It was mid-morning in early September 2002. In the front office at Barratt Middle School, an administrative employee was lamenting a reduced number of staff people in her school, and, as a result, the increased amount of work piling up in the office. Over the summer, she explained, Edison Schools had taken over the South Philadelphia school and cut one secretary and several non-teaching assistants (NTAs). "It's just become too much for us," she said.

Just then, a security officer stepped in to announce that a food fight had broken out in the lunchroom.

A full 15 minutes of food fight elapsed before staff could break up the melee. By then, milk and pizza and applesauce and Cheeto dust were all over the floor and the fifth- and sixth-grade students were humming with excitement. Eventually, Principal Roy McKinney arrived to restore order, and the students were sent back to their classrooms.

The lunchroom had been left unmonitored, with no adults on hand except the food services staff. The NTA responsible for monitoring the lunchroom had been one of the positions eliminated by Edison Schools.

By mid-September, the incident at Barratt was a familiar story at Edison-run schools. Some of the education management organization's other schools seemed to be faring even worse. At Tilden Middle School, a teacher tried to break up a fight and a student jumped on her leg, breaking it. At Gillespie Middle School, food fights and fistfights broke out daily. A computer was thrown out a window. A security officer was assaulted by a student. Two teachers quit. At Stetson Middle School, a student threatened a pregnant teacher, and the school nurse complained that she had seen between 40 and 50 injuries sustained at school as a result of student violence. At Waring Elementary, a student threatened to punch a teacher and stab a classmate with scissors. After a brawl erupted at Shaw Middle School, five students were arrested and two were suspended.

Edison has not officially accepted blame for any difficulties. "These are inner-city schools and the problems that began in August are indicative of that," says Stacey Newton, who heads risk management at Edison Schools.

In 2001, from September to December, Gillespie reported 26 violent incidents. During the same months in 2002, the number was up to 41. Penn Treaty reported 15 incidents last year and 28 this year. Shaw reported 14 incidents last year and 52 this year. Of the middle schools that were taken over by educational management organizations (EMOs), the total number of incidents reported last year, pre-takeover, was 153. Post-takeover, the number has risen to 276.

Since the beginning of the school year, new School District CEO Paul Vallas has been implementing a zero-tolerance policy for school violence. Beyond character education programming for disruptive students and their parents and training for teachers on handling student discipline, Vallas has also demanded that all violent incidents be reported or principals risk being fired. The rise in reported incidents, according to chief safety executive Dexter Green, is due to a rise in reporting.

"I can't speak to what people didn't report before, but I believe that most of the schools are reporting more accurately across the board," says Green.

But teachers and school staff, including the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT), have blamed the rise in violent incidents on Edison's decision to cut NTAs and other paraprofessional school support staff, including school-community coordinators. At Shaw, for example, Edison cut four NTAs and two secretaries. At Stetson, nine NTAs were cut, and only one NTA and one police officer were left to patrol the school.

"The cuts have had a negative impact on the running of schools," says Hal Moss, information officer for the PFT. "Not just NTAs. Cutting secretaries has backed up paperwork, and cutting counselors has meant that we've lost direct contact with the children in many cases. The bottom line in all of this is the bottom line. Edison has been saving money to line their own pockets, while these schools have been having major problems."

Other advocates and parents have expressed outrage at what they see as a shortsighted decision. "Edison's removal of NTA positions was a huge blunder on their part. The idea that you'd go into a school that's already full of chaos and take away from whatever support they have does not make any sense at all," says Augustus Jordan, education coordinator at Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, and coordinator for Philadelphians United to Support Public Schools.

Officials at Edison have maintained that the cuts in staff were part of routine initial programming as it began to implement its national model in Philadelphia.

"The irony is that our schools are known for being secure, which is why parents love Edison. One of the things people don't comprehend is the process of trying to put a program in place. The first few weeks of this school year were crazy, especially the way in which we were covered by the media. There's a certain level of scrutiny that we understand comes with the territory, but it was a little bit ridiculous. We call year one Œstart-up.' People just don't have a clear vision of how that works or what we are doing," says Adam Tucker, spokesman for Edison.

In the early months of their "start-up" year, Edison Schools has been confronted with what is a district-wide problem. And Vallas' zero-tolerance policy, with its strict incident reporting guidelines, may uncover still more security problems throughout the district. One aspect of concern to teachers is that a slow bureaucratic system of "trying" violent students has kept many problem students still in schools.

"There is a definite issue here -- not just Edison, it's global. A police officer assaulted by a student is out on leave now. He's got a huge bruise on his rib cage, and guess what? We heard the child is coming back. I know these are some monumental issues but things could be changing faster," says Wendy Walsh, a seventh- and eighth-grade English teacher and building representative at Gillespie Middle School.

In the meantime, the School District of Philadelphia has reinstated support staff at the Edison schools. Additional school police and NTAs were sent to regain control at Gillespie and Stetson. Schools like Barratt and Penn Treaty have gotten a few more employees, though their numbers are still below what they had pre-takeover.

To keep the halls clear of unruly students and prevent false and real fire alarms, schools required an increase in personnel. "It's no secret that Edison reduced the support staff and we had to bring it back to create stability. We may have to do that at other schools; we're looking at all EMO schools. We need to make sure we have a calm, orderly environment," says Dexter Green. Green admits that, while Victory Schools has had some problems with security, other EMOs have not required intervention. These EMOs have not reduced support staff to the extent that Edison has.

At Waring Elementary, where four teachers resigned over the violent incidents, the return of staff has appeared to resolve most of the school's security problems. "Things have settled down and I don't see the problems we were seeing," says Meyer Weintraub, a physical education teacher and union representative.

But at other schools, even with the School District's intervention, teachers feel that there are still deep-seated problems. Starting the year off on such a bad note, they argue, has set a tone for the students, who now see how powerless an unsupported school staff can be. Problems at Stetson, Penn Treaty and Luis Munoz-Marin Elementary, for instance, were exacerbated in the early days of the school year when Edison failed to provide a schedule of classes, leading to more chaos in the hallways.

For its part, Edison Schools has an elaborate security program that relies on seven different consultants for school safety, ranging from sexual harassment to gun violence. Principals and teachers at Edison-run schools receive training from the Crisis Prevention Institute, which emphasizes verbal de-escalation and nonviolent restraint. CPI videos address topics such as setting limits and breaking up fights. This month, Edison will be overseeing CPI training sessions at Tilden, Shaw, Penn Treaty and Stetson. Edison has also implemented high-tech devices such as new door alarms, security databases that track visitors and DAT security recorders, which allow monitors to access visual information more quickly than videotape.

The Edison philosophy on school security dictates that everyone in the school building must take responsibility for safety. "You don't just carve out 10 people and say that it's their responsibility. Everyone plays a part in making your school safe," says Edison's Stacey Newton.

Some teachers have interpreted the underlying message to be "school discipline is your responsibility." There is resentment that a largely absent Edison has consistently placed the onus on already-overworked and under-represented staff. "We are constantly filling in for other teachers because they are burnt-out and tired," says Wendy Walsh.

Teachers were told early on that Edison's classroom curriculum of "eight core values," taught the first 10 days of school, would help deflect chaos. "That was like a slap in the face to us, that what we were teaching was causing the problems," says Kristen Young, a sixth-grade science teacher and building representative at Penn Treaty Middle School.

And more staff has not necessarily abated the disruptive behavior. "The five NTAs we had had been here a long time. They knew the kids and the kids knew them and respected them," says Young. "Now the kids don't listen to them; they give fake names when asked."

Pre-Edison, one of Penn Treaty's secretaries would monitor the security cameras. If a food fight broke out, for example, an immediate shutdown of the lunchroom would be effected. Now with only one secretary, it has become difficult to keep an eye on the camera at all times. Young also points out that one NTA used to be in charge of manning the accommodation room, where disruptive and suspended students would be sent. Lately, the teachers have had to rotate accommodation room duties, and in some cases, violent kids have been sent back into classrooms.

Young regrets the message this sends to the other students. "I can't police the room when I'm trying to teach reading. I can't be responsible if a kid causing trouble gets past me to another kid."

Teachers don't blame Edison for violent students, pointing out that their behavioral problems predated the takeover. But they do see the cuts in staff as a lapse in judgment and would like to see more involvement from the management organization.

"I don't think anyone at Edison wants these schools to be full of violent kids," says Young. "I think these decisions were made without going into the schools."

"It's hard to correct something after it becomes a problem, and we're still experiencing difficulty," says Wendy Walsh. "Edison has not been in that building to see what's going on and I have a real big problem with that."