Posted on 06/10/2003 5:14:50 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
Gwinnett County Schools reported 48,501 discipline incidents for the 2001-02 school year, according to an amended report to the state. That numbers dwarfs the 4,258 accounts of bad behavior Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks first reported to the state Department of Education. School officials said Monday that the system's amended discipline report is now error-free and has the endorsement of Gwinnett's superintendent. Wilbanks vouched for the accuracy of the rewrite last week after student discipline and technology officials worked for more than two months preparing the new data.
"We spent a lot of time on this," Wilbanks said. "I believe the report that was filed is complete and as accurate as could be humanly possible." Officials at the Department of Education have not reviewed the new data, but said its investigation into Gwinnett could wrap up within the week if there are no problems found in the revised discipline report. "[Staff is] putting it into a report where our team can review it," said deputy state superintendent Stuart Bennett. "Gwinnett seems to feel that the data is all there. We are still confirming it."
An AJC-WSB investigation found that Gwinnett Schools underreported discipline accounts to the state by 85 percent in the 2001-02 school year, omitting some 24,568 serious infractions, including violations of state and federal law and weapons, drugs and sex offenses. Gwinnett's amended discipline report includes the missing offenses and other errors found by administrators reviewing the discipline reporting process. The vast majority of the 48,501 discipline incidents -- 37,013 or 76 percent -- administrators say, were lesser offenses not originally reported because of coding problems or Gwinnett's interpretation of reporting rules.
"Many categories increased by several entries just simply because we broadly interpreted the state department's definitions of what should be reported. If it was close it was included in the report," said Gwinnett's Chief of Staff Bobby Crowson. "This is a much more accurate reflection of the actual data that should hav been reported the first time around." Early in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution part of the investigation of Gwinnett's original report, administrators told the AJC that they looked at the 23 serious disciplinary categories outlined by state law and rewrote them for the Gwinnett school system. Their intent, they said, was to filter "minor" disciplinary infractions from the state report.
For example, Gwinnett officials didn't feel 40 instances of "lewd sexual exposure" fit the state's "sex offense" category, so they weren't reported. And knives with blades under 2 inches were not reported to the state as knives, but as other weapons even though the state did not set size requirements for knives. Referrals to the Gwinnett District Attorney and the Juvenile Court also were omitted, as were any major offenses that ended in detention or another punishment not tracked by the state. The amended report addresses those errors: All knives are reported as knives; court referrals are included; lewd exposure is considered a sex offense; bullying and oral, written or physical threats are reported as acts of intimidation.
The new data shows drug infractions other than alcohol rose from 203 offenses to 838 on the amended report; threats and intimidations jumped from 642 incidents to 2,613; sex offenses rose from eight to 814; and disorderly conduct rose from 598 infractions to 2,478. There were 296 court referrals. "We still believe that this has always been a reporting issue," Wilbanks said. "The safety and security of our schools have never been in question. [For] every student that violated a discipline code . . . [the] appropriate consequence was administered." Meanwhile, school administrators are investigating themselves to see whether any staff member intentionally withheld information to cause some of the errors on the original report. State officials have not received any information that would indicate Gwinnett tried to defraud the state. "We just haven't seen any evidence of that," Bennett said. "No teachers have contacted us with a report of something that was not handled or reported by Gwinnett."
My sentiments exactly. My son got popped on the mouth by a trickum kid on his bus. Guess who got called to the school when my son defended himself? ME!!!
Bullies are enabled by this "don't defend yourself, go find a teacher and be marked as a target for the rest of the school year" attitude.
Weine Waggers Welcome!
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