Noncrime Disturbances Rise at Tough Schools By SUSAN SAULNY August 3, 2005 Last year, the city's Department of Education announced that stepped-up security measures had cut serious crime in the most troubled schools in the 2003-04 school year. But a newly released analysis underscores how noncriminal disturbances in the same schools initially shot up, then decreased slightly. What has happened since then is unknown because the department has not released any updates on noncriminal activity for individual schools. In a report e-mailed to reporters late Monday, one year after it was completed, a joint committee of school, city and police officials wrote that in the most dangerous schools, known as impact schools, there was an initial 99 percent increase in noncriminal incidents like cheating, disrupting class and schoolyard harassment, even as major crime decreased during the 2003-04 school year. In the last two months of year, noncriminal activity dropped 27 percent. According to the report, at the 12 impact schools named in January 2004, the number of noncriminal incidents per day jumped to 14.45 from 7.28 in the first few months of the program. The number dropped toward the end of the year to 10.51 incidents per day. Four schools that were added in April 2004 to the impact list also showed an increase in disruptive behavior followed by a decline. The report did not break down the incidents into categories or give an accounting for individual schools. City officials noted that citywide tallies for noncriminal incidents are included in the mayor's management report, which is issued twice a year. Those numbers, which are not broken down, showed a slight decrease in the first part of the 2004-05 school year. Detailed information on the noncriminal incidents has been sought for months by some City Council members and education advocates because, they say, such incidents are more responsible than violent crime for disrupting the overall education environment and making it more difficult for students to learn. "This is the more everyday problem that makes school very dysfunctional," said City Councilwoman Eva S. Moskowitz, the chairwoman of the Council's Education Committee. "High-profile crime is a concern, but so are the shoving matches and fights that break out where the police aren't necessarily called. "I find it very troubling that this data is being released so late after it was collected. I also find it troubling, given that they had the information, that they neglected to give it to the Education Committee, which has repeatedly asked for it." Some of the increase in noncriminal incidents, officials said, can be attributed to increased awareness and more stringent enforcement of the disciplinary code at the impact schools, where extra police officers patrol the halls to curb violence. Still, the newly released numbers highlight how troubled the most dangerous schools were beyond serious crime, and suggest that schools without the extra officers may be experiencing similar problems. Asked yesterday for an update on the statistics for the school year ended in June, an Education Department spokesman, Keith Kalb, said they were not yet available. He pointed out that the department had issued a news release in June 2004 stating that there had been "a dramatic increase in enforcement," even for low-level disorder. That release also said that reports of noncriminal problems had jumped more than 90 percent after the impact program began. More detailed information was not made available until the report, called the "New York City Joint Committee on School Safety," was issued by the department on Monday. Although it was not publicized, Mr. Kalb said the report was available to anyone who specifically requested it over the last year. But people who had sought information on the impact initiative disputed that account. At a news conference last month, city and school officials celebrated the latest results from the impact schools showing that crime dropped sharply over the last school year. Overall crime dropped 52 percent, they said, and violent crime fell 57 percent. They did not respond to a reporter's request for data on noncriminal infractions. Students at the impact schools have said they generally feel safer. But a group of about 100 students held a rally at City Hall on Monday to protest the police presence in the schools, charging that the police often aggravate tensions. It was in response to the protest that the data was sent to reporters on Monday. City Councilwoman Annabel Palma, who represents parts of the Bronx, said she worried about the effectiveness of the impact program. "It doesn't surprise me," she said of the report's findings on noncriminal activity. "There's still something lacking." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/nyregion/03safety.html? Back To Guvment Skool Page 8 COPYRIGHT "DUHMAG.COM" 2005