Crime, suspensions, dropouts down in NC schools. No corporal punishment reported.
Fewer North Carolina students are being suspended from school or are dropping out, school crimes are down and for the first time no public schools reported using corporal punishment.
New statewide figures show that both the number and rate of reported crimes in North Carolina public schools dropped for the third year in a row. The report also shows that fewer students received short-term or long-term suspensions in the 2018-19 school year than the prior year.
The annual report also showed that the state’s dropout rate declined for the second year in a row. The figures will be discussed Thursday at the State Board of Education meeting.
“More teachers are remaining in the profession and more students are staying in school,” State Superintendent Mark Johnson said in a news release. “We have taken steps to listen to and address the concerns of teachers, students and parents. This information is another sign that our positive changes are helping.”
School crime rate dropping
The number of acts of school crime and violence reported in North Carolina’s public schools dropped by 193 to 9,554 in the 2018-19 school year. The number of criminal acts per 1,000 students dropped from 6.48 to 6.29.
Both the number of reported crimes and the rate per 1,000 students is at its lowest in five years.
The number of cases within the 16 reportable categories of school crime varied. For instance:
▪ Possession of a controlled substance, which consists of 48% of the crimes, was up 0.3% to 4,604.
▪ Possession of a weapon was down 19% to 2,053.
▪ Possession of a firearm or powerful explosive was down 3.1% to 124.
▪ Assaults on school personnel were up 18.5% to 1,495.
▪ Sexual assaults were up 20.9% to 139.
▪ Sexual offenses were up 22.9% to 86.
No corporal punishment reported
North Carolina public schools have gone from using corporal punishment on students more than 21,000 times in 1988 to zero instances in 2018-19.
The use of corporal punishment has been steadily declining. It was down to 891 times in the 2010-11 school year, the first time the state began requiring reporting of its use.
In the 2017-18 school year, Graham and Robeson counties were the last two North Carolina districts still allowing corporal punishment and they reported using it 60 times. Both districts have since banned the practice.
The state House passed a bill in March 2019 banning the use of corporal punishment in public schools. The legislation has stalled in the Senate.
Fewer students suspended
The number of short-term suspensions, those which put a student out of school for 10 or fewer days, dropped 3.8% to 203,298 statewide. Suspensions have decreased by 23.7% since the 2010-11 school year as schools look for alternatives to removing students from school for misbehavior.
One byproduct is that the number of in-school suspensions has increased by 14.8% since the 2014-15 school year to 238,697 statewide.
The number of long-term suspensions continued to fall, dropping 12.8% to 587 statewide. Long-term suspensions have dropped 77.6% since the 2010-11 school year.
Despite the overall decline, black students still account for the majority of suspensions while making up only a quarter of the school enrollment. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice issued racial equity report cards last week that cited disproportionate suspension rates to say black students are being unfairly treated by schools.
Fewer students dropping out
The state’s high school dropout rate continued to show improvement. There were 9,512 dropouts in the 2018-19 school year, 1,011 less than the year before.
North Carolina’s high school dropout rate improved to 2.01%, compared to 2.18% the year before. The dropout rate has decreased 46% since the 2008-09 school year as more students have stayed in school.
Durham Public Schools tout progress
Durham Public Schools said the new report shows the district is moving in the right direction.
Short-term suspensions dropped 36% from 5,996 in the 2017-18 school year to 3,852 last school year. Long-term suspensions dropped from 64 to 46.
Acts of school crime and violence dropped by more than 23% and the district’s dropout rate declined for the second year in a row.
Durham school leaders credited the gains to strategies such as using restorative practices instead of suspensions, culturally responsive teaching and reducing implicit bias and racial inequities.
“We are doing pioneering work in equity and restorative practices in our schools,” Durham Superintendent Pascal Mubenga said in a news release. “That work is hardly complete, but the results show that we are continuing in the right direction. DPS students are learning and growing in a safer, more supportive environment.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 3:09 PM.
