Presentation to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Advisory Committee October 23, 2006 Archived Information

1
Presentation to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools
and Communities Advisory CommitteeOctober 23,
2006Archived Information

• Jerry Barber, CPA, CISA, CGFM
• Assistant Comptroller
• Office of the State Comptroller
• New York State
• jbarber_at_osc.state.ny.us

2
New York State Education Department

• Reporting of Violent and Disruptive Incidents by
  Public Schools
• Report 2005-S-38
• www.osc.state.ny.us

3
Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act
(SAVE)

• Becomes Law in July 2000
• Establish Codes of Conduct for Students
• Requires Development of Comprehensive School
  Safety Plans
• Update Safety Plans Annually
• UNIFORM VIOLENT INCIDENT REPORTING SYSTEM TO BE
  ESTABLISHED

4
Background

• Over 700 Districts in NYS
• Reporting by District and by Each Individual
  School Within the District
• Reporting Started with the 2001-02 School Year
• NYS Education Department Summarizes Results and
  Reports Them to the Public

5
Objectives

• Do schools properly report incidents?
• Does the Education Department accurately compile
  school incidents data?
• Are schools properly identified as persistently
  dangerous?

6
Scope

• 9/1/02 2/6/06
• Schools outside of NYC
• SED databases
• 15 school districts
• 2 large cities,
• 6 small cities,
• 4 suburban cities,
• 3 rural cities.
• 17 high schools and 3 elementary schools
• 2003-2004 incident data
• Surveyed 35 other districts

7
NYs Uniform Violent Incident Reporting System

• 17 Different Types of Incidents
• All Incidents Must Be Reported
• Additional Requirement for Weapons
• Systems Name Violent and Disruptive Incident
  Reporting (VADIR)
• Report Due in NYS Education Department by October
  31 annually
• Hardcopy Reporting

8
Audit Results In Summary

• System Designed by NYS Education Department Was
  Comprehensive
• NYS Education Departments Oversight of System
  Was Weak at Best
• Allowed Schools To Manipulate Data
• Ignored Obvious Underreporting
• Compliance With Reporting Requirements Was Poor

9
Example of Findings
10
Example of Findings

• Avoidance of Persistently Dangerous Label
• 21 Schools Received Preliminary Designation
• 4 Schools Remained On List After Data Was Amended

11

• Is this a case of mistakes or deliberate under
  reporting?
• (Or Both?)

12
Causes of Problems

• Oversight by NYS Education Department Was Weak
  and Did Not Verify Data
• Training May Not Have Been Effective

13
Solutions

• Verification of Reported Numbers
• Analytical Review of Data to Identify Anomalies
• Training of District Officials

14
Agency Response

• 12 recommendations complete agreement
• Immediate State Education follow-up to verify
  data
• Classification of persistently dangerous schools