The Spellings Report: Criminalities

Over at The House of Spellings, they're simply giddy over a report that says the number of criminal acts committed on America's public school campuses is the lowest since 1992:

Violent crime rates in the nation's schools, unchanged between 2002 and 2003, remained at about half those recorded in 1992, according to a new report released today by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice.

The report, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005, said the rate of violent crime victims in schools declined from 48 per thousand students in 1992 to 28 per thousand in 2003. In 2003, students ages 12 to 18 were victims of about 740,000 violent crimes and 1.2 million crimes of theft at school, according to the report. Seven percent of students in that age range reported that they had been bullied. Twenty-nine percent of high school students reported that drugs were made available to them on school property, and 9 percent of students were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.

I guess this news isn't all that good if it's your kid that has been bullied or "threatened or injured with a weapon" or been the victim of a theft.

According to the report, (Read it here) 7% of kids indicated that they had been bullied, 9% threatened or injured with a weapon, and 27% report that drugs are available on campus.

As for the above statistics, they're a positive start. But as parents and educators, we should postpone the celebration until each and every child's school campus is made safe and secure for all of America's children.

We can do better...We must do better.. ----------------------------See the latest edition of The Carnival Of Education right here, and our latest posts over there.