Schools assess safety

According to a report by the Virginia Department of Education, Orange County schools are fairly safe.
As required annually by the Code of Virginia, school divisions submit data to the Virginia Department of Education on incidents of discipline, crime and violence that occur on school property, a bus or at a school-sponsored activity. That data is then used to compile the Discipline, Crime and Violence report (DCV).
The report centers around three key terms: "incident," which is the discipline event itself; "offense," the problem behavior exhibited; and "disciplinary outcome," the consequence that is chosen for the offender. School administrators enter these records into an information system using the appropriate offense code.
According to the DCV, overall 927 offenses were reported in Orange County Schools during the last school year. Of those, 470 were related to behavior, compared to 625 in 2009-10; 20 involved weapons compared to 23 in 2009-10; 284 involved students, staff or other individuals (up from 2009-10's 184); 82 were related to alcohol, drugs and tobacco (up from 75 in 2009-10); 24 involved property (an increase by two from the previous year); 12 involved technology (down from 20 the previous year); and 35 were classified as other offenses (up from 26 in 2009-10). In 2009-10, 975 offenses were reported total.
Orange County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Bob Grimesey said a lot of the changes in numbers don't really represent a true increase or decrease. Instead, they have to do with how the data is collected.
"A lot of this has to do with the state's definitions changing," he said. "Some of this is just that [offenses] are being reported differently."
"We've really been working hard to establish criteria so all [schools] are consistent in their reporting," director of student services Eugene Kotulka added. "So with the against-student [offense], it may look like an increase, but bullying is included in that this year."
The offense Kotulka mentioned went from 29 in 2009-10 to 77 in 2010-11. Simultaneously, the related-to-behavior offense went from 625 to 470.
Grimesey said 71 percent of all students in Orange County Public Schools received no referrals.
As for the other students, the 927 offenses resulted in 626 short-term suspensions, which are up to 10 days; 35 long-term suspensions, which can range from 11 days up to 364 days and one expulsion, which is 365 days or greater. There were also 21 modified expulsions. According to Kotulka, a modified expulsion occurs when an offense results in an automatic expulsion as required by statute. However, the school board has the authority to then change that expulsion, possibly decreasing the punishment to a suspension.
"Let's say a student accidently brings in a hunting knife," he said. "The school board could then say that child is suspended and place them back into school."
Also important to note is the term "weapon" can involve a number of things, including hunting rifles left in vehicles, pocket knives, box cutters and look-alike weapons. According to Kotulka, many of the 20 incidents involved pocket knives.
Of the 927 offenses, 14 were reported at Gordon-Barbour Elementary School, 18 at Lightfoot Elementary School, four at Locust Grove Elementary School, two at Orange Elementary School, 12 at Unionville Elementary School, 104 at Locust Grove Middle School, 193 at Prospect Heights Middle School and 445 at Orange County High School. An additional 135 incidents occurred within the alternative education program. Those used to be added in with the school the student came from.
"A major change this year is the state has separated out alternative education," Kotulka said. "Ninety-eight of these offenses go back to the high school."
Regardless of where they go, or who committed the offenses, Orange County secondary school principals presented the school board with plans for improvement in the fall.
Orange County High School Principal Doug Duncan said the number of incidents involving alcohol, drugs and tobacco have decreased from 67 incidents to 60 and has declined continuously over the past three years. Also, he said the number of incidents involving weapons decreased from 10 in 2009-2010 to only four last year. However, he said the number of verbal threats against staff has risen, as well as the number of confrontation incidents between students– both physical and verbal.
"This shouldn't be occurring at all," he said.
To improve, he said groups, scheduled by guidance, will meet during Hornet Hour to discuss anger management, equality and diversity and conflict resolution. A needs assessment will be developed and distributed by the guidance department to determine additional groups, if needed. Also, regular meetings with teachers, support staff, parents and students will include attention to identify steps that can be taken to reduce the number of confrontation incidents within the school. Duncan said discipline data will be reviewed by the administrative team to determine current trends and the team will meet with Kotulka to institute additional steps in coordination with division-wide plans to reduce the number of behavior incidents.
Locust Grove Middle School Principal Kim Crandall said though the school saw reductions in both the number of cases related to student incidents against persons, behavior and property, there has been a rise in incidents related to weapons and against other students.
To improve, Crandall said secondary administrators will meet to revise and agree upon universal actions for discipline incidents that will be consistently implemented throughout the county's three secondary schools. She said classroom management and discipline guidelines will be reviewed with all faculty and staff, administrative classroom observations will include feedback to teachers on behavior management in the classroom and behavioral expectations will be communicated to students with consequences implemented in a timely manner. Crandall also said staff will be surveyed at the end of the year to determine if discipline has improved.
"We've really cracked down on security," she said.
Prospect Heights Middle School Principal Renee Bourke said incidents related to property and technology have decreased at the school, while incidents against students and persons and disruption and defiance have increased.
"We're pretty concerned about that," she said.
Bourke said to improve, the response-to-intervention program will be streamlined and staff development on progressive discipline and strategies to reduce classroom instruction will be implemented. Also, she said the school plans to increase good behavior through the Zero Hero program. Students belong to the incentive program by receiving no referrals throughout the year, thus making them eligible for special rewards.
Overall, according to the DCV, Orange County Public Schools are not persistently dangerous schools as categorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Under the act, the offense codes submitted to the Virginia Department of Education are separated into categories according to severity and result in points. The most severe offenses–homicide, sexual assault, use of destructive bombs or explosives–are labeled as type 1 offenses. Offenses such as assault with a firearm or other weapon, actual and attempted robbery, kidnapping/abduction, malicious wounding without a weapon and aggravated sexual battery are labeled as type 2 offenses. Illegal possession of handguns, rifles, shotguns, bombs, other firearms or other projectiles/weapons and illegal possession of controlled drugs and substances with the intent to distribute or sell are type 3 offenses. Some less severe offenses are not categorized by this system.
Once categorized, the offenses are graded in a point system to determine if a school is a potentially dangerous school–one that has exceeded its point threshold for three consecutive years. The threshold is determined by enrollment. A school is allowed to accumulate one point for every 100 students.
Since type 1 offenses are the most serious, the occurrence of one of those offenses will push a school over their threshold. Type 2 offenses will give a school two points while type 3 offenses will earn a school one point. In the first year a school exceeds its threshold, it is given a cautioned status. In the second year, it is on probation and in the third year it becomes known as a potentially dangerous school. Students enrolled in that school are then given the unsafe school choice option, allowing them to switch to a safe school within the division.
Overall, Orange County Public Schools received eight points. Of those, Orange County High School received two for drug distribution; Locust Grove Middle School received four for assault with a weapon, which was in this case was a pencil; and Unionville Elementary School received two points, also assault. Last year, only Orange County High School received points–two for drug distribution and one for a weapon.