The Report By National Disability Rights Network has seriously misrepresented the facts about restraint. Included with our comments is a copy of the publication: Attacking our Educators, Stopping School Violence http://www.stoppingschoolviolence.com. We would suggest that anyone interested in this subject purchase a copy of this book — available in electronic format for $5. The book has 194 pages of examples of violence against teachers in the classroom.
Overview
There are currently over 130,000 schools serving 50 million students in this country. In real numbers, no one really knows the extent of the threat in terms of school violence. In 2006 an audit of 17 high schools was conducted by former NYS Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi found that at least one third of violent incidents documented in school records were not reported. The Hevesi Report cited approximately 7,357 violent and disruptive incidents at 17 NY high schools in one year.
This means the American public is being significantly misled as it is estimated that between one and four out of five school crimes go unreported. Therefore the assaults against teachers are underestimated between 20-80% and while assaults on teachers are high, assaults by one student against another student are higher and not adequately or accurately reflected in these statistics which are nonetheless disturbing.
NATIONAL SCHOOL STATISTICS
Between 1997 and 2001, there were approximately 1.3 million reports where teachers were victims to nonfatal crimes at school. This includes 473,000 violent crimes that were reported. On average, in each year from 1997-2001, about 21 out of every 1,000 teachers were victims of violent crime at school, and 3 out of every 1,000 were victims of serious violent crime (i.e., rape, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault. (These numbers are estimated to be under-reported 20-80%)
· Students between the ages of 12 and 18 were victims of about 764,000 violent crimes annually (These numbers are estimated to be under-reported 20-80%)
· 13% of 9th graders reported that they were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.
· Street gangs were reported present on school premises by 29% of students living in urban areas, 18% of students living in suburban areas, and 13% of students living in rural areas.
· 6.1% of students nationwide have carried a weapon (e.g., a gun, knife, or club) on school property one or more times during the 30 days prior to the survey. During the 12 months preceding the survey, 9.2% of the students had been threatened or injured with such a weapon on school property one or more times.
· Each day, approximately 160,000 K-12 students don’t attend school because they are afraid.
· 46% of students said they were hit, kicked, shoved, or tripped at least once in the previous month, and 18 percent had experienced this five or more times.
· One in fourteen students carries a weapon to school one or more days each month.
· 10% of traditional (non-special education) teachers reported being threatened with injury during a 12 month period.
· Nearly one in 10 high school students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property during the preceding 12 months.
· Over 88% of victimizations that occurred at school against 12-18 year olds were not reported to the police.
· Of the 3,657 expulsions from bringing a firearm to school almost half were students in high school, 28 % were middle school and 24% were elementary school.
Special Education
The data that exists puts the number of special education students around 14% of the total student population. This segment of students is the most rapidly growing segment and it is projected that special education students will soon represent 25% of the student population.
With respect to special education students and school violence, data shows that special education students committed threats at a significantly higher annual rate (33/1000 students) than regular education students (6.9/1000 students) and made more substantive threats (39.8%) than students in regular education (20%). Students classified as Emotionally Disturbed (ED) made the highest threat rates and the most serious threats. Students in special education who made threats also committed significantly more infractions involving violent acts. Research is showing that while special education students represent approximately 14% of the school population, they are the source of 38-43% of the violent incidents.
Tags: National Disability Rights Network, prone restraint, restraint and seclusion