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

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

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

School characteristic	Total offenses		Removals		Transfers to specialized schools¹		Out-of-school suspensions		Other		No disciplinary action
School characteristic	Number	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
All public elementary schools	19,954	826	4	912	5	6,680	33	10,963	55	573	3

Enrollment size
Less than 300	1,548	#	#	‡	‡	726	47	753	49	#	#
300–499	5,739	277	5	356	6	1,122	20	3,904	68	‡	‡
500–999	11,216	549	5	487	4	3,898	35	5,789	52	‡	‡
1,000 or more	1,451	#	#	#	#	934	64	517	36	#	#

Urbanicity
City	8,436	478	6	401	5	3,199	38	4,358	52	#	#
Urban fringe	5,812	‡	‡	‡	‡	1,627	28	3,745	64	#	#
Town	2,701	‡	‡	#	#	731	27	1,434	53	‡	‡
Rural	3,006	‡	‡	214	7	1,123	37	1,426	47	‡	‡

Crime level where students live²
High	3,371	‡	‡	‡	‡	1,804	54	1,208	36	#	#
Moderate	6,601	‡	‡	322	5	1,794	27	4,296	65	#	#
Low	7,034	‡	‡	391	6	2,108	30	3,803	54	573	8
Mixed	2,949	‡	‡	‡	‡	975	33	1,656	56	#	#

Percent minority enrollment²
0–5 percent	3,867	#	#	‡	‡	1,072	28	2,648	68	‡	‡
6–20 percent	3,016	239	8	‡	‡	703	23	1,513	50	‡	‡
21–50 percent	3,787	#	#	336	9	1,573	42	1,879	50	#	#
More than 50 percent	9,224	587	6	440	5	3,333	36	4,864	53	#	#

Percent of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	3,233	#	#	‡	‡	457	14	2,201	68	‡	‡
21–50 percent	4,804	477	10	358	7	1,148	24	2,821	59	#	#
More than 50 percent	11,917	349	3	487	4	5,075	43	5,941	50	‡	‡

Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	4,571	331	7	228	5	1,029	23	2,918	64	‡	‡
6–15 percent	7,317	‡	‡	234	3	2,401	33	4,156	57	‡	‡
More than 15 percent	8,067	478	6	450	6	3,250	40	3,889	48	#	#

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	9,816	587	6	686	7	3,784	39	4,760	48	#	#
36–60 percent	6,487	239	4	226	3	1,863	29	3,666	57	‡	‡
More than 60 percent	3,651	#	#	#	#	1,033	28	2,537	69	‡	‡

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	1,429	#	#	‡	‡	722	51	515	36	#	#
26–50 percent	4,597	258	6	#	#	2,199	48	2,140	47	#	#
51–75 percent	6,581	‡	‡	406	6	2,175	33	3,620	55	#	#
More than 75 percent	7,348	‡	‡	314	4	1,584	22	4,688	64	573	8

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	2,008	‡	‡	‡	‡	586	29	1,023	51	#	#
45–55 percent	15,488	501	3	656	4	5,382	35	8,441	55	‡	‡
More than 55 percent	2,459	#	#	183	7	712	29	1,499	61	‡	‡

Student/teacher ratio²,³
Less than 12	6,102	335	5	294	5	1,347	22	3,980	65	‡	‡
12–16	9,064	349	4	320	4	2,852	31	5,115	56	‡	‡
More than 16	4,758	‡	‡	‡	‡	2,481	52	1,837	39	#	#

Number of classroom changes²
0–3 changes	6,680	‡	‡	406	6	2,274	34	3,873	58	#	#
4–6 changes	10,955	620	6	339	3	3,989	36	5,434	50	573	5
More than 6 changes	2,030	‡	‡	‡	‡	417	21	1,467	72	#	#

Use of paid law enforcement⁴
Regular use	11,181	447	4	637	6	4,429	40	5,160	46	‡	‡
No regular use	8,774	‡	‡	275	3	2,252	26	5,803	66	‡	‡

Number of serious discipline problems⁵
No problems	8,929	738	8	356	4	3,282	37	4,553	51	#	#
1 problem	3,369	‡	‡	‡	‡	1,208	36	2,004	59	#	#
2 problems	2,664	#	#	367	14	775	29	1,095	41	‡	‡
3 or more problems	4,993	#	#	‡	‡	1,415	28	3,312	66	‡	‡

Transfers as percentage of enrollment²,⁶
0 to 6 percent	2,530	#	#	#	#	911	36	1,538	61	‡	‡
6 to 11 percent	1,709	#	#	‡	‡	356	21	1,294	76	#	#
11 to 21 percent	5,879	‡	‡	281	5	1,792	30	2,989	51	‡	‡
21 percent or more	9,394	436	5	571	6	3,396	36	4,925	52	‡	‡

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions²,⁷
No disruptions	17,245	589	3	839	5	6,016	35	9,229	54	573	3
Any disruptions	1,667	#	#	‡	‡	602	36	991	59	#	#

Percent of students absent without excuses
None	2,507	#	#	‡	‡	692	28	1,626	65	#	#
1–2 percent	7,137	‡	‡	415	6	2,658	37	3,448	48	‡	‡
3–5 percent	6,168	565	9	‡	‡	1,572	25	3,850	62	‡	‡
6–10 percent	3,418	‡	‡	‡	‡	1,570	46	1,623	47	#	#
More than 10 percent	724	#	#	‡	‡	‡	‡	417	58	#	#

Prevalence of violent incidents²,⁸
No violent incidents	3,921	‡	‡	285	7	903	23	2,445	62	‡	‡
Any violent incidents	15,856	604	4	626	4	5,689	36	8,430	53	‡	‡
# 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.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2000.

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