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Philly.com- After nearly 150 assaults on Philadelphia school administrators and teachers this school year, the unions that represent them gathered Friday to say: Something’s got to give.
“Some parents now think that it’s OK to assault the people charged with keeping their children safe,” said Robin Cooper, president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators (CASA), the Philadelphia School District administrators’ union. “It’s more than a few cases — just this year, it’s horrendous. People are cursed out or threatened, bullied by parents.”
That was the message Cooper and Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, hoped to convey at a news conference and rally Friday to address the issue of staff safety in schools. Flanked by Councilwoman Helen Gym and dozens of administrators, Cooper asked that school security be increased; that legislators revisit the Sandusky Act, which prevents school staff from touching students — even when breaking up a fight; and that adults be criminally charged for assaults on staff.
