Crime is down slightly in North Carolina schools, but overall, offenses in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are up.
Schools are required to report categories of crimes annually ranging from homicides, assaults with weapons and sexual offenses to bomb threats, drug possession and attacks on staff. Statewide school crimes last year dropped by 3.2 percent totaling slightly more than 10 thousand. Locally, a total of nearly 14 hundred crimes were reported in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in 2015/2016, compared to just under 12 hundred the previous year. More than half of those offenses were in CMS high schools. Attacks on school staff jumped to 300 incidents; controlled substance possession offenses also went up to 624. Weapons possessions were up slightly to 319 instances.
The annual data report also focused on suspensions and dropout numbers. Statewide, dropouts saw a 2.3 percent improvement, with nearly 11 thousand students quitting school last year. Long-term suspensions were down by 4.5 percent and expulsions dropped markedly by 35 percent. In both of those categories, African-Americans by far made up the bulk of those numbers. CMS’ long term suspensions were cut in half but expulsions went from two to 13.