State Releases School Violence-Vandalism Report Thursday

The Newark Public School system reported nearly 500 acts of violence, substance-abuse offenses, incidents of bullying occurring among the district’s nearly 35,000 students, according to a report released by the state Department of Education Thursday.

That figure does not include students enrolled last year in Newark's more than one dozen charter schools, which technically are not part of the school district. The figures were compiled for all the state's individual charters, however, including those located in Newark.  

To view the complete report, including districts across the state and individual charter schools, click here.

The annual report, the Violence, Vandalism and Substance Abuse in the Schools, covers the 2012-13 school year and includes a category for “harassment, intimidation and bullying,” an offense local districts have been required to track since the enactment of the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act nearly three years ago.

In Newark, there were 197 reported instances of violence in the last school year, 81 incidents of vandalism, 39 weapons-related offenses, 30 substance-abuse offenses and 172 incidents of harassment or bullying.

Across the state’s hundreds of districts, meanwhile, trends in violence, vandalism and other crimes generally are down, officials said, according to figures provided by school officials.  

“We are pleased to see positive trends this year. Safe and secure learning environments are a crucial part of preparing kids for college and career, and we have invested significant time to provide support and coaching to districts to reduce incidents of bullying and other forms of violence,” said Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf. “We applaud all of our districts for working to create safer schools for our students.”

Overall, reported instances in New Jersey dropped by nearly a fifth from the 2011-2012 school year to last year. About a third of that decrease can be attributed to a drop in reported instances of bullying and harassment. Some specific kinds of vandalism and violence also saw steep drops, including false fire alarms, which decreased by 44 percent, and violent threats, which declined 40 percent.

Marijuana-related offenses continue to be the most common substance-abuse crime, accounting for 69 percent of all drug crimes, although the number of crimes in this category overall has declined.