Texas close behind N.J. for dangerous schools [View All]

Aug. 5, 2003, 10:31AM
Texas close behind N.J. for dangerous schools
Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2028317


FORT WORTH - Six of Texas' 7,734 public schools have been identified as "persistently dangerous," and students there may be transferred to safer schools if they wish, state education officials said.

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Of the states that have released names of their dangerous schools, only New Jersey, with seven, has reported more than Texas.

The low number of schools, both statewide and nationally, reported as being dangerous has some school security experts concerned that the new federal law is causing education officials to hide problems rather than fix them.

"Principals are going to be thinking twice about reporting crime knowing that this label of `persistently dangerous' is hanging over their heads. That's the kiss of death to their career," said Kenneth Trump, executive director of the Ohio-based National School Safety and Security Services.

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TEA created this year's list to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind law, which was passed in 2002. It requires each state to define and to provide a list of persistently dangerous schools by the start of the 2003-04 school year.

Each state also was to develop a policy giving students who attend such schools -- or who have been victims of crime on campus -- the right to transfer to another school within the same district. TEA has asked the U.S. Department of Education if siblings of crime victims also can transfer to a safer school.

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