Analysis: Nearly 40% of Pennsylvania schools ‘persistently dangerous’

Pennsylvania students are not being provided with safe school choice options as the law requires because of its weak definition of “persistently dangerous,”  a Commonwealth Foundation analysis finds.
Senior Education Policy Analyst of the Commonwealth Foundation Rachel Langan told The Center Square by email: “Federal and state law require that students attending a persistently dangerous school or those experiencing violence at school be provided with a transfer to a safe charter school, school within their own district, or at a neighboring district.”
Langan said that Pennsylvania law “defines a dangerous school based on the number of arrests, not the number of incidents.”
“Incidents,” according to Pennsylvania law, “include but are not limited to: Simple Assault, Aggravated Assault, Sexual Assault, Rape, Terroristic Threat, Bomb Threat, Arson, Vandalism, Criminal Trespass, Theft, Robbery, Suicide Attempt, Vandalism, and Possession of Weapon,” Langan said.