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Serious incidents down, parental involvement up in
Detroit
Public Schools
August 2012: Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager
Roy S. Roberts has reported that two supporting
indicators of schools’ success, campus safety and parental
involvement, are showing continued strong improvements, with the
number of serious on-campus incidents decreasing by as much as
61 percent, and parental involvement increasing by 30-63
percent.
According to data compiled by the DPS Police Department on the
district’s schools from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years,
overall on-campus incidents were down 10%, from 1,207 to 1,087
reported incidents, with 70 of 115 schools reporting declines in
activity.
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Reported reductions in serious crimes were sharper, with
decreases of 15 to 61%: B&E’s, down 28%; arson, down 61%;
felonious assaults, down 35%; concealed weapons, down 15%; and
robbery, down 28%. There were 13 more reports of criminal sexual
conduct cases, an increase of 26%.
DPS Police Chief Roderick Grimes said that the data will
allow his department to provide services where they are needed
most. “We will study the data, and for the upcoming school year
deploy our resources to address our greatest needs, to create
the largest crime reduction result. Although these statistics
are encouraging, we will continue on our mission to create a
safe environment for teaching and learning.”
Independent surveys of 3,144 parents demonstrated that parent
engagement in school programs has increased by 30%, parent
involvement with their students’ activities has increased by
63%, and parents reporting their attendance at parent meetings
has increased by 49% since last year.
A total of 4,868 parents attended workshops, a nearly three-fold
increase, and the number of parent meetings held at local
schools increased by a quarter. The district’s eight regional
Parent Resource Centers (PRCs) witnessed more than 29,200 visits
during the school year, a 7% increase. Sixty percent (60%) of
parents reported satisfaction with district communications to
families this year and, as a result, 75% of parents-28% more
than last year-indicated that they feel more connected to their
child’s school.
The most common areas of parent involvement included: taking
their child to school on time, asking about the school day,
assisting with homework, attending parent-teacher conferences,
attending workshops and participating in fundraisers. A majority
of parents reported helping their students with homework on a
daily basis.
Among the most valuable services provided at PRCs were
workshops, computers, staff and family support, and academic
toolkits. Home-school communications methods preferred by
parents include phone blasts, flyers, personal phone calls and
1/1 communication.
Roberts said, “Against a backdrop of increasingly safe and
conducive learning environments, and with strong parental
involvement moving in the right direction, there’s a bright
future for continued academic gains for our city’s school
children to follow.”
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