KHON2 – Violence in Hawaii Schools 10/29/15

Updated 11/3/15

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Violent incidents frequent at Hawaii middle, high schools

By Gina Mangieri, KHON-2, 10/29/15

There is a problem with school violence in Hawaii.

It is happening nearly every day at some public school campuses. Some of the highest numbers happen among younger students.

Always Investigating wanted to know how safe our campuses are day in and day out, not just from a random intruder or a mass casualty attempt, but from any kind of violence.

The Department of Education tracks violent incidents, and Always Investigating got the numbers for every middle and high school across Hawaii.

Here’s what we found: In the last full school year, the top five campuses had hundreds of violent episodes on record, more than one incident of violence for every school day.

A principal of one of the campuses with the highest numbers stepped up to explain: “People hear the word violence and automatically jump to the conclusion that we’re talking about these kinds of severe incidences,” said Washington Middle School principal Michael Harano. “Violence includes a lot of different things.”