School crime down in Onslow

Numbers released this week in a report on school crime and violence are encouraging.

The 2008-09 Consolidated Data Report shows public school acts of crime and violence, out-of-school suspensions and the number of high school dropouts decreased in North Carolina.

Onslow County Schools saw similar results with improvement in most areas.

Keba Baldwin, the safe school coordinator for Onslow County Schools, attributes the district’s ongoing effort to create a caring and nurturing environment for its students as the key factor in the district’s improvements.

“Since 2005-2006 we’ve taken initiatives — put in place school-wide behavior management systems … These are research-based programs defining how (students) should operate in school,” he said.

He said every school has a plan in terms of supervision throughout the school day in all areas.

“We call it safe and civil school,” he said. “It comes under an umbrella of positive behavior support — and we’re tweaking it all the time. As a result we’ve seen a reduction in suspensions and reportable incidences.”

Schools must report to law enforcement 17 offenses that occur on campus or school property, including possession of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance, possession of an alcoholic beverage, assault resulting in serious injury and sexual assault.

Reportable acts dropped from 7.85 per 1,000 students statewide in 2007-08 to 7.59 in 2008-09.

Onslow County Schools’ 23,361-student population had a total of 116 reportable incidents during the 2008-09 school year, or 4.966 acts per 1,000 students. In 2007-08 it had 125 reportable acts, or to 5.38 acts per 1,000 students.

As it is with the state, the big three reportable acts in Onslow County Schools are possession of a controlled substance, possession of a weapon and possession of alcohol, Baldwin said.

“We’ve had lower numbers in the past but with increasing enrollment — adding 200 to 300 (students) a year — it is to be expected,” he said. “We are working with teachers to make them more aware of what to look for.”

Baldwin said the district has also begun to target students at an earlier age than it has in the past.

Short-term suspensions — 10 days or fewer — and long-term suspensions — 11 days or more — decreased last year statewide and in Onslow County.

However, there was a slight increase in Onslow County’s short-term suspension rate based solely on grades nine through 12 but at a rate that still falls below state numbers.

“I feel good about that with increased enrollment and the increase of new teachers,” Baldwin said. “Though, it’s not something we take lightly here and we’re constantly addressing it.”

Onslow County Schools had no expulsions in 2007-08 but one in 2008-09 — its first since 2005, according to Baldwin.

The state dropout rate decreased to 4.27 percent from 4.97 percent in 2007-08. In 2007-2008 there were a total of 19,184 high school students who dropped out — 84 percent of all school districts saw a decrease in dropout rates.

Onslow County Schools had 289 dropouts in 2008-09 compared to 314 in 2007-08.

“We have been steadily declining the last three years,” Baldwin said. “In 2006-2007 we had 319 dropouts — 289 is probably the lowest number we’ve had since 2005. Our high schools do a great job.”

Baldwin credited school programs, including the district’s academies, career and technical education offerings, clubs and extra activities “which give the students opportunities to be a part of the school system.”

Onslow Schools also received a dropout grant in December that provided additional support to Hunters Creek, Jacksonville Commons and Southwest middle schools for their mentoring programs for students with attendance and discipline problems and for those who were not connected to their schools.

“These schools will be our test models as we expand to other schools,” he said. “Creating a caring and nurturing environment is what it’s all about.”