The newly released Electronic Violence and Vandalism Report for the 2012 to 2013 school year for the Moorestown public school district shows the total number of incidents increased from the previous year, with a total of 19 cases for the entire school district.
For the 2012 to 2013 school year, a total of 13 cases were reported for Moorestown High School, composed of four cases of violence, two cases of weapons and seven cases of substance abuse. Moorestown Upper Elementary School also reported six cases for the 2012 to 2013 school year, with one case of violence, two cases of vandalism and three cases of weapons.
“The numbers tend to be all over the place, and the past two years have been average or lower than usual,” acting superintendent for the Moorestown public school district Lynn Shugars said.
The prior year, 2011 to 2012, the district reported a total of 11 incidents, with three cases of violence and one of weapons for the William Allen Middle School and one case of violence, one case of vandalism, four cases of substance abuse and one case of weapon for the high school.
Past year totals included 22 cases for 2010 to 2011, 19 cases for 2009 to 2010 and 21 cases for 2008 to 2009.
“While I can’t speak to a specific ‘violence’ and ‘vandalism’ program, we have been focusing on HIB (Humiliation, Intimidation and Bullying), which I think inherently could be curtailing some of these numbers the past two years,” Shugars said.
The Electronic Violence and Vandalism Report is required for every district in New Jersey in October as pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:17–16 and N.J.A.C. 6A:16–5.3.
