Table 18. Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for use of a weapon other than a firearm in public secondary schools, by selected school characteristics: 1999

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Table 18. Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for use 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	3,616	784	22	949	26	1,448	40	298	8	138	4

Enrollment size
Less than 300	153	100	66	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#	#	#
300–499	284	‡	‡	#	#	101	36	‡	‡	‡	‡
500–999	692	187	27	100	14	318	46	‡	‡	‡	‡
1,000 or more	2,487	460	18	823	33	1,001	40	190	8	‡	‡

Urbanicity
City	1,826	318	17	583	32	735	40	178	10	‡	‡
Urban fringe	954	281	29	250	26	423	44	#	#	#	#
Town	258	‡	‡	#	#	92	36	‡	‡	‡	‡
Rural	577	103	18	116	20	198	34	‡	‡	‡	‡

Crime level where students live²
High	411	84	20	281	68	‡	‡	#	#	#	#
Moderate	1,322	133	10	297	22	647	49	209	16	‡	‡
Low	1,340	339	25	268	20	574	43	‡	‡	‡	‡
Mixed	543	228	42	104	19	180	33	‡	‡	‡	‡

Percent minority enrollment²
0–5 percent	379	73	19	#	#	146	39	‡	‡	‡	‡
6–20 percent	443	121	27	47	11	258	58	‡	‡	#	#
21–50 percent	1,220	258	21	386	32	451	37	88	7	‡	‡
More than 50 percent	1,575	333	21	516	33	592	38	‡	‡	‡	‡

Percent of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	1,130	331	29	185	16	438	39	89	8	‡	‡
21–50 percent	1,146	253	22	186	16	583	51	88	8	‡	‡
More than 50 percent	1,339	201	15	578	43	426	32	‡	‡	‡	‡

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	548	58	10	99	18	319	58	‡	‡	‡	‡
6–15 percent	1,303	358	27	186	14	568	44	89	7	‡	‡
More than 15 percent	1,765	368	21	664	38	561	32	173	10	#	#

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	1,091	280	26	482	44	289	27	‡	‡	#	#
36–60 percent	1,374	172	13	261	19	545	40	258	19	138	10
More than 60 percent	1,150	332	29	206	18	613	53	#	#	#	#

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	392	81	21	271	69	#	#	‡	‡	#	#
26–50 percent	629	132	21	163	26	246	39	#	#	‡	‡
51–75 percent	981	276	28	202	21	472	48	‡	‡	‡	‡
More than 75 percent	1,615	295	18	312	19	730	45	241	15	‡	‡

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	288	106	37	‡	‡	158	55	#	#	#	#
45–55 percent	3,206	669	21	876	27	1,226	38	298	9	138	4
More than 55 percent	122	‡	‡	‡	‡	64	52	#	#	#	#

Student/teacher ratio²,³
Less than 12	812	186	23	157	19	189	23	244	30	‡	‡
12–16	923	185	20	99	11	523	57	‡	‡	‡	‡
More than 16	1,722	374	22	641	37	707	41	#	#	#	#

Number of classroom changes²
0–3 changes	‡	‡	‡	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#	#	#
4–6 changes	1,832	400	22	491	27	871	48	‡	‡	‡	‡
More than 6 changes	1,523	239	16	448	29	544	36	204	13	‡	‡

Use of paid law enforcement⁴
Regular use	3,562	744	21	949	27	1,433	40	298	8	138	4
No regular use	‡	‡	‡	#	#	‡	‡	#	#	#	#

Number of serious discipline problems⁵
No problems	476	123	26	‡	‡	159	33	‡	‡	‡	‡
1 problem	850	241	28	154	18	351	41	67	8	‡	‡
2 problems	366	124	34	110	30	131	36	#	#	#	#
3 or more problems	1,924	296	15	637	33	805	42	173	9	‡	‡

Transfers as percentage of enrollment²,⁶
0 to 6 percent	836	176	21	312	37	348	42	#	#	#	#
6 to 11 percent	760	197	26	95	12	396	52	174	9	#	#
11 to 21 percent	1,031	182	18	264	26	374	36	#	#	‡	‡
21 percent or more	813	217	27	268	33	302	37	‡	‡	‡	‡

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions²,⁷
No disruptions	2,053	446	22	502	24	871	42	222	11	‡	‡
Any disruptions	1,006	314	31	200	20	420	42	‡	‡	‡	‡

Percent of students absent without excuses
None	186	‡	‡	‡	‡	‡	‡	#	#	‡	‡
1–2 percent	451	120	27	72	16	148	33	111	25	#	#
3–5 percent	798	175	22	205	26	303	38	66	8	‡	‡
6–10 percent	1,101	213	19	201	18	687	62	#	#	#	#
More than 10 percent	1,080	264	24	400	37	295	27	‡	‡	#	#

Prevalence of violent incidents²,⁸
No violent incidents	‡	#	#	#	#	‡	‡	#	#	#	#
Any violent incidents	3,580	772	22	949	27	1,424	40	298	8	138	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." 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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