Table 19. Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for possession of a weapon other than a firearm in public secondary 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 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	21,257	2,824	13	4,237	20	10,497	49	2,700	13	999	5

Enrollment size
Less than 300	886	‡	‡	‡	‡	524	59	‡	‡	#	#
300–499	1,795	‡	‡	65	4	627	35	232	13	780	43
500–999	3,462	552	16	594	17	1,693	49	477	14	145	4
1,000 or more	15,114	2,137	14	3,526	23	7,652	51	1,723	11	75	#

Urbanicity
City	8,198	1,264	15	1,958	24	4,137	50	817	10	‡	‡
Urban fringe	7,820	1,011	13	1,498	19	3,599	46	954	12	758	10
Town	2,122	315	15	275	13	1,157	55	362	17	‡	‡
Rural	3,117	234	7	506	16	1,605	51	567	18	205	7

Crime level where students live²
High	1,743	287	16	612	35	579	33	265	15	#	#
Moderate	5,043	550	11	1,169	23	2,936	58	374	7	‡	‡
Low	10,681	1,400	13	1,580	15	5,258	49	1,458	14	985	9
Mixed	3,659	587	16	811	22	1,687	46	574	16	#	#

Percent minority enrollment²
0–5 percent	2,328	136	6	289	12	1,282	55	364	16	256	11
6–20 percent	4,824	419	9	671	14	2,325	48	721	15	688	14
21–50 percent	5,077	869	17	1,094	22	2,592	51	468	9	55	1
More than 50 percent	8,665	1,383	16	2,145	25	4,175	48	962	11	#	#

Percent of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	7,106	956	13	1,327	19	3,565	50	935	13	324	5
21–50 percent	8,253	677	8	1,656	20	4,156	50	1,099	13	‡	‡
More than 50 percent	5,898	1,191	20	1,254	21	2,777	47	666	11	‡	‡

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	3,637	240	7	832	23	1,819	50	712	20	35	1
6–15 percent	9,327	1,514	16	1,223	13	4,524	49	1,102	12	964	10
More than 15 percent	8,292	1,070	13	2,182	26	4,155	50	886	11	#	#

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	4,685	482	10	1,073	23	1,775	38	702	15	‡	‡
36–60 percent	7,191	1,193	17	1,435	20	3,596	50	813	11	155	2
More than 60 percent	9,380	1,149	12	1,729	18	5,126	55	1,184	13	192	2

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	2,030	120	6	424	21	677	33	157	8	‡	‡
26–50 percent	4,565	657	14	869	19	2,277	50	621	14	141	3
51–75 percent	6,803	778	11	1,423	21	3,526	52	942	14	134	2
More than 75 percent	7,859	1,269	16	1,521	19	4,017	51	980	12	72	1

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	1,407	182	13	325	23	653	46	230	16	‡	‡
45–55 percent	18,170	2,457	14	3,617	20	8,908	49	2,218	12	970	5
More than 55 percent	1,680	184	11	294	18	936	56	252	15	‡	‡

Student/teacher ratio²,³
Less than 12	3,982	181	5	618	16	1,738	44	754	19	690	17
12–16	7,564	1,163	15	1,366	18	3,932	52	874	12	228	3
More than 16	8,437	1,420	17	1,991	24	4,145	49	841	10	‡	‡

Number of classroom changes²
0–3 changes	1,201	207	17	165	14	731	61	98	8	#	#
4–6 changes	12,261	1,516	12	2,322	19	5,941	48	1,671	14	810	7
More than 6 changes	7,135	917	13	1,593	22	3,555	50	881	12	189	3

Use of paid law enforcement⁴
Regular use	20,868	2,824	14	4,222	20	10,336	50	2,528	12	959	5
No regular use	388	#	#	‡	‡	162	42	‡	‡	‡	‡

Number of serious discipline problems⁵
No problems	4,195	511	12	529	13	1,516	36	874	21	765	18
1 problem	5,194	844	16	1,149	22	2,665	51	451	9	85	2
2 problems	4,358	497	11	924	21	2,355	54	550	13	32	1
3 or more problems	7,510	972	13	1,635	22	3,962	53	825	11	‡	‡

Transfers as percentage of enrollment²,⁶
0 to 6 percent	4,333	665	15	832	19	2,182	50	579	13	75	2
6 to 11 percent	3,179	359	11	378	12	2,017	63	410	13	‡	‡
11 to 21 percent	6,193	727	12	1,447	23	2,549	41	704	11	767	12
21 percent or more	6,407	1,038	16	1,390	22	3,158	49	799	12	‡	‡

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions²,⁷
No disruptions	11,679	1,728	15	2,639	23	5,201	45	1,869	16	241	2
Any disruptions	7,962	1,050	13	1,182	15	4,381	55	690	9	‡	‡

Percent of students absent without excuses
None	707	82	12	‡	‡	375	53	77	11	113	16
1–2 percent	4,764	562	12	923	19	2,259	47	869	18	151	3
3–5 percent	5,632	524	9	801	14	2,793	50	863	15	‡	‡
6–10 percent	6,637	996	15	1,324	20	3,676	55	587	9	54	1
More than 10 percent	3,516	660	19	1,129	32	1,394	40	304	9	‡	‡

Prevalence of violent incidents²,⁸
No violent incidents	425	‡	‡	‡	‡	237	56	‡	‡	#	#
Any violent incidents	20,520	2,681	13	4,069	20	10,134	49	2,636	13	999	5
# 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." 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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