NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Talk of the Sound recently obtained several reports and other documents related to School Safety and Security in the New Rochelle school system from the period 2009 to 2012. Some are low quality photocopies. We will present several of them over the coming weeks.
The Communities That Cares (CTC) Youth Survey was administered in the spring of 2009 and 2010 to students in grades 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th in the City School District of New Rochelle to measure substance use, delinquency and other problem behaviors in adolescents such as drug use and antisocial behaviors.
In 2009, there were 2,249 students and in 2010, there were 2,267 students who completed valid survey. In 2010, there were 651 students in 6th grade, 688 students in 8th grade, 524 students in 10th grade and 404 students in 12th grade who completed the surveys with half (50%) being male and half being female. The majority of the students identified themselves as Hispanic/Latino (35%), with the next largest group being White (27%) followed by African American (19%), Other/Multiple (16%), and Asian (3%).
We are publishing data on the use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, inhalants, other drugs, antisocial behavior (physical fights on school property, being drunk or high at school, attacking someone with intent to harm, selling drugs), feeling unsafe at school and gang involvement.
To the best of our knowledge these annual reports were never shared with the public.
Drug use was measured by a set of 23 questions on the Communities That Care Youth Survey. The questions are similar to those used in the Monitoring the Future study, a nationwide study of drug use by middle and high school students. Of all drug use rates measured, New Rochelle School District students reported the highest past 30-day prevalence rates for alcohol (29%), marijuana (12%) and cigarettes (8%). Other past 30-day prevalence rates ranged from 0% for methamphetamine and heroin to 3% for inhalants.