COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE THE COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION and PUBLIC SAFETY - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, January 28, 1998 1:25 a.m. - - - RES. 970703 - Authorizing the Philadelphia City Council's Committees on Public Health and Human Services, Education and Public Safety to conduct public hearings to examine the effect of truancy on the incidence of crime and to develop a coordinated strategy to protect youth from violence and crime in neighborhoods. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO, Chair, Health and Human Services COUNCILMAN ANGEL ORTIZ, Chair, Public Safety COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILWOMAN HAPPY FERNANDEZ COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILWOMAN ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN AUGUSTA A. CLARK COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center Plaza, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 I N D E X RESOLUTION 970703 Ronald Bell, Student, YouthBuild Charter School- Daniel Alvarez, Student, YouthBuild Charter School--------------------------------------- Marcus White, Student, YouthBuild Charter School--------------------------------------- Taylor Frome, Executive Director, YouthBuild Charter School------------------------------- Florence Johnson, Vice-Principal, University 8 City High School----------------------------- 51 Lori Williams, Student, University City High 9 School--------------------------------------- 59 Vanessa Frazier, Student, University City High 10 School--------------------------------------- 60 Paul P. Panepinto, Administrative Judge, Family 11 Court Division, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania--------------------------------- 73 12 David Hornbeck, Superintendent, Philadelphia School District------------------------------ 93 13 Estelle Richman, Commissioner, Health Department----------------------------------- 125 14 Maxine Tucker, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Human Services---------------------------- 133 15 Michael DiBerardinis, Commissioner, Recreation Department----------------------------------- 135 16 Richard Neal, Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department----------------------------------- 138 John McGleese, Representative, School District Police--------------------------------------- 155 Dr. Joseph Stewart, Representative, Dr. Warren E. Smith Community Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center--------------------------- 158 Carol Goertzel, Executive Director, Women's Association for Women's Alternatives--------- 160 Christine Gherst, Program Manager, Women's Association for Women's Alternatives--------- 167 Bill Madera, Associate Director, Philadelphia Citizens for Children & Youth---------------- 172 - - - 3 RESOLUTION 970703
Good afternoon. I would like to convene this Committee meeting today, City Council's Committees on Public Health and Human Services, the Education Committee, and Public Safety Committee, which will hold hearings to examine the effect of truancy on the incidence of crime, and to develop a coordinated strategy to protect youth from violence and crime in the neighborhoods. The meeting is now convened. I would like to recognize that we have with us on this panel Councilman Rizzo, Councilman Ortiz, Councilwoman Fernandez who will Chair this meeting, and, yours truly, Councilwoman Marian Tasco, and certainly Council staff. Councilwoman Clark is with us also this afternoon. We will call on the clerk to read the resolution.
Calling on City Council's Committees on Public Health and Human Services, Education, and Public Safety to hold public hearings to examine the effect of truancy on the incidence of crime and to develop a coordinated strategy to protect youth from violence and crime in neighborhoods. 4 RESOLUTION 970703 Whereas, the U.S. Department of Justice cites chronic absenteeism as the most powerful predictor of delinquent behavior; And whereas, in Philadelphia, an estimated 36,000 public school students miss enough class to be placed on the Board of Education's truancy list; And whereas, approximately 4500 students who have been absent 50 or more days from school attend Truancy Court each year; And whereas, truant students do not have the opportunity to receive an adequate education and, therefore, have less of an opportunity to become gainfully employed and to become contributing citizens of the City of Philadelphia; And whereas, city residents bear the costs resulting from truancy: Higher taxes for law enforcement, costs associated with youth crime and petty vandalism, increased business costs to train under-educated employees, and reduced federal and state school funding due to lowered daily attendance figures; And whereas, crimes committed by and 5 RESOLUTION 970703 against youth compromise the safety and quality of life in our neighborhoods and jeopardize the futures of our city's children; Whereas, the Truancy Prevention Committee, a joint effort by the Board of Education, the Police Department, the Department of Human Services, and various other city agencies has undertaken efforts to prevent the number of children and youth who are truant, an assessment of these and other city efforts to protect youth from crime and violence is needed. And resolved by the Council of the City of Philadelphia that we hereby authorize the Committees on Public Health and Human Services, Education, and Public Safety to conduct hearings to examine the impact of truancy on the incidence of crime and to develop a coordinated school, community, and city prevention strategy to protect youths from crime and violence in our neighborhoods.
Thank you very much. We would like to say Councilman Ortiz is Chair of the Public Safety Committee, he will 6 RESOLUTION 970703 conduct these hearings, and I would ask to be excused for family business. And we will turn it over to Councilman Ortiz. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Madam Chair, Councilwoman Tasco. Councilwoman Fernandez, do you have a statement? Councilwoman Fernandez has a statement.
Thank you, Councilman Ortiz. This is the second in a series of three hearings looking at issues affecting the safety of our children and youth in our city, and basically looking at how we can protect them from crime and violence in our city. Everyone is concerned about crime, everyone is concerned about increasing safety in the city. And so we particularly wanted to focus in on how do we protect youth from being victims of crime, and, also, how do we prevent youth from being perpetrators of crime. And when we began to look at some of the high-risk factors that were affecting young 7 RESOLUTION 970703 people to become later victims or perpetrators of crime, truancy stood out as a key issue. And, in fact, the U.S. Department of Justice report says, quote, Chronic absenteeism is the most powerful predictor of delinquent behavior, end quote. So truancy, essentially, we could see as an early warning, as a symptom, or basically as a gateway to other much more serious problems. A gateway to trouble, vandalism, which could then lead on to more serious crime. A gateway to misuse of drugs and alcohol, and perhaps unwanted pregnancies. And truancy as a gateway to a future life of unemployment and under-education. So today, with these hearings, we want to look not only at the problem, but say, what are we doing here in this city collectively to address this very serious problem of as many as 36,000 young people each year being truant from our schools. So we have invited representatives from the School District, the Health Department, the Recreation Department, the Police Department, along 8 RESOLUTION 970703 with young people and advocacy groups and people who have been looking at this issue, to look together at how can we make a difference, how can we reduce truancy, therefore reduce at-risk youth, and hopefully increase safety and reduce crime in our cities. So I think we wanted, Councilman Ortiz, to start out and hear from some of the young people themselves who might have had some experience being truant, and they could help us understand both what happened to them, and then what were some of the things that helped them turn their lives around. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you. And the key is -- and we have been having hearings now on Public Safety and the issues that create crime within our cities and affect our lives for the last year -- the fact that over 15,000 kids are absent every day, in essence, truant every day, unexcused absences of at least over 15,000, and that it is known that at least 65 percent of all burglaries are done during the time, during daytime, and are perpetrated by kids who are truant. And this is something that we have to 9 RESOLUTION 970703 begin dealing with. And we have to see what the answers are, other than just building another prison, building a larger Youth Study Center, and find the solutions that can give these kids an educational environment that they will be happy to go to and not be happy to be absent away from. So can I call Florence Johnson, Vice-Principal of University City High School, Lori Williams of 11th grade.
They aren't here yet. Taylor Frome, Executive Director of Youth Build Charter School, Ronald Bell, Daniel Alvarez, Marcus White. You are going to have to pull the microphone close to you. It is an old, antiquated system. And we would like you to identify yourself for the record. Thank you.
Good afternoon. I am Taylor Frome, Executive Director of the Youth Build Philadelphia Charter School. And I'd actually like to have my students speak first, and I will end up wrapping up our presentation. 10 RESOLUTION 970703 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: We have been joined at the table by Councilwoman Ann Verna. Go ahead.
Good morning, Councilmembers. My name is Ronald Bell. I am here to testify before the Council with regard to Resolution No. 970703. I am years old, and I dropped out 9 of high school in 1996. I am here to talk to some 10 reasons regarding why Philadelphia's dropout rate is 11 so high. 12 Before we can even answer this 13 question, we must first answer the question, who is 14 the dropout. 15 The stereotypical version is that of 16 a young man or young woman that's known to be the 17 neighborhood troublemaker or the neighborhood drug 18 dealer, or someone of that nature. I see the dropout as a misunderstood youth that made some mistakes along the winding road to success. The increase in the number of high school dropouts is not only due to the students giving up, but also due to the school system giving up on the student. 11 RESOLUTION 970703 How does the Philadelphia school system expect students to remain in school, or interested in learning, when they place so many obstacles along the way? I have been in classrooms with these type of teachers, teachers that just hand out -- that take the daily attendance, then they hand out worksheets and they say something like, "If you learn, you learn." How can a child feel comfortable in an environment like this? One of these obstacles is a large number of teachers and students that don't get along with each other at all. I remember feeling like I was on top of the game, you know, saying that I was big man on campus or that I can do whatever I wanted to do. But, I would do this just because the teachers would make me feel bad by saying stuff like, "I have got mine; you have to get yours," or, "I will get paid whether you learn or not." And I remember times of fights breaking out when kids would -- when one child would call another child stupid or dumb, and then that child, in turn, would lash out against the children 12 RESOLUTION 970703 that were laughing at them, and the teachers would sit there and do nothing. They just didn't care. And another obstacle in the path of students is the danger students face about, you know, you have kids bringing in guns and drugs and things of this nature. These environments that students are placed in can only degrade the whole learning process. My solution to both of these problems is, build better bonds between students and teachers. The bonds should start out at the student's level, then gradually be raised to a higher level. Teachers must keep the lines of communications open for this to work successfully. Another solution is to stop the problem before it becomes a problem. For example, at Youth Build we were introduced to a program during orientation called Mental Toughness Training. The course was made up of a series of workshops during which we deal with the issues of disrespect and anger and how to react in an 13 RESOLUTION 970703 appropriate manner. This greatly reduces the tensions between students and teachers. It also shows students how to deal with anger and frustration against one another. In conclusion, I think the Philadelphia school system is in dire need of teachers that care. They also need better security and more -- and a more exciting curriculum. These solutions should be implemented as soon as possible if you expect the dropout rate to decrease. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you.
Good afternoon, Councilmembers. My name is Daniel Alvarez. I am also here to testify before the Council with regard to the Resolution No. 970703. I am 20 years old and a 9th grade high school dropout. My reasoning for dropping out was peer pressure and drugs. Friends had a strong influence on my cutting school. They also influenced my addiction to marijuana and alcohol. 14 RESOLUTION 970703 It has been three years since I last attended high school. Since I joined Youth Build Philadelphia five months ago, I have not smoked marijuana and my attendance has been 99 percent. I believe that this change is partly of my own desire to change my life, and partly due to the difference between Youth Build and the public school system. In high school, the population is larger and there is no order. There is no one to provide any guidance or structure. The high school counselors are not involved in your life. They don't approach you; you have to seek them out. In such a situation, where there is no one that is there for you, you have nobody but your peers to talk to. You feel as if the ones who are going through the same problems, you bond with them. So the peer group has more of an influence on you. And if they are a bad influence, that if they encourage you to cut class and smoke marijuana, that is what you do. At Youth Build, the environment is 15 RESOLUTION 970703 different. The staff at Youth Build, teachers, and counselors are more involved in your life and they respect you. They set a higher standard for us. They expect more in every way. They want us to be responsible. They want us to be better than we ever thought we could be. They want us to just prove it not only to ourselves, but to everyone who puts us down as high school dropouts and being truant. The peer group at Youth Build is also very different. In high school, my peers did not care about school; they cared about having fun. We would smoke marijuana and not do anything except for sleep and eat. The marijuana and school did not mix. It stopped us from paying attention and made us focus on other things; such as, sex and hanging out. It also led some people to dealing drugs because we were around it and we see the potential to make quick money. At Youth Build, my peers have the same goals as I do, to succeed in life and to 16 RESOLUTION 970703 achieve a high school diploma. Also at Youth Build, staff makes us aware of negative peer pressure. They teach you the importance of taking care of our own responsibilities first. At Youth Build everyone has the same priorities: Getting your school work done, getting your diploma, and getting money the legal way, with a job. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Daniel.
Good afternoon, Councilman. My name is Marcus White. I am also here to testify. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Excuse me, Marcus. Put your microphone closer to you.
Excuse me. I am here to testify regarding Resolution No. 970703. I am also a representative of Youth Build. I attend the West Oak Lane site. Truancy has become a problem for me not because I didn't want to do the work, or didn't know how, but because I just put other things first. 17 RESOLUTION 970703 I felt like having money and looking nice were more important than education. I was smoking weed and running wild. I had no real reason not to, because there was no 6 one there to tell me that without education, you get nothing. I also felt that the things that were being taught in school weren't going to be any use to me anyway. I believe that this is true for a lot of high school dropouts. They fall into the trap of selling drugs, or whatever it is, to maintain the in-crowd standards. So in most cases this is a case of confused priorities and a lack of adults who really will guide them. In Youth Build we are given responsibility for learning and have gotten the counseling to ensure our success. The mental staff at Youth Build -- I mean, the staff in Youth Build, excuse me, treat us like real people. And the Mental Toughness, it gets our attitudes just right. Because attitude is right for you and the things you want. 18 RESOLUTION 970703 In public schools you are treated like a number, with no personality. There are too many students in each class, and teachers do not remain the level of respect. For example, not wearing hats in the building, not chewing gum or listening to walk-mans. I believe that if administrators and teachers spent as much energy in the curriculum as we do in enforcing these rules, the attendance rate would rise. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: What high schools were you guys dropped out from?
I would like to make a few remarks, just to sum up the testimony here and to create a little further perspective. My name is Taylor Frome, as I said earlier. I am the Executive Director of the Youth 19 RESOLUTION 970703 Build Philadelphia Charter School. And I want to thank City Council for addressing the issue of truancy and for giving us an opportunity to participate in this forum. We would like there to be some real action taken on truancy, so that the problems and the issues of high school dropouts that we try to deal with become fewer and fewer young people every year. The three young men that you have just heard from are all students in good standing at the Youth Build Philadelphia Charter School. Their attendance levels are 90 percent and higher, each of them. And this is after extensive histories of truancy. Each of the young men at one time completely disengaged from the educational system. And as you can see, they are intelligent, insightful, articulate, and motivated. What you cannot see is that they are not rare exceptions, that there are thousands of young men and women with equal capacity who are disengaged from education. Truancy is a symptom of that 20 RESOLUTION 970703 disengagement. The process starts much earlier, when children somehow don't get these two essential messages: First, that they are important and have a future ahead of them; and, second, that education is important to them. When a child apparently does not care about their future, as evidenced by truancy, drug abuse, misbehavior and lack of effort in school, they need adults to help them. At Youth Build we have succeeded in creating an environment that supports education and helps them when they are confused. As stated in previous testimony, this environment includes staff that gets to know each and every student, respect for students that is designed into every aspect of the school, high standards and individual encouragement to meet them, student responsibility for their own learning and pride in their own learning, and a peer group that is committed to education. Children who are truant do not believe that education is for them. And I think that will be a theme in everything you hear. 21 RESOLUTION 970703 They may not know that they are smart. They may not know that they can do something with their lives. They may not know that they have both something to offer and something to get at school. The good news is, they can be reached and reengaged. Again and again we find that everyone has hopes and dreams, and that education is a key to reaching them. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilwoman Fernandez.
Thank you, Councilman Ortiz. I had three questions. Let me start with the one. We are looking at ways to prevent truancy. I am wondering if you have had an opportunity, or there would be opportunities, for these very articulate young men, who are also very good speakers, have there been any opportunities or do you foresee opportunities to maybe have you be talking with some of the younger generation to help inspire them to be as reengaged in learning?
We don't have anything 22 RESOLUTION 970703 set up at this point, but I think we would be very interested in doing that.
Perhaps when Dr. Hornbeck, or Superintendent Hornbeck, comes, I think you would be wonderful role models and could communicate perhaps in a way with some of the younger kids. Sometimes -- we had three sons -- I remember at some points in their life they really didn't want to hear from their parents; they seemed to want to hear from some other people. But I was wondering, do you have a sense of at what age it might have been helpful for someone to have gotten through to you, so you might not have dropped out of school and might have gotten engaged? Like, what age would you say is sort of the at-risk time?
I would say really it begins during the adolescent years, starting at 13 on up. These are what some believe to be the rebellious years. And it starts mainly at home, from parents, from other adults in your family. But I 23 RESOLUTION 970703 think it shouldn't end at home. It should also be carried out into the schools, with more counselors and better relationships between teachers and students. Because when children go to school, they are very influential at this time. So when they are around their classmates or other peers, they see what they do, and then they will try to take on the same attitude as them, instead of becoming an individual. And I think teachers need to really get on a one-on-one basis and bring themselves down to the student's level. Not saying that the student is on a lower level, but bringing themselves down to where the student can understand more on the same level, and then gradually raising the level, so where the student becomes an individual, showing them how to think for themselves, and the right and wrong ways to deal with certain situations that might arise around this time. And that's my resolution.
Do any of the other students have anything to add?
I also feel that the 24 RESOLUTION 970703 atmosphere that the teachers put together, when you first come together and you are first going to school, atmosphere is like a real test atmosphere. I think like he said, like some type of ice-breaker between the teachers and the students, and also the teachers and parents. Because in my situation, it was like my mom was working during the day, and I was catching all the mail. And I think it should be mandatory that teachers get with the parents and talk. Because my mom, she was always working. And all the meetings and all that she never got to because I caught the mail and rip all that stuff up, rip all the bad notices and that stuff up. So I think it also starts with parents and teachers, also. Thank you.
Like he said, around 13 or 14, that's a good age when I started straying, started listening and hearing other things and 25 RESOLUTION 970703 seeing other things. And my hormones started going, and I started to want to get into girls and doing this, and cutting school and wanting to be in the in-crowd, one of the bad guys with the respect and all of that.
I believe at the same age that both of my classmates have said, 13. Both of my parents were deceased at the age of 14. At my age 14, they both passed away. And for me, it is the counselors. Because once my parents had passed away, I had no 15 one to guide me. It was just my older brothers and older sisters, which were young, also; they were 21, 20, and 18. So, really, I had no role models anymore. And my counselors in school, they didn't come to me. They didn't give me any counseling. It was just myself and my family. So I feel as though more counselors in the school system and more teachers. Because there are too many students per teacher. That's my -- RESOLUTION 970703
We need you testifying to the state legislature at the budget hearings, I think. I had one last question. How did you get hooked up or find out about Youth Build?
I had a cousin that had made it through the program. And he spoke to me about the program and told me how the program helped him. And I took -- I seen that as an opportunity to help myself. So I went down to Catharine Street, 619 Catherine, and I filled out an application and got inducted into the program. And that's how I started in Youth Build.
Yes. Well, I had seen this program on a commercial, television commercial. And when I seen this commercial, I kind of wanted that high school diploma. I just had to sign up. I took the application, filled it out. And then they gave me an interview, and I 27 RESOLUTION 970703 scored very high in my interview, and I got inducted into the program.
Well, I heard about Youth Build through a friend. He had told me he just got finished filling out an application, and it was very close, a block away. And he told me about the benefits and the things that the program could offer me. But he also told me about the things, the rules and regulations, the strict rules. And I just got tired, and I was ready for change. And I just went and filled it out, and I scored high on the interview, and I was in the program.
Yes. I would just like to say, I am familiar with Youth Build, and I know that they have done a fantastic job. However, I must say I didn't know they had a charter school. Where is it located?
The entire Youth Build program converted to a charter school this September, when Charter School Legislation passed 28 RESOLUTION 970703 and we were accepted as a charter school by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the School District. So our South Philadelphia site is a charter school, and we have two other sites in the city.
619 Catharine Street. So it is the same, we were running a lot of in the same places, but we are now one of the first charter schools in Pennsylvania.
Then there is a North Philadelphia site in Ludlow, and a West Oak Lane site this year. 29 RESOLUTION 970703
But at the site in South Philadelphia, how many students do you have?
We have kept it small. And this kind of connects to what the young men were saying, in that a smaller group gives them a chance to develop a positive peer group, and not get back into having to be cool and having to do all the things that they did before that got them out of school.
Everyone in our program is a senior. Everyone in the program is overaged. They are all over the age of 18, and they come in for an intensive course to meet the competencies that they need to be a high school graduate.
At least 90 percent in order to stay in the program. 30 RESOLUTION 970703 I believe average attendance for our students at the moment is 97 programwide.
How many students do you have? How old is the program? Two questions.
The program is in its sixth year, and we have 120 students this year. And this is our first year as a charter school, however. This is the first --
Right. This is the first year that there are any charter schools in Pennsylvania, since the legislation just passed in June. And before that, we were a part of John Bartram High School, our education was, so that they were considered to be enrolled in the public 31 RESOLUTION 970703 school system.
So the students who are in your charter school did not have a long period of being out of school?
Some of them did. Some of them were out, I think Daniel said, three years.
No. We don't have a maximum. We have an age range of to 21, but we 12 don't have any maximum on what age they dropped out 13 of school, just on their motivation to work. 14
Profile your 15 students for me. Who are they by sex, by race? 16 Profile them. 17
Our students are, I 18 believe it is about 85 percent African-American, 7 or 8 percent Asian, 7 or 8 percent Hispanic. And I think we have 35 percent female and the rest male this year.
I am going to pass up the opportunity to say "token." Okay? And the average age, I'm sorry?
As a charter school, this is your first year, so you don't know what that experience is going to be like. But if people don't fall in lock step and make it in one year, where do they go from you?
One of the things that we have done in the past is have them repeat for a second year, but they start again at the beginning. 33 RESOLUTION 970703 We are very strict, in terms of having students fall in lock step. Because we find they do better if there is a very strict set of requirements that they are held accountable to, that we start out with a very tough pace and we keep it up all year.
I assume that you have a rigorous basic curriculum. But would you briefly describe for us the supports, the social services supports, that your students are exposed to.
We have one counselor per 30 students. We have job readiness courses that are taught by someone who is involved in job placement after graduation. We have a computer lab for each student, where they are taught basic computer skills. We have -- the counselors do a life skills curriculum. We have students who are spending half their time in on-the-job training on construction sites, where they are learning a combination of construction skills and basic job skills. 34 RESOLUTION 970703 So they are learning, they are developing the habits that they are going to need in order to be successful in a job. Our school opens at 7:30 in the morning. So we have very strict attendance and punctuality requirements. Our students start every day with a morning program, where they are meeting with a whole group of students and the staff to discuss whatever issues have come up. And, I am trying to think. Am I missing something?
The last that I have seen 35 RESOLUTION 970703 published by the School District -- it is a little hard to compare because we are a one-year program. But they have a 51 percent dropout rate.
And how do you compare to academies? Take the Electrical Academy over at Edison, or any other specialty program. You are much more like a Voc-Ed school than you are like a comprehensive high school, aren't you?
We are, except that we are also taking the hardest-to-serve group of youth; in fact, the ones that have dropped out of school.
Well, that is true of the Edison program. The Edison Electrical Academy has students who had a very low attendance rate and very low grades and were poorly motivated. And they had an average daily attendance that was higher than Central and Girls because they, like you, vibed in on the students, and you were all on the same page at the same time. So it makes you very much like our specialized academies. And now I ask you, if you will, to compare yourself to those programs, rather than to 36 RESOLUTION 970703 comprehensive high schools. Because you don't have large classes at your school, as you might have in the comprehensive high schools.
So I can't make any comparison because I don't have that data.
Do you see the correlation between yourself and the academies, as opposed to yourself and William Penn or Overbrook or -- I didn't hear the other schools. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilwoman, if I may, I think, Daniel, you wanted to say something. You have been raising your hand.
I was part of that Electrical Academy in Edison, and I was a dropout from that school. And comparing it to this program, there is no comparison, I feel.
For me I think the more 37 RESOLUTION 970703 relevant answer is that we have thousands of young men and women right now who are not being served by any educational system, and we need all of the different opportunities that we can create. So we probably need to expand the Electrical Academy, replicate it in other schools, have it in other parts of the city. In the same way we need to expand Youth Build. Because we are talking about a large number of young men and women that need an educational option. So it is not a competition.
I don't disagree with you. I was trying to get relevant comparators. And if you don't, you compare pineapples to apples. And they sound alike, but they are very different. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Frank Rizzo, then Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to address my questions to the -- 38 RESOLUTION 970703 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: We have quite an extensive grouping of folks that are here to testify. And I would appreciate it if every Councilperson makes their question very precise and to the point, so that we can get everybody's viewpoint this afternoon.
I would like to address my questions to the young men. During the act of truancy, when you guys decided not to go to school on a particular day, where did you hang out, and what was your experience dodging the bullet? Did police officers ever come up, did the School District police ever come up and ask you guys what you were doing?
That's just the thing. From back then, when we were in 7th grade, when you were out, the cops were, "What are you doing here," right there on top of you. Now, you could be standing ten guys at a time on one corner, and the cops will ride right by and just look at you. It has gotten so easy now. 39 RESOLUTION 970703 And so many things that the youth today have come up with to maneuver around the system. I mean, that is a big part, though. Police haven't been coming up asking us what's doing here, what's going on, and whatever. It is so easy now. It ain't like it was back then.
So, in other words, give us an example how many days a month you cut school.
Every day I went to school, I cut. Every day. If I would go to school days out of a year -- I mean, out of a month, I 15 cut 16 days out of a month. 16
Out on the street, going to smoke weed, standing around at McDonald's across the street from William Penn, or on the side of the school. And the faculty, the NTAs that they have, they are so easy to maneuver around. I mean, it is as simple as a McDonald's meal, or $5 here, or $5 there just to be quiet and keep your mouth shut. 40 RESOLUTION 970703 Open this. Be right here at this door when I come back. I will be right back, open this door at that time.
$5. Most of the NTA and the staff are drug abusers, are under major drug abuse. They smoking drugs, coming to school all drunk, whatever. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Go ahead. Daniel, you have something to say.
-- when you cut? Did you know that there was school police? Did you ever see the school police?
Yes. I seen more city police than school police when I cut. Basically, you could just cut class, walk right out the doors, and go out, get some weed, hang out on the corners, sell drugs.
Once in a blue moon you would have a cop, you know, "What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Oh, we just give him an excuse, and he wouldn't check it out. "All right, get out of here. You can't stand on the corner." But other than that, they wouldn't bother.
Okay. Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilwoman Donna Miller.
Thank you. This question is for any one of the youth. If there was a message you could develop to tell kids that education is important, at what age or grade would you start to say it, and what would you say? Because I am quite sure if your parent worked, then you did hear that, though, didn't you, growing up? But what made you kind of not believe it, or not -- sometimes I believe the teens think that parents aren't telling them the truth. And I wonder what parents can do? I am a parent of a 42 RESOLUTION 970703 13-year-old. So I just want to hear from some other teens about, what can we say, what can we do, what would you say, what would you do?
I would catch them in the grade levels starting at 6th grade, 6th, 7th and 8th graders. Before they reach high school, you have to catch them. And what would I say? First I'd have to get them away from the negative peer pressure and the drugs.
Anybody else? You said you didn't believe your parent; right?
Yes. Usually you are so busy getting caught up in having fun and being in and doing -- and getting around the system and doing what you want to do, that it just becomes so easy to you. I mean, it is not that your parents weren't telling you and you don't know. It is just that, well, the tight grip that my mom had on me, it was gone. I was older, I guess she trusted me 43 RESOLUTION 970703 now, she started trusting me, and I just took advantage of it; that's all. That's a simple case of taking advantage.
I think it should start in middle school, during the middle school years. And the message that I would send to the middle school children is, there is no progress in chaos. And when they begin to listen to their friends, listen to total negativity in doing the things that they know they shouldn't be doing, they are on a chaotic course. And you can't progress if you are around people that aren't trying to progress with you. They will tend to bring you down. And I would tell them that they need an education to separate themselves from those that don't want to learn, from those that want to be the criminals and drug dealers. I want them to know that they are the future of this nation. They are the future. We cannot progress as a nation, as a community, without strong, stable role models in our lives. And instead of them looking up to 44 RESOLUTION 970703 someone else, they should be able to look at each other as role models, as good personal role models, that they can say, look at so and so, she is doing this, she is doing that, that's real good. I want to be like that, or I want to be as good as that. And that's the message I would tell children, be your own role model.
Thank you. No 10 more questions. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: We have been joined by Councilman DiCicco, Councilman Mariano. One, before you leave. The three of you, when you spoke, mentioned the word "respect." And did you feel through the system -- and since it began early, it seems, it begins at the 6th grade level -- did you begin feeling disrespected by the school system, by the teachers? Is that one of the reasons? Because I think you mentioned it and you mentioned and I think Daniel. Respect seems to be something that you said teachers did not give you. And if that is the case, how is that demonstrated at an early age such as the 6th grade? 45 RESOLUTION 970703
Well, it was -- CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: And what do you consider respect, first of all? I mean, there is a guy on the street say, hey, man, you are looking at me, man.
Well, as far as respect goes in grade school, as far as 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, it wasn't that much of a disrespect. But once you hit high school, that's where the disrespect starts. And teachers, as far as let's say not, like, spending that time with you as far as a student that has been there, like a better student. Like if there is a smarter student, and you are not matching up with his capabilities, you don't have that respect that that student is getting. You get neglected. It is more of a neglect. And to us youth, it is called disrespect nowadays, to us. It is more of a slang ebonics disrespect, not a disrespect as you would say disrespect. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilman Mariano.
Thank you, 46 RESOLUTION 970703 Mr. Chairman. What grade or what age, like, when you guys started realizing that? Is it second grade, third grade, fourth grade? When did you start getting high and realizing that most of it, the system wasn't working for you particularly, or any of the three of you that could answer that?
So you were smoking bones at years old? So you were 9th 13 grade, 8th grade, 7th grade? 14
So if you are getting high, you know who else is getting high?
So it seems like mostly everybody is getting high; right?
Do you think 47 RESOLUTION 970703 that the teachers know who is getting high?
No. These are the questions I want to ask them. Okay? This is important to me and the people that I represent.
Me personally, I have never gotten high. But you do have students that do get high, and you do have teachers that know these students get high. I have been in classrooms where teachers -- a student would come in high, and there is no way that a teacher wouldn't know that this particular student was high because you can -- they reeked of the marijuana scent on their clothes. They reeked of it. Their eyes are bloodshot.
Do you think it may be better, though, to just ignore that in order to take care of the other students in the class? 48 RESOLUTION 970703
That brings me back to the bonds between the teachers and students. If the teacher had a bond with this student, then the teacher can pull the student aside and say, "Well, look, you can't present yourself in this manner. This is not the correct form for you here or for you anywhere." But if the teacher goes to that student now, without that bond, the student, the first thing the student is going to feel is like they are being attacked. And if you are being attacked, your first reaction is to defend yourself. And the way most students in this situation, when they feel like they are being attacked, they lash out at the teacher, not want to hear what the teacher is saying. If you have your fingers in your ears, you can't hear. What teachers have to do is build a bond with children, with students, and make the students pull their fingers out their ears. And teachers should also pull their fingers out their ears and listen and see the signs 49 RESOLUTION 970703 that students -- of a student going wrong, instead of paying most of the attention to the students that are excelling.
What do you think, like, what became the thing -- and either one of you can answer this -- in your lives that made you decide that it wasn't cool doing all of that, and this was more important, getting into trades? It just hit you like that, or was there something, some event, meeting this lady here? Could you all tell me that, or one of you?
It is mainly just, at a certain age it mainly clicks in your head, around 17, 18, that, hey, what am I doing? It is over, it is going to be over soon. I mean, you get through that. It is like a phase you go through, or whatever. But around 17, 18, you just finally say, "All right. I am getting too old for this. I have to stop this and I am going to do right." For some; I don't know what that other percent. But for me personally, that's how it was.
The reason why I 50 RESOLUTION 970703 stopped smoking marijuana is because the program that I am in does not allow marijuana in your system or any type of drug in your system, and they give you drug tests, random drug tests.
The reason I ask these questions, they are not leading questions, I have a 13-year-old son in public school. And he listens to -- I can't even say it -- Watchon The Clan. And I see the earrings. And he is a boy, you know. He is a musician. And I try to stay on top of him, but I can't be with him every moment, and his mother can't be with him. And there are a lot of people in this city that pay a lot of money in taxes. What you think is happening in your school may be right from your perception. Maybe the teacher has a different perception. I am not here to hold those teachers accountable now; that will happen at another time. And there may be other circumstances that gave you that opinion, that those teachers were thinking that way at that time. But I appreciate your honesty here. It is not a joke. You have been 51 RESOLUTION 970703 there, now you are here. You stay here and keep going up. You know, there are a lot of young men and women just like yourselves that need this. And I appreciate your honesty. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you. Thank you very much. Florence Johnson, Gloria Williams and Vanessa Frazier, University City High School. Identify yourselves for the record.
I am Florence Johnson, Assistant Principal at University City High School. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Who will speak?
Good afternoon, Councilmembers. My name, as I said, is Florence Johnson. I am an Assistant Principal at University City High School. Truancy is a serious problem for every school in the system, as you well know, which is why you are having these hearings, except for those students that, those schools that are 52 RESOLUTION 970703 considered special-admit schools. And you know that those are Central and Girls High and Engineering and Science. I am not sure if anyone has ever done a longitudinal study of the why's, the wherefore's of truancy. But University City High School this year has made a concerted attempt to look at those students who are truant from University City High School and tried to figure out why. At University City High School, it was determined that there were an equal number of young men and young women who were absent, had histories of truancy. Many of the students were over 17, over years of age, they were repeating grades, 17 many of them were in 9th grade. They had not accumulated very many credits towards graduation, and they appeared to come to school for social reasons. Many were emancipated minors, others lived with parents who have lost the battle and pretty much resigned themselves to not dance the dance again. They were students who needed an 53 RESOLUTION 970703 alternative to the traditional school setting. And so at University City High School, with the help of the School District of Philadelphia, we developed this year a program called the Twilight School. The Twilight School is a regular school program that operates in four, ten-week sessions. Students attend our school Monday through Thursday, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. They are allowed to enroll in two major courses of study, for which they receive one credit, if they pass. The classes are one and a half hours long. And each ten weeks a new set of classes are offered. The courses are intense. The guidelines are intense. There are no more than three absences allowed, and that is strictly enforced. And the staff is absolutely no nonsense. A student who enrolls in all four of the ten-week sessions and passes all eight of the classes can earn eight credits in one school year. That is exciting to a 17-year-old student who has decided at some point to drop out of school. 54 RESOLUTION 970703 Our students who fit the profile as outlined above are encouraged to enroll in our Twilight Program. Parents are invited in for the initial interview, and the program has been an enormous success at University City High School. There is a waiting list. Parents are calling for admission for themselves and for their children. We would like you to understand that this is not a GED program or an evening adult basic education program. It is a program that will, hopefully, end with the students participating in University City graduation exercises. Many of our Twilight students are engaged in part-time employment because their school day does not begin until 3:00 in the afternoon. For the students who are younger than 16, we decided in September that being absent 40 or 50 days in a school year was no longer going to be accepted, nor was it going to be tolerated. We established boundaries early. And from the outset, our students' advisors were encouraged to send out the necessary School District 55 RESOLUTION 970703 forms to the homes of students who were absent three consecutive days. Students' homes were called by their advisors, and home visits were made by our Home and School Coordinator, Mrs. Thomas. Students were sent personal letters, indicating that their attendance was being watched and monitored. We also aligned with a program that is run by the School District of Philadelphia. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: After three days, the letters to the students?
After three days, a CEH9 is sent out. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: To the students?
To the students' homes, yes. We also aligned with a program that is sponsored by the School District of Philadelphia, which is called WRATH. It is an anti-drug anti-violence program. And we have identified early those students who are truant, and we have pulled them into this program. Very few, if any, excuses were 56 RESOLUTION 970703 accepted as legitimate for being absent from school. We feel that excuses give students a way out, a way not to really be responsible for not being in school. Additionally, University City has started a be-on-time policy. School starts at 8:15 a.m. Students who are late must turn in their ID cards, which are returned to them at the end of the day, after having completed a one-hour detention. Students who fail to do the detention may only gain entrance to our building the next morning with a parent or a guardian. We have established a maximum behavior standard, with explicit boundaries. No 17 hats, no walk-man, no disc players, no lateness, beepers must be registered at a cost of $2. It is a no-nonsense attitude which exists at University City High School. Two, we have worked hard to provide a safe, unchaotic, pleasant, warm internal school environment. The students don't run University City High School. 57 RESOLUTION 970703 There are many staff at our school who are student-centered. The young men who were here before talked about making a connection. Our coaches have close, caring relationships with our students. The teachers, the small learning community coordinators of each of the communities knows their students well. Our NTA staff, our security staff are an integral part of our school program. And both Dr. Lytle, who is the Principal at University City, and myself have an open-door policy which welcomes students to come in and talk about things. We encourage students to voice their opinions by way of their biweekly town meetings. Their opinions and input are solicited, highly regarded, and highly respected. These meetings provide a forum for students and staff to air issues and cooperatively explore ways to resolve them. This vigilance has caused many problems. But at this time we feel that we have turned the corner. Many of our students identified as possible truants are now coming to school. 58 RESOLUTION 970703 Many of our parents have finally come to understand that we don't really want to upset their lives; we just want to bring some order in chaos to the lives of their children and to our school. Our next step is to help parents and students understand that there is a direct correlation between attendance and achieving. Coming to school every day, taking a part in the learning process does allow teachers the time they need to help students see their potential, beyond their current situation. We at University City High School are really very proud of what we are doing there. We invite you to come and see for yourselves. It is a safe, clean school, where people care about the students who attend. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Ma'am, if I may, one question. What was the average absentee rate before the program was instituted, and what is the average absentee rate daily now?
Daily average attendance -- now, I have only been at University 59 RESOLUTION 970703 City High School since last April. I was appointed last April. But at that time, the daily average attendance was about 67 percent. It is now 76 percent. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: So that's still around a percent average of the student body 9 absent every day. 10
We have work to do, 11 there is no question. But we have decided that it 12 is important work to do, and we will do it. 13 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: And that's the 14 start. Thank you. 15
Yes, it is. 16 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilwoman Clark, 17 can we hear the students? 18
Good afternoon, 20 members of City Council. My name is Lori Williams, 21 and I am a student at University City High School, 22 and I was truant. 23 I think the reasons we have truant 24 students is because some students get caught up in the wrong crowds -- 60 RESOLUTION 970703 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Slow down. We are going to be here a long time. Just slow down. Okay.
I think the reasons we have truant students is because some students get caught up in the wrong crowd, or sometimes it is the parents. Some parents think more of themselves than their children's education. Students are also truant because they have babies and can't take both being a parent and a student. In my case, it is not all my fault. Teachers make mistakes. But what matters is that I am coming to school. And the real reason is because I am getting tired of being caught up in the system, and I am much too proud of myself at this point not to come to school. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you. Young lady.
Good afternoon, members of the City Council. My name is Vanessa Frazier, and I am an 11th grade student at University City, and I was a truant student. The reason why I am here today is 61 RESOLUTION 970703 because it is hard, it is very hard to focus on education, and not know where your next meal was going to be. My mother was never there for me, or nor my father. I just met my father when I was 16. My mother was, like, never there for me. I was staying with my grandmother until I was 13, and then I moved, and I was on my own since then. I mean, I been working, trying to -- it is hard. It is just real hard. Because -- it is just hard. I mean, I tried to go to school every day, I mean. I wasn't going to school because I was working. I was working trying to, you know, live, you know, trying to survive and eat, you know. But it is peer pressure out here. I never was the type of girl that got high. And I always was trying to do the right thing. But it just seems like things just could never work out for me, you know. But I am coming to school every day now, trying to do good. And the reason why I am coming to school every day is because I want to go 62 RESOLUTION 970703 to college and I want to be a lawyer, so I can take care of my little sisters, because my mother not there for them. I have two sisters and a brother. My brother is locked up, and it is just me there that's going to -- me taking care of my little sisters. That's the reason why, you know, I know that education is the, you know, key now. So it is just -- it just was hard for me. I mean I am staying with a friend now. I was living on my own. But things had, you know, got caught up because I was going to school and I was trying to work at the same time. But I couldn't do it. So I had to cut working down, and now I am going to school every day, trying to get my diploma so I can get a nice job or I can go to -- if I get a grant or scholarship to a college, anyway, I will go to college. But, everything -- I mean, I hope everything work out for me, but it is hard. I mean, and another reason why I am coming to school every day is because I see that the students -- I mean, the teachers at University City 63 RESOLUTION 970703 was caring about me, you know. " And I see that a lot of teachers at University City was really caring. I mean, they was really caring, you know. And that made me happy, you know. Because I was wondering, who cares? My mother wasn't never there for me, she is on drugs, and it is just I felt like I was alone, you know. So, I mean, I just started coming to school every day, doing good, making good grades, you know. I never was a follower. I always was trying to, you know, lead students, you know, to do the right thing. But it seemed like every time I tried to help a student, then I turn around the corner, you know, turn around, I am crying, wondering how I am going to do this, how I am going to do that. And it is hard. 64 RESOLUTION 970703 And like half of my girlfriends have children, they drop out of school, or they probably go dance somewhere at an exotic bar. And I don't want to do that, you know, because I have lots of respect for myself, you know, and I want to see myself doing good one day. You know, I want to see myself -- I want to look back. Because nobody -- I was in foster care. My father, I just never met him. I mean, it is hard. I am surprised I am here today, for real. I am surprised I am not doing drugs. I was pregnant, but I had a miscarriage. I am not happy that I had a miscarriage, but a baby, I wouldn't have had the baby anyway, because I wasn't really doing too good, ready to have a child, you know. But then I got in the program. I was going to Benjamin Franklin, and I wasn't going to school at all when I was going there. And then I think I got picked, I was chosen, and now I am in the program called OIC of America, it is a co-op programs for co-op students. They chose 50 students, you know, that have low grades.
And then I started getting 65 RESOLUTION 970703 close to the counselors there and everything, and everything started working out for me, you know. Then I started seeing that people, you know -- there are other people out here who do care for me, you know. So that's why I have to do good for myself, so I can take care of my little sisters. My little sisters stay with my grandmother. She is not really like my grandmother, blood grandmother, but she is someone who is close. She is a close person to the family. And she is old, you know. And I know she is going to pass one day, and I know my mother isn't going to be there. So that's why I want to take care of my little sisters, you know, so they can have a home, a happy home, you know, so I can see that they do good when they grow up. I don't want them to have to go through the stuff that I had to go through, you know. I know they are going to ask me questions like, why mommy not there, and stuff like that. But I just want to know that, let them know 66 RESOLUTION 970703 that it is family, you know, that is out there that will help you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Let me say to you that with that perspective, and the things that you have already learned, you have shown an incredible sense of who you are and an incredible sense of what surrounds you. And there are many opportunities there. So when you finish high school, you know, Community College is there. Community College is a doorway to a four-year college, and then from there you can begin. It is a step at a time.
Right. I look at Community College, but I don't -- I mean, I would take Community College, but I know I can do better than Community College. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying that there is a whole perspective out there of opportunities that you are beginning to see. And I am very proud of what you just said. Because I know a lot of kids in foster care and a lot of kids that have never met their father, and so on. 67 RESOLUTION 970703
And I try to ask my mom questions like, mom, you know, why -- I do stay in contact with my mother. But it is not -- we don't have that relationship, that bond. But I really love my mother, you know. But, see, my mom, she is like slow. She is slow. She is like slow in learning. Like she can't read or write. And I try to help her sometimes. But it wasn't the reason for her, you know, to give up on her children, you know, just to let her children out on the streets like that. Sometimes I ask her, I be like, "Mom, if you wasn't going to take care of us, why did you have us? Why do you have us going through this, you know?" And she just hang up on me or something like that, then I just start crying. Then I go to my counselor and I tell my counselor like what happens between what my mother did and whatever. And I just try to be strong because I know if I do make it out here in life -- which I know I am, because I am going to keep trying -- and I am going to tell you, I am going to wind up taking 68 RESOLUTION 970703 care of my mother, too. I am going to try to get her in a rehab and everything and try to do good by her, you know. Because I just want my family together; that's all. And it is hard out here, me being by myself. I am only 17. I had an apartment, but things, you know, by me going to school and working that job, I couldn't do two things at one time. So I just started working, and I cut school out, you know. But then I realize that this job is not, you know -- I don't want to do this forever, so let me go back to school and get my education so I know things, you know, so I know how to meet people, you know, talk to people. So when if I have a problem, I can go to people and let them know what's my problem, so they can help me. But -- CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you. Councilwoman Fernandez.
I think you said it all for me. 69 RESOLUTION 970703 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Anybody else?
Vanessa, is there anything you think that we can do, I mean Council, Board of Ed, all kinds of places, put them all together? What could we do to best serve someone in your situation for the past several years? What would have helped you?
What would have helped me? Just like being there. I just needed someone to talk to, to let me know, you know, and encourage me. Because that's all I had needed. Because it wasn't nobody there for me. I had no one to talk to, you know. If somebody was there that I could talk to, you know, to say, "Vanessa, you have to do this, you have to do that."
So like a mentoring program, or something like that?
Yes. Like just someone 70 RESOLUTION 970703 to talk to, that's what I needed, to encourage me. Like, "Vanessa, you are doing good." When that teacher came up to me at University City and said to me, "Vanessa, you know, you are doing real good," I felt real proud of that, because don't nobody really tell me that, "Vanessa, you are doing real good." And I like to hear that, you know, especially with everything I been through in my life. A person like me would like to hear something like that. And I try to tell my girlfriends the same thing. Because there are a lot of my girlfriends in the same situation that I am, and I try to be by their side. But in the secondhand, they just drop out of school. And I try to tell them, "No, don't drop out of school. No, don't. Don't drop out of school." And they be like, "Vanessa, there is nothing else we can do." I am telling you, it is education. I am reading now, I apply for colleges. We had a college tour at our school, at 71 RESOLUTION 970703 University City, different colleges that came, you know, to talk to the students. And I wrote to the colleges, and they wrote me back to come visit, you know, the campus. And, you know, that's just like people to talk to. That's what I needed, people to talk to.
As you were talking, I was thinking, a teacher at one of the other high schools came to talk to me the other day, you know, my kids in school. And I guess what I am thinking, Councilwoman Miller, is, there may be employees, city employees, who would be willing to be mentors and support and help open some doors for young men and women like you. So I don't know if you all at University City have those kind of connections. But I think we always like to, I always say, let's start where we are, which would be City Council members and people in city government, who, if there were 72 RESOLUTION 970703 specific requests, maybe could make those connections. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you. It is very instructive testimony, and I really want to see you succeed. And if you do have any need, by the way, feel free to call my office, and I am sure any of the Councilpeople here. And if you have any problems, we will try to be there and answer some of your questions, or try to help along those lines. Thank you very much.
That you perhaps find or tap your resources to continue the Twilight School Program. It is a worthwhile, meaningful program. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: That you have to ask Superintendent Hornbeck.
Oh, I see. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: He is coming in next. He is the one that spends the money over there. 73 RESOLUTION 970703 Thank you very much. And let's see if next time you come around, instead of 76, we have 99 percent attendance rate. Judge Panepinto, Superintendent Hornbeck, Mike DiBerardinis, and Commissioner Maxine Tucker. Judge, Superintendent, whichever? Judge. JUDGE PAUL P. PANEPINTO: Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Judge Paul Panepinto. I am a Common Pleas Court Judge and the Administrative Judge of Philadelphia Family Court. Good afternoon, members of City Council. And I would like first to thank you for allowing me to be present to testify at these hearings today. Family Court believes in working with all of the other agencies of the government, including our School District, the Department of Human Services, the Police Department, City Council, to improve the lives of children and family in the City of Philadelphia. It is with this cooperative effort that I believe we are partners with other systems of 74 RESOLUTION 970703 government and truly want to be a part in making a difference in our community. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Judge, if I may, we will put all of your testimony into the record. Because I think you gave this testimony before. JUDGE PANEPINTO: Not that. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Similar. So can you sort of like give us the gist, and the substance of the testimony, and your plans and your ideas in terms of truancy. Because I know that you and I have spoken, and they are very good ones. And I think we want to go towards seeing what programs need to be implemented and what institutions and other aspects need to be put into place. JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, in framing the testimony, in just taking about it in general -- and then I will get to some of the specifics -- I want to tell City Council very seriously that this is a very serious problem. Truancy causes so much havoc, and it really has been a situation that we have to tackle, 75 RESOLUTION 970703 combat, and to try to cure. Family Court is a court of general jurisdiction in the Common Pleas Court which handles delinquents. Truancy is a precursor to delinquency. I mean, if we can help work and solve the problems of truancy, we are going to cut down on the crime, we are going to cut down on the vandalism, we are going to cut down on the burglaries and the things that affect the quality-of-life issues for our city. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: What is the percentage of burglaries? JUDGE PANEPINTO: We estimate that -- and I hope you don't hold me to all percentages when you question me, because, as you know, I will provide all those statistics later -- but, generally, we feel that about 65 percent of daytime burglaries are committed by truants. And the truancy patterns have a high correlation with theft, shoplifting, vandalism, and other related crimes. Including, you know, when chronically truant kids are hanging around, they are targets of 76 RESOLUTION 970703 pedophilers and other crimes, and victimization. And prevention is really, I mean, we have to look at those problems and look at what the effects of it are. The court system is there to deal with cases that are brought before it. Police make arrests, kids are brought before the court. Truancy occurs in the school system when kids don't go to school, as you all know. And we have Truancy Court in Philadelphia, which tackles the problems of those adults, the parents of children, who are not sending their kids to school, are not coming to school regularly. You know, this is difficult for us as a court system to get into the school system and regulate the activity. We don't try to do that. What we want to do is to work more cooperatively with the School District. And to that end, we have been working with Dr. Hornbeck and his staff to look at how we can tackle some of the problems and cure them. We have thought about some ideas. We have some programs that are ongoing now, and we thought of some new ideas.
77 RESOLUTION 970703 The program that we have now, one of them, is the Reasonable Efforts Program, where we make referrals to the Department of Human Services and to other agencies throughout the city who are funded to handle the problems that kids have and the reasons why they are truant. I mean, we have many kids that don't come to school because -- and I think you have heard testimony from the young people up here -- because their parents don't send them, their parents aren't interested, their parents are not cooperating. It is not really that the kids don't want to go to school, in some instances. In many cases we found that they were too young to know whether school was good or bad. Rather, it was their parents that didn't believe it was important. They simply don't know how to parent. The parents are not educated, maybe don't believe education is important. But we all know how important it really is. We have to try to encourage parents to be more responsible and to follow the activities and the things that their kids are doing. And that's one of the things that's very difficult from 78 RESOLUTION 970703 the court end, unless they come into our system. But we need the other agencies of government to work in that end. And that's why the referral process and the agencies that we have to work with are so important. Because if it fails at that level, then they are going to come into the court system, and we are going to have to deal with it. And we are prepared at that level. But I think what we have to do is, get down into the schools, work more cooperatively with the agencies, to try to solve the problems at that level. To that end, we have thought about bringing a court into the school districts. And I thought about this for some time, and didn't know where we were going to get the money and how we were actually going to do it. But we worked on it for several months, with Dr. Hornbeck's staff. And we thought that maybe we could deploy, being budget neutral in the Family Court budget. Because we are always in the court system arguing and pleading for more money. But we don't always need more money. We need to redeploy 79 RESOLUTION 970703 efforts and staff people that we have on hand and direct their efforts in the right, positive manner. And we thought that we would deploy staff to go out into cluster areas throughout the city and have hearings not as formal as a judge hearing, but hearings where we would deploy a Master, a Court Order Processing Clerk, and a Court Officer person who would call the list, and bring the cases before the Master that are problems, the truant kids, the parents of the kids, and have on board in that particular school and cluster area the benefit of the teachers' input, the counselors that the school can provide and the personnel that the school feels necessary to be there. Along with DHS, because we work very well with Joan Reeves, the Commissioner, and Maxine Tucker, to bring people in to solve the problem, to hear what the problem is, why Johnny, Mary, whoever, is not going to school, and to try to get at the problem in a more meaningful way, before they come down to that grand building at 1801 Vine Street, which is Family Court. And we just put a program together which we are going to say is going to have a formal 80 RESOLUTION 970703 name Truancy Court in the schools, but we kind of call it START, Stop Truancy And Recommend Treatment. That's the name we gave for it. And I am hoping that this kind of a program, when implemented next month, will at least get out to cure the problem and to start working and finding out on the school level, with the effort of all those involved, what the real problem is. And I think there is really no one answer. And I don't think we are going to find it out right away, but we are going to get down to what the problems are and how we can work on solving them.
If at some point we don't solve it at that level, we then have the ability to file the formal petition in Dependent Court to have that child brought down to 1801 Vine Street and face the Judge there. And then, of course, the ultimate sanctions are provided for, which could be fines, which could be severe penalties to the parents in the way of fining or contempt proceedings, and also actual placement of youngsters out of the home for their failure to go to school, for their parents' 81 RESOLUTION 970703 failure to adequately provide for their needs. And we will take those corrective actions, if necessary. But we really want to work with all the agencies of government and the community organizations to combat the problem early on. Early intervention, and that's really the thrust of it. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: If Commissioner Neal and Dr. Estelle Richmond are here, can they join the panel? I would imagine they would be. Judge, a couple of questions, if I may. The pilot program in Southwest Philadelphia, from K to 4, which is a pilot truancy program that you mention in your testimony, is that still in effect? It began in '94. JUDGE PANEPINTO: Yes; that's with DHS. That's one of the areas that we have been working on. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Is that still a pilot program, or is that only in that part of the city? And what effect has it had in terms of truancy? 82 RESOLUTION 970703 It's been in effect now for probably four years. Have there been any indications that you may have? JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, as I say, I don't have the statistics on how it is working. But I have to be honest to tell you that most of the programs are working there. But we don't keep the statistics on how good or how much, you know, how many kids have been helped, et cetera, because it is all kept within the School District. We just work along with those agencies. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Do those agencies have that pilot program? JUDGE PANEPINTO: I don't know. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Because if we have a pilot program, we have to have some sort of measurement to see whether it is effective or not. JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, I agree. But what happens is, at that level, the program is run in that district, and then the kids that are having the problems are referred out. And it gets too diverse for the Family Court to monitor the progress. So I could probably find out the 83 RESOLUTION 970703 information, because the agencies work with us. But we don't keep those statistics. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: And through the -- JUDGE PANEPINTO: I'm sorry. We have learned certain things from that, from what's going on there, on what the problems are. And that's really what the thrust of that testimony was. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: And for the REP Program, how many students go through what program? JUDGE PANEPINTO: Okay. On the REP, we do that because we work on that right through our building at the Family Court. And we receive about 200 calls a month from parents. And a lot of these parents just want to actually -- and I hate to use the term -- but really dump their kids at the courthouse. I mean, at first glance, they are there just pulling their hair out of their heads just trying to tell us the problems that they are having. And, you know, they tell us how incorrigible the child is and the problems. And we try to work with our counselors and social workers to get them back on the right track, finding out 84 RESOLUTION 970703 what the problem is at that level, and divert them to the various agencies that could help. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Do you have numbers per year on that, that you can submit to the committee? JUDGE PANEPINTO: Yes, I can back up all that information. Because we use all of the agencies from DHS, Big Sisters, CORA, Crime Prevention, and we have the statistics for those agencies and what the referrals are we make. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: What's the average stay of the children and families in that program? In the program, how long will they say?
JUDGE PANEPINTO: In some of these programs they will be involved for, I guess, several months over the school year, six to nine months. There are assessments done of their behavior and their background and what their needs are. And they try to, before they come in on a formal petition before the Court, you know, assess the problem. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilman Kenney has one question. Sorry, Councilwoman Clark. 85 RESOLUTION 970703
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Judge, and Superintendent, and other members of the panel for being here. I listened to most of the testimony upstairs. We had three major hearings today, and it is difficult to be out of your office all day. So I was listening to most of the testimony upstairs, and I have a few questions about the school court. Judge, why wouldn't it be more appropriate, instead of a Master, to have a Judge actually leave 1801 Vine once or twice, once a month, maybe, once every other month, to have the imprimatur and the impressiveness of an actual judge in the school, with -- and in many ways probably even more conducive, because the records are all there -- all the counselors and student advisers and teachers are there. And an individual judge like maybe not yourself, but other judges in the Family Court system who actually deal with this, could really sit in the school and get an idea as to what's going on, but also have the ability to do sanctioning then, as 86 RESOLUTION 970703 opposed to waiting for a referral and report from a Master? JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, we presently do use a judge in the Family Court Division to do that. But that is the actual formal proceeding where a commitment can take place. Also at that particular time we have to afford the party that is going to lose his or her liberty, or the parent that's going to be fined or held in contempt, some kind of legal service. So we have to have a lawyer, or we have to appoint a lawyer, if they can't afford one. So at the courthouse, that is a lot easier to do, and it is probably appropriate to be done at that level. The idea of this program is to reach out into the community and to assess the problem. The Master will have many of the powers of a Judge in terms of reviewing the file and making the appropriate referrals. But even at 1801 Vine, when we get a case today, that was one of my problems with the Judge hearing it initially. Because when the Judge gets it, the 87 RESOLUTION 970703 Judge finds out, well, wait a minute, I can't just take this action. I can solve this problem by doing this or doing that. And we are wasting judicial services at that level, at the initial hearing. So it is sort of like a funnel. If we have the Master review it first, we are not wasting time; we are getting things done.
My discussions with principals relative to their relative truancy problems are that the hard-core truant that's still below that age of -- for example, in South 13 Philadelphia High School we had a meeting. 14 The principal there said there are 15 about 50 to 60 really hard-core people that he has 16 had experience with through the years, and that those people have had some contact with the court system in the past. This is not like the kid has been absent for three or five days. These are kids that have been absent for 60, 70, 100 days over the course of not only their years in high school, but their years in elementary school and middle school. So, I mean, a lot of these children have been involved in the system for a while. 88 RESOLUTION 970703 And the reason I preface my question is that, if you have in one of the clusters, for example, a Master, and you inform the parents and the child that they have to be at this hearing in the school at 8:30 in the morning, and by 9:30 mom or dad hasn't shown up, what power does the Master have to ensure the presence of the parent, without the additional step of referring it to 1801, and then having a formal hearing? Because my hope is that if the parent didn't show up by 9:30, and a Judge is sitting there, a Bench Warrant, an Order could be signed to go pick the parent up and bring the parent to the school. JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, I guess we are looking at this and hoping that it is a more cooperative effort and everybody shows up. They are not all going to, we know that. We can issue, a Master can, after I sign an Administrative Order authorizing him or her to, can issue a Bench Warrant at some point. Officially, he or she would have that authority. However, we get back to the same old problem. When we pick the child up, what are we 89 RESOLUTION 970703 going to do with he or she? Or are you talking about the adult?
My hope is that -- JUDGE PANEPINTO: If we issue the Bench Warrant against the adult, we can find that person and we can hold that person in contempt or ask them to come before the Court or show cause why they should not be held in contempt. I think they have to know that we have those ultimate powers. I think they will know it. I think the message will get out there eventually. But I don't see the program as trying to be punitive at the start. There are too many kids that are truant. I don't know if you know the statistics on it. They are quite large at this point. And we are not going to solve every problem. There is no way we could put every parent away in these kinds of cases.
I guess my concern is that by the time we deal with these hard-core truants, even at this initial pilot level, this is not the beginning of this problem. 90 RESOLUTION 970703 These kids wouldn't even be in this list if they hadn't been hard-core truants for quite some time. And the issue for me, and one of the things I would suggest, and I have suggested it at other meetings, and maybe it could be investigated, is to coordinate with the police department, with some overtime money that we may be able to squeeze out from our Quality Of Life Grants from the federal government, to have additional officers, a couple of units standing by, so that a Bench Warrant could be issued on-site, so that the two officers can go to the house, in the neighborhood where the hearing is taking place, knock on the door, and get mom or dad out, in the car, and to the school where they were supposed to have been when they were subpoenaed to be there. And although I understand the emphasis on encouraging people to do the right thing and trying to find the root cause of why people don't do the right thing, the fact is, they are not doing the right thing, and their kids are suffering because of it. And you see it every day. And I know 91 RESOLUTION 970703 I don't have to convince you. And I know the Superintendent has the same thing. I think that part of the problem is, we keep adding layers, without getting directly to the parents and getting their attention in a forceful way, in a punitive way. Because most of those parents deserve some punitive measures as it relates to their inability and disinterest in getting their kids to school. JUDGE PANEPINTO: I would be most happy to look into that and to explore all of the possibilities and the ways that we can beef up our program and also look into the parental neglect and the responsibilities and how we can work on it. I don't think that's at issue. I think we will do that eventually. But we are starting somewhere where we know we can work at early intervention, kids that are truant now. Our program is talking about kids only truant to 50 days. We know there are kids 23 out there not going to school 100 days. 24 I mean, they are the kids that we are 25 going to have a tough time with. But we have to 92 RESOLUTION 970703 start somewhere. Because we don't want the guys that are out days to be out 50 and 100. 4
That leads to my 5 next question. 6 JUDGE PANEPINTO: I know that's 7 probably where you are going eventually. But you 8 have to start somewhere. 9
That leads to my 10 next question. 11 How many days absence triggers a 12 child truant, being truant? 13 JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, I guess if 14 you are out one day, and you are supposed to be in 15 school, you are truant. 16 I think you can ask the School Board 17 how many days they would consider entering into the 18 picture. 19
Maybe the 20 Superintendent could explain what happens in each 21 individual school when -- 22 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Excuse me, 23 Superintendent Hornbeck, you are on time 24 constraints; right? 25 SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: I am. 93 RESOLUTION 970703
Or someone else from the School District. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Jim, the Superintendent is on time constraints. And I would like to have him on the record. And then I will come right back to you, Councilwoman. If I may, he has to leave, and I know that he has to leave. And I know that Commissioner Neal is almost in the same bag. And so I am right now in very much of a time constraint here, and I want to have all of the main officials on the record in terms of the issue. Superintendent, please. You know the drill. SUPERINTENDENT DAVID HORNBECK: Thank, Mr. Chairman. And I appreciate your response to those constraints. I did tell you originally that I had to leave at 3:00. But fearful that that might not work, I managed to move that, so that I can be here until about 3:25. I will leave aside what has been in the record already, the incredible impact on crime 94 RESOLUTION 970703 and dropouts and unemployment rate, pregnancy rate, I mean a whole series of consequences of truancy, and turn immediately to a series of initiatives that we have undertaken in the last -- primarily in the last year, in response to poor attendance, to truancy issues, and will comment briefly, also, Councilman Kenney, on your question. First and foremost, we have tried to move the issue of attendance front and center in terms of the schools. It is not about simply assigning it to one person in the schools; it is making attendance a central issue for us. And the principal way that we have done that across the board is to have student attendance -- and I might also say staff attendance -- be two of the six criteria that are part of the performance index on the basis of which our accountability system is built. So every employee of every school knows that reading, math, science, promotion, student attendance, and staff attendance are the six things that matter. And rewards and penalties and assistance to schools are built on that basis. And it is against that sort of 95 RESOLUTION 970703 central backdrop where we have made the -- we are trying to send the message that if the kid is not there, then anything else we might do related to school simply doesn't matter. Secondly, it is terribly important that we have reliable, up-to-date information. Historically, schools have been handicapped in their ability to formulate attendance control plans because, in many instances, they simply haven't had at their fingertips any information, who is there, who is not there. And because of the manner in which -- it historically has taken not just months, but years, for that to be collected. And now it is the case that cluster offices are receiving on a monthly basis data on the schools in their clusters, individually and aggregated by level of organization. And the point of that is to be able, within a 30-day period, to be able to really begin to see trends. And, frankly, a new computer system that will be in place in 18 months now will permit that to be on-line with schools in clusters 96 RESOLUTION 970703 literally on a daily basis. Third, there is an individual now who has been named in each of the 259 schools with the obligation of maintaining records and monitoring student attendance. But, at the moment, that relies so much on paperwork, that that's the reason that we are looking to the technology, to try to be able to respond to that. A fourth observation I would make is that, this past summer we had the first opportunity over a four-day period to have a team of people from each of the 259 schools in the School District come to a training session, one of the principal objectives of which was to share best practices around how you keep kids from being out. And I might say that there is a sense in which the Judge's observation that after one day a kid is truant, but there is also a practicality to this, as well. Over the past years, until a youngster, I believe, had been out 50 days, the Court and the School District didn't have the staff to get them in front of the Court.
97 RESOLUTION 970703 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: It's 100 days. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Well, we have been able to lower that a little bit. 100 days was for a very long time. But one of the benefits that I see of this new effort of Truancy Court is, we are going to be able to get it down to days. 9 And 25 days is still too long; it is 10 just four times as fast as it was a couple of years 11 ago, at 100 days, and twice as good as at 50 days. 12 But, we, in many schools now -- I 13 wouldn't begin to say in all of them -- but in many 14 schools, when youngsters begin to be out five and 15 ten days, actual programs begin to kick in. 16 One of which, for example, we have 17 had 10,000 new volunteers added to the schools in 18 the last three years. And one of the things that 19 lots of schools use volunteers for is to do phone 20 banks in the morning. And they begin to call the 21 students' homes who are absent. 22 And in a number of schools -- I think 23 of Kensington, for example -- Eddie Torez increased 24 his attendance rate last year by over 10 percent. 25 And the way he did it was, he grabbed 98 RESOLUTION 970703 a teacher every morning. And he and the teacher went out and grabbed a list of the kids who hadn't shown up, and they went and knocked on doors. And they said to the adult, or sometimes the kid, who showed up at the door, "You are not meeting your responsibility. " So there are those kinds of efforts that in fact -- CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Eddie Torez, I'm glad he's in the system. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Well, Eddie Torez is a terrific principal, and he is making a difference. And it is that kind of creative response that we are really encouraging with other principals and teachers around the city. And you see things like Florence Johnson, the Assistant Principal that was just in front of you a little while ago from University City. We have also taken these various best practices, and we have created a districtwide first 99 RESOLUTION 970703 edition, first draft manual on attendance. I think one has been passed out to all of the Councilmembers. And we are presently preparing one that is specially designed for senior high school staff. That's kind of an across-the-board one. And, frankly, senior highs are the place that we have got big-time problems, with the average attendance across the system still down in the 70s. And this handbook, with best practices, will be available this spring. And not only will be available in that form, but on the district's web site, as well, so there can be easy access by the counselor. We have been working with the empowerment zones at 12 schools, six middle and six high schools, in a Federally-funded program that in this world of acronyms goes by the acronym of WRATH, Weapons Reduction And Truancy Help. I apologize. We had to have one of these for everything. My apologies. And in these instances, the important part of it is the special training and additional 100 RESOLUTION 970703 resources under which the Family Court and PAAN, the Philadelphia Anti-Drug Anti-Violence Network, as well as the Citywide Improvement and Planning Agency have worked together in a real community-based, on the street, looking for kids, again, pulling them in, in a real one-on-one way. The Judge has already referred to the Reasonable Efforts, REP, Program, and I won't pause on that. Councilwoman Fernandez, I think, mentioned a moment ago in response to Miss Frazier from University City the importance that a mentoring program can provide. And one special truancy-oriented mentor program -- I mean, we have lots of mentors, but one that's specially designed related to truancy -- is one we have initiated this last year with the Bar Association and the District Attorney's Office and the Family Court, in which we now have 30 lawyers and paralegals that have stepped forward on the truancy front. And each have students that they have a mentoring relationship with.
The Police Department and we have worked very closely together in a program that I am 101 RESOLUTION 970703 sure Commissioner Neal will speak to in a little bit, that we refer to as Truancy Patrols. And in that instance, they, the police, have in this last year, if my numbers are correct -- we have two different reports here -- between and thousand youngsters have been 8 picked up on the street by the police and taken to 9 the schools. And, in most instances, that has 10 worked very well. 11 One of the things that frustrates me 12 in this continuing effort on this front are the 13 handful of reports that I have had from time to time 14 where the response to a police officer taking a kid 15 in is to make the offense and the response exactly 16 the same. We have still got a couple of principals that haven't gotten the message yet, and they suspend the kids when the police show up with the kid. And with 259 schools, it is just the word hasn't gotten out to everybody yet that there may be alternative responses to kids that make more sense than that. But I am very enthusiastic about the 102 RESOLUTION 970703 way the police and we have worked together on that front. The Judge has already spent a lot of time talking about the Truancy Courts. And our hope is that we will launch the first of three of what we hope ultimately will be in the second week of 8 February, with the other two initial lines being put 9 into place by the end of March, in Kensington, West 10 Philadelphia, and in a Northeast cluster, as the 11 first three that we start. 12 But then beginning to, based on that 13 experience, move them out as quickly as we can. 14 And I think that both from the 15 Court's point of view and the school's point of 16 view, that location, in effect, at home is going to 17 prove to be a benefit. 18 It strikes me, in relationship to 19 some of the questions you were raising, Councilman 20 Kenney, that there are two or three sort of 21 escalating stages of toughness that are available 22 there. And recognizing that we are going to start with kids at days, and understanding from 25 the Judge that these Masters can, in fact, have the 103 RESOLUTION 970703 powers of a Judge and do all of those things that you referred to, it strikes me, given the individual circumstances of an individual case, that there can be and should be the level of toughness in the given situation that is required right there. My sense of the utility of a Master versus a Judge is nothing more complicated than there are more Masters than there are Judges, and so we can do more of these faster if we learn to use the Masters effectively in that process. And if we all treat the Master in the respectful way that a Judge is treated, I think that we can develop the kind of capacity to move with more kids. And I must say that Judge Panepinto and the Court have been enormously helpful in cooperating with the district and, in fact, taking the initiative in this particular case. All of these different things have added up to a lot, and not much. I mean, it is always hard for me to -- the fact is that most of this stuff has really taken place in the last 12 to 15 months, as we have moved on truancy. We have actually seen an increase 104 RESOLUTION 970703 during that period of time of a little over 1 percent in the average daily attendance. And my first reaction, as, you know, 1 percent isn't very much. And then I translate that into 2,000 more kids every day that are in school that weren't in school a year ago. And if we are able, as these gain momentum and we learn better and better, with more and more focus on it, to take hold, I see more than just a straight line arithmatic increase in attendance as a consequence of these things. And, so, I am encouraged. Let me close my comments by saying that those seven or eight things that I have mentioned in a very particular way, in terms of initiatives that we have taken, are very specifically truancy related.
And what I want to remind Council members of is that small learning communities in general, full-day kindergarten, the daycare that we have been able now to provide in 13 of our high schools for the children of young women who have children, are all anti-truancy measures. They may not have the truancy banner 105 RESOLUTION 970703 on them. They may have the reading, writing, and arithmetic banner on them. But almost always the truant kids are the kids that are failing. And my premise is that if we can begin to succeed more with these kids, they will be less truant. And I must also say that as I think of Commissioner DiBerardinis and our after-school association with the Rec Department, and I saw Shelly Yanoff in the back of the room, and the fantastic job that PCCY is doing, as we have opened 45 new after-school locations this year, and I was encouraged by the President's comments last night on after-school centers, those after-school activities are major truancy programs, in my view. And whether an association with the police and PAL, or the Recreation Department and all the locations there, we ought to have a safe haven for every single kid in this city from at least 3:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon. And that, in fact, in my judgment, would end up having a major impact on what happens between 9:00 and 3:00. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilwoman Clark, you have something to say. 106 RESOLUTION 970703
We do appreciate your concern about the importance and significance of having youngsters attend school regularly. I think at some point in these proceedings somebody needs to float the definition of what is truancy. Because all failure to attend school is not truancy. And I do not think that we are to have every child who is on the public highway subject to being hauled off to some place because somebody thinks that this child looks like they ought to be in school. We have staggered opening and closing hours, for instance. We just heard about a program where 14-year-olds go to school from 4:00 to 6 o'clock. Well, are they truant from 9:00 to 5:00 if they are going to school from 4:00 to 6:00? Are we going to require our people to be like South Africa, that carry on their person some kind of paper that says who they are, so that they are not the subject of sidewalk sweeps? Do we care about parochial and private school kids, who may not be in school, as 107 RESOLUTION 970703 much as we do about public school kids? And we want to be very careful to preserve the learning environment in a school. A school is not a concentration camp. A school that is not a reform school, a school that is not a jail, a school that is not a court. So, judge, I was very happy to hear you say how important it is for us to treat the school like the sacred environment it is, representing that occasionally youngsters may need something special. I am having difficulty with a truancy school in a school, to tell you the truth. I think that is an inappropriate use, particularly as people say to me, they think giving lunches is inappropriate for school. They think that schools ought to teach and not feed. Now we have gone all the way to putting courts in schools. I am still struggling with uniformed police officers in schools, as important as they may be. And I certainly can make the case as well as any member of City Council, and perhaps better than most, because of my 12-year involvement 108 RESOLUTION 970703 as Chair of the Education Committee. But I still worry about that fragile thing called the learning environment. I want to be very sure that we don't impinge on it with heavy boots, and, in an effort to preserve it, destroy it beyond our ability to revive it. So I want you to resist all these efforts to grab people up, snatch them in, carry them around as if this were a concentration camp. You even have the right not to go to school. Now, there may be some penalties for not going, but you have the right not to go. You can make the decision today, I ain't going to school. And then you can be like a Norman Rockwell cover, a little kid with a freckled face, with his pants rolled up, and a fishing rod, on his way to play hooky from school today and fish. In the old days that made everybody smile. Now we think of all of the wicked things that children can and indeed do involve themselves in, and our obligation to cut down on those influences. Mr. Superintendent, I know that you 109 RESOLUTION 970703 join me in caring about preserving that environment. And so I am going to ask you to be very sure that we don't get stampeded into or 5 small learning school courts just yet. Let's see 6 how the first two or three work. 7 SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Well, you 8 are correct, Councilwoman Clark, that I do join you 9 in wanting to preserve what, you are right, is an 10 all-too-fragile teaching and learning environment. 11 And one of the benefits of beginning 12 in Kensington and West Philadelphia is that we can 13 see how it works. And we don't want it to become a 14 concentration camp, and so on. 15 And there are lots and lots of things 16 that in another time and another place, March 9, if 17 no other time, we can talk about that go to that. 18 We do need, I think -- and I am sure 19 you agree, as well -- to take these and other 20 initiatives, including things like full-day 21 kindergarten. It is one of the things that I 22 mentioned as a truancy initiative.
23 Because when you have got, in effect, 15,000 high school kids not coming to school every day, as, unfortunately, we do -- 110 RESOLUTION 970703
They didn't go fishing. But I can tell you something, there is a direct correlation between the increase in children not attending school and the School District's decision to lay off home and school counselors, who would go to a school and visit, go to a home and visit. When that home and school coordinator was laid off, he or she was the modern day equivalent of the truant officer. How many do you have on your role now? Fewer than ten? SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Ten, fewer than ten, I think.
Down to zip? SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: But let me make a comment about this. I think you are right on target when you say that the impact of the kinds of layoffs and cutbacks that have occurred, particularly over the last ten years, result in at least limiting our 111 RESOLUTION 970703 ability to deal with this problem. I must say to you, though -- and I found this, frankly, something of a surprise myself -- that we actually have a slightly higher attendance rate now than we did at the time that we had the hundred attendance officers on the payroll. And one of the reasons that I very much wanted to make attendance not just the job of a single individual with a title, but to say to our teachers and our school community liaison people and everybody, one of the ways I am going to measure the success of a school is not how one person does his job, but how the school responds to a community, to the parents, and so on, is to make it part of that performance index. And our ability to do that goes to the heart of, actually, your underlying point. And that is that, until we have the kinds of resources that permit us to do these things, that we're going to be behind the eight ball.
Well, I know you are in a hurry, and I just want to wrap up my comments. While I believe you are absolutely 112 RESOLUTION 970703 correct, that the home school coordinator, visitor, whatever that title is, was not sufficient to assure regular school attendance of the entire population, neither should we rely on the Judge to do it. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: No. No. 7
We cannot slip it from one person to another. The Judge, or the Master, or whoever the Judge sends, will be an adjunct. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Will work together. Absolutely.
Will be an adjunct. And unless and until coming to school -- last comment. I waited a long time for this. Until coming to school becomes as integral as any of the other skills that we test on standardized tests, we are missing the point. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Superintendent, if you may, Councilwoman Fernandez has one question, and Jim Kenney has one other question, before you leave.
One brief 113 RESOLUTION 970703 question. The Truancy Prevention Committee, which is supposed to involve the School District, the Police Department, the Courts, DHS, could you tell me who in the School District is the point person on that? Because as we were preparing for these hearings -- and we started last summer -- we then saw this article in the paper about a Truancy Prevention Committee. I am wondering, does it exist, who is the point person from the School District? SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: It does exist. And Mr. Herb Hazen, who is sitting back there, and will be pleased to answer further questions about it, is the point person.
Thank you. Just one comment. And I agree with most of what you said. The only thing I would want you to be aware of -- and I think you are, but I want to say 114 RESOLUTION 970703 it for the record -- is that in addition to the requirements for children to go to school -- and it is not an issue of encouragement, it is not an issue we would really like you to do this; it is their requirement. It is the law. It is their job from 9:00 or 8:00 to 3:00. That is their job. And if they are not doing it, we are falling down on what we are doing. But the second problem is, in addition to the kids not coming to school, having the skills necessary to employ themselves and to raise families and to buy homes and be good citizens, the people that we are going to for support of the schools, the lady around Lincoln High School whose laundry is pulled down off her fence once or twice a week by truant students, it is difficult for us to explain to them why we should be providing more financial resources to the school. We know why. But the average taxpayer who sees the wandering in the neighborhood, who sees the corner hanging and pot smoking, who sees the things that go on at 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock in the morning, when everybody should be at 115 RESOLUTION 970703 school or at work or doing something productive, it is hard to explain and convince those people that they should continue to provide more money for the school system, when they don't think what they view is very good. And it is a public relations problem. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: I think your point is very well taken. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Your question, Councilman Rizzo, please, for the Superintendent, so he can leave.
Superintendent, this is only going to take 30 seconds. But during Florence Johnson's presentation -- you mentioned about many of the programs that are helpful in keeping people from being truant -- she referred to a program called the Twilight Program. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Yes.
Is there some concern that that program is being cut? Obviously she is very concerned about that program. Could you take a second and tell us what that's about? 116 RESOLUTION 970703 SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Sure. We started that program. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: We know what the program is about. He just wants to know whether it is going to be cut or not. Yes or no? SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: No. 8 CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: That's it.