news-record.com

NEWS

School crime up, suspensions down

Article
Comments (3)

Saturday, March 7, 2009

(Updated 7:09 am)

By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO - The rate of serious or violent crimes in Guilford County Schools increased in 2007-08, while the rate of all suspensions decreased slightly, a state report shows.

About half of Triad school districts - Guilford, Rockingham, Davidson, Lexington and Alamance - saw an increase in crime, echoing a state trend. Crime decreased in Asheboro, Thomasville and Randolph and remained unchanged in Winston-Salem/Forsyth.

Guilford saw nine crimes per 1,000 students reported last school year. That's up from 6.9 the year before. The state tracks 17 reportable offenses, from possession of drugs to assault on school personnel.

Meanwhile, suspensions and expulsions in Guilford dropped slightly from a rate of 179 to 171 per 1,000 students, a News & Record analysis of state data shows.

Guilford follows a state and national trend in that black students continue to be suspended at a much higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group, the report shows.

Student safety makes up a big part of new Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green's strategic plan, which he put together after gathering input from the community.

"We got a lot of responses that kids want to feel safe in school," said Haley Miller, a district spokeswoman.

Some of what Green proposed includes adding unarmed safety officers to schools and expanding the "Positive Behavior Support" program, which reinforces good behavior and analyzes discipline data to rate the program's effectiveness. The School Climate Task Force recommended both changes.

Green also would like to recognize schools that improve safety and expand alternative instruction for overage students and those who have been suspended.

Many of those programs were cited as approaches that have worked in other districts, according to a state Department of Public Instruction report released Friday. It combined information on crime, suspensions and dropouts for the first time.

On average, one in 10 North Carolina students receives an out-of-school short-term suspension each year, the report shows. When looking at high school students only, the ratio increases to one in six.

"We know that there often is a relationship between crime and violence incidents, suspensions and expulsions and high school dropouts," State Superintendent June Atkinson said in a prepared statement. "By consolidating the reports that look at each area, we hope that we can better understand how to efficiently address student needs and help more students stay in school and be successful."

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com

VIEW THE REPORT

See www.ncpublicschools.org and look under the “news” section for a link to the report: “Consolidated Report on School Crime and Violence, Suspensions and Expulsions and Annual Dropout Rates.”

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

Comments

View Comments

This article has been closed to new comments. Comments are generally closed after 14 days. However, comments may be closed earlier at the discretion of the News & Record.

Inappropriate content? Please report abuse.

ncnole

March 7, 2009 - 7:44 am EST

Are we surprised by this? Under Grier, principals were under constant pressure to not suspend students, especially African-American males. In his strategic plan for the district, Mr. Green wants to "decrease the number of out-of-school suspensions for non-compliance and discourteous acts by 15 percent." That's code for "stop suspending so many African-American males."

When principals are handcuffed and not allowed to discipline students appropriately, it's no surprise that violence in schools is going to increase. And even though school board member Deena Hayes would fly of the handle and call me a racist, black males are being suspended at a higher rate because they are committing suspendable offenses at a higher or more frequent rate. That's not a problem particular to schools, it's a societal problem. Studies reveal that 70% of African-American children born in America today are born out of wedlock. Seventy percent! Much, if not most, of the time, the father is not involved in the child's life. Not all, but a high percentage of these children are the ones who become discipline problems in school. And that has nothing to do with race, it's apparently a cultural/environmental issue. I would like to see study in Guilford County that compares the discipline issues of African-American males whose parents are married (or even were married and divorced) to the discipline issues of African-American males who were born to a single mother and the father was not involved in their life. We all know what the results were indicate. Most times, these are the young men who get involved in gangs, or at the very least, have no positive role model to provide guidance and a butt kicking when necessary.
The schools are not equipped to solve this problem. It is the parents' (or parent's) responsibility to ensure that their children behave in school. IF I got in trouble at school when I was growing up, my greatest fear was that the principal would call my mom or God forbid my dad because then it was lights out when I got home. My parents disciplined me far more severely than the school could or would. It is not the school administrators' responsibility to mold and shape character. It is the responsibility of school administrators to provide an environment that is both safe AND conducive to learning. So, when a student's behavior threatens the safety OR continually disrupts the learning environment for other students, he/she should be removed until he/she can function in a school setting. Again, it is the parents' (or parent's) responsibility to make sure that the student behaves appropriately while at school by dealing with the child at home. That is why Guilford County Schools needs to explore the possibility of creating a no-excuses alternative school for students who are a constant discipline problem. Otherwise, school administrators need to shut up about the number of school suspensions because unsafe schools and unruly classrooms is what you get when threats to safety and disruptions to the class are allowed to stay in school just to make the numbers look better.

mickey

March 7, 2009 - 8:48 am EST

I could not agree with you more.
An increase in crime from 6.9 to 9/1000? That represents a 30% increase!!! I can imagine what the school system will say, something along the lines of, "As you all know (from seeing it on the local TV news), previously we were UNDER-reporting crime. Rest assured crime did not go up. We just started reporting more." That's my prediction.

marjorie

March 7, 2009 - 1:05 pm EST

I really don't believe in out of school suspension, it gives free time to kids with no supervision at home. make the kids go to special schools where they can still get educated but make it a learning experience not time off from school! When kids are out of line at school the parents need to spend a day at school with them. My child goes to Northeast and hates it. The teachers are afraid to discipline. They are more interested in disrupting core classes for SMOD sweeps! I get constant recorded calls for the principal asking for parents help to make sure SMOD is enforced. The calls don't work !They need to check the kids as they enter the building in the morning,then send them either home or get parents to bring them proper clothes! Not disrupt class time! Take my advice STAY AWAY FROM NORTHEAST!!!