Philadelphia’s schools chief is welcoming new students to South Philadelphia High, and promises a change from last year’s racial violence there.

KYW’s Mike DeNardo reports that Otis Hackney, the school’s new principal (above), greeted a few dozen freshmen attending new student orientation:

“This is going to be a new South Philadelphia High School.”

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman (below) says that new leadership is only one change at a school that made headlines last school year for the violence against Asian students:

“We all know what happened last year and we don’t want that to be a repeat, not only in this school but in any school.”

South Philadelphia High School is adding Mandarin as a second-language course, and they’re bringing on a new assistant principal who is Asian.

Ackerman called on the freshman class to show the upperclassmen and the community outside of school that people of different cultures can get along.

(Photos by KYW’s Mike DeNardo)