By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Vandalism and bullying are on the decline in the Lawrence Township Public School District, based on figures released by school district officials covering the first half of the 2014-15 school year.
The report, which includes incidents that occurred between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2014, shows there was one incident of vandalism. During the same time period last year — between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013 — there were six incidents.
There were two instances of substance abuse and 16 incidents of violence, but no weapons offenses during the first half of the 2014-15 school year. This compares to nine instances of substance abuse, 12 incidents of violence and one weapons offense between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013.
Reports of harassment, intimidation or bullying are reported separately. The nature of the incident is broken down into whether it was based on race, color, religion, ancestry, origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, mental, physical or sensory disability, and other distinguishing characteristics.
Overall, there were 22 reports of harassment, intimidation or bullying reported between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2014. During the same time period — Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2013 — there were 38 reported incidents.
Race, color, sexual orientation, mental, physical or sensory disabilities and other distinguishing characteristics accounted for most of the incidents in both reporting periods.
The majority of reported incidents were verbal, with a few physical incidents and a handful of cases of cyberbullying. There were 35 reports of verbal harassment, intimidation or bullying between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013 as compared to 16 during the first half of this school year.
The number of reported cyberbullying incidents remained steady at fyve, although the number of physical incidents doubled — from four during the first half of the 2013-14 school year to eight during the first half of this school year.
Crystal Edwards, the superintendent of schools, said she was pleased that overall, the “trend is down.” She praised the staff, and in particular the guidance counselors and the members of the child study teams. Their work helps to point children in the right direction, she said.
“The staff is rock solid when it comes to harassment, intimidation and bullying (incidents). They really do an investigation (into the alleged incident),” Ms. Edwards said, adding that the school district’s character education program has paid off in preventing more incidents.
“I am pleased when the numbers decrease, but we still have (to make) lots of effort to not have any numbers on the chart,” Ms. Edward said. “It’s tough to pinpoint what causes the ups or downs, from year to year.”
