It was 1967 and John Street was a 250-pound substitute teacher at Germantown High School, sporting a size-52 suit and a sense of trepidation.

A young teen stepped up to the sub, cursed him out and prophesied that nobody at the school could or would discipline him. The next day, it happened again.

"I left the system. I felt I had to leave because I didn't think I could endure that kind of conduct day in and day out," the Democratic nominee recalled yesterday in a campaign stop with a group of 30 education majors at Temple University.

As mayor, Street pledged to beef up school security, from more metal detectors to deploying police in schools, as a way to keep good teachers in the system. Street promised this safer future as part of a plan to do a better job of recruiting and retaining teachers.

He said smaller classes, higher salaries and a better sales job on the city's "high-quality lifestyle" to prospective teachers were part of his strategy.

He also wants the hotel industry to pitch in vacant rooms for college kids to use on recruiting visits and the real-estate industry to offer tours to them. He also spoke of better use of existing housing and student loan forgiveness programs.

But as he's done in the past, when asked how to pay for all of this, Street said it's the state's responsibility and that the city can't bear any tax increases for increased school funding.

Bob Barnett, campaign director for Republican Sam Katz, said Katz also supports smaller class size and better pay, but that Katz wants to look for more ways to save money in the School District before inevitably seeking additional state dollars.

The Rendell administration and Superintendent David Hornbeck "went to Harrisburg and said 'give us more money or else.' And they got 'or else,' " Barnett said.

Katz wants the city charter changed to give the mayor the ability to name all members to the school board in the first months of the new mayoral term, said Barnett who called Katz's approach a willingness to lead and be accountable.

Calling that a "shape-of-the-table argument," Street says he has "grave reservations" about the proposal, which will be a ballot item in November, because it could lead to increased political patronage.

Barnett said Street is quick to take credit for all the improvements made by the Rendell administration but is unwilling to accept the blame for a school system that continues to encourage families to leave the city.

Street attacked Katz, saying the Republican wants to contract out education. "This is a radical, radical, radical departure from anything we've heard in the area of public education," Street said.

Barnett said he found it curious that the so-called front-runner has begun to distort Katz's positions on public education. "Sam has said he supports charter schools like Dwight Evans' in Ogontz. But John Street is the only one in this race who has ever actually privatized," he said.

Street said he opposes the kind of privatization that would create a "boutique-type program" for the wealthier students able to flee the system, "but the rest of us will be stuck in a program that is underfunded and has no clout to deal with funding problems."

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