Crimes rise in Newport-Mesa schools

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- An increase in the number of crimes reported on school

campuses statewide last year mirrored a big jump in Newport-Mesa,

according to a report released by the state Wednesday.

Despite the dramatic increase, Newport-Mesa Unified School District

officials said the key to understanding the numbers is the word

“reported.”

The California Safe Schools Assessment, which is based on data

collected from the state’s public schools, shows that crime rates rose in

three of four categories, both statewide and districtwide. There were

more crimes against people, drug and alcohol offenses, and property

damage incidents in the 1999-00 school year than in the previous year.

“We’re not surprised, candidly, that we are up in those areas,” Supt.

Robert Barbot said. “We knew when we increased enforcement, at least

initially, we’d find more problems.”

The number of weapons found in schools dropped by 12% statewide and by

2% in the district.

That is the only area, however, where the numbers did not go up.

In the district, the number of reported drug and alcohol offenses

nearly doubled, from 24 during the 1998-99 school year to 46 during the

1999-00 school year.

The number of battery cases leaped from seven to 33. Property crimes,

the most commonly reported offense, rose from 76 to 91.

District officials said the jump is, for the most part, not in the

number of crimes, but in the number of crimes accurately reported.

“What happened is there was something really murky with the

reporting,” said Jaime Castellanos, the district’s assistant

superintendent of secondary education.

Castellanos said it was the seven battery cases during the 1998-99

school year that tipped him off that something was wrong when he came to

work in the district that year.

There was a lot of confusion among principals, he said, about how to

categorize fistfights and other incidents.

“As a result, we ended up increasing the awareness of our principals

of the importance of accurate reporting,” Castellanos said.

There was also an increase in enforcement and the addition of two

school police officers that year, Barbot said, which means more students

were caught.

Although Castellanos said he thinks the previous reports were

inaccurate and that these numbers are more indicative of what’s going on

at schools, another meeting will be held with principals next month to go

over the report.

“My summation here -- this is a true picture of what has happened in

the past several years,” he said. “There will probably be some

fluctuation next year, but I expect them to be in the same ballpark. I

definitely look at these [as] indicators of what’s going on on campus.”

REFER

Responding to parent concerns, the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District board has added a prohibition on violence to its zero-tolerance

policy. See Page A3

BOX

Crime Statistics in Newport--Mesa Unified School District

1999-00

Enrollment: 21,364

Drug alcohol offenses: 46

Battery: 33

Assault with a deadly weapon: 3

Homicide: 0

Robbery and extortion: 1

Sex offenses: 3

Possession of a weapon: 11

Property crimes: 91

Total money loss to district: $35,263

1998-99

Enrollment: 20,716

Drug alcohol offenses: 24

Battery: 7

Assault with a deadly weapon: 2

Homicide: 0

Robbery and extortion: 0

Sex offenses: 1

Possession of a weapon: 13

Property crimes: 76

Total money loss to district: $38,955