Explosive detonated at Philly school

A male eighth-grade student was arrested yesterday after a homemade explosive was detonated in the courtyard outside Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences. There were no injuries.

"What happened is a student put a bottle with chemicals in it, a plastic bottle, trying to cause a chemical reaction," says School District of Philadelphia spokesperson Fernando Gallard. The bottle was exploded outside the middle school, he says, and materials used to make it were later discovered in a bathroom.

The student faces a felony charge for causing or risking catastrophe, and misdemeanor charges for recklessly endangering another person and bringing a weapon to a school. It is not clear what his intention was in creating the explosive.

Gallard and Feltonville teacher Ray Porreca says that it was a so-called "works bomb," comprised of household cleaning chemicals and tin foil placed in a plastic bottle. The name is reportedly inspired by The Works brand name toilet bowl cleaner, and instructions for making the explosive are readily available on the internet. Gallard believes that the student mixed the materials for the explosive device outside and then the left the bottle to explode, and then later dumped the ingredients in a bathroom to evade discovery.

"It was a student with special needs, which we aren't equipped to deal with because we only have half a counselor and are understaffed in other areas," says Porreca.

"This is all about our under funding," says Feltonville teacher Amy Roat. "No staff to intervene before a kid flips out."

A series of violent incidents at Bartram High School in recent weeks, including one in which a staff member was knocked unconscious, has focused the city's attention on violent conditions in understaffed Philadelphia public schools. The District's grinding budget crisis, exacerbated by deep cuts to education spending under Gov. Tom Corbett and rapid charter school growth, has led to widespread layoffs. Teachers say that schools with fewer counselors, police officers, nurses and support staff are far less safe as a result.

City Paper has also learned that a school police officer at Feltonville was injured during a "melee" last week. It's unclear what the officer's condition is.

It's difficult to describe the full picture of violent incidents in Philadelphia public schools since they are not always publicly announced.

A noontime aide at Blaine Elementary was knocked to the floor while attempting to break up a fight between students just last Wednesday, according to school nurse Michele Perloff. The woman was briefly unconscious, says Perloff, and has not yet returned to the school.

"It was really quite disturbing," says Perloff, who treated the victim. "We're all so frustrated wondering about our own safety."

The noontime aide has not responded to a message left at her home and so City Paper is withholding her name. Gallard confirmed the incident.

"The kids all know her and she commands a lot of respect," says Perloff. "And even so this happened to her."