Latest Pa. report on school violence shows fewer incidents, more weapons Tuesday, June 07, 2005 By Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The number of incidents of violence in Pennsylvania schools was down statewide in 2003-04, but the number of weapons found increased. The state Department of Education yesterday issued the Annual Report on School Violence and Weapons Possession for 2003-04, covering 501 school districts as well as intermediate units, area vocational-technical schools and charter schools. The report counted 22,831 incidents, a decrease of 18 percent from the previous school year. It also counted 3,291 weapons found, an increase of 16 percent. The weapons with the biggest increase were firearms, which grew from 47 to 73, an increase of 36 percent. The biggest percentage drop was bomb threats, down from 166 the prior year to 103, a decrease of 61 percent. The accuracy of the annual report, first published in 1998, has frequently been questioned, but this report is based on what state Education Secretary Francis Barnes called a "new, improved reporting system." He said directions to school districts now are clear as to what to include in their reports. Schools were to report "any deliberate act, serving no legitimate purpose, which causes injury or which could reasonably be expected to cause injury to another person. To be considered reportable, the conduct should be either intentional or reckless in nature." The report notes that each school "determines its own threshold for reporting incidents of violence" consistent with its own school policies. Thus, it recommends against comparisons. There are no schools in Western Pennsylvania that reported enough serious incidents to be designated "persistently dangerous." That label, which entitles students to transfer, belongs to 14 schools in Philadelphia. The highest number of incidents in a five-county region were reported at Fort Pitt Elementary School in Garfield, which had 131 incidents, the eighth highest in the state. Fort Pitt has 341 students. City school safety chief Robert Fadzen said, "We responded to Fort Pitt a total of 12 times last year. I don't know what the problem is with the state report." Some of the highlights from the region -- Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties -- include: The highest number of firearms reported in the region was two at Perry Traditional Academy on the North Side. Only a middle school in York County, which had three, had more. Fourteen other schools in the region reported one firearm. The most knives, razors, box cutters and other cutting instruments reported in the region was 14 at Letsche Education Center in Pittsburgh. Letsche also led in other weapons with 10. Chartiers-Houston Junior-Senior High in Washington County led the region's bomb threat category with three. The state's high of four was in Warren County. Linton Middle School in Penn Hills and Rochester Area Elementary School in Beaver County had the most incidents of arson -- two each -- in the region. The state high was three at a Philadelphia high school. Plum Senior High School had the highest number of sexual offenses in the region -- two -- compared with a statewide high of 18 at a Philadelphia school. East Allegheny Junior-Senior High had the most arrests in the region -- 31 -- compared with a state high of 77 at a Philadelphia high school. The highest number of aggravated assaults against employees in the region was eight at Roosevelt Elementary School in Carrick, in what Principal Vincent Lewandowski described as an unusual situation involving a student who has since been placed in another school. Lewandowski said it did not result in serious injuries. The state high was 12 at a Philadelphia high school. The accuracy of the Annual Report on School Violence and Weapons Possession, first published in 1998, has frequently been questioned, but this report is based on what state Education Secretary Francis Barnes called a "new, improved reporting system." http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05158/516890.stm |