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Ackerman Promises School Violence Crackdown

By PW Staff

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 25, 2010

The Inquirer reports that Supt. Arlene Ackerman is promising to crack down on violence in Philly schools: ""I sincerely believe that we can break the cycle of violence and aggression that, as far as I'm concerned, is reaching epidemic proportions," said Ackerman, who spoke at a School Reform Commission meeting. She was joined by Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, District Attorney Seth Williams, Philadelphia Human Services Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose, and a small contingent of residents, activists, and city officials who pledged to help. Ackerman said she and others would begin addressing the problem in four ways: reshaping how school police interact with students, establishing a chapter of a national youth violence prevention network, commissioning a panel to examine and make recommendations about violence, and requiring students sent to alternative schools to use "restorative justice" practices to learn about the consequences of their actions before they can return to district schools. "We must not only change their behavior," Ackerman said. "We must change their hearts and minds and give them hope."