Memorandum from Mary Kay Murphy
Mary Kay Murphy, Ph.D. District 3  School Board Member

April 28, 2003

Response to Disciplinary Incidents Reports

   The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported that Gwinnett County Public Schools under reported disciplinary incidents. Based on questions by reporters from the AJC and WSB-TV, I have been investigating this issue for the past few weeks. 
   As a result of the information available to me as District III School Board member, I remain confident in the integrity of the school officials who prepared these reports, but I am proceeding to obtain a full explanation of the differences between numbers reporters by the GCPS and the numbers the AJC states should have been reported.
   The State enacted Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 20-2-740 in 1999. It requires schools to report actions in which a student was assigned to In School Suspension; actions in which a student was suspended; actions in which a student was expelled; actions in which a student was placed in an alternative educational setting; actions in which a student was suspended from riding the bus; actions in which corporal punishment was administered; and actions in which a student was removed from class by his teacher for being disruptive.
   The School System has been making reports to the State, but the AJC states that the GCPS reports have not been accurate. At page J6 of the April 28, 2003, edition of its newspaper, the AJC reports that Gwinnett reported 4,258 incidents involving 18 categories of serious misconduct, and the AJC reports there should have been 6,362 incidents reported among those 18 categories. 
   For the Gwinnett County Public School enrollment of over 120,000 students, which is a population about one fourth the population of the City of Atlanta, the number of incidents is not extraordinary. The AJC states Gwinnett's actual rate of "serious" disciplinary incidents per 100 students was 24.9, but that compares well with the AJC's report on other County school systems. 
   In comparison with Gwinnett's 24.9 incidents per 100 students, the AJC reported Clayton County had 75.4 incidents per 100 students; Cobb County had 43.0 per incidents per 100 students; DeKalb County had 55.8 incidents per 100 students; Forsyth County had 29.2 incidents per 100 students; Fulton County had 39.8 incidents per 100 students; Rockdale County had 70.0 incidents per 100 students; and the State of Georgia had 54.3 incidents per 100 students. 
   On the other hand, the AJC stated that the City of Atlanta reports it had 23.4 incidents per 100 students, and Cherokee County reports it had 7.5 incidents per 100 students, Hall County reports it had 9.5 incidents per 100 students, Henry County reports it had 10.4 incidents per students, and Paulding County reports it had 6.5 incidents per 100 students.
   When it made its computation upon which Gwinnett's rate of 24.9 incidents per 100 students is based, the AJC reported there were 22,460 incidents in addition to the incidents it identified in 18 categories of serious incidents and it listed the 22,460 incidents under "Other," while GCPS reported zero for "Other." 
   It is not clear to me what the AJC alleges the ""Other" incidents were. The Gwinnett County School Police reported there were 1,024 items they investigated, and District Attorney Danny Porter is cited by the AJC as reporting only 29 files were given to him for potential prosecution as felonies.
   These numbers for Gwinnett County and data reported by the AJC for other systems do not indicate there is a serious crime wave in our schools, but the AJC has uncovered an embarrassing lack of precision and consistency on the part of the Gwinnett County Public Schools, and other school systems in reporting discipline incidents since the 1999 Statute went into effort. 
   As the District III School Board member, I am committed to giving you, the citizens of our community, a full explanation of Gwinnett County's response to this matter over the next several weeks. 
   If you have questions or need additional information, please call me.