Audit Faults Schools Across the State For Failing To Report Violence
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
ALBANY – Schools across New York are failing to report violent incidents and the state Education Department is doing little to fix the problem while denying parents the correct information they could use to transfer their children, the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, said yesterday.
In response, the education commissioner, Richard Mills, said his department is taking steps to improve the reporting of violent and disruptive incidents.
Mr. Hevesi’s office audited the data kept by 15 school districts and compared it to what they reported to the education department.
Ten of the 15 districts didn’t report at least a third of violent incidents and five didn’t report at least 80%, Mr. Hevesi’s office found.
Among the districts audited, Albany High School reported 144 incidents for the 2003-04 school year, but auditors found that records at the school showed there were 924 incidents. The school failed to report 106 assaults, including four involving weapons, 55 instances of intimidation or harassment and two sexual offenses. White Plains High School failed to report 93% of its violent incidents and both Hudson High School and Ardsley High School omitted 94%.
Auditors couldn’t go over the reported incidents in four districts because their records were disorganized or didn’t exist, Mr. Hevesi said.
“We found a really stunning failure of the schools to adequately report this information to the state Education Department which can only lead to a conclusion that there is more violence in schools than has been reported,” Mr. Hevesi said. “This is very, very serious business and the state Education Department is culpable here.”
Critics have said the education department relies on flawed methods in collecting the data it uses each year to determine which schools are classified as dangerous. Last fall, the department listed just five schools as “persistently dangerous.” The list did not include 11 New York City schools deemed among the most dangerous.
A school is labeled “persistently dangerous” if it meets or exceeds a ratio of violent incidents to enrollment for two consecutive years. Parents can then try to transfer their child to a safer nearby school if space is available.
