Violence, serious incidents jump in Pa. schools

Violence and other serious incidents in Pennsylvania schools jumped statewide by 13.1 percent in 2006-07, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's annual school safety report, released yesterday.

The total number of reported incidents of school misconduct in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs also rose, though the tally of violent offenses in some categories fell.

The 2006-07 school year is the latest for which the state has compiled the numbers. School districts have submitted their figures for the 2007-08 school year, but those figures will not be released statewide until next August.

The state reported 12 "persistently dangerous" schools for 2006-07, all in Philadelphia. The list was: Frankford, Germantown, Bartram, Lincoln, King, Overbrook, Fels, South Philadelphia, Fitzsimons, University City and West Philadelphia High Schools, and Stetson Middle School. The "persistently dangerous" designation is based on the number of serious incidents, such as assaults, that resulted in arrests for more than one year. The calculation takes enrollment into account.

For the 2007-08 school year, the number of persistently dangerous schools in Philadelphia jumped to 20 from 12, according to the state Department of Education. The names of the schools are not yet available, school district officials said, adding that schools have until Wednesday to appeal the designations and the list is an internal document until then.

The Philadelphia district also had a 6 percent jump in serious incidents for the latest school year, said James Golden, who leads the district's Office of School Climate and Safety. But there was some good news - of the 40 schools that received extra security last year, 22 reported reductions in violent incidents.

Statewide, there were 82,267 incidents of misconduct and 12,918 arrests reported to the state in 2006-07. About two-thirds were serious offenses, ranging from aggregated assault, sexual assault and weapons offenses to fighting. There were 29 handgun possession incidents statewide, up by 10. Possession and sale of controlled substances was down, as was the possession or use of tobacco. Alcohol possession, sale or use was up. There were 67,088 offenders identified, 3.7 percent of all Pennsylvania students.

Philadelphia had a total of 12,666 violations in 2006-07, an increase of 4.9 percent. The number of assaults on students fell, but the number of aggravated assaults on staff increased.

In Bucks County school districts, there were 1,694 total incidents, an increase of 18.3 percent. In Chester County districts, the reported incidents numbered 1,144, an 18.2 percent jump. Delaware County schools had 1,607 offenses, up 15.4 percent; and there were 2,179 violations in Montgomery County schools, up 23.5 percent.

Pennsylvania Department of Education spokeswoman Sheila Ballen said that much, if not all, of the increase in reported incidents is the result of a push by the department for more accurate figures from school districts. "There is a very large increase in the amount of attention being paid to these incidents," she said. "Reporting across the board has gotten better in the last few years; that pushes the numbers up."

Philadelphia's Golden echoed Ballen's remarks. "We have encouraged principals and other staff members to report incidents directly to the police department and to the school police as well," he said.

Asked for her perspective on the report, Ballen said: "We want to make sure that every school provides a safe learning environment for students - one incident is too many. At the same time, I think school districts are doing a good job in providing safe schools and working with law enforcement."

The full report, including comparisons with past years, is available at

» READ MORE: www.safeschools.state.pa.us

under the "School Safety" tab.