School violence numbers rise statewide, drop in Alleghany

While the number of crimes and acts of violence have increased statewide, they have decreased in number in Alleghany County Schools in comparison to last year's numbers, according to the 2005-06 report on school crime and violence recently released by the Department of Public Instruction.

During the 2005-06 school year, three cases of possession of a controlled substance and one case of possession of a weapon were reported at Alleghany High School for a total of 2.647 acts per 1,000 students. According to information reported for the county schools last year, eight acts, including 6 acts of possession of a controlled substance, one possession of a weapon and one possession of an alcoholic beverage were reported, for a county average of 5.457 acts per 1,000 students.

Meanwhile, numbers of acts of school crime and violence have increased throughout the state in comparison to last year's numbers, rising to 10,959 (or 7.9 acts per 1,000 students) over last year's reported 10,107 (or 7.49 acts per 1,000 students).

Breaking down the 10,959 acts in the state, a total of 1,003 occurred in a pre-kindergarten through fifth grade school, 342 acts occurred in an elementary/middle school, 3,096 occurred in a six-eight school, 359 occurred in a middle/high school and a total of 6,000 acts of crime and violence occurred in a high school. A total of 159 acts were committed in a category referred to as 'other,' which includes ungraded middle schools, special education schools and schools that cross more than one level, such as a kindergarten through 12th grade school.

Addressing the 2005-06 numbers in Alleghany, Superintendent Jeff Cox commented Tuesday, "I hope part of the reason our numbers are reduced is that we are trying to put in place more proactive strategies to work with students before they get into serious discipline issues."

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back