Table 19. Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for possession of a weapon other than a firearm, by selected school characteristics: 1999

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Table 19. Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for possession of a weapon other than a firearm, by selected school characteristics: 1999–2000

School characteristic	Total offenses		Removals		Transfers to specialized schools ¹		Out-of-school suspensions		Other		No disciplinary action
School characteristic	Number	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
All public schools	61,951	5,233	8	8,628	14	27,883	45	18,018	29	2,189	4

Level
Elementary	19,954	826	4	912	5	6,680	33	10,963	55	573	3
Middle	18,139	1,212	7	3,072	17	9,967	55	3,588	20	300	2
Secondary	21,257	2,824	13	4,237	20	10,497	49	2,700	13	999	5
Combined	2,601	372	14	407	16	739	28	767	29	317	12

Enrollment size
Less than 300	5,267	215	4	524	10	2,520	48	1,780	34	‡	‡
300–499	10,176	421	4	721	7	3,067	30	4,975	49	992	10
500–999	25,402	2,141	8	2,647	10	11,568	46	8,206	32	840	3
1,000 or more	21,106	2,457	12	4,736	22	10,728	51	3,057	14	129	1

Urbanicity
City	23,033	2,410	10	3,623	16	10,369	45	6,481	28	150	1
Urban fringe	21,387	1,544	7	3,071	14	10,187	48	5,734	27	850	4
Town	6,735	587	9	475	7	2,686	40	2,468	37	520	8
Rural	10,796	693	6	1,459	14	4,641	43	3,335	31	668	6

Crime level where students live ²
High	7,417	717	10	1,503	20	3,413	46	1,730	23	‡	‡
Moderate	15,328	959	6	2,163	14	6,803	44	5,291	35	112	1
Low	27,737	2,398	9	3,354	12	12,060	43	7,925	29	2,000	7
Mixed	10,933	1,058	10	1,541	14	5,419	50	2,893	26	‡	‡

Percent minority enrollment²
0–5 percent	9,806	464	5	709	7	4,098	42	4,160	42	374	4
6–20 percent	12,394	934	8	1,480	12	5,417	44	3,210	26	1,353	11
21–50 percent	14,345	1,087	8	2,378	17	7,044	49	3,462	24	375	3
More than 50 percent	24,589	2,564	10	3,962	16	11,064	45	6,912	28	‡	‡

Percent of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	14,552	1,243	9	2,200	15	6,255	43	4,022	28	832	6
21–50 percent	21,921	1,753	8	3,246	15	10,185	46	5,838	27	898	4
More than 50 percent	25,478	2,237	9	3,182	12	11,443	45	8,158	32	458	2

Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	12,110	852	7	1,598	13	4,718	39	4,730	39	212	2
6–15 percent	26,118	2,276	9	3,119	12	11,954	46	7,128	27	1,640	6
More than 15 percent	23,722	2,105	9	3,910	16	11,211	47	6,160	26	337	1

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	22,834	1,553	7	3,239	14	9,998	44	6,957	30	1,087	5
36–60 percent	20,110	2,268	11	2,712	13	8,557	43	5,829	29	743	4
More than 60 percent	19,007	1,412	7	2,677	14	9,328	49	5,232	28	359	2

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	5,770	248	4	1,030	18	2,709	47	1,076	19	‡	‡
26–50 percent	14,995	1,271	8	1,950	13	7,462	50	3,832	26	480	3
51–75 percent	19,583	1,825	9	2,646	14	8,788	45	6,009	31	314	2
More than 75 percent	21,603	1,888	9	3,002	14	8,924	41	7,101	33	688	3

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	6,080	602	10	1,143	19	2,567	42	1,666	27	102	2
45–55 percent	50,443	4,264	8	6,759	13	23,296	46	14,137	28	1,987	4
More than 55 percent	5,428	368	7	726	13	2,021	37	2,214	41	99	2

Student/teacher ratio²,³
Less than 12	16,044	792	5	1,878	12	6,113	38	6,083	38	1,178	7
12–16	23,460	2,056	9	3,017	13	9,960	42	7,652	33	775	3
More than 16	19,944	2,207	11	3,362	17	10,408	52	3,771	19	196	1

Number of classroom changes²
0–3 changes	8,792	367	4	600	7	3,496	40	4,329	49	#	#
4–6 changes	31,522	2,981	9	4,583	15	13,703	43	8,737	28	1,517	5
More than 6 changes	18,321	1,612	9	2,974	16	9,158	50	3,942	22	634	3

Use of paid law enforcement ⁴
Regular use	48,870	4,617	9	7,680	16	23,557	48	11,024	23	1,992	4
No regular use	13,081	617	5	947	7	4,327	33	6,994	53	197	2

Number of serious discipline problems ⁵
No problems	17,241	1,535	9	1,489	9	6,758	39	6,636	38	822	5
1 problem	13,984	1,477	11	2,041	15	6,616	47	3,677	26	174	1
2 problems	11,051	695	6	1,800	16	5,341	48	2,469	22	746	7
3 or more problems	19,674	1,526	8	3,298	17	9,168	47	5,235	27	446	2

Transfers as percentage of enrollment²,⁶
0 to 6 percent	10,661	981	9	1,658	16	4,896	46	2,840	27	285	3
6 to 11 percent	8,699	508	6	975	11	4,261	49	2,921	34	‡	‡
11 to 21 percent	17,407	1,437	8	2,729	16	7,161	41	4,813	28	1,267	7
21 percent or more	22,994	2,179	9	3,009	13	10,490	46	6,834	30	482	2

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions²,⁷
No disruptions	43,590	3,100	7	5,646	13	19,168	44	14,385	33	1,291	3
Any disruptions	14,687	1,581	11	2,473	17	7,230	49	2,631	18	772	5

Percent of students absent without excuses
None	5,142	114	2	388	8	2,224	43	2,282	44	133	3
1–2 percent	18,964	1,289	7	2,377	13	8,277	44	6,318	33	703	4
3–5 percent	17,821	1,520	9	1,912	11	7,740	43	5,826	33	823	5
6–10 percent	13,582	1,435	11	2,313	17	6,883	51	2,598	19	354	3
More than 10 percent	6,442	876	14	1,638	25	2,758	43	994	15	176	3

Prevalence of violent incidents²,⁸
No violent incidents	5,303	344	6	468	9	1,558	29	2,868	54	‡	‡
Any violent incidents	55,850	4,635	8	8,105	15	25,995	47	14,991	27	2,123	4
# Rounds to zero.
‡ Reporting standards not met.
¹ Specialized school was defined for respondents as, "a school that is specifically for students who were referred for disciplinary reasons. The school may also have students who were referred for other reasons. The school may be at the same location as your school."
² Some schools are omitted from these categories because of missing data on their school characteristics. For this reason, the detailed results do not sum to the totals. See appendix J of 2000 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) Detailed Data Documentation (NCES 2004-307) for further information.
³ Student/teacher ratio was calculated by dividing the total number of students enrolled in the school by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. The total number of full-time equivalent teachers is a combination of the full-time and part-time teachers, including special education teachers, with an adjustment to compensate for the part-time status.
⁴ Schools were included as regularly using paid law enforcement if they reported the use of paid law enforcement during any of the following times: at any time during school hours, while students were arriving or leaving, at selected school activities (e.g., athletic and social events, open houses, science fairs), or at any other time that the respondent specified.
⁵ Serious discipline problems is a count of discipline problems reported by principals. These discipline problems include student racial tensions, student bullying, student verbal abuse of teachers, widespread disorder in classrooms, and student acts of disrespect for teachers. If a principal reported that any of these problems occurred daily or weekly in their school, each was counted once in the total number of serious discipline problems. Undesirable gang activities and undesirable cult or extremist group activities were also counted once as a problem if the principal reported that these events occurred at all in their school.
⁶ Transfers as a percentage of enrollment combines the number of students who were transferred to a school and the number of students who were transferred from a school, divided by the total number of students enrolled in the school.
⁷ Schoolwide disruptions include actions that disrupted school activities such as bomb threats or anthrax threats. Respondents were instructed to exclude all fire alarms, including false alarms.
⁸ Violent incidents include rape, sexual battery other than rape, physical attack or fight with or without a weapon, threat of physical attack with or without a weapon, and robbery with or without a weapon.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. "At school/at your school" was defined for respondents as including activities happening in school buildings, on school grounds, on school buses, and at places that are holding school-sponsored events or activities. Respondents were instructed to, unless the survey specified otherwise, only respond for those times that were during normal school hours or when school activities/events were in session. "Weapon" was defined for respondents as, "any instrument or object used with the intent to threaten, injure, or kill. Includes look-alikes if they are used to threaten others." "Firearm/explosive device" was defined for respondents as, "any weapon that is designed to (or may readily be converted to) expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. This includes guns, bombs, grenades, mines, rockets, missiles, pipe bombs, or similar devices designed to explode and capable of causing bodily harm or property damage." A gang was defined for respondents as, "an ongoing loosely organized association of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, that has a common name, signs, symbols or colors, whose members engage, either individually or collectively, in violent or other forms of illegal behavior." Elementary schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not higher than grade 3 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 8. Middle schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not lower than grade 4 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 9. Secondary schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not lower than grade 9 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 12. Combined schools include all other combinations of grades, including K–12 schools.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2000.

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