Thousands of serious crimes reported in schools

Jonathan Marino of The Washington Examiner looked into crime in public schools in Montgomery County, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. He found "internal reports, dozens of court records, and interviews with educators, parents and law enforcement officials tell troubling stories of abuse & mdash; and reveal hundreds of cases where some principals failed to follow up on serious incidents." The internal reports were obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request. They revealed that "From August 2002 to May 2005, the school system documented nearly 3,000 serious incidents, including allegations of death threats, gang violence, bullying and rape." (Editor's Note: For more about crime and violence in schools, see the November/December issues of The IRE Journal and Uplink.)