Teachers in Philadelphia are concerned for their safety and their students’ after the School Reform Commission terminated contracts with two local organizations who provide “safety support workers” in schools (Source: Philadelphia Daily News, 6/11/2008, Teachers union questions safety of schools that lost monitors). Since the changes took place in early May, at least one teacher “complained that it has been harder to maintain control in the school since the district terminated the contracts.” His school went from six safety workers to two.
The district made these changes likely because of issues with the companies providing the safety workers concerning the criminal background checks on their employees. Now the school district is trying to shift school police from one school to cover the schools that are understaffed.
Unfortunately for the school district, the bottom line is that it looks unprepared for managing the safety and security in its schools. When the president of the city’s teachers union questions the safety of its teachers, it doesn’t provide parents a high level of confidence that their children have a safe learning environment.
Why did the school district find out about the questionable background checks so late in the school year? What plan did the district have for satisfying the shortage of safety support workers? How did the district communicate to the press, as well as the community about these issues?
Answering these questions is fundamental for the district to provide a safe learning environment in its schools. The safety and security initiatives should ideally complement each other and be tailored for the specific schools/districts. How can this district expect to educate its students effectively, if it appears so unprepared with regards to the safety of its population? Ultimately, districts that consistently evaluate their safety and security programs are well-suited to handle incidents like this deftly by adapting quickly to ensure that safety is as important as learning.
How does your district handle radical security changes in the middle of the year? Do you communicate well with your school community when dealing with these changes?