The Lenape Regional High School District’s mid-year harassment, bullying and intimidation report saw a small uptick in total incidents compared to previous years.
Jim Kehoe, the district’s security and emergency management coordinator, gave the state-mandated report during last week’s Board of Education meeting.
Overall, the district saw 39 incidents from July through December of 2013. This is an increase from 31 incidents reported in the same time frame in 2012. The total incidents come from five categories: violence, vandalism, weapons use, substance abuse and HIB incidents.
Out of all five categories, the one with the largest increase was substance abuse. The school district had 18 substance abuse incidents, up from 11 in the previous year.
Despite the increase in those numbers, Kehoe talked about the numerous programs the school district had to specifically curb the substance abuse numbers. Thirteen of the 18 incidents were confirmed use of a substance and the other five were recorded as possession.
Rather than focus on the increase, Kehoe spoke of the programs the district has employed to combat substance abuse. The district has created a marketing campaign called Defy the Issue to raise awareness of substance abuse among the student body. All four high schools also held assemblies featuring former NBA player Chris Herren, who told his own story of struggles with substance abuse.
The district also had a slight increase in vandalism with eight incidents reported. Of those eight, seven of the incidents were theft.
Kehoe said a trend in many of the theft cases was the failure of the victim to secure their personal items.
“We’re seeing an increase with cell phones,” Kehoe said. “We tell the students to keep their phone locked and secured in their lockers.”
Kehoe said the district has done a good job of cracking down on theft cases.
“In the majority of the incidents of theft, either the property was recovered or the suspect was charged,” he said.
Kehoe said HIB incidents are now recorded separately from the other categories. The district’s number of HIB incidents was down from three in 2012 to just one in 2013.
“We’re required to report on the specific categories,” Kehoe said. “HIB has become its own category this year.”
The district reported a slight decrease in violence, from 13 incidents in the first half of the 2012 school year to 12 in 2013. There have not been any weapons incidents in any school so far.
Kehoe said the district’s full report for the 2013–14 school year will be presented next October.
In other news:
• Superintendent Carol Birnbohm addressed the weather situation, which has forced the school district to change its schedule, adding President’s Day and June 16, 17 and 18 as school days. Birnbohm said the district has been forced to close, hold a delayed opening or close early 14 times this year. However, she said none of the closures have been because of factors other than the weather.
“Not one delay or closing was because we couldn’t get our buses running or our facilities going,” Birnbohm said.
• Enrollment in the district’s new Project Lead the Way program has been successful, according to Birnbohm. Project Lead the Way is an engineering program that will debut in Lenape High School and Seneca High School next year. Birnbohm said 46 Seneca students have applied for participation and Lenape has received 42 applications. Each school will have 24 students participate in the first year.
• The Board of Education approved changes to its meeting schedule. With New Jersey delaying due dates for the finalization of 2014–15 school budgets, the board has canceled its March 10 meeting. Its April meeting will be held on April 30. The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the district administration building.
