Schools official unveils violence and vandalism report

Assistant Superintendent John Bach: "We take very seriously our obligation to provide a safe school environment."

By John Tredrea
   There were no victims of any violent criminal offenses last year in any of the six schools comprising the Hopewell Valley Regional School District.
   There also was "a dramatic decrease last year in the number of reported incidents against school personnel" by students, said Hopewell Valley Assistant Superintendent John Bach at Monday night’s school board agenda meeting.
   The district’s 2005-2006 violence and vandalism report will be forwarded to state government, which has been collecting this data for seven years. "The events in Lancaster, Pa., and Colorado cast this report in a different light" than one in which it might otherwise be seen, Mr. Bach said. "We take very seriously our obligation to provide a safe school environment."
   During the 2005-2006 school year, there were 35 incidents categorized as incidents of violence in the school district, Mr. Bach said. Included were fights between students and incidents of harassment. "We had fewer fights than the year before," he said. "Harassment was about the same as the year before. We have a zero tolerance policy on harassment and all incidents of it are reported to the police."
   There were 15 incidents involving vandalism and eight each involving weapons and substance abuse. Typically vandalism involved graffiti and the weapons involved pocket knives mistakenly brought to school, and Air-Soft guns, which shoot a harmless plastic pellet.
   In one instance, a student tried to sell an Air-Soft gun to another student on a school bus. It had to be reported as a weapons incident. The total cost to the district of repairing vandalism incidents was $442.
   All but one of the substance abuse incidents involved one student, who had two incidents each involving marijuana and cocaine.
   Police were notified 33 times during the 2005-2006 school year, with complaints filed on nine of those occasions. No students were expelled or removed to an alternate academic program as a result of any of the incidents last year. There were two in-school suspensions and 63 out-of-school suspensions.
   Of the 80 offenders involved in all the incidents of violence and vandalism, 50 were regular education students, 23 were students with disabilities, one was a student from another district and six were unknown. The offenders were predominantly male.
   Of the 26 total victims, 17 were regular education students, five were students with disabilities and four were school personnel.
   Mr. Bach hailed the district’s decision to put paid campus security personnel in each school beginning this year. He said that, while on his way to Timberlane Middle School Monday afternoon, he saw hundreds of students on the playground. "I was very comforted to see two blue-shirted personnel circling those children, keeping an eye on things," he said.