CRIMES INCREASE AT SCHOOLS IN STATE

RALEIGH -- The number of crimes and violent incidents in North Carolina's schools increased slightly last year, while school crime nationally has dropped, according to two reports released Wednesday.

North Carolina saw criminal acts increase 5 percent to 7,586 during the 2000-01 school year. That comes to 6.3 incidents per 1,000 students.

"This increase is unacceptable," state Board of Education Chairman Phil Kirk said. "We must work with local schools to make sure that our schools are safe for every studentacross the state."

Of the 14 categories of crimes that schools are required by law to report, two -- possession of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance -- were 74 percent of all offenses. Weapon reports increased 4 percent last year, and drug reports grew by 12 percent.

The third-most commonly reported offense, assault on school personnel, declined 3 percent last year.

Among area school districts, the Alamance-Burlington, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, Randolph County and Thomasville City districts reported that the incident rate increased in the 2000-01 school year from the year before. The Davidson County, Guilford County, Lexington City and Rockingham County districts reported decreases. Asheboro City's rate stayed the same.

State Superintendent Mike Ward said the state's public schools are generally safe. Fewer than 1 percent of students were reported as offenders.

"Each year, school staffs are working harder to build that type of environment as a foundation for learning," Ward said. "But these numbers indicate that a great deal of work remains to be done."

A government report also Wednesday showed school crime nationally declined slightly between 1995 and 1999.

The annual report said the percentage of students 12 and older who said they were victims of thefts, assaults or threats at school dropped from 10 percent in 1995 to 8 percent in 1999.

The percentage of students who reported street gangs in their school fell by nearly half, from 29 percent in 1995 to 17 percent in 1999. Fewer students said they feared being attacked or hurt at school, and fewer said they avoided places on campus because they considered them unsafe.

But the percentage of high school students who said they'd been threatened or injured with a weapon in 1999, 8 percent, was the same as in 1995. The percentage of high school students who said they had carried a weapon at school in the past 30 days dropped from 10 percent in 1995 to 7 percent in 1999.

Thirty percent of students said drugs were available on campus -- 2 percent less than in 1995.