City schools report drop in misbehavior

By By Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Student misbehavior in Hartselle’s five public schools took a turn for the better in 2008-09, based on figures contained in a state-mandated school accountability report that tracks school safety and discipline. on an annual basis.
The latest report shows that all of the schools combined had 459 incidents last school year, or 98 fewer than the 557 that were reported in the prior year.
Hartselle Junior High School led the way with 237 incidents, down three from the prior year. Hartselle High School showed the most improvement with171incidents, a reduction of 88 from the prior year’s 259. Crestline Elementary School came in third with 37, an increase of three over the prior year. F.E. Burleson Elementary reported 13 incidents, a decrease of 11 and Barkley Bridge Elementary reported only one incident. It reported none in the prior year.
As a whole the school district reported 459 incidents, or 98 fewer than the number it reported in 2007-08.
Disobedience was listed as the cause behind 140 of the incidents reported with 111 of those occurring at HJHS and 25 at HHS. Harassment accounted for 68; disorderly conduct, 53; defiance of authority, 46; illegal use of pagers, 32; unauthorized truancy, 28; profanity or vulgarity, 27; fighting, 14; larceny/theft, nine; assault, eight; knife possession, seven; use and Illegal possession of drugs, four; and alcohol possession, one.
Two of the incidents resulted in expulsion and 81 in out-of-school suspension.
The state’s Education Accountability Law requires that copies of the annual report be distributed to the public.