Getting schooled in safety

Alana Ward was teaching a science lesson at St. Thomas Aquinas School when she heard the din of men arguing in the street.

As the fight grew more heated, she looked out her classroom window and saw about 10 males — ages 14 to 24 — standing on the corner of 18th and Morris streets.
Call it teacher’s intuition: Ward had a feeling the situation would turn dangerous. She told her pupils to put their heads down on their desks.

Soon after, a car pulled up to the corner and a man with a gun got out, Ward recalled.

"My students were crying, upset, nervous and scared," she said.

Ward called police from her cell phone and ran out into the hall to alert other faculty members, who also called police.

"That day, I promised [the students] when they left school, there would be police on the corner to protect them," she said.

But there was no police presence outside the school the next day, and Ward’s students accused her of having lied to them.

"That day, I prayed nothing would happen to my children when they walked home from school," she said, "and the next day, they all returned safe and sound."

Ward told her story at a Sept. 14 community meeting and rally sponsored by the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project (EPOP) at Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church, 2319 Fitzwater St.

The forum was about protecting children on their way to and from public, parochial and charter schools. The community is rallying around City Council President Anna Verna, who plans to introduce a resolution for public hearings on a comprehensive student safety plan.

"We’re asking government officials to begin a process of hearings involving teachers and parents on developing a systematic method of protecting children because of the large number of incidents of violence against them to and from school," said EPOP organizer Justin DiBerardinis.

Headquartered in North Philadelphia, EPOP is a multi-faith organization comprised of 20 churches, school-based groups and community agencies from across the city.

Three South Philly organizations belong to EPOP — Greater St. Matthew, where the rally was held; St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 18th and Morris; and True Gospel Tabernacle, 1601 Mifflin St.

Formed 10 years ago, EPOP has a history of accomplishments in areas of education reform and safety; community and economic development; improved and coordinated city services; and public policy impacting neighborhood development.

Shortly before the start of the school year, EPOP organizers requested a meeting with Verna and asked if she would be their spokesperson on the issue of school safety.

At last week’s meeting, EPOP leaders joined forces with Verna, state Rep. Babette Josephs and representatives from Councilwoman Marian Tasco and state Sen. Vincent Fumo’s offices.

Verna told a crowd of more than 100 parents, children, teachers, community leaders and police officers that she would authorize Council’s committees on Legislative Oversight and Public Safety to hold joint hearings on safe passageways for students.

"Safety of students must be a city priority. The children are the future of our city," the Council president said.

Like Ward, EPOP members want to see more police presence outside schools, said DiBerardinis.

"There is very little Philadelphia police coverage at some schools," he said.

At the start of the school year, Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson addressed the city’s alarming child homicide statistics.

Between January and August of this year, 22 children were killed — a 47-percent increase over the same time period last year, according to police statistics.

Eighty percent of all slayings are committed with handguns, and that is the weapon of choice in 90 percent of all juvenile homicides as well.

Johnson said police were working with schools and community leaders to create "safe corridors" for children walking to and from school. The plan calls for establishing safe routes by using parents and others in the community as lookouts.

Aside from thehomicide statistics, EPOP organizers are up in arms over the Sept. 13 expiration of a federal ban on assault weapons. The 1994 ban, signed by former President Bill Clinton, prohibited 19 types of military-style assault weapons; a clause mandated the ban would expire unless Congress reauthorized it, which it did not.

"A whole class of violent weapons will be on the street," said DiBerardinis. "The streets of Philadelphia are going to become more dangerous with the expiration of this federal ban. We have even greater need for gun control at a state level and greater involvement from our city officials to make sure our children remain safe and aren’t facing dangerous situations to and from school."

Verna also expressed a desire for strict gun laws.

"I think this gun violence has got to come to an end. The laws have to protect us all," she said.

But the scope of child safety extends beyond violent crimes, officials noted.

In the 2003-04 school year, 90 children were hit by cars or buses on their way to and from school, compared to 56 in the 2002-03 year, officials stated.

Council members are "extremely upset and concerned by the alarming number of students coming to and from school that were involved in accidents" with cars or buses, Verna said.

Citing the well-worn clich� that it takes a village to raise a child, EPOP organizers said police, SEPTA, City Council, parents and teachers are all responsible for child safety.

"Police can’t do it alone, parents can’t do it alone and teachers can’t do it alone. What a force we could be if we all acted together," Verna said.