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New Jersey: Annual N.J. schools report shows drop in violence, rise in prescription abuse

 Star-Ledger Staff 

New Jersey’s schools are getting safer, but prescription drug abuse is a rising problem, a new state report shows.

The trends are shown in the state’s annual report in violence and vandalism in public schools, a document that covered the state’s 600 public school districts which have a combined 1.38 million K-12 students.

The reported decrease in violence, bullying and weapons incidents was credited to education efforts, and schools must now shift greater focus to the drug and alcohol problems, said educators and legislators.

The number of reported incidents of violence dropped 5 percent from 2007-08 to 2008-09; vandalism declined 3 percent; weapons incidents fell 15 percent and, at a time when bullying is a leading concern, reported incidents of harassment, intimidation, bullying and threat decreased by 4 percent, according to the document released today by Acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks.

But incidents of substance abuse possession rose — up 6 overall percent in the one-year period, including a 22 percent increase in prescription drugs and a 14 percent increase in incidents involving alcohol.

The number of incidents involving unauthorized use of prescription drugs rose from 149 to 238 between 2007 and 2009, an increase of 60 percent. However, the actual number of incidents over the three-year period may be considered small for a state with more than one million students.

"It’s a good news, bad news report," said Assembly Education Committee Chairman Patrick Diegnan, (D-Middlesex). "In terms of drug use, it comes down to education. The dangers of cocaine use have been stressed in schools to successful results, but we need to expand our efforts on prescription drug awareness and marijuana."

He said the report’s findings, which documented a total 17,048 incidents reported by school districts in 2008-09, show a mixture of success and failure in the state’s effort to keep students safe in school.

Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said the statistics on substance abuse are a concern, but the report on violence suggests schools "during the day are the safest place for children."

He said schools have placed a focus on bullying prevention in recent years.

New Jersey Sen. Barbara Buono, (D-Middlesex) this week introduced anti-bullying legislation that, if passed, would be the toughest such law in the country.

Bullying was the only data broken down by grade level. Overall bullying incidents decreased from 2,976 in the 2007-08 school year to 2,846 last year. Of the total reported incidents in 2008-09, 299 (10.3 percent) were in K-4; 462 (15.9 percent) in 5-6; 917 (31.5 percent) in 7-8; 761 (26.1 percent) in 9-10; 447 (15.4 percent) in 11-12, and 25 were classified as "un-graded."

Garden State Equality Chairman Steven Goldstein, a leading anti-bullying advocate, said the finding that bullying has decreased is an "abject embarrassment compared to reality," however, and added that school bullying is an "epidemic in New Jersey that has gone unabated."

Goldstein blames the Corzine administration for the shoddy data because it gathered reports of incidents uncritically and allowed the flawed statistics to mask the extent of the problem.

By Jessica Calefati and Jeanette Rundquist / The Star-Ledger