Both the number and rate of crimes and violent incidents in North Carolina schools declined in the 2023-24 school year, according to statistics presented to the state's Board of Education on Wednesday.
There were 12,212 acts of crime and violence — a 7.4% decrease. The crime and violence rate for North Carolina schools fell 7.7% to 8.10 incidents per 1,000 students.
It’s still higher than prepandemic levels, but it marks the first time the rate has decreased since the 2020-21 school year.
Ellen Essick, of the Department of Public Instruction, told the state Board of Education some strategies to reduce crime could include using a whole-child approach that includes families and takes into account cultural differences. She also noted most crimes were committed by middle and high schoolers, and suggested early prevention tactics at the elementary school level.
“The challenge with that is, next year you won’t necessarily see a change in this data by targeting elementary schools this year," Essick told the state Board of Education this week. "So you have to be patient to wait for those five years or so, or more, before we start seeing some changes.”
Despite the overall decline, there were still reasons for caution: In-school suspensions increased by 3.2%, the rate of long-term suspensions increased by 2.8%, and gaps between student groups across all types of suspensions remained persistent.
Male students, Black students, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students were among those with the highest rates of suspensions.
Bomb threats and assaults on school personnel were the only two crime categories that saw increases last year, amid a nationwide increase in threats. There were 94 bomb threats at North Carolina schools last year, a 7% increase over the year before — and an 80% increase over three years.
Still, those incidents represent only a small segment of the overall crime picture. More than 60% of all crimes were related to possession of a controlled substance or alcohol.
And, crime is generally not considered widespread in North Carolina schools: About 77% of all schools reported experiencing zero to five incidents last year.
