No schools listed as dangerous in Nevada

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 11:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Education Department said today that, after careful evaluation, officials have found no schools in Nevada are "persistently dangerous."

The department said an initial evaluation suggested that eight schools in Washoe County and at least one in Clark County might get this designation.

But Michael Fitzgerald, a consultant to the Education Department, said a closer review showed they did not meet the definition.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires a yearly evaluation of whether schools are dangerous. If a school is designated, then parents can transfer their children to another school.

Nevada joins 44 other states that did not identify any school as persistently dangerous.

Fitzgerald said the department looked at violent crimes involving students at schools or on school buses that resulted in a citation being issued by police. These included such things as murder, mayhem, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, sexual assault, robbery, assault, battery and harassment.

He said Clark County initially sent in all offenses that occurred at schools, including those that were not violent. "Public exposure is not good, but it is not a violent crime," he said.

He said the violent crime category did not include such things as bullying or harassment, adding that schools need to work in those areas to make sure schools are safe.

To be designated, a school with up to 750 students must accumulate violent offenses that exceed 2 percent of the population. For schools with 750 to 1,500 students, the offenses must be more than 1.75 percent of the student body and for those of more than 1,500 students, it is 1.5 percent of the population.

This is the first year the evaluation has been conducted. The evaluation was conducted of statistics for the past three years.

Keith Rheault, deputy state superintendent of public instruction, said the state counts only cases where citations are issued and does not follow up whether there have been convictions.