Incidents fall sharply at middle school.
By: Lea Kahn
Vandalism is on the rise in the Lawrence Township public
schools, but the number of reported incidents of violence and substance
abuse seems to be holding steady, according to the state-mandated Violence
and Vandalism report for 2003-04.
Meanwhile, three new subcategories have been added to the
category of violence, as required by state law. They are terroristic threat,
kidnapping and harassment/intimidation/bullying. The new categories resulted
in 18 additional incidents being reported.
There were 21 reports of vandalism districtwide in
2003-04, up from 13 reported in 2002-03, according to the state report. The
number of reported incidents of substance abuse increased from 15 in 2002-03
to 18 last year.
There were 100 reports of violence districtwide last year,
as compared to 102 in 2002-03. Violence is defined as fights, terroristic
threats, assaults and harassment/intimidation/bullying. Weapons offenses
also declined from 10 in 2002-03 to 6 last year.
Schools Superintendent Max Riley said it is difficult to
compare the number of reported incidents because of changes in reporting
requirements. He cited the three new categories of terroristic threat,
kidnapping and harassment/intimidation/bullying.
Some behaviors would not have been reported in the past,
but they are required to be reported now, Dr. Riley said. The state
Department of Education has changed the reporting requirements to comply
with federal law under the No Child Left Behind legislation, he said.
"The other big change is that reporting was not taken
seriously before NCLB," he said. "It was a bureaucratic exercise. My
directive to the principals is to report it like it is. We had wide
variances between school buildings. People know what the expectation is now.
They know about the annual changes."
The Lawrence Middle School, for example, has become more
diligent about reporting, Dr. Riley said. A change in assistant principals
has led to greater accuracy in reporting, and there is more focus on the
disciplinary code, he said.
Dr. Riley said he has placed Lana Mueller, the operations
manager in his office, in charge of training the principals and
administrators on the reporting requirements. Ms. Mueller will learn each
year about changes in the reporting system, and bring that information back
to the school district, he said.
Although the overall number of reported incidents
increased from 135 to 144, Dr. Riley said a statistician would likely look
at the numbers and comment that there are relatively few incidents, compared
to the opportunities to misbehave.
There are many different ways to catch children
misbehaving, he said, adding that 144 incidents is a good record.
"I can be reasonably certain that because of where we are,
a number of things we report would not be considered a serious offense in
another school district. To say an incident is ‘serious’ is a relative
term," Dr. Riley said.
The number of reported incidents of violence soared at
Lawrence High School from 26 in 2002-03 to 36 last year, Dr. Riley said. But
of those 10 additional incidents, 4 were categorized as
"harassment/intimidation/bullying" and they would not have been
reported in 2002-03 because the category did not exist, he said.
The number of reported incidents of vandalism is unchanged
at LHS, at 3 each for 2002-03 and 2003-04. There were no weapons offenses at
LHS, as compared to 6 in 2002-03. There were 2 fewer reports of substance
abuse 13 last year, as compared to 15 in the prior year.
At LMS, there were 33 instances of violence down
from 43 in 2002-03. There were 5 reports of weapons offenses last year. In
2002-03, there were four weapons offenses. They included possession of an
imitation gun and a knife.
Violence at LMS had spiked to 43 reported incidents in
2002-03, after reported incidents had soared from three in 2000-01 to 14 in
2001-02.
LMS experienced an increase in vandalism, according to the
state report. There were 14 reports of vandalism last year, as compared to 5
in 2002-03. This includes 3 reported bomb threats one each in
October, November and February, and all written on the bathroom walls.
And there were 5 reports of substance abuse all
involving alcohol and all on the same day at LMS. The middle school
had not reported any instances of substance abuse in 2002-03.
The Lawrence Intermediate School recorded 25 acts of
violence, which is a decrease of one compared to 26 reported in 2002-03.
There was one act of vandalism, down from 2 incidents in 2002-03. There was
one report of a weapons offense, for possession of a knife. There were no
weapons offenses reported in 2002-03. No reports of substance abuse were
filed in the last two years.
None of the four elementary schools Lawrenceville
Elementary, Ben Franklin, Eldridge Park and Slackwood have reported
any instances of weapons possession, or substance abuse in the last two
school years. Only the Slackwood Elementary School has reported vandalism
3 apiece in 2002-03 and 2003-04.
At the Lawrenceville Elementary School, there were 5 acts
of violence, up from 3 in 2002-03. The Slackwood Elementary School reported
1 act of violence last year. There had been none reported in 2002-03.