Crime reports high in Toledo public schools

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They're supposed to be a safe haven for children, but the I-Team has uncovered disturbing evidence about what's happening inside Toledo public schools.

Police officers report thousands of crimes at TPS high schools and middle schools. It's an issue we've reported before but now we're taking a closer look at where the problem is, how many crimes are being committed, and what's being done to fix it.

Patricia Grier feared her son Jaquan was headed toward a life of crime. "Last year we had where he threatened a teacher and that just wasn't happening."

She was ready to pull him out of Leverette middle school where she says gang influence was contributing to Jaquan's violence. "There's a lot of gangs over there where we live at and I refuse to let Jaquan become a part of that."

The I-Team pored over thousands of pages of police records and found parents like Grier have reason to be concerned.

In the past five school years, police have reported 8,000 crimes at TPS high schools and middle schools. The most reported crime: assault, 3,157 times. Another 830 crimes were theft and 250 were for drug possession.

We brought our results to superintendent John Foley. He says, "Behavior is always a concern for schools." He says one problem is many students are expressing the stress they're experiencing at home.

Unemployment, foreclosure, and increased poverty are issues more and more students carry into school everyday. Foley says, "If they're stressed about the things at home, it's definitely going to increase the stress at school."

And we found areas where the recession has hit hardest have the worst crime problems. Last year, north Toledo's Leverette had nearly four times as many crimes as south Toledo's Byrnedale and west Toledo's McTigue.

The trend doesn't change when those students go to high school. Woodward had 225 crimes last year, about one crime per school day. That's twice as many as any other high school in the district.

TPS school board president Bob Vasquez says the district needs to take a second look at what the I-Team found. He says, "Can we do better? We can always do better."

And we discovered the district is trying some new approaches to school crime. The goal is to keep kids out of court and deal with problems in school.

Kevin Colburn runs a new program at Leverette middle school called the Coaches Corner. He told us, "There's a gang problem. And again, these young people are starving for some productive energy."

Colburn has a desk underneath the school's main staircase. He visits with students having behavior problems and supervises the halls between classes.

Patricia Grier got a call from him about her son Jaquan. She says about Colburn, "He assured me that this year would be different for Jaquan. That he would work with him up-close and personal."

After being suspended several times last year for fighting, even threatening a teacher, Jaquan has put the past behind him. "Last year I had like a whole bunch of missing work and I was getting suspended. This year I ain't got suspended at all."

Obviously that's one student. There are many more who need help. Colburn's program is a test. If it works, the distrct wants to spread it to other schools.

What are the results of the district's new programs? The I-Team checked on that, too. Last year, the number of suspensions dropped 18 percent and expulsions fell four percent.

Keep in mind-- district enrollment has been falling over the past several years.

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