Forty are the schools considered to be the most violent and which increased the number of cases in the city School District by 5.79 percent, Fernando Gallard, spokesperson for the Philadelphia School District explained. 

Gallar acknowledged that the increase is not necessarily due to violent acts, but to the School District’s decision to request each school to report all those events involving conduct that affect them.  “This made all the schools report some type of misconduct, not necessarily considered as violence”, he stated.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education reported that during the last two school years the number of incidents occurring in schools throughout the state equaled 82,267, and 12,666 for Philadelphia.

He specified that only 12 schools in Pennsylvania –less than 1%-- are considered to be “constantly dangerous” because of security incidents.

As for Philadelphia, the Schools District has a total of 281 schools and the 40 most dangerous are affected by the environment surrounding them.  “If there is violence on the streets, it is transferred to the schools and reaches the students”, Gallard complained.

“We have increased the number of police officers, security cameras, X-ray machines, staff specialized in working with students, claims management and safety, and even alternate discipline schools.”

There are six schools specialized in dealing with violent students that are taken out of regular schools and placed in any of these schools.

Gallard said that violence is not a synonym for Philadelphia but rather the whole state.  However, no cases of students beating a teacher, x-ray machines or greater police security have been reported in other schools outside Philadelphia.

“It is wrong for students to beat teachers and we regret that this occurred in this city, but there have only been two cases which were blown out of proportion by the news media.”