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By MARK GUYDISH markg@leader.net
 Sunday, February 23, 2003 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 3A 





Statistics track smoking, disorderly conduct occurrences, among
othersWILKES-BARRE - The safest school - statistically - in Wilkes-Barre Area
isn't in the School District anymore: Bear Creek Elementary. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The smokiest school was GAR Memorial High School, while the most disorderly
in conduct was Meyers High School - also the favorite place for kids to pick a
fight or bring a weapon. The only bomb threat came at Solomon-Plains Memorial
School. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; At the request of the Times Leader, district security head Brian Lavan
provided a school-by-school breakdown of incidents reported to the state
Department of Education. It's a list that gives much greater detail than the
data the state annually release for public review. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``We give the state everything they ask for,'' Lavan said as he showed off
an extensive computer database system. ``I don't know what they do with it.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lavan's numbers show that Bear Creek Elementary was the only school with no
incident reports in the 2000-2001 or 2001-2002 school years. It's important to
note that the district starts tracking data with fifth grade - the highest
grade at the now-closed school. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 District numbers also show that the most frequent offense is tobacco
possession, especially at the high schools. GAR had 53 tobacco violations in
2000-'01 - out of 116 total incidents. In the following year, 43 of the 102
incidents were tobacco cases. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Tobacco violations - with alcohol and drugs - don't make the state's public
report. Neither does the sale of drugs, and in the two-year period there were
two cases each at Meyers, GAR and Solomon-Plains. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``We only release information of violent offenses,'' a state Department of
Education spokeswoman explained. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That means disorderly conduct makes the list. Meyers had 30 cases in
2001-2002 and 35 the next year, roughly double the numbers for GAR: 16 and 14. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Meyers had 15 fights the first year but only two the next year, while
Coughlin's numbers were almost opposite, three and 13. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Weapons possessions are relatively rare. Only Meyers had more than one case
a year, with three in 2000-'01 and seven the following year. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lavan believes an education campaign has helped students understand what a
weapon is. He takes a board into classrooms with confiscated weapons -
including BB and cap pistols, pocket knives and a folding tool. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The state also releases data on student arrests, but they don't mesh with
Lavan's numbers. He pointed out that in nearly every case, the students appear
before a magistrate and pay fines, or go to juvenile court. Yet the state's
numbers show no arrests in 2001-2002, and only four the year before. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The only explanation Lavan could come up with is that the state reporting
form has one code - ``AR'' - for arrested, yet he rarely uses it. Instead he
enters the codes for the final outcome, like ``CI'' for a citation or ``AD''
for a student who faced a juvenile court judge. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He can only enter one code, so even though those students were arrested,
the state doesn't technically see that on the forms. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The district's database breaks crimes into numerous categories, including
three that happened only once, all in 2000-2001: one case of arson at GAR, one
case of a student pulling a fire alarm at the same school, and one case of
``theft by extortion'' at Solomon-Plains. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lavan proudly notes school crime seems to be plummeting this year, and the
numbers back him up. For example, while GAR had 43 tobacco cases last year, by
the end of January there were only 14. If the trend continues, there will be
fewer than 28 this year. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 There have been no cases of weapons possessions this year at any school. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And although the numbers are dropping across the board - Lavan said the
district could end up with about 216 incidents this year, compared to 325 last
year - the picture isn't perfect. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Disorderly conduct at Meyers seems to be heading for a record year: there
were 20 cases by the end of January, and that doesn't count eight that were
classified as ``fighting-disorderly conduct.'' At that rate the school could
end up with 40 or more cases. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

W-b Area Schools Incident Tally Gives Look At District