Middle School Safety Survey

Kate Brennan:

FLORIDA TODAY analyzed seven years of misbehavior incidents reported by the district to the state. The newspaper calculated a rate, which is the number of incidents per student, so schools could be compared regardless of their enrollment size.

The findings, which cover the 2000-01 through 2006-07 school years, showed:

• The rate of minor violations, such as skipping detention and classroom misconduct, has been on the rise for six of the past seven years, including the past two, while the rate of serious offenses steadily declined each year. Still, both serious and minor incidents in middle schools outpaced those at the high school level. Serious incidents include fighting, drug and tobacco use and possession, battery and making threats against others.
• Showing disrespect toward teachers and insubordination -- the blatant refusal to follow directions or rules -- were among the most common minor violations committed by middle-schoolers.
• Of the 12 middle schools, Jackson in Titusville had the highest rate of overall incidents, including minor and serious offenses, each year, except 2001-02 when it had the second highest rate behind Southwest in Palm Bay. Two beachside schools -- Hoover in Indialantic and DeLaura in Satellite Beach -- had the lowest rate of overall incidents during the past seven years.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 22, 2007 12:00 AM
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