Inez Tenenbaum is joined by educators, legislators and community leaders as she calls for the need to have effective alternative schools across the state. But we need to increase these efforts statewide. Tenenbaum made the comments while discussing the latest School Crime Incident Report , which the Department of Education released today. It is a community problem and a neighborhood problem and a family problem. It is everyone's responsibility.
Alternative schools are one effective solution.
The best ones are able to incorporate a variety of services from state agencies and non-profit organizations that serve children, as well as law enforcement officials and community leaders. Seventy percent of the incidents cited in the report did not involve weapons. This is the third straight year that categories in the top 10 list of offenses have stayed the same. The largest increase was in the category of liquor violations, which rose 78 percent from 149 to 265. Other categories with large increases include threatening school officials, up 53 percent from 353 to 539, and pager possession, up 38 percent, from 797 to 1,103.