No place to learn.

There is a public high school here in Philly that has been having all sorts of problems.


If you are up on You Tube you have probably seen some of the videos coming out of that excuse for a school, lately. Right in the middle of lunch there was an all out brawl that took place in the school cafeteria.


And, as if that isn't bad enough, a staffer was knocked unconscious by a hooligan masquerading as a student, and the same student was back in school a few days later.


This school is so out of control and dysfunctional that the school district has no idea how to deal with it. Before they can even talk about educating children they have to create a safe environment. And that, as it stands, is far from happening. 


"Rudy Helton, the building engineer, has been busy replacing door handles and locks damaged when students break into classrooms, he said. He installed a slide bolt on locker-room doors, because unruly teens were using their ID cards to pick locks and cause trouble.

'There's no control,' Helton said.


Bartram made headlines during Pfeiffer's first year there, 1999, when an assistant principal was shot by a student in the school. Pfeiffer said things were worse now.


In interviews over the last week, more than 20 Bartram staffers and students described a school that's often in chaos.


Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., who made his fourth unannounced visit to Bartram on Thursday, acknowledged the school has problems. On Monday, he will send respected former district principal Ozzie Wright to help calm the school.


Hite also said he, the assistant superintendent responsible for the school, and its principal, Kimberly Collins, would work together on Bartram's discipline plan and to emphasize restorative practices, a program that stresses building relationships to prevent conflict.


Bartram, on South 67th Street in Southwest Philadelphia, has long struggled academically, but for a time, its climate was relatively good, thanks to a principal who stayed for a decade and was backed by a large, strong support staff.


But the principal left last year. And this year, the Philadelphia School District's budget crisis has hit hard - Bartram absorbed 100 students from a school that closed, yet still has fewer staffers. Over the last few years, it has lost assistant principals, a disciplinarian, librarian, counselors, and others.


Hite said the school was down two employees over the last year and the issue was "how to effectively deploy the resources that are there."'


OK, so let's talk about the elephant in the room: The parents of these children.


Just what the hell are they doing? Why aren't they training these children at home to prepare them for school? At some point we have to stop blaming the teachers, the school district, the counselors, and the damn building engineer for crying out loud! It's time to start pointing fingers at the people who brought these children here and are just turning them loose on the rest of us.


Another sad aspect of this story is that there are children at Bartram High School who want to learn, but who cannot because they find themselves in an environment that is not much better than one of the county prisons up on State Road here in Philly.


In fact, one might argue, the conditions at the prisons are safer.


"There are a number of vacancies at the school, with a number of teachers out for long stretches.


"Some kids have substitutes all day," said the teacher who asked not to be identified. "It's just a warehouse for these kids."


Even veteran Bartram teachers say they're worried.


"I'm even getting anxious to walk the halls any more," said another teacher who asked to remain anonymous.


Staffers like Stevenson are victims, certainly. But others suffer, too.


"There's a lot of talented, intelligent kids there that are getting the bad end of the stick," one teacher said.


Students interviewed at dismissal on Friday talked about fights and rowdy hallways, about trouble in the cafeteria.


"Kids do whatever they want," said senior Catherine Biziens, 18. "There's no structure."


Bartram is "out of control right now," said sophomore Ramira Andrews. She said she used to be afraid. Then, she said, "I got used to it."' [Source]


When children start getting "used" to fear we are in trouble as a society.


*Pic from Philly.com