WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey May 22, 2006: New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi today accused 17 Schools, described as an auditor-selected "representative sampling" of schools across the state of deliberately repressing violent incidents in their reports to the State Education Department.

Specifically, Hevesi's news release states White Plains High School reporting on 2003-2004 incidents, repressed 289 incidents the comptroller's office reports should have been included in the White Plains report to the New York State Education Department, "ncluding 35 assaults with physical injury, 23 incidents of intimidation, harassament, menacing or bullying, one sexual offense and 181 distruptive incidents."

The release ranks White Plains 3rd highest in repression rates of the 17 schools, allegedly repressing 92.9% of incidents. White Plains reported 22 violent incidents, had 311 documented in school records, and did not report 289 according to what Hevesi's study says should have been reported according to State Education Department Guidelines. Hevesi's news release makes a point that the SED needed to make clearer the types and character of incidents that the schools need to report.

The Comptroller's Press Officer, Dan Weiller, told WPCNR that the Comptroller auditor examining White Plains High School records did not work with the police in analyzing the incident reports the school provided. (White Plains has a Police Officer assigned to White Plains High School, who could have perhaps supplied insight into how violent incidents are handled by the school.) Weiller said the auditors were very experienced at analyzing incident reports, but did not say what that experience was. Asked why the state singled out White Plains High School, Ardsley High School in Westchester, he said they (the 17 schools statewide)  were selected based on auditor criteria upon population, racial mix, and other factors.  Weiller also noted to WPCNR that the auditors did not consult police in analyzing any of the records of any of the seventeen schools

Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors explained the White Plains alleged discrepency. He told WPCNR, the school district reported only those incidents resulting in a Superintendent's hearing. He said he thought that was what the State Education Department wanted. He said the district reported every serious incident to the police.

WPCNR contacted the New York State Department of Education Press Office to ascertain what the guidelines were. The Press Officer taking the call did not know if only incidents resulting in "hearings" as Connors said, were the criteria for the report. Connors, being told this said, most of the violations not reported were what Connors described as "violations of the code of conduct."

The State Education Department issued a news release reacting to the Comptroller News Release by detailing the steps the SED was taking to make clear what the SED wanted schools to report to determine which state schools are on the "dangerous schools list." The list of "dangerous schools" is not available on the State Education Department website.  The press officer said they would call WPCNR back.

In 2002-2003, the State Education Department reports White Plains School District had  223 violent or disruptive incidents, and according to today's report, the 2003-2004 school year showed 311 violent or disruptive incidents. Superintendent Timothy Connors told WPCNR he would be forwarding the incident figures for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years to date tomorrow.