By PAT NEWMAN
Staff Writer

Recent tragedies in schools across the nation have prompted heightened discipline and safety efforts in Fayette, as in education systems across the nation.

And among the first questions parents and educators ask themselves is: Just how much of a discipline problem do local students have?

School system figures reveal that local students had to be disciplined 3,404 times during 1998-99, for offenses that included alcohol, arson, battery, breaking and entering-burglary, computer trespass, disorderly conduct, drugs except alcohol, fighting, homicide, kidnaping, larceny or theft, motor vehicle theft, robbery, sexual battery, sexual harassment, sex offenses, threat or intimidation, tobacco, trespassing, vandalism, weapons possession/firearm, weapons possession/knife, weapons possession/other and other unidentified offenses.

Despite having the second highest enrollment in the district, McIntosh High School recorded the fewest number of offenses, only 55, compared to Fayette County High with 1,249. Sandy Creek had 728 offenses and Starr's Mill reported 420.

The same categories apply to the middle schools. Fayette Middle accrued the highest number of offenses among the five middle schools with 396. Second was Flat Rock Middle with 232, followed by Whitewater with 85, Booth with 52 and Rising Starr with 23.

Based on the number of expulsions that resulted from those incidents, middle and high school students are a law-abiding lot with only a small percentage of troublemakers among them. Out of 18,043 students enrolled in the county as of June 4, only 19 students were expelled this past year.

But 942 students were issued out-of-school suspensions.

One figure that stands out in school system records is the high number of infractions racked up by ninth graders. There were 1,016 offenses for the ninth grade county-wide, compared to 253 for sixth grade, 294 for seventh grade, 261 for eighth grade, 646 for 10th grade, 579 for 11th grade and 355 for 12th grade.

Of the 1,016 ninth grade offenses, there were 733 incidents of disorderly conduct, 93 cases of tobacco use, 49 cases of threat or intimidation, 45 cases of fighting, 25 cases of sexual harassment, 24 cases of drugs other than alcohol, 14 cases of larceny or theft, 12 cases of vandalism, five cases of computer trespass, two cases of possessing knives and one case of possessing a weapon other than a firearm or knife. Unnamed offenses totalled 11.

County-wide, there were two incidents involving possession of firearms, one in the 12th grade at Sandy Creek High School and one in the eighth grade at Flat Rock Middle School. Drug offenses totalled 60 across the board, with alcohol offenses totalling 12.

Fayette County High School, enrollment 1,807, suspended the most students (306), but had the fewest number of expulsions (one) among the county's high schools. Sandy Creek High, enrollment 1,210, suspended 150 students with no expulsions; McIntosh High, enrollment 1,591, had 140 suspensions and four expulsions, and Starr's Mill High, enrollment 1,074 in grades 9-11, suspended 96 students and expelled five.

Among the middle schools, Booth (enrollment 1,057) reported 12 suspensions and four expulsions; Fayette Middle (enrollment 894) 56 suspensions and no expulsions; Flat Rock Middle (enrollment 914) 43 suspensions and two expulsions; Rising Starr (enrollment 1,121) nine suspensions and no expulsions and Whitewater (enrollment 686) 10 suspensions and no expulsions.