Utah principals say they confiscated more than 80 firearms carried on their campuses last school year, but officials say that's a good thing — not a cause for alarm.
In a report obtained by the Deseret Morning News, Utah schools reported 538 incidents of weapons possession — firearms, pellet guns, explosive devices, knives and fakes — in the 2003-04 school year.
Of those, 84 incidents involved real firearms, said Verne Larsen, safe and drug-free schools coordinator for the State Office of Education. That includes 30 handgun incidents — three in elementary schools — plus five shotgun and 49 "other firearms" reports.
The number of real firearms reported fluctuates, Larsen said. But overall weapons possession incidents are down for the third consecutive year. The 2002-03 school year yielded 580 reported weapons possessions; the previous year, officials marked 672.
"A report such as this shows, yeah, these things are happening. But our schools are doing something," Larsen said. "We can be observant . . . we can cut it off at the pass before something does happen."
The 2003-04 "Incidents of Prohibited Behavior in School or School-Related Activities" report is going in the state superintendent of public instruction's annual report. State Office of Education spokesman Mark Peterson expects it to go online at www.usoe.org (click on the "information" link) in the next couple of weeks. Copies can be obtained sooner by calling 538-7635.
The report comes as a Minnesota Indian reservation lays to rest victims of the nation's deadliest school shooting since Columbine. Last week, a student killed his grandfather and a female companion, five classmates, a teacher and a guard before turning the gun on himself. Utah schools have avoided such incidents — possibly by thwarting them.
This school year, a Granger High student was arrested and accused of having a "hit list." A Northridge High student allegedly brought a gun to school, and four Uintah High students were charged in an alleged school bomb plot. And just last week, a girl at Canyon View High School in Cedar City was arrested after a threatening note was found.
The prohibited behaviors report, required by state and federal law, indicates such incidents have been going on in schools for years. But to what degree is debatable.
Arson dipped from 66 in 2002-03 to 61 in 2003-04. But it's still not as low as the 49 reported in 2001-02. Other incidents, including aggravated assault, tobacco and alcohol and drug abuse, however, are on the rise. Tobacco reports went from 640 incidents in 2002-03 to 695 last school year. Alcohol and drugs rose from 1,357 to 1,433, and aggravated assaults more than tripled from 92 to 317 last school year.
Districts can track their incidents year to year and address problem areas.
Granite School District, for instance, reported 115 weapons violations last school year, down from 124 the year before. Attorney and assistant to the superintendent Martin Bates says the district, which has a weapons hotline, is aggressive in ensuring school safety.
Davis School District uses a case management team to help students whose behaviors raise red flags, student assistance director Peggy Hill said. Just 11 percent of students referred to the team on safe school violations re-offend.
"That tells us what we're doing works," said Hill, whose district's weapon possessions are down from 91 to 74 over the past two years. "Our schools are safe."
But it's hard to compare one district's report to another. There are too many reporting discrepancies, Larsen said.
For instance, while reports of aggravated assaults more than tripled, "I don't think it's that much worse than it has been," Larsen said.
"I feel we are to some degree as a society becoming a little more aggressive. But I have a feeling we had people starting to report assaults as aggravated instead of just assault."
A Utah State University online database, where principals file reports, includes five pages of definitions on what constitutes an offense.
Truancy, which schools must track under No Child Left Behind, is defined as unauthorized absence from an assigned class or activity during school hours. And schools are supposed to report "any truancy where parents are notified in writing or any other administrative action is taken."
But truancy numbers are unreliable. Davis District last year reported 1,844 truancies — the most in Utah — whereas Granite District, which is larger, reported two.
Granite spokesman Randy Ripplinger calls the discrepancy "a definitions difference"; Bates said hundreds of truants actually were referred to juvenile court.
The problem is exacerbated when schools send parents an automatic e-mail if students skip a single class, Larsen said.
But reporting is about to get cleaned up.
Federal officials are gleaning input on what ought to be reported, Larsen said. The state received a grant and plans to provide training and enhance its online system to boost accuracy.
Parents also could have easier access to the reports. State school leaders also are talking about including report data in the schools' overall report cards, which currently include testing and demographic information, Larsen said.
"I want this to be something that if we report accurately, over time, this will . . . help us with the evaluation of our whole prevention effort," he said. "On prevention overall, I think we're doing some good things. When it comes to this report, I still think we have some work to do on it."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com