Schools
Superintendent Updates Number of Bullying Incidents
Superintendent Mark Porto presented the violence and vandalism report for the 2011-2012 school year, updating the number of HIB incidents previously reported.
Superintendent Mark Porto provided an update on the number of HIB incidents reported this past year while presenting the annual violence and vandalism report Thursday night at the meeting.
Porto explained the district must present this violence and vandalism report at the end of each school year. Not counting the addition of HIB incidents, which as of this year, is now a required line item, the number of violence and vandalism incidents decreased, Porto said.
The report lists the number of incidents as far back as the 2003-2004 school year. The number of incidents in both categories have fluctuated over the years.
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For the 2011-2012 school year there were seven violence incidents reported and one vandalism incident. Compared with other years such as 2005-2006 where 22 violence and 18 vandalism incidents were reported, the report shows incidents have decreased over the years.
As for the HIB incidents reported, Porto said the last month had shifted in this report for several reasons. Last month Porto presented the annual HIB report stating that 64 incidents out of 147 investigations were deemed HIB. This report lists the number at 59 but Porto says it could decrease to 48.
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Porto said there were some cases where the incidents were later deemed as non-HIB by the parents of students involved. Some incidents had been counted multiple times as he had been under the impression that when one victim has multiple offenders separate incident reports need to be filed.
Porto said he sent word of the changes to Trenton but will not be able to update the report unless the district receives the okay from the state.
Going forward the district will rectify this for the upcoming school year as this report did not truly reflect the number of incidents that took place this past year.
In referring to the number of victims listed in this report Porto said, “Fifty victims is fifty victims too many and that is something we will address as a community [this coming year].”
See the report in the attached PDF.
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