Vandalism Down in Ridgewood Schools, Report Says

In a required biannual update last week, Ridgewood Schools Superintendent Dan Fishbein reported that the total incidents of vandalism, violence, substance abuse and weapons in the district decreased in 2012-13 over the prior school year.

Fishbein said during the Oct. 21 meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education that there were 33 such incidents, down slightly from 38 the previous school year.

At the time of the last report, school officials said the number was in line with prior years, though an apparent increase was caused by new reporting requirements under state law for harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents.

But according to a report by The Ridgewood News, the levels of vandalism have fallen sharply from a total of 71 a decade ago.

The superintendent reported that there was only one incident of vandalism last school year.

“I think the camera system has helped with that,” remarked Sheila Brogan, the board president.

Fishbein told The Ridgewood News that the camera system, first installed before his tenure, will continue to be upgraded this year as part of ongoing efforts to improve safety in the schools.

Parents who spoke the during the Oct. 21 presentation expressed more concern with the possibility of violence, as the school board meeting began only hours after news of a shooting at a middle school in Nevada.

In response to a resident question, school officials said they have not considered hiring armed guards. A school resource officer used to spend time in the buildings for both educational and safety purposes, Fishbein said, but is no longer available.

“Because of budget constraints at the municipal and our level we’re unable to do that at this time,” he said.

Fishbein said that guards would not likely provide total coverage of the buildings, but that village police have actively prepared to respond to a possible shooter situation.

During the school year there were also 19 reports of violence, 11 of substance abuse and two of weapons.

School officials previously said that the weapons reports were incidents of prohibited possession of pocketknives, and that there had not been any reports of firearms or weapons being used.