MACON, Ga. — Safe Havens International, a consulting firm evaluating safety in Bibb County schools, found that the district’s handling and tracking of student discipline is inadequate, and that a recent agreement signed by the district to stop criminally prosecuting most misdemeanors could “impact almost every major aspect of operating the school system.”
The report also found fault in the handling of discipline incidents on buses and student supervision, the funding and staffing of its police department, and its control over access to schools, The Telegraph reports. The district refused to provide some key information to Safe Havens International, such as the number of weapons confiscated from students and the number of fights — but analysts believe that information would have been inaccurate anyway, as crimes and discipline incidents across the district regularly go unreported.
The report indicated that the district’s top safety priority should be to develop a written emergency plan, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Education. The district has already accepted $250,000 in federal grant money to write the plan, but has not yet done so.
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