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Feuding factions of teens blamed for two violent incidents in and around Audenried High School last week are putting the school district’s new zero-tolerance policy on violence to the test.

Ten students face expulsion as a result of the skirmishes.

The first occurred last Thursday when two female students on their way home after school were stabbed on the 2600 block of Tasker Street near Tasker Homes, police said.

The girls, 14 and 15, were walking with a group of students just after 3 p.m. when two females attacked them from behind, said Sgt. Steve Biello of South Detective Division.

The 14-year-old victim was stabbed twice in the back by another teen, Biello said. An unidentified older female grabbed the 15-year-old and threw her to the ground, he said. As the victim attempted to get up, the teenage attacker knifed her in the back of the head, Biello said.

Both victims identified the teen attacker as a 14-year-old student at James Alcorn Middle School, 32nd and Dickinson streets, said Biello. School District of Philadelphia spokesperson Paul Hanson confirmed the suspect is an eighth-grader at the school.

Both victims have been treated and released from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Biello said.

Police reported a knife was recovered at the scene, and Biello said arrests are pending. While police are still gathering information, it would be premature to discuss possible disciplinary action against the Alcorn student, Hanson said.

"But if that person did commit this," he said, "discipline from the school district is the least of her worries."

On Monday, extra security in the form of eight city cops and six Philadelphia Housing Authority officers patrolled the halls of Audenried, 33rd and Tasker streets, but it was not enough to stop a fight that Hanson said seemed related to last week’s attacks.

Nine male students were arrested for disorderly conduct, and all face expulsion, Hanson said. No weapons were involved in the altercation, the spokesperson added.


Audenried sophomore Antoine Johnson noticed the tighter security on Monday, but when asked if he felt safer, he said "a little bit, not much. Anything can happen in this school."

Other students said they still felt safe. Junior Robert Walker described the knife attack and Monday’s fight as a problem between two groups of students, not a schoolwide issue.

"As long as I ain’t in it, and as long as none of my friends ain’t in it," Walker said. "I don’t really care what these other [kids] do."

Janis Durald has been a social worker at Audenried for seven years, helping pregnant and parenting teens. She is aware of a conflict between two groups from the surrounding neighborhood, and said it occasionally involves a student from the school.

"It is not the school, it is the people outside of it," she said. "I have never stopped and thought I don’t want to come to school because it is not safe. I don’t think like that. I might start to."

Hanson would not label the incidents gang-related, but said, "it certainly was an issue of turf." Like Durald, he said Audenried has had problems resulting from two rival groups of students — one made up of kids in the Tasker Homes public-housing complex and another of teens from the surrounding blocks.

"This has been a long-standing community problem," he said. "Periodically, it comes into our school."

The extra police in the school are not a permanent solution, Hanson said. He called for the community’s assistance in stemming the violence, as did Audenried principal Millage Holloway in a letter sent to parents this week.

"I need to let you know that I will be communicating with each student today to reinforce our expectations with respect to safety, respect for each other and good behavior," Holloway wrote. "Will you please join with me and reinforce safety, respect for others and good behavior with your child."

Alcorn, the school the alleged attacker attends, is managed by Edison Schools, Inc. Spokesperson Adam Tucker said he was unaware that the girl police are looking for is enrolled at one of the company’s schools.

Edison is addressing security issues at all of its schools in the city following a string of incidents at Shaw Middle School in Southwest Philly, which it also manages. There, the company has temporarily reinstated some non-teaching assistants cut from the school budget this summer to help with security, Tucker said.

But Edison officials do not believe stocking schools with extra personnel and running the institutions like a "police state" is the solution to school violence, Tucker said.

According to Tucker, Edison trains teachers to help maintain a safe environment for students.

"We don’t expect teachers to be security officers and NTAs," he said, "but we absolutely believe the adults in a school building have a profound impact on safety and security issues."

School CEO Paul Vallas introduced a districtwide Code of Student Conduct and zero-tolerance violence policy prior to the start of school. Teachers and principals have been instructed to report every violation of the code, and the administration is promising appropriate action for each offense. As of last week, the school district reported 13 students had been expelled for committing violent offenses.

Anyone with information on the stabbing at Audenried should call Detective Curtis Miller at South Detectives at 215-686-3013.

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