Two state lawmakers who head a school safety panel faulted several schools for failing to report serious on-campus incidents to state officials as required by law.

The law requires every public school to report to the Arizona Department of Education “the number of incidents that occurred on the school grounds and that required the intervention of local, state or federal law enforcement.”

The state places that information on each school’s Arizona School Report Card, which is published online for parents to inspect.

Adding Teeth To The Law

An analysis conducted by the East Valley Tribune, however, found that several schools in the eastern metropolitan region reported five or fewer incidents on their 2002-03 report cards despite police records that showed intervention in dozens of cases — including occasional assaults, sex crimes and drug seizures.

On Dec. 18, Rep. Linda Gray, R-Dist. 10, and Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Dist. 22, cited the newspaper investigation and vowed to add some teeth to that law when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

“To me the law is clear, but we will make it even more clear,” Ms. Gray said during a School Safety Program Oversight Committee meeting at the Capitol.

Because some panel members were absent, the 10-member body lacked a quorum and could not take any formal action.

Many schools blamed the inconsistent reporting on vagueness in the law and unclear instructions from the Department of Education.

Improving Instructions

A representative of the Department of Education said the state could have provided schools with better instructions on how to submit data for the report cards.

“It sounds like the instructions given out by the Department of Education were not as clear as they needed to be,” said Jean Ajamie, a school safety and prevention team leader with the state agency.

The safety official said a letter being drafted by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne to be sent to every public school in Arizona next month will help clear up confusion.

But Mr. Verschoor disagreed.

“To me the law is pretty clear,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to be vague at all.”

Ms. Gray said schools “look for a loophole to serve their own purpose.”

Chandler High School, for one, welcomed the promise of better instructions from the state.

“We completely support having concise directions on how to complete the form,” said Terry Locke, spokesman for the Chandler Unified School District.

The school was among 11 secondary schools in the eastern region that reported zero incidents on its 2002-03 report card despite police records that showed dozens of serious incidents on campus.

Mr. Locke said any suggestion that Chandler High School tried to manipulate the law or hide information is unfair. —