GWINNET (ATLANTA) SCHOOLS NOW REPORT 48,501 INCIDENTS (HAD REPORTED 4,258)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 10 June 2003 | D. Aileen Dodd

[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."

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Does this count include the infractions by wealthy, influential students? LOL. In my opinion, those violations have been omitted as well. First the accounting scandal, now the public school administration integrity problem. "Honesty is such a lonely word...everyone is soooooo untrue...." Again, only the tip of the iceberg to which I've been alluding in other posts.

[theDentist]

Sounds like someone there needs to learn to multiply by 11.

[tupac]

I'll bet they have a strong, liberal teacher's union in Atlanta. Not to mention a sasquatch problem.

[Lazamataz]

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.

That would be perjury, if anyone had to certify these numbers.

Of course, perjury no longer matters.

So long as you are a Democrat.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

LOL. Good one. Good to hear from you again. This, too, is not just isolated to Atlanta. IF REPORTERS would do their jobs they would find this to be the case nationwide. The discipline problems in the public schools are far worse than people know and something has to be done about it.

[Lazamataz]

Sounds like someone there needs to learn to multiply by 11.

NIGEL: ...the numbers all go to eleven. Look...right across the board....and most of these amps go up to ten....

MARTY: Does that mean it's...louder? Is it any louder?

NIGEL: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most...most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here...all the way up...all the way up......all the way up. You're on ten on your guitar...where can you go from there? Where? Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is if we need that extra...push over the cliff...you know what we do? We put it up to eleven.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Used to be that a student fight was resolved by a trip to the principle's office for a quick 3 licks of the paddle and back to class you go.

Now, the cops are called and charges are filed.

I have relatives who have lived in Gwinnett county since before the depression.They have witnessed the transformation of a sleepy, rural community into what is now starting to turn into South Central L.A.

[Lazamataz]

BTW, you know that thing you phone called me about?

A little research shows you were right. ¡Ay caramba!

[Blueflag]

For those of us who live in Gwinnett County and are a little closer to the facts and DO NOT share the suburbia-bashing sentiment of the AJC, or the political ambitions of certain politicos in the Gwinnett school system, a different view of the facts are in order.

ALL (OK, 99.x %) incidents involving students being 'paneled' for infractions and incidents were indeed recorded in the database. (How else could they find the missing 40,000 +/- so accurately?). They were coded differently than perhaps guided by policy (I'll grant the Harpies that). Also, the way the data are recorded, it is difficult to readily derive multiple infracrtions from a single comma-delimited entry. So if you're looking to get really high numbers, you exercise the EXISTING data really hard to get the highest possible number of qualifying infractions. IF you want the lowest numbers, you code the infractions a little left of policy, but record ALL the infractions.

The data are NOT missing. They are there. The Supt. is not a bad guy. He has many long knives after him. The Gwinnett County Public school system is actually a pretty good one. Collins Hill High School (ours) is pushing 4300 students. There are bad eggs there. Same for Central/North Gwinnett/Parkview/Grookwood, etc., all BIG high schools. Creekland Middle School is/was the biggest in the nation. On big campuses with a large student population from 'diverse' backgrounds you have "incidents". In the old days, we handled our own disputes. Now the 'gummint' has to get involved and catalog everything for the lawyers.

So all things considered, this is not a school system with an order of magnitude discipline cover up "crisis." When confronted by the courageous investigator, the school system produced complete data. AS a parent of public school students, I was distressed by the outcome and the numbers, but not dismayed or driven into crisis mode.

So, lighten up.

[Blueflag]

One more comment.

From the article "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."

No information was withheld. The data were all in the database as a matter of public record. The report is submitted monthly, I believe, and the data had been 'coded' this way for some time. Bust them for improper coding, a decision NOT made by the Supt., but he is a big enough man to take the rap, instead of pushing it off onto his hapless 'Janet Reno'.

Bear in mind, also, that our local Public Safety leaders had an ax to grind here because the school has its own 'safety officers'. That dilutes the power and influence of other parts of the government. This is not all that it reads, especially as written by a reporter from the AJC.

Lastly, the Supt. is a 'Godly Christian' who has prayer with some of his staff members, goes to church, makes public references to God, Christ, and his faith. So, he makes enemies just by holding faith-based principles.

[Amelia]

The discipline problems in the public schools are far worse than people know and something has to be done about it.

I kept looking in this article to find how many students and how many schools were included in Gwinnett county, but if that number is there, I missed it. It's a large county.

That being said, the discipline in the public schools is outrageous - it would be particularly shocking for anyone who graduated before the mid-1970s to visit a public school now and see what goes on, I think.

The major reason for that is, many parents don't discipline their children, and they don't want anyone else doing it either. If the school tries (even if it's not corporal punishment), too many parents want to threaten a lawsuit.

[Blueflag]

as you requested. Gwinnett County has about 615,000 residents.

Schools:

A Growing School System
Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia's largest school system, is located in metro-Atlanta.
2002-03 Projected Enrollment -- 123,685
GCPS is one of the fastest-growing school systems in the nation. Student enrollment increases by more than 6,000 students a year.
By school year 2006-2007, student enrollment in Gwinnett is projected to reach more then 147,000.

Number of schools in 2002-03
Elementary -- 52
Middle -- 16
High -- 14
Special Entities -- 5
Oakland Special Education Center
Hooper Renwick/GIVE Center
T. Carl Buice Center (Pre-Kindergarten)
Maxwell High School of Technology
Buchanan School
Gwinnett Technical College (postsecondary)


Financially Sound
FY2003 Amended Budget -- $1.2 billion
The cost for educating one child in Gwinnett County is $6,876 per year. Approximately 77 percent of that cost goes directly toward instruction.
The GCPS is the largest employer in Gwinnett County, employing more than 14,000 employees. Of those close to 9,000 are certified personnel.
A beginning teacher earns approximately $34,730.
In FY2003, the average GCPS teacher will earn $46,593 a year; with benefits included, the average teacher's salary is $60,416.

Preparing Students for the Future
6,068 graduates in 2001-02
87% planned to attend college/postsecondary schools
17% received scholarships totaling $47.19 million (This figure does not include the large amount of scholarship money students earned through the state's HOPE grant.)

[Amelia]

Thanks, Blueflag!

A pretty large system - will account, in part, for the large number of incidents. Also, many students will not have any discipline infractions, and some students will have MANY.

[Chemist_Geek]

The major reason for that is, many parents don't discipline their children, and they don't want anyone else doing it either. If the school tries (even if it's not corporal punishment), too many parents want to threaten a lawsuit.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

[Blueflag]

You're exactly right. There are many repeat, habitual offenders -- problem kids, go figure.

A single 'incident' might be coded with three or four (or more) offense categories.

One should NOT infer from the statistics that one in four Gwinnett students had a 'serious discipline' problem. One should infer that the discipline problem in Gwinnett County is as real as it is anywhere in a large poly-socio-economic-ethnic school (public) system, and disparities in reporting/coding data led to a manufactured crisis.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

BTW, you know that thing you phone called me about? A little research shows you were right. ¡Ay caramba!

Thanks. When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong. When I'm right, no one listens. LOL.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

AS a parent of public school students, I was distressed by the outcome and the numbers, but not dismayed or driven into crisis mode.

I am going to make you a promise. If things were done my way, the valid numbers WOULD BE 4,258. It is simply going to have to go back to old school operation, or the consequences are not going to be palatable.

[Amelia]

You're exactly right. There are many repeat, habitual offenders -- problem kids, go figure.

In our school system, a student may be expelled after one very serious offense. Serious offenses may also result in the student being sent to an alternative school, as may 10 or more less serious offenses - but in the alternative school, they are still in the public school system, just not in the same setting as the other students.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

The major reason for that is, many parents don't discipline their children, and they don't want anyone else doing it either. If the school tries (even if it's not corporal punishment), too many parents want to threaten a lawsuit.

This can easily be solved. Laws CAN be changed to make it more difficult to sue. Next, for major offenses (fights, sexual assaults, etc.), study Singapore. The child who instigated the action must be caned. If the parents want to become aggressive, can them too. I am serious...no joke or humor intended. If teachers or administrators are caught in dishonesty, etc., can them too. You would only have to cane 3-4 students and/or parents and the whole situation would calm down.

The young American who was caught misbehaving in Singapore...whatever became of him? Funny how he doesn't make public appearances or statements. I wonder WHY? Can you think of why? It is time for America to wake up and realize this:

Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.

Mene

P.S. If that is not good enough for everyone, look up what my tagline means. That should take care of it.

[LiteKeeper]

School SITREP