Recent

tragedies in schools across the nation have

prompted heightened discipline and safety efforts

in Fayette, as in education systems across the

nation.

And

among the first questions parents and educators

ask themselves is: Just how much of a discipline

problem do local students have?

School

system figures reveal that local students had to

be disciplined 3,404 times during 1998-99, for

offenses that included alcohol, arson, battery,

breaking and entering-burglary, computer

trespass, disorderly conduct, drugs except

alcohol, fighting, homicide, kidnaping, larceny

or theft, motor vehicle theft, robbery, sexual

battery, sexual harassment, sex offenses, threat

or intimidation, tobacco, trespassing, vandalism,

weapons possession/firearm, weapons

possession/knife, weapons possession/other and

other unidentified offenses.

Despite

having the second highest enrollment in the

district, McIntosh High School recorded the

fewest number of offenses, only 55, compared to

Fayette County High with 1,249. Sandy Creek had

728 offenses and Starr's Mill reported 420.

The

same categories apply to the middle schools.

Fayette Middle accrued the highest number of

offenses among the five middle schools with 396.

Second was Flat Rock Middle with 232, followed by

Whitewater with 85, Booth with 52 and Rising

Starr with 23.

Based

on the number of expulsions that resulted from

those incidents, middle and high school students

are a law-abiding lot with only a small

percentage of troublemakers among them. Out of

18,043 students enrolled in the county as of June

4, only 19 students were expelled this past year.

But

942 students were issued out-of-school

suspensions.

One

figure that stands out in school system records

is the high number of infractions racked up by

ninth graders. There were 1,016 offenses for the

ninth grade county-wide, compared to 253 for

sixth grade, 294 for seventh grade, 261 for

eighth grade, 646 for 10th grade, 579 for 11th

grade and 355 for 12th grade.

Of

the 1,016 ninth grade offenses, there were 733

incidents of disorderly conduct, 93 cases of

tobacco use, 49 cases of threat or intimidation,

45 cases of fighting, 25 cases of sexual

harassment, 24 cases of drugs other than alcohol,

14 cases of larceny or theft, 12 cases of

vandalism, five cases of computer trespass, two

cases of possessing knives and one case of

possessing a weapon other than a firearm or

knife. Unnamed offenses totalled 11.

County-wide,

there were two incidents involving possession of

firearms, one in the 12th grade at Sandy Creek

High School and one in the eighth grade at Flat

Rock Middle School. Drug offenses totalled 60

across the board, with alcohol offenses totalling

12.

Fayette

County High School, enrollment 1,807, suspended

the most students (306), but had the fewest

number of expulsions (one) among the county's

high schools. Sandy Creek High, enrollment 1,210,

suspended 150 students with no expulsions;

McIntosh High, enrollment 1,591, had 140

suspensions and four expulsions, and Starr's Mill

High, enrollment 1,074 in grades 9-11, suspended

96 students and expelled five.

Among

the middle schools, Booth (enrollment 1,057)

reported 12 suspensions and four expulsions;

Fayette Middle (enrollment 894) 56 suspensions

and no expulsions; Flat Rock Middle (enrollment

914) 43 suspensions and two expulsions; Rising

Starr (enrollment 1,121) nine suspensions and no

expulsions and Whitewater (enrollment 686) 10

suspensions and no expulsions.

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