Every parent would want to know about the number and kinds of weapons brought into their children’s schools.

Thursday, February 17, 2000

Every parent would want to know about the number and kinds of weapons brought into their children’s schools. Likewise, lawmakers and schools benefit from tracking such information to see whether better enforcement is needed.

For those reasons, the theory behind a state requirement that schools report all incidents of weapons makes sense. But the way the reporting process has been bungled by state agency officials and misunderstood by local school officials makes the reporting requirements just another bureaucratic mess.

The Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning issues annual reports on weapons brought into schools across the state.

While such information could provide good comparisons between school districts and from year-to-year, the process makes the information unreliable.

Two years ago many schools didn’t report their findings at all because they weren’t aware they had to. And in the past two years’ reports, there are wide inconsistencies between what different schools report.

The state department is also making it more difficult for the public to interpret the annual survey results. In the past, the individual school district results were readily available for the media and public to view. This year, things are different. When asked about individual district results, a department staffer said the department did not have district information. Asked how they could compile a statewide report without each district’s information, the staffer admitted they do have the information but they don’t offer it to the media or public. When pushed further, he said they could release the information but only after getting a written request and that it could take some time to do.

It’s this kind of bureaucratic entanglement that local public schools are referring to when they complain about unfunded state mandates and endless paperwork.

No wonder charter schools, which can operate without many of the state regulations and regulators, look so appealing to many parents and teachers.

– The Free Press of Mankato