COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 31

July 2, 2004

ADMINISTRATIVE

TO:	Division Superintendents
FROM:	Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT:	2004-2005 Discipline, Crime, and Violence Report

The purpose of this memo is to provide information for submitting data on discipline, crime, and violence in public schools for the 2004-2005 year. Data should be submitted for the 365-day period starting with the first day of the 2004-2005 school year. Data submitted will meet the reporting requirements for the following:

• No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)
• Standards of Accreditation safety indicator for the School Report Card
• State Crime and Violence Report as required in Section 22.1-280.1 of the Code of Virginia
• Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) report on suspension and expulsion of students with disabilities
• Federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act
• Federal Gun-Free Schools Act.

The data collection process is being expanded to include a new method. This new method involves a Web-collection process that will allow divisions to enter incident data directly into the new system. Data will be collected throughout the year, but does not become finalized until it is edited and a verification report is generated and signed. The previous method of Web submission will still exist. If a division desires to collect data in its data collection system and submit a tab delimited file, that process will continue to be available. The instruction booklet and training schedule for the new Web collection process will be available by the middle of August, 2004. The opening date for the Web collection process will be August 16, 2004, and the closing date will be September 16, 2005.

In addition to these changes, all local and regional centers will be required to report all incidents to the students enrolled school. All incidents occurring on school grounds, 365 days a year/24 hours a day,7 days a week, must be reported.

Verification reports will itemize incidents that occur in local and regional centers as well as schools. The regional centers will be held to the same NCLB accountability standards as enrolled schools. The fall membership of students served in the centers will be used in determining the point threshold for identification of Persistently Dangerous Schools.

The Discipline, Crime, and Violence Report for 2004-2005 will also include an additional weapons code. This will be WP0 specifically for BB guns/rifles. It is also necessary to collect 504 data that will satisfy the Performance-Based Data Management Initiative. The 504 data will be placed under the disability data field, but it will not be considered part of the special education count.

Additional information related to the data collection process can be downloaded from the Department of Educations website at www.pen.k12.va.us. Users can select Reports at the top of the home page, or Reports at the bottom, and then select Discipline, Crime, and Violence Data Collection from the Collections list. The complete address to access instructions for submission is as follows:

http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Publications/Discipline/datacoll/2003-2004/coll.html

Questions regarding the submission of this report may be directed to e-mail address discipln@pen.k12.va.us or to Joyce Martin at (804) 225-2966.

JLD/AJC/jjm

cc: Discipline Contacts (via e-mail)