The Trenton Times published the following article on November 3, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Revamped safety report for Trenton schools logs more violent incidents, offers clearer picture

By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on November 03, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updated November 03, 2013 at 7:03 AM

TRENTON — The district has begun including all fights and other violent incidents at schools in its annual safety report, producing a much higher count but giving teachers and administrators a more useful tool as they monitor trends, adjust their disciplinary response and seek to prevent incidents among students, officials said.

The new system represents a change from past years, when the safety and discipline report only included incidents required under state guidelines.

Last year school board members expressed skepticism about the figures, saying they seemed too low to be accurate.

“The board was frustrated that we weren’t reporting every single incident,” said Bill Young, the district’s manager of student discipline, attendance and school safety. “Obviously that was a concern, and rightly so.”

This year’s report, presented to the board on Monday, included all incidents from the 2012-2013 school year.

It counted 1,270 violent incidents, including 552 fights at schools. That compares to last October’s accounting of just 112 incidents in 2011-2012, which did not include fights.

“In order to really address some of our concerns, first of all, you have to report everything,” Young said.

“Once you identify who the offenders are, you want to provide them services and programs. In a lot of incidents, it’s a lot of the same students that are involved.”

Kathy Smallwood Johnson, the board attorney and district spokeswoman, said Young periodically reviews the data, and visits schools to explain to staff the importance of data collection and student discipline to reducing violence, which distracts from learning.

“The bottom line is to inspect the data by checking and doubling down,” Smallwood Johnson said.

The report counted 374 incidents of students assaulting other students and 145 incidents of students assaulting teachers or security officers, Young said. It included 73 incidents of threats toward staff and 126 incidents of students caught with weapons. The weapons, mostly knives, included no firearms, Young said.