Schools

Violence, Vandalism Reports Low in Washington Twp. Schools

Department of Education releases figures from 2012-13 school year; overall state numbers down year-over-year.

The Washington Township and West Morris Regional school districts are not home to an abundance of violence according to the New Jersey Department of Education’s recently released report on violence and vandalism from the 2012-2013 school year.

Data shows that the Washington Township school district, which includes Flocktown and Kossmann schools, B.A. Cucinella School, Old Farmers Road School, and Long Valley Middle School, reported 21 total incidents in the report.

  • Those incidents are divided into five categories:
  • Violence: 3
  • Vandalism: 3
  • Weapons: 4
  • Substances: 0
  • Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying (HIB): 13

With a total reported enrollment of 2,470, that gives the district a ration of .0085 incidents per student.

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At the high school level, the ratio was even less, the report showed. Data was not broken down between West Morris Central and Mendham High School, rather, it was compiled as a district-wide total.

The figures in the report’s categories for the high school district are:
  • Violence: 6
  • Vandalism: 1
  • Weapons: 0
  • Substances: 10
  • HIB: 3

West Morris Regional’s total between the two schools was 20 incidents, amounting to a .0072 incident per student ratio for an enrollment of 2,773.

Find out what's happening in Long Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The report documents self-reported incidents of those categories in each district. Overall, the total number of incidents (violence, bullying, etc.) in New Jersey schools plummeted by 19 percent from the previous year, led by a 36 percent drop in the number of bullying incidents reported.

Overall violence in New Jersey schools was down 4 percent year-over-year.

See a list of the nine most violent school districts in the state here.

What do you think of the report? Are the numbers too high? Lower than expected? About right for the size of district?


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