Table 17. Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for possession of a firearm/explosive device in public secondary schools, by selected school characteristics: 1999

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

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Table 17. Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for possession of a firearm/explosive device in public secondary 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 secondary schools	3,644	695	19	824	23	1,720	47	317	9	‡	‡

Enrollment size
Less than 300	‡	#	#	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#	#	#
300–499	159	#	#	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#	‡	‡
500–999	902	168	19	210	23	343	38	182	20	#	#
1,000 or more	2,513	527	21	545	22	1,306	52	135	5	#	#

Urbanicity
City	1,118	260	23	386	35	332	30	141	13	#	#
Urban fringe	1,501	238	16	196	13	1,026	68	40	3	#	#
Town	322	83	26	112	35	102	32	‡	‡	#	#
Rural	704	114	16	130	18	260	37	111	16	‡	‡

Crime level where students live²
High	360	74	21	240	67	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#
Moderate	696	144	21	193	28	208	30	152	22	#	#
Low	2,031	402	20	245	12	1,207	59	89	4	‡	‡
Mixed	510	65	13	109	21	270	53	‡	‡	#	#

Percent minority enrollment²
0–5 percent	481	90	19	134	28	141	29	28	6	‡	‡
6–20 percent	532	144	27	100	19	279	52	‡	‡	#	#
21–50 percent	675	118	18	111	16	361	53	85	13	#	#
More than 50 percent	1,934	343	18	469	24	939	49	183	9	#	#

Percent of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	1,197	274	23	211	18	558	47	65	5	‡	‡
21–50 percent	1,479	262	18	200	13	962	65	55	4	#	#
More than 50 percent	969	158	16	413	43	200	21	197	20	#	#

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	438	141	32	88	20	191	44	‡	‡	#	#
6–15 percent	1,722	252	15	230	13	1,088	63	64	4	‡	‡
More than 15 percent	1,485	302	20	506	34	441	30	236	16	#	#

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	820	107	13	305	37	247	30	160	20	#	#
36–60 percent	1,047	247	24	329	31	329	31	54	5	‡	‡
More than 60 percent	1,778	340	19	190	11	1,145	64	102	6	#	#

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	227	62	27	57	25	‡	‡	85	37	#	#
26–50 percent	731	158	22	191	26	217	30	76	10	‡	‡
51–75 percent	997	217	22	300	30	407	41	‡	‡	#	#
More than 75 percent	1,690	258	15	275	16	1,074	64	83	5	#	#

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	139	63	45	41	30	‡	‡	#	#	#	#
45–55 percent	3,273	632	19	731	22	1,622	50	200	6	‡	‡
More than 55 percent	223	#	#	52	22	64	27	‡	‡	#	#

Student/teacher ratio²,³
Less than 12	412	73	18	220	53	103	25	‡	‡	#	#
12–16	1,250	354	28	246	20	518	41	45	4	‡	‡
More than 16	1,872	250	13	322	17	1,045	56	255	14	#	#

Number of classroom changes²
0–3 changes	201	44	22	31	15	126	63	#	#	#	#
4–6 changes	2,623	444	17	670	26	1,214	46	296	11	#	#
More than 6 changes	679	132	19	87	13	351	52	‡	‡	‡	‡

Use of paid law enforcement⁴
Regular use	3,608	695	19	802	22	1,707	47	317	9	‡	‡
No regular use	‡	#	#	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#	#	#

Number of serious discipline problems⁵
No problems	1,262	162	13	188	15	783	62	41	3	‡	‡
1 problem	749	226	30	102	14	330	44	91	12	#	#
2 problems	903	138	15	346	38	282	31	137	15	#	#
3 or more problems	731	169	23	189	26	325	44	48	7	#	#

Transfers as percentage of enrollment²,⁶
0 to 6 percent	1,474	251	17	219	15	929	63	74	5	#	#
6 to 11 percent	541	179	33	131	24	174	32	57	11	#	#
11 to 21 percent	643	141	22	80	12	322	50	101	16	#	#
21 percent or more	746	95	13	336	45	230	31	85	11	#	#

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions²,⁷
No disruptions	2,527	444	18	489	19	1,403	56	191	8	#	#
Any disruptions	649	223	34	121	19	199	31	106	16	#	#

Percent of students absent without excuses
None	184	‡	‡	#	#	71	39	#	#	‡	‡
1–2 percent	1,228	233	19	100	8	750	61	146	12	#	#
3–5 percent	838	109	13	226	27	481	57	‡	‡	#	#
6–10 percent	789	175	22	274	35	267	34	‡	‡	#	#
More than 10 percent	606	153	25	225	37	150	25	77	13	#	#

Prevalence of violent incidents²,⁸
No violent incidents	107	‡	‡	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#	#	#
Any violent incidents	2,937	601	20	813	28	1,128	38	306	10	‡	‡
# 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. "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." 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.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2000.

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