PROGRAMMING PEACE ON CAMPUS

BEAUMONT - The rate of violent incidents in schools dropped sharply after
1999-2000 and is now holding steady, school officials reported Thursday at
the Beaumont Independent School District board meeting.

W. Preston Shaw, assistant superintendent for administration, told trustees
that he was "happy to share with you this sharp, sharp decrease in
in-school violent incidents."

He credited the drop to the implementation of dozens of preventative
programs in the schools. There are 12 drug and violence prevention programs
in place at the elementary level, 16 at the middle school level and 13 at
the high school level.

From group counseling to drug awareness programs to stricter discipline
for bullies, students are learning that dangerous behavior won't be
tolerated, he said. According to the 2002-2003 Accountability for Safe
Schools Report, there were 18 violent incidents in the year 1999-2000 in
the Beaumont school district. That plummeted to five incidents in
2000-2001, then crept up to six incidents in 2001-2002 and seven incidents
in 2002-2003.

The violent incidents include arson, assault, sexual assault and prohibited
weapons on the campuses.

Terry Ingram, assistant superintendent for business services, said
principals are doing a good job handling discipline on their campuses.

However, the report also showed that instances of fighting were going up.
In 2002-2003, there were 1,357 fighting infractions district-wide, compared
to 1,128 in 2001-2002. In 2000-2001, there were 972 fighting infractions,
compared to 563 in 1999-2000.

Other common infractions in the report include marijuana and tobacco
violations. Those numbers have also gone down over the years, with nearly
130 marijuana infractions in 1999-2000 down to 67 in 2002-2003. Tobacco
infractions were at 98 in 1999-2000 and dropped to 41 in 2002-2003.