New Jersey: SCHOOL VIOLENCE SPURS DRIVE FOR NEW BUILDING

Juvenile Justice Digest, Dec 5, 2003

Trenton officials are considering the construction of a new high school to ease crowded conditions that experts claim to be the chief contributing factor to growing levels of violence among students.

Trenton District Superintendent James Lytle proposed the temporary use of a middle school until a new building could be completed.

Lytle said reducing enrollment would ease tensions. The superintendent said another solution might be an alternative school for dysfunctional students on the verge of becoming dropouts who disrupt classes. Another proposal calls for the hiring of bilingual school resource officers at schools with large Hispanic enrollment.

The closing of a charter school added 450 new students, swelling enrollment in one troubled high school this fall by more than 25 percent.