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Wednesday, May 11, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
School safety in doubt: Survey
RCMP. Investigation RCMP Staff Sgt. Al Harding looks over some of the 700,000 contraband cigarettes police say they seized during a seven-month investigation of illegal smokes being transported from Quebec and distributed in HRM. Story, page 4
Poll finds 52% completely agree school violence is a major concern, with another 34% mostly agreeing Statistics show out-of-school suspensions from violence within schools is declining ALY THOMSON
Waning suspensions
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There is little doubt — residents believe violence in schools is a big problem. An overwhelming 86 per cent of people polled for the CityThink survey either mostly or completely agree violence in HRM schools is a major concern. But Halifax Regional School Board spokesman Doug Hadley said high-profile incidents, such as the April stabbing at Halifax West High School and the shooting outside Citadel High School in March, could have influenced that number. “I’m not surprised by those numbers. The results are probably reflective of some of that,” he said, noting the polling (from April 13 to 23) was done at the same time of the Halifax West stabbing.
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In 2009-2010, there were 1,384 suspensions, down from 1,474 in 2008-2009 and 2,426 in 2005-2006. A figure for 2010-2011 will be compiled after this school year.
Despite the recent violence, last year’s CityThink results were nearly as staggering at 80 per cent. Halifax Regional Police Chief Frank Beazley said he doesn’t know why Haligonians believe our schools are not safe. “From where I sit, doing what I do, I believe our schools are very
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Halifax Regional School Board figures show physical violence within schools resulting in an out-of-school suspension has declined steadily the past five academic years.
safe,” he said. “It has to be a perception thing. People may have a perception based on isolated incidents that they’re not safe and that’s unfortunate. “I can’t explain that high number, or why people feel that way.” Hadley shared results from an HRSB survey conducted last year that said 88 per cent of parents with children in grades 10 to 12 thought their child’s school was a safe place either most or every day. “Generally speaking, our schools are safe for the large majority of our students, but every time there is an incident at or near a school it reminds us that there is still work to be done,” he said. The CityThink survey conducted by Marketquest-Omnifacts Research for Metro Halifax and the Greater Halifax Partnership carries a margin of error of four per cent.
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