School crime drops, assaults on personnel rise in NC after surge. What about suspensions?
School crimes and student suspensions dropped last school year in North Carolina but remain above pre-pandemic levels.
New figures released Wednesday show there were 12,212 reported acts of crime and violence in the state for the 2023-24 school year — a 7.4% decrease from the prior school year. Short-term suspensions were also down 1.1% from the prior school year.
“While crime and acts of violence in schools are always unacceptable and hinders the learning and growth of students,” State Superintendent Mo Green said in a news release. “I’m optimistic that reductions in the rate of crime, violence and dropouts in high school reflect positive change.”
The new figures are good news after two years in a row of surging crime numbers since the pandemic. Even with the recent dip, there’s been a 27.8% increase in school crimes since the 2018-19 school year.
During their presentation Wednesday to the State Board of Education, the state Department of Public Instruction focused on looking at post-COVID numbers and trends.
“When looking at the data long term, it’s important to remember that the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of schools,” Chief Accountability Officer Michael Maher said in the news release. “The way classrooms operated in 2018-19, let alone 10 years ago in 2013-14, to now is vastly different given the use of technology and other factors. While crime and violence in schools is never what we want, it is promising to see that rates have dropped this year.”
Assaults on school personnel up in the state
Possession of a controlled substance accounts for 57% of the crimes reported last school year. That’s down 1.7% from the prior year but up 33.4% over the last three years.
There were 1,642 assaults on a school personnel, a 10.8% increase from the 2022-23 school year and a 19.5% increase over the last three years.
It’s disheartening that assault on a school personnel is the third-highest reported school crime, Alan Duncan, vice chair of the state board, said.
“It reflects in a way a lack of respect for the profession that needs to be cured.,” Duncan said. “One way we could certainly try to work on that is to restore respect for the profession, which would include you would not think about touching a teacher.
“I think any time there’s an incident involving a teacher being struck or someone has videotaped it, it’s on the news, it sparks a very strong public reaction.”
The new report includes the fatal stabbing of a student during a fight at Southeast Raleigh High School in November 2023. Another student was stabbed but survived his injuries. A third student was charged with first-degree murder and will be tried as an adult.
It was the only death not by natural causes reported at a school statewide last school year.
Weapons possession down in NC schools
The report offered good news on some categories There was a decline in 10 of the 16 categories last school year.
There was a 25% drop from the prior school year in possession of a weapon other than a firearm.
There was also a 21.6% drop from the prior school year in cases of possession of a firearm.
Less than 1% of the state’s students were responsible for the school crimes reported.
State officials also noted that 77% of North Carolina’s 2,724 public schools reported five or fewer crimes last school year.
“For the most part our schools are not experiencing a lot of acts of school crime and violence,” said Rob Dietrich, senior director of DPI’s Office of Digital Teaching and Learning.
Racial disparities in discipline numbers
The suspension figures offered mixed news. While short-term suspensions are down from the prior school year, in-school suspensions and long-term suspensions were both up.
Of particular concern is the ongoing racial disparities in the suspension figures. Black students and students with disabilities have among the highest rates of short-term suspensions, in-school suspensions and placements in alternative learning centers.
North Carolina’s figures mirror national trends where Black students are disciplined at a disproportionately high rate compared to other groups.
“If we can send people to the Moon and bring them back, don’t tell me we can’t educate these kids at a greater percentage than we are,” state board member J. Wendell Hall said. “We are doing a disservice.”
State board member Reginald Kenan said he has a hard time explaining when he goes back to the community why Black students are suspended so much.
“There’s something in the Black community, Black students that we’ve got to find out why,” Kenan said.
State board chair Eric Davis said the report shows that the system has to be fixed.
“The solution Is not to fix our students or fix our teachers or fix our schools,” Davis said. “It’s about fixing a system that is clearly not supporting our students, our teachers and our schools satisfactorily.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 1:53 PM with the headline "School crime drops, assaults on personnel rise in NC after surge. What about suspensions?."
