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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Drug-related cases in secondary schools increased to 6.5 per 1,000 students in 2023-24, with upstate schools reporting the highest rates.<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Serious violent and disruptive cases, such as assault, sexual offenses and weapons possession, dropped sharply after reporting definitions changed in 2021-22.<\/p>\n
Assaults fell from 4.9 per 1,000 students in 2017-18 to 0.5 in 2023-24.<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2023-24, 41% of public elementary schools and 5.9% of public secondary schools reported no violent or disruptive cases.<\/p>\n