16. Public school principals' reports of discipline problems at school*

Discipline problems in a school may contribute to an overall climate in which violence may occur. Schools that suffer from student drug or alcohol use, racial tensions, or verbal and physical abuse of teachers may be filled with pressures that result in school violence.

• During the 1996-97 school year, 16 percent of all public school principals reported that one or more discipline issues had been a serious problem in their school¹⁰ (figure 16.1 and table 16.1). About the same percentage of principals in city, urban fringe, town, and rural settings reported one or more serious discipline problems.
• Public elementary schools were the least likely to report any serious discipline issues, followed by middle schools and then high schools (figure 16.1 and table 16.1). About 8 percent of elementary school principals re-ported one or more of these issues as a serious problem, while 18 percent of principals in middle schools and 37 percent of those in high schools did so.
• While overall there were no significant differences in reported serious problems by urbanicity, a greater percentage of principals in public city high schools than in rural high schools reported having serious discipline problems - 47 percent compared with 28 percent (figure 16.1 and table 16.1).