Incidents of violence, vandalism, bullying and substance abuse slightly declined during the first half of the school year in the Lenape Regional High School District.
District Security and Emergency Management Coordinator James Kehoe presented the district’s semi-annual violence and vandalism report at last week’s board of education meeting. According to the report, the district had 37 incidents of violence, vandalism, substance abuse and bullying from July through December 2014. This is a decline from the 39 reported incidents during the same time period in 2013.
Much of this decline has to do with a large drop in vandalism. The district had only one report of vandalism through all four high schools, well down from the eight reports of vandalism in 2013. The vandalism report fell under the category of theft.
“It was a theft of $50 where the money was not recovered,” Kehoe said.
The district also had some good news in its number of harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents. as there were no confirmed cases of HIB during the first half of the school year. Kehoe said there was one investigation of an HIB case, but it was unfounded.
The district did see a small uptick in two sub-categories. Substance abuse increased from 18 cases in 2013 to 20 cases in 2014. Most of the reports were for possession, though there were five reported cases of use. Those five cases come from students who tested positive for an illegal substance.
“Anytime a student is suspected to be under the influence in school, they are sent to be tested,” Kehoe said.
There was also an increase in violence. There were 16 cases of violence in 2014, up from 12 in 2013. This included eight cases of assault, five fights and three cases of threat. Two of the three threat cases were found to be criminal.
“A criminal threat is when a student is arrested,” Kehoe said.
Despite the increase in violence, Kehoe said there were no reports of weapons use in 2014. There were also no reports of sexual harassment, an improvement over one reported case in the first half of 2013.
The district has also continued to improve its methods during emergency situations. Superintendent Carol Birnbohm said all four high schools performed unannounced lockdown drills during the past month. The drills were done in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies. This is the second year the district has practiced unannounced drills.
“What we’re looking for is everyone’s quiet, out of sight, doors are locked and security procedures are followed,” Birnbohm said.
The unannounced drills have helped the district analyze its emergency security plans, especially in settings where a lot of people are in a large room such as the cafeteria at one time. The drills also allow the district to receive feedback from each school’s resource officer.
