Violence, Vandalism, Weapons, Substance Incidents Down in County Schools

TRENTON — Students in Cape May County schools have been causing increasingly less trouble in recent years.
Over the past three school years, reported incidents of violence, vandalism, weapons and substances have steadily decreased, according to an annual report released Sept. 15 by the Department of Education to the state legislature.
In the 2004-05 school year, there were 312 total incidents reported in the county’s 17 school districts; in 2005-06, 275 incidents; and the number dropped to 272 incidents in 2006-07, department figures stated.
County Executive Superintendent of Schools Terrence Crowley attributed the reduction in incidents to certain preventative measures taken by the districts.
“School Resource Officers and guidance counselors have reached out to kids and teachers to identify potential incidents and prevent them before they become real problems,” Crowley said. “Schools used to be just reactionary to these incidents.”
He also noted that the incidents have become a focus for local boards of education.
“When these incidents become a focus, things are improved,” he said.
Of the four categories of incidents listed in the report, violence was the most prevalent in this county’s schools. During the last school year, 148 violent incidents were reported. There were also 77 reports for substances, 36 for vandalism and 15 weapons reports.
In the past three years, the Ocean City School District has reported the most incidents of any other district in the county. With over 2,000 students, Ocean City last year reported 46 incidents of violence, eight of vandalism, 15 of substances and one weapons incident for a total of 68 incidents.
Lower Cape May Regional (1,762 students) and Middle Township (2,876 students) school districts finished just behind Ocean City with 61 and 57 incidents respectively. Both districts also had more substance incidents (26 and 20) than Ocean City.
Wildwood had the next most incidents, 31, followed by the county districts – Special Services, 23, and the Vocational Technical, 17.
Five local districts, four of which had small student populations, reported no incidents of any kind in the 2006-07 school year: Avalon, 88 students; Lower Township, 1,952; Sea Isle City, 93; Stone Harbor, 96 and West Cape May, 49.
Six other districts reported five or fewer incidents: Woodbine (5), Upper Township (3), North Wildwood (3), Cape May (2) and Dennis Township (1).
According to an Education Department press release, the total number of incidents statewide declined by approximately one percent between the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years and 70 percent of the state’s schools reported five or fewer incidents and 915 schools (37 percent) reported no incidents at all.
New Jersey school districts and charter schools have been required to report incidents of violence, vandalism and substance abuse to DOE over the Internet using the Electronic Violence and Vandalism Reporting System (EVVRS) since the 1999-2000 school year, the release stated.
“New Jersey schools remain fundamentally safe places where teachers can teach and children can learn,” said Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy. “The department, the districts, the communities and families all view the safety and security of our children as our highest priority. The many programs and policies that have been developed to ensure that this atmosphere is maintained have been a cooperative effort.”
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com