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In Philadelphia, Vallas Decrees Saturday School for Students--and Parents

About 1,000 city kids today found themselves in what seems like a totally unnatural setting for them on a Saturday morning: school.

The School District of Philadelphia has begun its new Saturday school for students who have disrupted their weekday classes. SMART - Saturday Morning Alternative Reach and Teach - is open to about 1,000 5th-through- 12th-graders who have been suspended multiple times for nonviolent offenses or who have had problems with truancy.

"It's an intervention, prevention [program] as opposed to punitive," said Gwen Morris, executive director for instructional and behavioral intervention.

She said that as an alternative to suspension, the program allows students to stay in school and avoid falling behind in their classes.

At nine high schools over the next eight Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., students will be exposed to a host of programs designed to keep them from getting into trouble.

The sessions will include instruction about character education, conflict resolution, healthy life-styles, and anti-violence and anti-bullying messages.

The parents of those enrolled are required to attend the first, fourth and last sessions. "We encourage that parents participate because the alternative may mean expulsion," Morris said.

A second eight-week session for a new group of students is scheduled to begin April 26.

And, yes, today's opening session will go on even if it's pouring outside, Morris said.

School district chief Paul Vallas started a similar Saturday program in Chicago when he ran that system from 1995-2001.


— Mensah M. Dean
No early-Saturday morning cartoons for these kids
Philadelphia Daily News
Feb. 22, 2003
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/5238371.htm

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