ALBANY, N.Y. (WKTV) — Bullying and drug-related problems in New York schools have surpassed pre-pandemic levels, while serious violent and disruptive cases remain low.
A report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli reviewed seven years of New York State Education Department data and found that in the 2023-24 school year, bullying made up 61.8% of all reported cases, with 29,718 cases statewide and a rate of 12.4 per 1,000 students.
“When looking at bullying and cyberbullying in SY 2023-24, 34.9% of all public schools (including charter schools) reported zero bullying or cyberbullying incidents. Nearly one in five public secondary schools (17.8%) and nearly half of all public elementary schools (47.7%) reported zero bullying or cyberbullying incidents (including charter schools),” according to DiNapoli’s office.Â
Drug-related cases in secondary schools increased to 6.5 per 1,000 students in 2023-24, with upstate schools reporting the highest rates.
“In SY 2023-24, incidents were more than twice as high upstate (9.8 per 1,000 students) as they were in New York City (4.2 per 1,000 students),” according to the report.Â
Serious violent and disruptive cases, such as assault, sexual offenses and weapons possession, dropped sharply after reporting definitions changed in 2021-22.
Assaults fell from 4.9 per 1,000 students in 2017-18 to 0.5 in 2023-24.
“Similarly, sexual offense cases fell from 1.6 incidents to 0.1 per 1,000 students, and weapons possession cases dropped from 3.1 to 0.9 incidents per 1,000 students,” according to DiNapoli.Â
In 2023-24, 41% of public elementary schools and 5.9% of public secondary schools reported no violent or disruptive cases.