RIH Making 'Significant Progress' in Cutting Violence, Vandalism at School

Students at both Ramapo and Indian Hills High School are committing fewer acts of violence, vandalism, and bullying in school than they did a few years ago. That according to a biannual report interim Superintendent Ernie Palestis gave to the Board of Education at a meeting Monday night.

The numbers of weapons offenses and substance abuse issues in the schools, and number of suspensions issued in the district, are down too, he said.

“We’ve made significant progress over the past few years,” Palestis said during his presentation.

“We have something to be proud of.”

According to the report, the number of violence incidents in the schools has dropped from 40 during the 2009-10 school year to 10 last year. During the same time period, weapons offenses (kids brining things like knives and chains to school) have gone down from two to zero, and substance abuse offenses where kids either brought drugs to school or sold drugs at school, are down from 24 to 13.

Since the district began measuring incidents of Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying in the 2011-12 school year, Palestis reported those numbers have gone down, as well. There were 50 reported incidents of HIB that year. Last year, there were six.

The total number of in and out-of-school suspensions is also dropping, he said, from 89 during the 2010-11 school year to 47 last year.

“It really speaks well of the district when you put all of this together,” Paletstis said of the statistics.

“[They show that] we take violence and vandalism seriously. Our approach [to dealing with these incidents] is educational, and the data shows that our approach is working, and it’s working very, very well.”

See a full rundown of the statistics Palestis reported below.

Violence

2008-9 – 30

2009-10 – 40

2010-11 – 21

2011-12 – 13

2012-13 – 10

Vandalism (Also includes theft)

2008-9 – 6

2009-10 – 2

2010-11 – 6

2011-12 – 3

2012-13 – 2

Weapons

2008-9 – 1

2009-10 – 2

2010-11 – 0

2011-12 – 2

2012-13 – 0

Substance Abuse

2008-9 – 20

2009-10 – 24

2010-11 – 20

2011-12 – 8

2012-13 – 13

HIB – Total Incidents Reported

2011-12 – 50

2012-13 – 6

Incidents Proven to be HIB After Investigation

2011-12 – 8

2012-13 – 4

Incidents Proven to be Non-HIB After Investigation

2011-12 – 42

2012-13 – 2

In and Out-of-School Suspensions

2010-11 – 89

2011-12 – 44

2012-13 – 47