Incidents involving discrimination, harassment and bullying made up the largest share of safety and educational climate reports in Westchester schools during the 2023-24 school year, according to a report by the New York State Comptroller’s Office.
A total of 566 incidents in that category were reported to the state Education Department, accounting for 37% of the 1,523 incidents logged overall. The reports also included cases involving drug and alcohol use, weapons possession, cyberbullying, assault, sexual offense and threats of school violence.
The Westchester districts with the highest rates of incidents per 1,000 students were Pleasantville (18), Chappaqua (15), Tuckahoe (12) and Bedford (11).
Still, the overall rate of discrimination, harassment and bullying incidents in Westchester schools declined from 5 incidents per 1,000 students in the 2017-18 school year, when the state first implemented its current reporting method, to 4 per 1,000 students in 2023-24.
What Westchester school officials say about NY bullying data
But some districts also questioned disparities in bullying-related reporting standards that may account for differences among districts.
Tuckahoe Superintendent Banjamin Roberts said in a statement the district takes a conservative approach to reporting and actively encouraged students, families and staff to raise concerns.
The district, which enrolled 1,087 students, reported 13 incidents in 2023-24, including three at the elementary school, five at the middle school and five at the high school.
“When reporting is encouraged, it is reasonable to assume higher numbers will be reported as incidents are more likely to be identified, investigated, and formally documented,” Roberts said. “The higher reporting and documented findings of Tuckahoe Schools is not necessarily an indication of a higher rate of bullying or discrimination within our buildings, but rather our commitment to transparency, compliance, and thoroughly investigating each report.”
In Bedford, a district serving 3,534 students, 39 incidents were reported. District spokesperson Jen Garry said in a statement that the district has seen an increase in behavioral issues among students following the pandemic. She noted the district has partnered with Northwell Health to provide support.
“While we cannot speak to the threshold each district may use for deciding which incidents should be included on state reports, Bedford Central School District takes all incidents very seriously,” Garry said. “We are committed to documenting and investigating every single complaint completely and accurately in the interest of safety.”
Pleasantville and Chappaqua did not respond to detailed inquiries as of Feb. 13.
Discrimination, harassment and bullying surge across NY schools
The local trends mirror a statewide pattern. In the comptroller’s report, which analyzed seven years of data from the state’s School Safety and Educational Climate report, bullying is the most frequently reported category. In 2023-24, bullying (excluding cyberbullying) accounted for 61.8% of all reported incidents, a rate of 12.4 incidents per 1,000 students. About 34.9% of public and charter schools in New York reported no incidents of bullying.
And when you exclude the schools that reported no incidents of bullying, the rate increases to 18.2 incidents per 1,000 pupils, up from 10.2 incidents in SY 2017-18, the report noted.
The report also asserted cyberbullying appears to be underreported, as such incidents are difficult to detect and often anonymous. Other commonly reported incidents involved drug and alcohol possession and use.
Serious violent and disruptive incident rates declined after the pandemic, in part due to changes in reporting definitions. Under the revised criteria, the offender must be 10 years or older, the incident must meet the criteria for a felony and the incident must have been referred to law enforcement.
Overall, 41% of elementary schools and 5.9% of secondary schools reported no incidents in 2023-24. The reports noted that incidents resulting in disciplinary action may still be retained even if they do not meet the threshold for School Safety and Educational Climate reporting.
“Stakeholders should keep in mind that a school reporting zero incidents through the SSEC report may still have records of individual disruptive and violent incidents that are stored locally,” the report said.
School-specific data for every district is available through the comptroller’s report on its website osc.ny.gov.
Helu Wang covers economic growth, real estate and education for The Journal News/lohud and USA Today Network. Reach her at hwang@gannett.com and follow her @helu.wangny on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: How much bullying is there in Westchester schools? See the numbers
Reporting by Helu Wang, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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