District 81 Works To Halt Gun Incidents Statistics For Current Year Show Number Of Weapons Cases Tapering Off, But True Picture May Be Year Away

While the number of weapons incidents in Washington public schools fell last year, the Spokane School District’s weapons cases kept climbing.

Better news for Spokane may be a year away. Statistics for the current school year show the problem tapering off.

State Schools Superintendent Judith Billings announced this week that a 41 percent drop in reported weapons in 1994-95 compared to 1993-94 proves how well a statewide crackdown is working.

Billings credited the decline to automatic expulsions for students who carry guns and clearer messages that weapons won’t be tolerated.

Spokane’s numbers aren’t as encouraging.

Two years ago, the Spokane School District reported 45 weapons incidents, including six involving guns.

Last year, the district counted 50 weapons incidents, including 10 involving firearms.

So far this school year, the district has counted 38 weapons incidents. Of those, two involved guns.

By this date last year, there were 42 weapons cases, nine of which involved guns.

“We’re catching a lot more kids who are doing this and eventually it’s going to have a productive effect,” said Student Services Supervisor Mary Brown. “Kids are going to get tired of being kicked out of school.”

For the past three years, school districts have been required to report weapons incidents to the state. The Spokane district developed a form for principals to fill out every time a knife, baseball bat or gun is confiscated.

“We really tightened it up because we wanted to know,” Brown said.

This school year, the district added security officers at high schools, and every middle school got its own Spokane police officer. In addition, more schools began teaching conflict-resolution skills and training students to mediate disputes among their peers.

“Time will prove whether we’re making a difference,” Brown said.

Next year, the district will ask for more information on incident reports in an effort to pinpoint trouble times and places.

“If we see this is all happening before school under the freeway (for example), we need more people there,” Brown said. “The whole community has to be vigilant. The guns come from the gun closet at home.”

In Spokane County as a whole, weapons incidents declined from 1993-94 to 1994-95:

Mead schools reported 11 weapons incidents last school year. None involved a gun.

Central Valley schools counted 17 incidents, including one firearm.

Cheney schools reported three incidents, all involving guns.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Weapons in the schools