Based

on the 1998-1999 discipline report on Fayette

County Schools, figures show that ninth graders

have a disproportionately high rate of disorderly

conduct, fighting, tobacco incidents and threats

and intimidation offenses.

"Ninth

grade is a transition year," said Fred

Oliver, assistant superintendent of Fayette

County Schools. "A lot of these students are

not listening to you and end up getting into

trouble. We see a lot of this type of behavior in

the ninth grade. It dissipates in the following

years," he said.

Middle

schools with high rates of discipline offenses

also feed into high schools with equally high

rates. For instance, Fayette Middle School has a

total of 396 incidents for its three grades in

1998-1999 and feeds into Fayette County High

School, where discipline offenses total 1249.

J.C.

Booth Middle totalled 52 offenses. Its students

go on to McIntosh High School, which listed a

mere 55 offenses for the year. Flat Rock Middle

racked up 232 offenses for the year and it feeds

into Sandy Creek High School where discipline

incidents totalled 728. Starr's Mill High School

draws from both Whitewater Middle School, which

had 82 offenses and Rising Starr, which totalled

23 offenses for the last school year. Starr's

Mill tabulated 420 offenses.

Oliver

admitted that school administrators did tighten

up on discipline in the aftermath of violence at

Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado and

Heritage High School.

"We

were on a higher alert and were cracking down on

comments," Oliver said. "A father

called because his son was suspended after making

a reference to an assistant principal. He told me

his son was only kidding," Oliver said.

"But it's like going to the airport and

joking aloud that you are going to hijack a

plane. You are going to jail," he noted.

Figures

on elementary discipline were not immediately

available, according to Oliver, but most of the

offenses that occur in the middle and high

schools are not going to be found at the

elementary level, he said. Elementary school

children can be suspended or expelled, but more

common forms of discipline are detention and, in

some schools, in school suspension, Oliver

explained.

<!--

-----------