BRICK –– The Board of Education last week released its annual report on violence and vandalism in Brick’s schools, and while the number of overall incidents decreased from the previous year, the district saw a rise in the number of vandalism and substance abuse reports.
"The staff should be commended for teaching good citizenship skills," said Superintendent Dr. Thomas L. Seidenberger at the board’s meeting Thursday.
The 2002-03 report details the number of incidents in four major categories: violence, vandalism, weapons and substance abuse. It also includes sections on the cost of vandalism, actions taken and information on the offenders and victims.
Comparing the 2001-02 report to the 2002-03 report, the district saw the following:
• A 12 percent drop in the total number of criminal incidents, from 208 to 184.
• Acts of violence decreased by 23 percent, from 146 to 113 incidents.
• A 33 percent rise in the number of vandalism reports, from 24 to 32.
• Reports of weapons on school grounds were down 8 percent, from 12 to 11 incidents.
• Substance abuse reports increased 8 percent, from 26 to 28 incidents.
Despite the fact that the district saw an increase in the number of vandalism reports, the cost of these acts dropped significantly from the previous year. The cost declined from $3,679 to $895, a decrease of 76 percent.
"One dollar is too much," Seidenberger said.
Out-of-school suspensions were issued in 167 cases as a form of discipline. Removal of students to alternate programs occurred in 38 cases, in-school suspensions were used in 14 cases, and other forms of discipline were applied nine times. There were no expulsions in the 2002-03 school year.
Of the 39 times that police were notified, 30 cases resulted in a filed complaint. Seidenberger said this statistic indicates that the police notifications were "not frivolous."
There were 231 offenders accounted for in the report, of which 159 were regular education students and 72 were students with a disability.
Of the 97 reported victims, 66 were regular education students, 19 were students with a disability, two were non-students and 10 were school personnel.
The report was approved by the board and will now be submitted to the state for its official records.
In other business, the board approved the hiring of 15 permanent, full-time teacher’s aides to serve throughout the district.
"We are doing the best we can with the money we have," Seidenberger said, in response to a question from an aide who didn’t receive a full-time position.
While he sympathized with the aide’s disappointment, Seidenberger said that the board is still reviewing its budgets to see if it can hire more full-time aides.
"I’m confident we can add more next month," he said.