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‘I try to build them up’: How a dean with corrections experience tries to keep North Philly students safe
Sammy Caiola, Chalkbeat
Mar 16, 2026 at 4:59pm EDT
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When Art Green was working for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections a few years ago, he noticed the inmates getting younger and younger — and it ate at him.
“I would talk to the young people; I would try to get the young people on track,” he said. “But moving forward, I thought about maybe catching these young people within high school settings, maybe having the same conversations with them without them being incarcerated.”
Now Green, a Philly native and self-proclaimed former troublemaker, is rounding out his first year as dean of students at the YESPhilly Accelerated High School. It’s a credit recovery school within the School District of Philadelphia, serving students ages 16-23 who were unable to complete their education at their original school.
The campus is in a part of the city experiencing elevated levels of poverty and crime. That means Green does a lot more than desk work.
Green coordinates with school security, local law enforcement, transit officials, and other agencies to make sure that the school building — and all the vital services it provides — remain available and accessible to kids.
Chalkbeat talked with Green about keeping students safe, and giving them the tools they need to move forward.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I come in in the mornings. I make sure that the outside of the school, the perimeter is safe. Once I enter the building, I open up, I make sure that every room is inspected. My main purpose is working in the front, making sure that I speak with every student entering the building. I make sure that I greet them.
What I’m actually doing is temperature-checking to make sure that they’re ready to get to learning. I want to make sure that no one bothered them in their transportation to or from school. I may need to refer you over to our counselor. I may need to refer you over to the principal, someone that can help you. Or maybe it’s something I could help you with.
At lunch time, it’s crowd control, controlling the traffic within the hallways, making sure there’s no loitering in the bathroom. After lunch, I pretty much slow the day down a little bit and prepare for the release of the students.
How does the environment surrounding YESPhilly affect what happens inside the school?
The challenge that our students face, of course, is crime. Everyday movement, bums, different people saying things to them and they may get a little intimidated. I try to make sure I look out the window, stay within the perimeter, or make sure I can see them when they get here, but also let them know when you get here you’re here in a safe environment. I walk all the way around a one-block radius to show my face.
I want to talk to everyone, even the people that may be on drugs and stuff like that, I let them know: “This is a school. You can’t be around this area. You can go over here. Is there something I can do for you? How can I support you?” I want everyone to know that this is a safe place.
I have to stay active and involved with every aspect of that student, whether that student is with the Department of Health Services or that student is with a guardian, whether that student is in a homeless shelter. It does not matter. We have a purpose that we need to serve. The young people [are] the client[s], and they are our future.
How do you talk to students about violence they might see on the news or in their communities?
It’s a very scary time that we’re living in. I let them know that the answer is the young people. When I give you these teachings, I need you guys to go home and have these conversations with your parents about the stuff that you’re learning. Have these conversations with your peers, the ones that are involved in gang violence. Because in school, we talk it out and we walk away and no one gets hurt.
As far as the gun violence side, I let them know the values that I’m teaching and use them. If you see danger, separate yourself. If someone tries to introduce you to having a weapon or joining a gang, XYZ, seek help. I try to build them up, to give them that strength.
I can’t be with them every walk of the way. I wish I could. But I try to give them enough tools so that when that decision comes to separate yourself, where you see danger, you can go the other way.
How do you take care of yourself when you’re not at work?
I bowl heavy. I’m really into bowling. I’m into landscaping, and it’s about that time I start putting my seeds down and getting the mulch and flowers out and taking care of a plant and just seeing how you can make the garden look. I play basketball; I run track. And other than that, I take care of my students. Whatever they have to do on their free time when they’re off. We have a lot of programs making sure they get to and from the programs. If they text me, I’m here.
Everything’s good because I committed my life to trying to save our young people.
This story is part of a collaboration between Chalkbeat Philadelphia and The New York Times’s Headway Initiative, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) via the Local Media Foundation.
Sammy Caiola covers solutions to gun violence in and around Philadelphia schools. Have ideas for her? Get in touch at scaiola@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia/2026/03/16/corrections-officer-turned-educator-puts-focus-on-school-safety/