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Security director outlines violence, vandalism and substance incident trends
Summary
John Pajoski presented the semiannual violence and vandalism report, detailing categories of incidents, actions taken (police complaints, in-school/out-of-school suspensions) and a noted rise in substance incidents; he cited constrained SRO availability and enforcement changes.
John Pajoski, the district’s director of security, attendance and truancy, presented the semiannual report covering violence, vandalism, weapons and substance incidents for January–June 2026.
Pajoski explained the state’s incident categories and said the data are presented across three reporting columns (two prior report periods and the current period). He described incident types at elementary and secondary levels and noted that the bulk of incidents come from middle and high schools.
When a board member asked about a district increase in substance-related incidents, Pajoski pointed to a combination of factors: changes in juvenile enforcement and perception of consequences, a temporary loss of an SRO that reduced classroom prevention time, and stretched county prosecutor resources. “Once we do have classroom assemblies, to start at the younger levels, those numbers definitely reduce, dramatically,” Pajoski said.
On suspension reporting, the director clarified that the reported “600” figure represents incident counts across the district (not days of suspension), and that different actions (police-filed complaints, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension) are tracked separately. He said prior reporting periods included different categories and that the district uses Genesis data for monthly totals reported to the board.
The board asked clarifying questions; Pajoski’s responses emphasized prevention, partnerships with Jackson Police School Resource Officers and training for administrators.
What happens next: Staff will continue data review and prevention planning; no new board policy or funding decisions were made during the presentation.
