North Carolina Public Schools has released the 2017-18 School Crime report. In it, serious offenses continue to be troublesome, including sex offenses nearly doubling.

Sexual Assault not including Rape or Sexual Offense went from 107 in 2016-17 to 115 in 2017-18. The generic “Sexual Offense” category jumped 48% from 47 in 2016-17 to 70 in 2017-18.

Via NC Public Schools 2017-18 School Crime Report

The report is based on “reportable crimes,” which means acts that should be reported to law enforcement. The State Board of Education defines and divides 16 reportable acts, but deems the first nine list below as ‘violent’.

• Homicide
• Assault resulting in serious bodily injury
• Assault involving the use of a weapon
• Rape
• Sexual offense
• Sexual assault
• Kidnapping
• Robbery with a dangerous weapon
• Taking indecent liberties with a minor
• Assault on school personnel
• Bomb threat
• Burning of a school building
• Possession of alcoholic beverage
• Possession of controlled substance in violation of law
• Possession of a firearm or

The most frequently reported reportable crimes in high school were possession of a controlled substance, possession of a weapon excluding firearms and powerful explosives, and possession of an alcoholic beverage.

Reportable Crimes for 2017-18 decreased by 87 or 1.6% decrease over the previous year. The overall decrease in reportable crimes for all grades was also 87, a drop of 0.9%. The overall crime rate decrease was 1.1%.

Most frequently committed by students who were ninth-graders, male and either black or Native American.

For a breakout of crime across grade levels click HERE.
For my article on last year’s school crime report click HERE.

Short Term Suspensions

• 82,157 short-term suspensions reported statewide in 2017-18 for grades 9-13, a decrease of 1.4% from the 2016-17.
• One out of ten high school students received at least one out-of-school short-term suspension in 2017-18.
• The average duration of a single short-term suspension was 3.65 days. The grade 9-13 short-term suspension rate was 1.79 suspensions per ten students.
• Ninth grade students received the largest number of short-term suspensions.
• The number of short-term suspensions for male students was 2.77 times higher than for females.
• Black students received the highest rate of short-term suspensions, followed by American Indians.
• Short-term suspension rates increased slightly in 2017-18 for all racial/ethnic groups except black students.

Via NC Public Schools 2017-18 School Crime Report

Long-Term Suspension

• Statewide long-term suspensions (11 or more days) declined 3.2% from 695 in 2016-17 to 673 in 2017-18.
• Average school days per suspension decreased from 73.9 to 65.3 school days.
• High school students received 419 long-term suspensions, an 8.5% decrease from 2016-17.
• Expulsions increased by 33.3% from 18 in 2016-17 to 24 in 2017-18. High school students received all 24 of the expulsions.

Via NC Public Schools 2017-18 School Crime Report

Alternative schools and programs (ALPs)

ALPS are where ‘at risk’ students, mainly discipline issues, drop-outs and likely drop-out students, are sent. In Wake County, it’s called SCORE (Second Chance Online Resources for Education).

• 12,750 student placements in 2017-18, a 4.8% decrease from 2016-17.
• 11,322 individual students placed in ALPs during the 2017-18 school year.
• LEAs made 5,056 assignments of students to ALPs as disciplinary actions.

Drop Out Rate

• High schools in North Carolina reported 10,523 dropouts in 2017-18.
• The grade 9-13 dropout rate in 2017-18 was 2.18%, down from the 2.31% reported for 2016- 17.
• The decrease in the dropout rate was 5.6%.

North Carolina’s Largest District – Wake County

• Reportable Crimes: 518 for an ADM (9-13): 48,658
• Reportable Crime Rate (per 1000 students): 10.65