Schools

Galloway Schools Report No Serious Incidents of Violence and No Costs Relating to Vandalism

The Electronic Violence and Vandalism/Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying reports were made at Monday night's board meeting.

The Galloway Township School District reported 89 incidents of violence over the course of the school year, but didn’t have to spend any money combating vandalism, according to the Electronic Violence and Vandalism/Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying reports presented at the Board of Education at its meeting Monday night, June 25 at the

According to the report, there were 45 incidents of violence for the first half of the year, and 44 for the second. Violence is classified as any acts involving assault, criminal threat, extortion, fight, harassment/intimidation or bullying, threat, kidnapping, robbery or sex offense.

According to Galloway Superintendent of Schools Dr. Annette Giaquinto, there were no serious violent situations.

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“We had two verbal threats,” Giaquinto said. “There were no physical assaults.”

Only one incident of vandalism was reported, and it came at no cost to the school district.

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Two incidents of substance abuse were reported, both in the first half of the year.

Two incidents involving weapons were reported, both in the first half of the year. This includes the use of handgun, rifle, air gun, pellet gun, bb gun, imitation firearm, knife, blade, razor, scissors, box cutter, pin, sharp pen/pencil, chain, club, brass knuckles, spray and other, sale/distribution of weapon and bomb offenses, both exploded and unexploded.

According to the report, 102 offenders were students: 48 in the first half of the year and 54 in the second. Of the victims, 75 were students, and two were school personnel. Both school personnel victims were in the second half of the year; 36 of the student victims came in the first half of the year, while 39 were in the second half of the year.

Five police complaints were filed; 26 in-school suspensions were issued; and 18 out-of-school suspensions were filed. The suspensions reported only dealt with the incidents in this report, and didn’t include suspensions related to other school issues. There were no expulsions or other removals from schools.

Discipline came in the form of 32 assignments, instruction and/or support services, five were home assignment or home instruction, and one came in the form of an out-of-district program.

“Overall, our school district works diligently to maintain safe schools and our students are well-behaved,” Giaquinto said. “If you think of the total number of students being approximately 3,400, the number of any type of incident is minimal. We will continue our efforts to ensure student and staff safety.”


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