magnet high schools troubles me. Two years ago when I agreed to send my son to Franklin Learning Center at 15th and Mt. Vernon, I picked it because it was a school of academic excellence. Less than six months into the school year, he had the opportunity to see a young woman be beat down in front of the school building. He was frightened and so was I. Now, here we are in a new year with trouble right around the corner at Ben Franklin, the trouble from last year generated at Ben Franklin. Now we've got trouble again generating from Ben Franklin. I do not mean to pick on any school. 143 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 I only say this as an example. Because now as I pick a school for my eighth grader who will attend high school next year, I've got to be wondering, what is safe, as I send my young woman off to a school that may be potentially dangerous. So, this idea that maybe school violence is not increasing, is only in the eyes of some people. As a parent I see it. I see when I make my decisions. I see it when I send my son off to high school every day. I see it as I decide to make decisions for my young daughter, who may not be safe, no matter where I try to send her in this city. And that was a preference to what we talked about this morning. Once again this morning the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project, in conjunction with City Council members, state officials, SEPTA and school police met to try to lay out and plan a safety supplement around school violence. It is our hope that City Council will support this by agreeing to hold 144 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 meetings or hearings in each of the Councilmanic districts. The reason being for this is that we feel that each individual neighborhood, each individual district has its own individual needs, its own individual diversity, and its own individual data that can be given to us and be used to have a safety summit that we will try to plan for the school year or for next year in 2005. We hope that all the City Council members will support this, because we want to make our schools not just educationally sound as we push toward that; we want to make them safe for all our children as they go to and from school. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much. We look forward to working with you. Are there any questions? (No response.)
Thank you. Mr. Rice, please. 145 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04
Thanks for waiting. Please identify yourself for the record.
Thank you. I'm Harvey Rice, Pennsylvania Department of Education, Safe Schools Advocate for the School District of Philadelphia. I'd like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to appear before you again today. As you know, I testified at your previous hearing on this issue and made a number of recommendations addressing the safety of students going to and from school. And since that time, I've worked independently with Councilman Kenney on this issue for the past several months. The Office of Safe Schools Advocate is charged with independently monitoring the School District of Philadelphia's compliance with the Safe Schools Act. Each year we issue a comprehensive 146 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 report on the School District's overall handling of violent and disruptive students and violent incidents, and make specific recommendations to help the district address this problem. In addition, it is my responsibility to advocate for victims of school violence. This advocacy includes meeting with victims and their parents and oftentimes school principals, helping them get counseling. Additionally, I work with the District Attorney's office and make court appearances with victims, ensure that parents of victims have all the allowable information on the assailants, so that the parents can make informed decisions about the safety of their children at school. I would like to commend Councilman Kenney and the rest of the committee for your commitment in helping to address this problem. As the Safe Schools Advocate, I know from firsthand experience the extent of this problem and the impact it has on the lives of 147 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 victims. Thousands go to school each day fearing for their safety and their well-being. As an advocate for victims of violence, I would like to focus my testimony on the victims and the impact school violence has on them and their families, especially if not dealt with quickly and appropriately. I'm a founding member and past president of the Northeast Philadelphia Victims Service Program, a victim's rights agency, formed to fight for the rights of victims and give victims a voice in the judicial system. I firmly believe in giving everyone a second chance, especially students who are still developing and growing up. And I believe there are occasions where some children deserve that second chance, but not when that student repeatedly commits acts of violence upon other students. Last year alone there were 2406 victims of serious assaults in Philadelphia public schools. That is 2,406 students who 148 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 were assaulted by a perpetrator in our public schools, where there is an expectation by parents that their child will be safe from violence. Many of these victims of school violence suffer not only the physical consequences of violence, but many also exhibit serious lasting psychological impairments, including withdrawal, indifference to learning. In some cases victims not only fear returning to school, but some actually refuse to return to school. Study after study has found that students who live in fear of violence or become victims or witness violent attacks suffer an array of short-term and long-term emotional and psychological consequences, all of which contribute to a decrease in learning, a hindering of personal growth, and an interruption of their academic development and progress. Many are at greater risk for absenteeism, ongoing truancy, school dropout 149 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 and delinquency. Many children who are victims of violence and they do not receive immediate counseling and support are at greater risk of using violence as a means to deal with their own conflicts, thus repeating the cycle. We see this repeatedly in children who are bullied by other students. These are real children, with real tears, real bruises, and in some cases real cuts and real broken bones.
The consequences of the violence against them does not stop when the bruises go away or the surface wounds heal. According to statistics compiled by the Organization to Prevent Child Abuse in America, 250,000 students a day stay home from school because they are afraid of being bullied. These statistics do not include those students who are actual victims of assaults and other crimes. The reporting of violent incidents and the gathering of statistics are vital for adequately addressing the problem of violence 150 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 in our schools and completely eradicating it from our classrooms. We must continue to demand full reporting of all incidents and the quick removal of violent and disruptive students from our children's classrooms. But we must also focus our attention on the victims of this violence, and make sure that their rights are protected, and that their needs are made a priority. The number one priority of my office is to ensure that the rights of victims are protected and that victims rights are put aside of the rights of the violent perpetrators. We are still fighting the battle against those who seek to protect violent perpetrators, at the expense of our victims. For example, last school year two male students led a female student into an empty room, where they restrained her and began to sexually touch her. One of the male students performed the sexual act, while the other student restrained the female victim. 151 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 A few days after reporting the incident, the victim was harassed by friends of the perpetrators and other students in the school. In fact, some students were even wearing tee shirts calling for the perpetrators to be freed, when they were suspended. The school refused to make the student stop wearing the tee shirts. It had to take the intervention of the region to get involved, to force the kids not to wear the tee shirts. The perpetrators were both transferred to local neighborhood schools, contrary to the student code of conduct, which requires expulsion and a removal to a disciplinary school for such an offense. Both were essential eventually found guilty in Juvenile Court. The victim withdrew from school and moved out of state with her mother, to attend a school where she would feel safe, a real victim suffering real consequences and forced to move out of state. 152 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 Also last year, a B student who had escaped with his family from war-torn Bosnia and enrolled in a Philadelphia public school was attacked by 40 to 50 of his fellow middle school students while on his way home. Because none of the assailants were ever expelled or transferred, the victim feared returning and he lost two months of school. The victim eventually transferred to another school. I will always remember the student's father in saying to me in broken English, when we left Bosnia for America, I never thought my child would be attacked by children in his own classroom in his own school, another real victim suffering real consequences. Just two weeks ago, a 10th grade student and her friend were assaulted by five students from four different schools who had conspired to skip school that day, in order to meet the victim at their bus stop and assault them. She was thrown to the ground, held 153 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 down and punched in the head. This student is currently undergoing a series of tests to ascertain the extent of the damages. Instead of the principal contacting the Philadelphia police and informing the other school principals of the respective student's involvement in the assault, the victim's mother was told by her daughter's principal to report the incident to the police herself and to the other schools where the assailants came from, another real victim suffering real consequences. Last school year, there were 2,406 assaults on students.
So far this year, there have been 562 assaults. That's almost 3,000 real victims in an 11-month period, all fearing in some form of another going to school. This is wrong. Somewhere along the way, things just got out of hand, to the point where today violence seems to be a normal part of the educational experience for many students. And unfortunately for many of these students, it is a way of life. 154 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 An editorial in today's Philadelphia Inquirer stated that from January 1, 2004, to October 20, there were 29 homicides of young people up to the age of in Philadelphia. 6 And among the victims from age 18 to 21, 39 7 of the 40 deaths were from guns. 8 As I stated when I testified last 9 April in support of the City Council Bill 10 040114, the possession of weapons on school 11 property legislation, Pennsylvania should 12 adopt common sense gun control legislation 13 and join South Carolina and Maryland, 14 California and Virginia, and limit the 15 purchase of handguns to one weapon a month, 16 and Pennsylvania should allow this City 17 Council to enact their own respective gun control laws. The Philadelphia School District is making steps in the right direction, but they cannot do it alone. More needs to be done to stem the level of violence in our community and in our schools, and ensure that when assaults do occur, victim's rights are protected, and that violent perpetrators are 155 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 removed quickly to alternative schools. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The three incidents that you gave -- examples that you gave were all -- there seemed to have been some breakdown in the system. Were all of those reported to the district, and has action been taken? For example, the principal who did not report the incident and advised to file privately or call the police yourself kind of thing, I mean, is that information then relayed to the School District? Then is action taken to correct that problem?
In that particular instance, the mother had said to the principal -- She had contacted our office. And we said, that's not correct. He should report that. Before we could even get involved, she went back to school. And she told him that. And it was reported but something like 156 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 six days later.
Okay. But at least are you getting... Where do you see the system breaking down or the policy not being adhered to? Are you reporting that information to them, and are they -- is there interaction with... trying to correct the issues?
We do report and we do our comprehensive report on either when it's not reporting or especially when the parents contact us and say that the person that hurt my child is still sitting next to her in class. What is the School District doing on that.
Well, what was -- what was the situation with the -- with the tee shirts? How did that end? I mean, the school never required them to remove them or...
The parent, with action of our office, we went to the region. And then the region intervened.
But the parent reported to us that the principal said, I can't do anything about it. They have a right to free speech.
But they have a uniform. They have uniforms now. And they're not supposed to wear things that have writing, other than, I guess, the name of the high school or whatever. But they're not supposed to wear tee shirts with writing and all that on that. I don't understand that.
-- last year at all. And I know that, you know, while it's much better this year, they're still having a difficulty, 158 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 and especially when you get into the high schools, of having kids wear uniforms.
I had one other question. Did these incidents happen before the zero tolerance or...
No. It was during the zero tolerance. The zero tolerance has been -- These were all -- These all happened during -- when zero tolerance has been in effect. They've all been -- At the end of last year and then the one just two weeks ago.
Maybe someone from the School District might need to answer this, but it's not up to the individual school on how they enforce their tolerance. My understanding, it's a blanket policy across the district. Or how can the perpetrators still be in the same classroom with the victim? That's my question.
There are -- There are some federal legislation -- There is some federal legislation which would prohibit the School District, if the child is a special 159 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 education student, of removing them, if the action that that student took was a manifestation of what their disability is. But there are -- You know, on very serious violent incidents, if a special education student brings a gun or brings drugs to school, they can be removed immediately for 45 days. If they commit an act of violence, the School District can then ask for a hearing. And the School District would then have to prove that that child is a danger to himself and/or others, and it's before a state hearing officer, to have that child removed. And I think in some cases they should do that. I think some of these incidents are very violent. I mean, when you look at when we become adults and we go into the work force, we don't put up with actions from other employees. Our bosses won't allow it. Or they won't allow indecent assaults. They would be sued. Companies would be sued for that. 160 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 And why should we allow our most vulnerable citizens, our children, to have to go through what we as adults probably would not have to go through.
Thank you, Mr. Rice, for the work that you do on behalf of our schools and our children. You mention in your statement that we must continue to demand full reporting of all violent incidents. In your estimation is our School District complying with the full reporting of all incidents?
We have seen... When we -- The last two years that we have issued reports, a third of our cases were not reported to the school police. They were... Well, the school police -- It was reported in the school. They never reported to the 161 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 central reporting, the incident control desk.
And that's very important. That's very important because you make a point about how key it is to compile vital, you know, statistics to be able to really get at the extent of this problem. Has that improved from that one third reporting that you stated?
We haven't done a tracking as of yet for this school year. But we still are seeing cases. The first thing -- When someone calls our office and says that their child was a victim of violence, the first thing that we do is to see if there's an incident report on it and whether it was reported or not because sometimes there's more information on there, whether it was reported to the police, what district, what officer may have taken a police report. And we are still running into where there are not incident reports filed. And then we have to go to the school, send a letter saying, you know, parent reported this 162 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 happened, and we can't locate an incident report. Was one filed. Maybe they, you know, there was a mixup and it just never got called in or it got, you know, written and they didn't send it in or something like that. And then we ask them, if it wasn't, then please file one. Because as you said, Councilman, it's very important to have these statistics so the School District can make the necessary judgments. Like, if one school has more assaults or more fights, then to put those programs in to counter -- you know, to counter that -- If another school has indecent assaults and another school has a lot of harassment and bullying, then you can, you know, put your resources where you need them. So it's very important that... And plus, it's required by the federal -- you know, No Child Left Behind, and also the state law.
Are you saying 163 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 that the School District to a certain extent is not complying?
Well, I don't -- I don't know if it's the School District. I think -- I think -- I don't -- I think there's -- somehow there's something not -- you know, there are people in -- in some of the schools that are either not taking this seriously or don't understand the reporting procedures and how to comply with them. I don't -- I can't really answer, you know, why some schools aren't reporting these incidents.
Do you have... Do you have a say or authority, in the position that you hold, to compel the School District to get better at this, you know, at this allegation of yours?
The only authority I have is when we issue our report and also during the course of the year when we make other recommendations, is to let the public know, let the City Council -- the Mayor and the City Council what we see, and also the State 164 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 Department of Education. And hopefully they will... you know, that the interest in that will generate or cajole the School District, and the principals and teachers and school police officers report everything that needs to be reported.
Correct me if I'm wrong. I assume you have addressed this with the School District. And if you have, what has been their response? I mean or have you told them that they need to tighten up their reporting system, make sure it filters down to those --
We've made that recommendation in the last two reports that we've issued. And we're still seeing a problem. So I think there's got to be a better... I think the problem is that the policy is not clear to a lot of the people who are supposed 165 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 to report these incidents immediately and handle those incidents appropriately.
I have a question perhaps you know the answer to. I was told this morning that the teachers, some of the teachers, will not get in between two children fighting because their workmans' comp won't pay if they're injured. Do you know whether that's true?
Okay. And I do want to thank you for -- If anybody from the School District knows, it would be -- I'd like to get the answer. But I also want to thank you for coming in and testifying --
-- when we had our gun controls bills. And I'd really appreciate it if 166 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 you'd write a letter to those state reps and state senators that you're familiar with, and encourage them to support... You know, we want the same thing. We want Philadelphia to control their own gun laws.
Mr. Green, did you want to... If you would like to testify...
If you're not prepared to, I understand. But if you are prepared. That's fine. Thank you.
Yes. I'm just -- I'm wondering why there seems to be this problem if this is needed to compile information. So, if perhaps Mr. Green can shed any light on this issue.
Yes. Dexter Green. I'm the Chief Safety Executive for the School 167 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 District of Philadelphia. In short, I'm their chief of the School District Police Department. Just to respond, I guess, to Mr. Rice's -- some of Mr. Rice's comments, when Mr. Vallas came in, I think, about two years ago, we saw our incident reports increase by maybe... I think the first year, about 40 percent. 40 percent more incidents reported over the previous year prior to Mr. Vallas coming in. I think most people would recognize the fact that that was -- that spike wasn't the result of schools getting worse or incidents happening more. It was the whole reporting piece that took place. And Mr. Rice is absolutely correct. We've had this conversation a number of times. He's had it with Mr. Vallas, as well as myself. And the bottom line is, when -- when students are involved in incidents, serious incidents, they need to report it. They and their families need to report those incidents 168 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 to the District. The information I give you -- And I pretty much stand by the reports that we submit. If they're not reported to us, I can't report it to you. So, what we encourage -- And we send out information at the beginning of every school year: If you're involved in a violent incident, you need to report it, a, the to the school administration; and then, b, the school administration is required to report it to me. I think you have seen over the last couple of years Mr. Vallas has punished principals for not honoring that. And so, again, I feel pretty comfortable that the appropriate information is being reported to me. Now, there are instances -- and I'll be real candid and straightforward -- where two students engage -- two third graders engage in a fight. And that information may get to Mr. Rice's office and never get to me. Because those -- some of those kinds of 169 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 incidents are not required to be put on an incident report. When we get the information we generally put it on the incident report anyway, whether it's required or not. But those kind of incidents aren't required to be put on an incident report. So there's a lot of -- And there's only one incident that he talked about of the three that I was familiar with, and that was the one where he talked about the tee shirts and the assault. And the reason the kids were wearing those tee shirts was, as a result of when we did get the information, sometime later after it actually happened, the student didn't want to come forward at first. When we got the information, Mrs. Morris, who's in charge of discipline, her office moved on that immediately. And that's why the kids actually started wearing those shirts. When everybody, including Mr. Rice's office, became aware of that, immediate 170 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 action was taken to stop that. So again... But the other two incidents, I'm not sure -- I can't remember all of them off the top of my head, but I just happen to be very familiar with that first that he happened to mention.
Could it just simply be, Mr. Rice, that parents just feel more comfortable calling you up versus telling someone at the school?
No. Most of the cases -- and that we have, that the parent has reported to someone in school, it's not like they were the first -- You know, I'm not including those where we're the first person that they've gone to. These are cases where someone in school, whether it was the nurse -- I mean, we've got some cases where the nurse has done medical and there's no incident report. Or whether it's a teacher or an NTA or a school police officer. Yeah; it wouldn't be fair for me to say, you know, oh, you didn't report it to 171 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 anybody in the school, and then criticize the school for not reporting it. How would they know? I mean, we do get cases like that where a kid just gets assaulted or something happens. And they don't tell anyone. And they come home. And, you know, and they tell their parents. And then the parent either calls us first before they call the school. And we always tell them, you have to call the school, and you have to report it, and get the name of the person that you reported it to and when you reported it.
And Councilman, I -- I -- And again, I think we've worked -- we've worked pretty well, I guess, together over the last couple of years. And what I would, again, encourage is that I want to hold somebody accountable. And you know, whenever Mr. Rice comes across these kinds of cases, if he would bring them to our attention, we can hold -- Because it's not always the principal -- we can hold 172 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 somebody accountable for not doing their job.
Someone just a few minutes ago testified, someone from the community, and said that one of the things that he recommended was that we find a way to make sure that we work closer together in a more cohesive way because we have so many -- Referred to a number, to different 10 departments and agencies -- 11
-- addressing 13 this problem, that if we can find a more 14 cohesive way of sharing more information, 15 make it better, that we could probably start 16 making a dent with this problem. 17 Thank you for your testimony. 18
Commissioner Tollson. Sorry to make you wait. Anyone else here to testify left? Just one other. Okay. Please identify yourselves for the record. 173 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 COMMISSIONER TOLLSON: Good afternoon.
Afternoon. COMMISSIONER TOLLSON: Thank you for having me here. I'm glad to wait. If I can help with the safety in the city, I'm glad to wait.
Thank you. COMMISSIONER TOLLSON: Councilman Kenney, and members of the committee, my name is Clarita Tollson, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Streets Department. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the safety of our children as they travel to and from school. The Streets Department is committed to protecting the children of this city and improving the systems that support safety. Traffic safety is dependent on the three E's: Engineering, education and enforcement. Through the Managing Director's leadership, there is coordination to achieve the three E's. 174 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 The Streets Department focuses on but does not limit its efforts to the engineering issues. The Streets Department provides traffic control at and around schools. To date, the Department Engineering -- Traffic Engineering Division has taken measures to improve safety. We have one installed static and flashing miles per hour signs around 12 schools, installed appropriate size and 13 markings, including continental crosswalks at 14 intersections assigned to school crossing 15 guard, installed continental markings at all controlled crosswalks in the school block, started a process to evaluate and improve parking around schools, and in conjunction with the American Automobile Association, triple A, the Streets Department placed over 500 school opening posters at high volume intersections across the city. Since 1997, at a cost of over $2 million, the Streets Department has installed flashing school speed limit signs at 189 175 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 schools. In fiscal 2004 alone, the department spent $342,000 to install flashing devices at schools. Seven additional schools 6 received flashers as part of a major street 7 improvement contract. 8 In addition to flashing speed limit 9 signs, the major part of the contract was the 10 department seeking other funding sources as 11 well. 12 The School District has provided a 13 one million dollar loan which will allow us 14 to install flashers at approximately 50 15 schools, including the 37 schools that have 16 already requested it. And we have some 17 additional schools to place some applications 18 additionally. 19 We plan to start installations in 20 April and have most operational before the start of the school year. In August the department submitted a grant for PennDOT Safe Route to Schools Program. The request is for $1 million to provide flashing speed limit signals, 176 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 additional signage and crosswalk markings at about 30 schools across the city. The specific locations are yet to be determined. PennDOT is expected to award these first grants in May. As part of the Managing Director's School Task Force, the Streets Department conducted a comprehensive inspection of over 1,000 school crossing guard locations. At 75 percent of the locations, the installation and/or replacement of signs were required. At locations where the school crossing sign was needed, all warning signs were changed to the yellow green signs. Over 3,700 school crossing signs were replaced and/or adjusted, at a cost of $215,000. In addition to sign work orders, over 50 intersections required refreshed markings. To date, 60 percent of them have been completed. As a Task Force member, the Streets Department has been charged with developing 177 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 criteria to evaluate school crossing guard intersections and to review and modify parking restrictions around the schools. Data is being gathered for the inspection evaluation. And evaluation criteria include age range of students, number of students crossing, type of streets, intersection controls, speed limit, length of crossing, and a three-year crash history. Each category will be weighted and a ranking will be developed. The Task Force hopes that this will provide objective justification for assigning crossing guards.
Parking restrictions around schools are being aggressively enforced for the first time in years. This has raised questions regarding the safe drop-off location by bus or car for students. Each public school provides the Task Force with a perimeter survey of existing regulations and conditions and suggested modifications. Working with the school police and 178 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 the Parking Authority, the Streets Department is reviewing this information. Work orders for the first seven locations have been issued and are scheduled to be installed by the end of the month. The increased enforcement has generated questions as to what are school hours. New signs with specific hours are being manufactured to address this. m. , depending upon dismissal time. Bus only zones will also be specifically designated. The department is also investigating and developing criteria for other traffic-calming measures, such as curb bump-outs, soft rumble strips, staggered parking, and variable speed indicators. These measures are not limited to school zones but can be applied city wide, to provide the safest travel corridors for pedestrians and motorists. As I stated earlier, the Streets Department is committed on the issue of 179 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 safety. We will evaluate technology, engineering practices, to work hand in hand with education and enforcement, to improve the safety of our children as they travel to school.
Thank you for your testimony. Do you have a general time frame on when you think the evaluation on some of the traffic-calming measures would be completed, as far as rumble strips and those types of things? Do you have any idea when we may have enough information to determine what's appropriate? COMMISSIONER TOLLSON: We are doing evaluations in conjunction with the Task Force. We have begun the evaluation process to lay out our options. And we're now trying to define the environments where they work best.
Do you think it's safe to say we would have probably some movement by the beginning of next school year? 180 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 COMMISSIONER TOLLSON: Absolutely.
Okay. Cool. All right. Good. Thank you. COMMISSIONER TOLLSON: Thank you.
Thanks for your testimony. Thanks for your patience. Our last witness. We have two? I'm sorry? Do you want to come up together? Save some time. Please identify yourselves for the record.
Yes. My name is Brian Armstead. I'm the Education Coordinator at Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth. I wanted to first of all say that we look forward to continued work on the part of the government and the public in general on the broader issues of safety for children, both within our schools and outside of our schools, and wanted to specifically focus our comments today about the idea of traffic safety which has been an issue that has been neglected for a very long time. 181 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 Of course, over the last year, due to the efforts of parents and community groups, notably EPOC and the Daily News, and also of course, Councilman Kenney, some serious attention is being paid to the plight faced by our city's children, as they attempt to travel safely from home to school and back again. Yet and still, with the Managing Director's Task Force, and the support of the Police Department and the School District, too many children are still at risk. Too many corners are still unstaffed. And it is not acceptable. And we are left to wonder how many children have to be hit before this government adequately protects them. The effect of poor traffic safety goes far beyond the immediate impact on the 93 children who were hit by cars during the last school year, of course. It reaches their siblings and parents, their friends and classmates, their relative and neighbors. And the resultant concerns over 182 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 safety, heightened tension, are counter-productive to learning and affect a vast network of people. It's also been noted that the schools with strong home and schools association are the ones most likely to be the ones that get the most attention and the highest response to any dangerous situations surrounding their schools. It is wrong that the children who attend the school or the parents are not as organized have to suffer a greater risk of physical harm. This is literally adding the risk of injury to the insult of ignoring their safety, simply because their parents and community are not loud enough. The result all too often is that our children are hit by cars or barely escape accidents while parents sit by windows anxiously waiting to see if their children get home safely. And so we call upon the city, the Police Department and the School District, to 183 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 act swiftly and implement several of the measures that were recommended in the report issued by Councilman Kenney. I'm pleased to hear that many of the recommendations that were mentioned in the report are being acted upon now, but just wanted to follow up that with several of the recommendations that we particularly are supporting. The first is the transfer of control of the crossing guard program. The crossing guard program, the employment, deployment and training, et cetera, needs to be transferred from the Police Department to the School District and the schools. Of course, the city should continue to support the crossing guards in its budget. Additionally, the Philadelphia police would still provide backup support when there is a shortage of crossing guards. This transfer of control is vital because the Police Department, given all of their other responsibilities, has not shown the ability to properly manage the crossing 184 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 guard program. Placing the crossing guards under the School District's jurisdiction and assigning each crossing guard to specific schools would allow for greater accountability and closer control of the system by the people most responsible for our children on a daily basis. The second piece would be, of course, to slow down traffic near schools. Again, many of the traffic-calming measures have already been discussed today, including more effective signage, adding police personnel during arrivals and departures, active ticketing of speeders, et cetera.
And the third piece is the elimination of illegal parking near schools which has also been addressed a lot today. Again, adding appropriate signage, personnel from Philadelphia Parking Authority used at key school locations, and also, as has been mentioned earlier today, the use of school police who issue parking tickets around the schools. 185 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04
Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony and your patience.
You have to pull that microphone close to you. Right. Thank you. Please identify yourself.
My name is Nancy Lavin in. I'm vice president of Philly Walks, the only Philadelphia organization solely devoted to pedestrian safety. I've testified before Council numerous times. So, hello again.
I just wanted to be very brief because so many points have been touched upon already today. And we're really thrilled that certain things are going to be worked on already, so I won't be redundant. 186 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 We take your point that drivers' carelessness when picking up or dropping off children in front of school comprises a major danger, as recent reports show. And better enforcement is badly needed in school zones and adjacent areas, to protect those children, and other children as well, who are walking and crossing streets on their way to school. Better training and hiring of crossing guards, of course, was touched on here as well. And it was interesting, too, to hear people say that they found the same idea that we did, that the administration might be shifted elsewhere, to greater benefit. What I didn't hear mentioned today was the use of the red light or stop signs combination. And I know that the red lights... cameras are being begun at certain intersections. And not many right now, but we certainly look forward to an extension of that program to specially identify problem 187 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 areas. And it sounds like we know exactly, you know, how to identify those areas. It sounds very blatant. And of course, there's a need to promote increased involvement for parents who are walking their children or groups of children to school, creating the safe walking school bus experience. And as far as I can determine, that walking school bus is such a fabulous idea, it should be repeated over and over again in numerous areas of the city. As far as I can tell, it's just an example sort of thing that you see from time to time. And we'd be certainly glad to be helpful in any time you want to extend that program. So, in order for parents to feel comfortable about their younger children walking to school, a general increase of pedestrian activity in the vicinity is extremely helpful. And this would include older school 188 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 children walking and adults walking to their jobs or shopping. And that brings me to remark on... I think Mr. Kenney, it was your remark about vacant housing. I'm not positive. But it was brought up here.
Yes. I think it was Mr. Goldsmith who brought up the efforts of L & I and the city to --
-- identify vacant housing around schools, to have them cleaned and sealed or demolished, you know, if necessary.
Right. It may be an opportunity, though, to try and be proactive in introducing some small service businesses, anything to help create more of a neighborhood walking and shopping experience in that neighborhood. So, I'll just close by saying, I am under five feet tall. My experience is that of about a 12-year-old child, I suppose. So I can really relate to this. 189 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04
(Laughing.) Well, actually no. But I can well appreciate the experience. So, I just put a remark down here that it's well known that there's comfort in company and safety in numbers. So, thanks so much for giving me the opportunity.
Thanks. Thanks for waiting around to express your opinion. That will conclude the hearing today. We thank everyone for their attendance. Thank you. (Hearing concluded at 2:57 p.m.) 190 040791 - Oversight/Public Safety - 11/8/04 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the public hearing of The Philadelphia City Council, taken on November 8, 2004, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. _____________________________ DAVID A. DEIK, RPR and Commissioner of Deeds (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)