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Verona Board cites steep drop in reportable incidents, credits restorative practices and school programs
Summary
The Verona Board of Education reported roughly a 50% decline in incidents reported to the state for July'Dec. 2024, and district leaders credited restorative practices, the Positivity Project, reduced in-class phone use and counseling supports while noting state reporting changes also affected counts.
The Verona Board of Education on Feb. 11 heard a superintendent's report showing a substantial decline in incidents the district must report to New Jersey's Student Safety Data System for the July 1'Dec. 31, 2024 period.
Superintendent reported that Verona High School logged 10 reportable incidents in the period, including two alleged harassment/intimidation/bullying (HIB) cases, one confirmed HIB and four substance-related incidents, compared with 21 reportable incidents during the same reporting period the prior year. The junior high and elementary schools also showed notable reductions; the superintendent described the overall change as “more than 50% reduction” in incidents requiring state reporting.
Board members and the superintendent attributed the decline to several district efforts. The district is using restorative practices in its responses to student misconduct, the Positivity Project character-education lessons (now implemented K'8) and an effective no-cell-phone approach during instructional time. The superintendent said counselors and partnerships with providers such as CarePlus New Jersey are being used to support students' mental health needs and reduce repeat incidents.
When asked how incidents are tracked, the superintendent said detailed entries are maintained in the district's Genesis system and that SSDS submissions include narratives to support the state-level data. A member asked whether the district categorizes causes for fights to look for trends; the superintendent confirmed such tracking is done and offered to survey neighboring districts on restorative-practices adoption to provide comparison data.
The superintendent cautioned that part of the decline stems from recent changes in state law that give principals more discretion in initiating investigations and from technical distinctions in SSDS preliminary determinations; the district's comparisons were made to the same reporting period in the prior year.
The board did not take formal action on the report but discussed next steps for analyzing causes, continuing restorative practices and expanding mental-health supports. The district said it will continue to provide periodic SSDS updates to the board.
