Violence in Schools Improving?

This article discusses the "overall improvement" in the rates of school violence in New Jersey.

For all the talk about zero tolerance, the tone of this article feels much like a pat on the back for slight reductions in certain types of violence even while there was an increase in gang and weapon violence.

For an overall reduction in violence of 9%, the education officials interviewed seemed to be fairly satisfied. Of course, remember that these statistics are self-reported (read under-reported) by the individual school districts.

But even if we take the numbers at face value, is this level of violence acceptable? Is any level of violence acceptable in an institution that is mandated to protect our children as it becomes a surrogate parent of sorts?

An even better question is: what if it your child was assaulted in school? I wonder if the improvement in statistical indicators of violence would mean much to you and your family if the unthinkable happened.