D.A. Singas to state: Upgrade school violence reporting

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Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas is calling on the State Board of Regents to revamp New York’s school violence tracking system so gang attacks, discrimination and bullying are reported faster.

According to Singas, it can take up to two years for incidents to appear on New York’s Violent and Disruptive Incident Reporting System. The state recently reworked the system, but Singas said the changes did not go far enough, arguing that they failed “to provide a framework that will facilitate timely, consistent and comprehensive reporting of school violence.

“In 2016, we should not settle for a system that provides parents and policymakers with sparse, inconsistent, two-year-old data,” Singas said. “Our kids deserve safe schools in which to learn, and we all deserve accurate and timely information about violent and disruptive incidents.”

But Oceanside Schools Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Harrington said the timeliness of how such violent and disruptive incidents are reported to the state, and subsequently published, is not as important as how those acts are handled by school districts.

“Whether you ask us to submit it monthly or yearly is far less significant than accounting for, at the local level, the safety, security and well-being of all of the children and adults in your schools,” Harrington said. “I don’t see a connection between the two at all.”

A man who identified himself as a former Oceanside High School student challenged the Board of Education at its meeting on Nov. 16 to address increased hate crimes throughout the country after the election — particularly against minorities, disabled students and the LGBT community — and asked what the district is doing to prevent such acts.

Harrington said that the district has not had any recent reports of harassment or bullying of such students, but will continue to be diligent in monitoring the schools.

Additionally, Harrington told the Herald that the district has strengthened safety measures during the last few years to prevent violence, including the installation of surveillance cameras, swipe cards that limit building access, improved emergency drill plans, and district-wide safety teams.

Proponents of the real-time reporting of school violence feel it could improve the community’s awareness of what is going on in the school. But Harrington said that making such information public about these rare acts could be an “artificial disruptor” in what is otherwise a safe environment.

Singas offered six recommendations to the Board of Regents, including:

1. The state should provide real-time reporting of school violence. Under the current system, reports of violence are collected once a year, at the end of the school year. They become public in spread sheets two years later.

2. Gang activity should be reported under the new system.

3. Discrimination, harassment or bullying because of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation or gender should be reported in its own category.

4. Violence against students because of their gender identity or gender expression should be reported in its own category.

5. With the heroin epidemic raging across New York, particularly on Long Island, drug-related incidents should be reported in greater detail. The types of drugs involved should be included in the reporting.

6. All incidents of discrimination, harassment and bullying should be reported. Under the new system, only verified incidents are to be listed.

“Whether they change that is far less important to me than what we’re doing on the ground,” Harrington said.

“There is literally nothing more important than protecting our children," said Jeanne Beattie, a State Board of Regents spokeswoman. "It’s impossible for a child to focus on learning if she goes to school in fear each day."

Proposed changes in the reporting system, Beattie said, "are intended to make the process of reporting violent and disruptive acts less complicated and to place a greater emphasis on violent offenses. The [Education] Department will carefully review and consider all of the public comments received.”