Crime and violence spike 24% in NC public high schools | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is David Bass.

    Rates of violent crime and other behavioral problems spiked in recent months as students returned to North Carolina public school classrooms after government-forced closures and remote learning schedules. That's according to new data presented March 1 to the N.C. State Board of Education.

    Rates of disciplinary actions and both short- and long-term expulsions all increased compared to pre-pandemic levels. The data show the state's drop-out rate edged up as well.

    While major categories of offenses declined - including sexual assault, sexual offense, and assault resulting in serious injury - instances of lesser crimes increased. Possession of drugs and weapons both jumped in frequency.

    Across all high schools, instances of crime and violence increased from 4,850 reported for the 2018-2019 school year to 5,991 reported for the 2021-2022 school year - a 24% increase.

    Racial minorities, low-income students, and males were more likely to face disciplinary action, suspensions, or placements in alternative schools. The data are consistent with other evidence showing that academic declines have been most severe for minorities and low-income students.

    "We know that the pandemic and its aftermath have created significant challenges for students, educators and their schools," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt in a statement. "We're taking aggressive steps to respond this year, and we're seeking more resources for next year to provide students with the help that they need."

    Truitt pointed to efforts to increase mental-health officers in public schools and add qualified nurses.

    "The increase in violent crime and school suspensions is concerning. It's worth a closer look, but I hope we can resist the temptation to overreact and create a new programs or spend a lot of money," said Dr. Robert Luebke, director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation. "We're dealing with a lot of factors - many of which are new and atypical. While violent crime and long and short-term expulsions increased, the incidence of lesser crimes actually declined. Schools should be equally nuanced and evaluate their own processes and see what's working and what isn't. That's usually where most of the improvements can be gained."

    In January, a report from the U.S. Department of Education concluded that more than eight in 10 public schools "have seen stunted behavioral and socioemotional development in their students because of the COVID-19 pandemic."

    Eighty-four percent of surveyed public school officials said the pandemic had "negatively impacted the behavioral development of students" in their schools. Thirty-percent reported an increase in bullying as a result of the pandemic, 33% physical attacks between students, and 36% threats of physical attacks or fights between students.

    Moreover, 49% reported a jump in student "rowdiness outside of the classroom (e.g., hallways, lunchroom)," 56% "classroom disruptions from student misconduct," 42% "use of cell phones, computers, other electronics when not permitted," and 24% vandalism.

poll#164

It has been far too many years since the Woke theology interlaced its canons within the fabric of the Indoctrination Realm, so it is nigh time to ask: Does this Representative Republic continue, as a functioning society of a self-governed people, by contending with the unusual, self absorbed dictates of the Woke, and their vast array of Victimhood scenarios?

  Yes, the Religion of Woke must continue; there are so many groups of underprivileged, underserved, a direct result of unrelenting Inequity; they deserve everything.

  No; the Woke fools must be toppled from their self-anointed pedestal; a functioning society of a good Constitutional people cannot withstand this level of "existential" favoritism as it exists now.

  I just observe; with this thoughtful observation: What will happen "when the Vikings are breeching our walls;" how do the Woke react?

848 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

poll#177

Considering the irrefutable fact that the Left /the Democratic Socialists, beginning in March of 2020, employed the repetitive use of the Covid Pandemic as a political cudgel to wrest a presidential election, where their candidate rarely left his basement, from a frightened and beaten down citizenry of this Representative Republic: What does your knowledge NOW, in hindsight, aid in your understanding of the motives of the Authoritarian Left?

  The "Left" cares about all Democratics, so it was imperative that we do whatever it took to elect a lifelong politician to become that Democratic Socialist to forever change US.

  Pandemics are serious business, where our leaders must use wisdom and practicable efforts of all that serve to protect the public from not only the pandemic, but these ignoble usurpers of the Left.

  I lost almost everything in the Covid Pandemic, and I want justice; a justice where only the truth prevails, and the rampant fraud that is now legend is remedied.

163 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?