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Where students say school bullying is a problem in LA — elementary schools top the list

Sarah Favot | June 20, 2017



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The red pin represents Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet.

*UPDATED

While middle school is largely believed to be where bullying occurs most often, the LA Unified schools where the highest majority of students reported that bullying was a problem were elementary schools, according to surveys about safety in schools.

Of the 24 schools where the largest percentage of students reported that bullying was a problem at their school, 20 were elementary schools. The question was asked in a school climate survey taken by students and staff in the 2015-16 school year. This news organization recently published results of the school climate surveys in a searchable map, allowing parents for the first time to compare their child’s school to others throughout the district.

Here are the schools with the highest percentage of students who said bullying was a problem:

  1. Angeles Mesa Elementary — 89 percent
  2. Cimarron Avenue Elementary — 88 percent
  3. Weigand Avenue Elementary — 87 percent
  4. Annalee Avenue Elementary — 87 percent
  5. 109th St. Elementary — 84 percent
  6. 49th Street Elementary — 84 percent
  7. 107th Street Elementary — 84 percent
  8. Thomas Bradley Global Awareness Magnet Elementary — 84 percent
  9. Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary — 83 percent
  10. West Athens Elementary — 83 percent
  11. 153rd Street Elementary — 83 percent
  12. Windsor Hills Elementary Math/Science Aerospace Magnet — 83 percent
  13. Saticoy Elementary — 83 percent
  14. Edwin Markham Middle School — 82 percent
  15. Samuel Gompers Middle School — 82 percent
  16. Audubon Middle School — 82 percent
  17. Barton Hill Elementary — 82 percent
  18. Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet — 82 percent
  19. Bret Harte Preparatory Middle School — 81 percent
  20. Manhattan Place Elementary — 81 percent
  21. Coliseum Street Elementary — 81 percent
  22. Loren Miller Elementary — 81 percent
  23. Dr. Owen Lloyd Knox Elementary School — 81 percent
  24. La Salle Avenue Elementary — 81 percent

Look up your child’s school here.

Note that the percentages for each school include students who reported they “disagree a lot,” “disagree a little,” and “neither agree nor disagree” to the question “Bullying is NOT a problem at my school.” You can read the methodology behind how the map was created and how the surveys were used here.

Elementary schools generally serve kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. Also of note, there are more elementary schools than other types of schools in the district.

On the interactive map, schools are categorized as “safe” in green, “somewhat safe” in yellow and “less safe” in red. Of the 24 schools, six were categorized as “somewhat safe,” the rest were “less safe.”

Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet is the only school in the Pacific Palisades, Brentwood and West LA area that is categorized as “less safe.” All of the other schools in the area are either green or yellow.

The four middle schools on the list where students said bullying was an issue are in South Los Angeles. Most of the elementary schools are also in South LA. Saticoy Elementary is the only school on the list in the San Fernando Valley — it is in Panorama City. Annalee Avenue Elementary and Barton Hill Elementary are in the South Bay.

The district’s new discipline policy called restorative justice was first rolled out in the 2014-15 school year. Implementation has been incremental across the district. Of the 185 schools that first received training in restorative justice practices, only 43 — or 23 percent — were elementary schools. The district made high schools and middle schools priorities at the program’s start.

As of this past school year, 492 schools are using restorative justice. Of those, 255 — or 52 percent — are elementary schools.

Restorative justice is a less punitive approach to school discipline that the school board approved in 2013 to reduce the number of suspensions. It seeks to resolve conflicts through talking circles with students involved and other more progressive means.

Here are resources from the district on bullying.

The data reflects responses from 786 district and charter schools across the city that participated in surveys given in the 2015-16 school year, the most recent available. (The district reports having “over 900” traditional public schools as well as 187 charters.) Only a small portion of charter schools participated in the survey and made their data available.

• Read more: Here’s how to use the interactive map on school climate in LA schools


*This article has been updated to add the number of schools that participated in the survey, and that only a small number of charter schools made their data available. It has also been updated to include the methodology behind the percentages.

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