NCJ Number
80747
Date Published
1981
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This report to the Tennessee House of Representatives is an outgrowth of citizen and legislator concern about the safety of the State's primary and secondary schools and the extent to which safety-related anxieties affect the quality of education.
Abstract
Extensive conversations were held with persons representing a range of educational perspectives; a teacher survey regarding discipline was reviewed, and data on school violence were obtained from the Nashville and Chattanooga school systems. It was found that a less than acceptable discipline situation does exist in both primary and secondary schools. However, there is a need for the public to realize that the problem of school violence is not as catastrophic as they have been led to believe by the media. Only about 2 to 3 perent of the students are responsible for the violent behavior that does occur. The committee examined the causes of school violence in relation to busing and school consolidation, the length of bus rides, drug use, mainstreaming of handicapped students, attitudes of disaffected students, and the lack of a consistent discipline policy between schools and the juvenile justice system. Committee recommendations are confined to actions that would have little or no fiscal impact upon either the State or local school systems. They include extending to local school systems the authority to conduct unannounced searches for weapons and drugs and requiring that local school systems establish and enforce a uniform policy of discipline, suspension, and expulsion. Other suggestions are that principals be required to report to the police all incidents of assault, vandalism, and extortion in violation of State law and that local school systems be allowed to adopt in-school suspension policies. Further, the 'socially maladjusted' should be deleted from the definition of the handicapped and laws should be modified and strengthened regarding reimbursement for vandalism.