Discipline problems spill out onto Franklin Street

Editor’s Note: This is the second of two articles looking at what officials say are growing discipline problems at Pottstown Middle School.

Postman Jerry Lefflar tries to time his route so that he is not on North Franklin Street around 2:30 p.m.

That’s about the time Pottstown Middle School dismisses its students for the day and he’s had a couple of run-ins with them there as they make their way home.

“I hate being here at that time of day. They’re disrespectful, they curse, they walk in the street,” he said.

After being assaulted by snowballs last winter, Lefflar confronted the students “and they didn’t back down, but they weren’t too bright because they were calling each other by name,” he said with a chuckle.

“I had a chat with the school resource officer and he explained to them that attacking a postal worker is a federal offense and their case would not be handled at borough hall, and that was the last real problem I had,” he said.

“And you know what? 20 minutes later the high school kids come through and there’s no problem. There is a little jostling and shouting, but for the most part they’re polite and respectful,” he said.

Lefflar is just one of the people outside the school who have made complaints about behavior of middle school students after school, and they mirror complaints coming from inside the school as well, school officials have confirmed.

A small but steady stream of parents have attended school board meetings in recent months to complain about bullying, saying nothing is being done to stop it.

“We’re getting complaints about students fighting in street, vandalizing property, walking over cars,” David Todd, the school’s principal for seventh and eighth grades said during a special community meeting on Feb. 28, called to address the problem.

Todd acknowledged “a lot of complaints out there” coming from parents and the community. “One of the biggest concerns is out students acting out on the way to and from school,” Todd said.

Pottstown police Chief Rick Drumheller told borough council he met recently with school officials about behavior problems on Franklin Street.

“As the weather starts to turn, so too does the attitude when walking home on Franklin Street,” Drumheller said. “So we’ve been working with the school district to discover remedies to keep people under control when they go home from school.”

On one Monday, one remedy was extra police cars on the street and, as a gaggle of students gathered in front of one home, some climbing onto the front steps, an officer approached to move things along.

“Do you live here?” he asked, indicating the private property on which some of the students had perched.

“Yes,” came a defiant answer, followed by a quieter “no.”

“Well let’s move things along then,” he said firmly.

“This is a public street, you can’t tell us what to do,” said one student.

After a brief staring contest, however, the students were ultimately convinced of the wisdom of seeing things his way.

After the students had passed his house in the 400 block of Franklin Street, Heiberto Gonzalez emerged and began to check his vehicle closely.

“I’m usually not here when they go by and last year, some of them walked on my car and jumped up and down on it, denting the hood, so I figured I would just come out and check on it,” he said.

Across the street, another resident, who declined to provide her name, said students are often on her steps or walking along the short concrete retaining wall in front of her home.

“If one of them falls, I do not want to get sued,” she said.

One crossing guard mentioned in passing that the students often make their way down to the intersection with Oak Street before the trouble starts.

Along the way, a pedestrian passed both Matt Boyer, the principal of the fifth and sixth grades; and David Todd, principal of the 7th and 8th grades, out on Franklin Street monitoring student behavior until they were out of sight

Sure enough, along the south side of Oak, between Franklin and Evans streets, a group of about 10 students was pushing and shoving, some careening into the street, another circling on a skateboard.

“Hey look out, that guy’s taking pictures,” one student shouted as a Mercury reporter armed with an iPhone was spotted.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A Pottstown police officer tries to move a crowd of Pottstown Middle School students along North Franklin Street at the end of the school day. Neighbors have complained about large gatherings of students after dismissal each day.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Pottstown Middle School Principal David Todd is among the school staff who take to the streets after school to try to motivate good behavior by students headed home.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Some residents in the 400 block of North Franklin Street have complained about Pottstown Middle School students trespassing, vandalizing their property or damaging their cars as students head home from school.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A school crossing guard told a reporter that most of the confrontations and bad behavior by middle school students in the afternoons happens on North Franklin Street between Oak and Beech streets.