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Jim Lester is crazy about his granddaughter La-Kia, 10. "She's such a little lady," he crows. That's why he was so upset last year when she started attending Vare Middle School in South Philadelphia. It was bad enough that Vare is known for dismal test-score performance. What was worse was how the culture of the streets had seeped inside. La-Kia had been there only a few days when four girls tried to pick a fight with her. When he heard that, says Lester, "I nearly had 10 bypasses."
At his insistence, La-Kia was rushed to the more peaceable hallways of St....
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