Staff and Students Say Olney Security Has Been Improving

By Susan Snyder and Martha Woodall, The Philadelphia Inquirer

May 4–Olney High School has long been a trouble spot for the Philadelphia School District, but staff and students there said yesterday that conditions had improved in recent months, making the shooting of two students just off campus particularly disturbing.

"The school has really made a dramatic change," said Joy Graves, 16, a sophomore and member of the Youth United for Change student advocacy group. "They have tight security everywhere, in the hallways and stuff. I didn’t think something like this would happen."

Added district spokesman Fernando Gallard: "This just brings a black eye to the school for something that did not happen in a school that is doing much better."

Serious incidents including assaults, weapons possessions and morals offenses have dropped this year to 144 — a 31 percent decrease compared with the same time last year, district officials report.

District chief executive Paul Vallas emphasized: "There’s no evidence that a conflict in the school escalated into a confrontation outside the school."

For years, the 1,400-student Olney has been one of the district’s worst academic performers and most disruptive schools.

Based on the number of reported violent incidents, the school has been classified as a "persistently dangerous school" since the state created the list using data for 2002-03 to comply with requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Olney — one of nine large neighborhood high schools in Philadelphia on the list — was included because it was a school with more than 1,000 students and had logged more than 20 serious incidents each year, including weapons violations and violence resulting in arrests. Listed schools are required to create safety plans and offer their students the option to transfer.

Last August, the district placed the school and 10 others in a special "CEO region" targeted for study and special interventions. The sprawling Olney was divided into two schools in the fall, with a wall up the middle, in hopes of reducing disruption.

But chaos continued, and last fall, Vallas hired a retired Marine colonel to come in and help oversee the school. More adults — staff and community volunteers — were sent into the halls to patrol, and disruption dropped, staff said.

"These people have been relentless in shooing the kids out of the hallways and into class," said Richard L. Smith, an English teacher and former union representative at the school.

But Vallas noted that keeping students safe outside school remains a struggle.

Twenty-four serious incidents involving Olney students through Dec. 31 this academic year were outside the building, according to data from the office of the state safe schools advocate.

The reports included several assaults on students as the school day was beginning or ending.

Yesterday’s shootings prompted Vallas to call again for a stronger police presence outside schools in communities where violence has spiked.

"It’s not meant to be a criticism," he said. "It’s a request. But the police are stretched thin. They’re overworked and understaffed."

Olney High School at a Glance

Address: 100 W. Duncannon Ave.

Number of students: 1,400.

Average daily attendance: 72 percent.

Violence statistics for 2005-06 school year

Assaults: 87.

Weapons: 23.

Morals offenses: 6.

Robberies: 3.

Drug and alcohol offenses: 22.

Fires and false alarms: 3.

Academic results

Percentage of students below basic levels in reading: 83.6.

Percentage of students below basic levels in math: 83.8.

(2004-05 results)

SOURCES: Philadelphia School District and Pennsylvania Department of Education

Contact staff writer Susan Snyder at 215-854-4693 or ssnyder@phillynews.com.

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