Statistics Don't Lie...

from the US Dept of Education Statistical Website:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/crime_safe04/

From July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000, there were 32 school-associated violent deaths in the United States. 24 of these violent deaths were homicides and 8 were suicides. 16 of the 24 school-associated homicides involved school-aged children.

6 of the 8 school-associated suicides from July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000, involved school-aged children. Away from school, there were a total of 1,922 suicides of children ages 5-19 during the 2000 calendar year.

From 1993 to 2003, 7-9% of students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club on school property in the preceding 12 months.

In 1999-2000, 20% of all public schools experienced one or more serious violent crimes such as rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. 71% of public schools reported violent incidents and 46% reported thefts.

2% of public schools took a serious disciplinary action for the use of a firearm or explosive device, and 4% did so for the possession of a firearm or explosive device.

Annually, from 1998 to 2002, teachers were the victims of approximately 234,000 total nonfatal crimes at school, including 144,000 thefts and 90,000 violent crimes (rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault).

Teachers were differentially victimized by violent crimes at school according to where they taught. From 1998 to 2002, urban teachers were more likely than rural and suburban teachers to be victims of violent crimes.

In the 1999-2000 school year, 9% of all elementary and secondary school teachers were threatened with injury by a student, and 4% were physically attacked by a student.

In 2003, 21% of students ages 12-18 reported that street gangs were present at their schools. Students in urban schools were the most likely to report the presence of street gangs at their school (31%), followed by suburban students and rural students, who were the least likely to do so (18 and 12%, respectively).

In 1999-2000, public school principals were asked to report how often certain disciplinary problems occurred at their schools. 29% reported that student bullying occurred on a daily or weekly basis and 19% reported that student acts of disrespect for teachers occurred at the same frequency.

Additionally, 13% reported student verbal abuse of teachers, 3% reported occurrences of student racial tensions, and 3% reported widespread disorder in the classrooms on a daily or weekly basis.

In 2003, 5% of students in grades 9-12 had at least one drink of alcohol on school property in the 30 days prior to the survey, and 45% of students had at least one drink anywhere.

In 2003, 22% of students in grades 9-12 reported using marijuana anywhere during the previous 30 days, and 6% reported using marijuana on school property.

In 2003, 29% of students in grades 9-12 reported that someone had offered, sold, or given them an illegal drug on school property in the 12 months prior to the survey.


After posting all of this, I am too shocked to even comment on it.
Hollywood may have a profit-minded interest in showing us the darkest side of our public school system, but what they are showing isn't too far off-base.