NJ Says Camden Schools Underreported Violence

Flick User Aislinn Ritchie

New Jersey’s Education Department says Camden school officials have been underreporting violence in the schools.

For the 2009-10 school year, the district reported 22 incidents of violence and vandalism. That figure contrasts with 249 police responses to violence involving students.

State investigators interviewed a nurse at Woodrow Wilson High School who said there were 77 fights. None were reported. The state found the staff at Camden and Woodrow Wilson High Schools often classified cases correctly in their reports to the district’s central office. However, officials there did not enter the data into the statewide system.

The state’s education chief for Camden County signed this week’s report and gave the district until March 1 to submit a remediation plan.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)