Metro

School violence shatters record

Instead of hitting the books, they’re clocking classmates.

School-violence stats have hit an all-time high since detailed record-keeping on fights, crimes and other incidents began in 2005, according to new State Education Department data.

The record-breaking numbers show that the overall count of incidents — which include serious misdeeds like sexual assault and fighting, as well as minor altercations and infractions — has skyrocketed by more than 50 percent since 2005, to 68,313 incidents.

Among the alarming all-time highs reported by schools in the 2010-11 school year:

* Assaults with serious injury more than doubled since 2009.

* Assaults with a weapon more than doubled since 2008 — to 491.

* Drug possession jumped by more than 50 percent since 2008, while alcohol possession more than doubled since 2006.

* Cases of intimidation and bullying nearly doubled since 2005 — to 7,612.

Additionally, sex offenses hit their second-highest tally in recent years — with 2,028 cases documented.

This was roughly 100 fewer incidents than the peak reported in 2009.

“The amount of incidents indicate that we have a serious problem in our schools as far as serious injuries with weapons, and intimidation and bullying,” said City Council Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson. “We have a lot of work to do — not only the DOE [city Department of Education], but parents, guardians, after-school-program people. Collectively, we have a lot to do.”

Data in the latest Mayor’s Management Report suggest the troubling trend continued into the beginning of the most recent school year — with the so-called “seven major crimes” up by 17.4 percent from the same period in 2010.

The major crimes include sex offenses, robbery, assault and grand larceny.

The preliminary report noted that the number of incidents in “other criminal categories” — generally less serious crimes — declined by nearly 9 percent compared to the same period in 2010.

One of the most positive trends in the state data showed that weapons possession in 2010-11 had dropped by nearly half since 2005 — to 2,775 incidents.

DOE officials attributed the jump in incidents largely to better reporting by schools — rather than a spike in violence — an idea seconded by the principals union.

The officials said an online reporting tool was introduced in 2005 and that data accuracy has improved each year since.

“It’s better record-keeping,” said a spokeswoman. “Issues like smoking or skipping school weren’t being entered into the system years ago, and now we capture more of those incidents.”

Officials also pointed to a state data summary from 2005 that counted more than 14,000 incidents of bullying and intimidation that year — which would make the 2010-11 total the second highest reported.

State education officials could not immediately explain the discrepancy between the two data sets — both of which are posted online.

Accurate reporting of incidents was highlighted as an issue as early as 2007, when then-City Comptroller William Thompson Jr. released an audit that found the DOE wasn’t properly overseeing reporting by high schools.

His review of 10 schools found they hadn’t documented incidents “completely or consistently.”

In defense of its reporting that year, Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm said the DOE had fixed many if not all of the problems cited in the audit — which had focused on incidents from two years earlier.

“We believe the findings are not reflective of current conditions and controls,” she wrote in response.

yoav.gonen@nypost.com