Violence and vandalism report has mixed results
State requires school districts to keep track of incidents each year
BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Violence was up and vandalism was slightly down in Brick schools during the 2006-07 school year, according to a report recently released by the Board of Education.

"Of course I would like to see zero incidents, but that would be a perfect world," said Interim Superintendent Melindo A. Persi. "Based on 11,000 students, we had about 200 incidents. I think we're doing very, very well with respect to controlling violence and vandalism in our schools."

School districts are required by state law to report incidents in four major reporting categories - violence, vandalism, weapons and substance abuse.

There were 220 incidents in 2006-07, up 4 percent from 212 incidents in 2005- 06, according to the district's report.

There were 179 violent incidents during the 2006-2007 school year, up 7 percent from the 167 incidents reported in 2005-06. Of that amount, two were aggravated assaults and 79 were simple assaults. There were 69 fights, 21 threats, seven instances of harassment/intimidation/ bullying, and one sex offense. There were no robberies or cases of extortion, according to the report.

Persi said that the rise in violence might also be due to subjective decisionmaking and reporting ambiguities.

"One principal might see an incident as a fight and another might see it as pushing and shoving," he said.

Vandalism dropped 20 percent in 2006- 07, from 18 incidents in 2005-06 to 15 last year. There were eight cases involving damage to school property. Three cases were arson-related; three cases involved theft; and there was one instance of trespassing. There were no burglaries or fireworks offenses last year, the report states.

One of the 15 reported acts of vandalism cost the district $138, the report states.

Weapons possession on school grounds rose 45 percent in 2006-07, from five in 2005-06 to nine last year.

Eight of the nine weapons possession cases involved a student bringing a knife, chain or pepper spray to school. In one instance, a child brought a BB gun onto a school bus, according to the report.

Substance abuse cases dropped 30 percent, from 22 in 2005-06 to 17 in 2006-07. In 2004-05, there were 31 substance abuse cases.

"What we're doing in the substance abuse program seems to be making a difference," said Dr. Anthony Novembre, special assistant to the superintendent.

Of the 220 reported incidents, more than half occurred in the classrooms (66) and in the hallways (57). The remaining incidents occurred in the cafeterias (25); other areas inside the schools (34); on school grounds (16); on a school bus (13); at the school exterior (three); in a school office (one); and other outside areas (five).

State law also requires the school district to report the actions taken, as well as offender and victim information.

School officials chose not to use inschool suspensions or removal to an alternate program as a form of discipline during 2006-2007. They opted instead to use short-term (one to five days) or long- term (more than five days) out-of school suspensions.

Out-of-school short-term suspensions were issued 290 times. In one case, other discipline was imposed.

Of the 46 times the police were notified, 24 cases resulted in a filed complaint.

There were 258 offenders included in the report. Of that amount, 164 were regular education students, 91 were students with a disability and three were unknown.

Of the 112 victims in the report, 59 were regular education students, 39 were students with a disability, 11 were school personnel and three were nonstudents, according to the report.