Stabbings ‘extremely rare’ at Hawaii public schools

Violent incidents are rare at Hawaii schools, so the stabbing of two students at suburban Mililani High on Monday not only alarmed local parents, it quickly made national news.

The victims, a 16-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl, were taken in serious condition to a hospital, and the suspect, also a student, was apprehended by police. An Associated Press story was posted online within hours at news sites including U.S. News & World Report and The New York Times.

“The Mililani High incident was very unfortunate,” said Max Mendoza, director of the state Department of Education’s Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness Branch. “Overall, our schools remain safe. Stabbing incidents are extremely rare in our schools.”

Before Monday’s attack there had been four assaults reported statewide at Hawaii’s public schools in the 2019-20 academic year, and no incidents involving a knife, according to Mendoza, who responded in writing to questions from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. There are 179,000 students in Hawaii’s public schools in kindergarten to 12th grade.

“The details surrounding the full facts and circumstances of this incident are still unfolding,” Mendoza wrote. “As the investigation continues and additional information becomes available, we will work closely with our schools to maintain campus safety.”

A similar attack took place at Kalani High School 10 years ago, when a student stabbed another with a knife in math class. He ultimately was sentenced to 18 months in jail and 10 years of probation in a plea deal.

Possession or use of dangerous weapons is prohibited on campus. But some students acknowledge bringing them to school.

The most recent data show that 11.8% of high school students in Hawaii reported carrying some type of weapon on campus at least once within the last 30 days, compared with 15.7% of their peers nationally. There is no breakdown on what sort of instrument in that 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a project of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While incidents of school shootings are rising across the country, Hawaii shows the opposite trend. Statewide, firearm incidents on public school campuses have fallen to their lowest level in a decade, according to annual reports submitted to the Legislature.

The 2020 report shows 17 incidents involving “firearms,” mostly airguns such as BB and paint guns, and just one handgun reported in the 2018-19 school year. That incident total is a 51% drop from the 35 incidents, including one handgun, that were reported in the 2011-12 academic year.

In last year’s handgun case, a Kapolei High School student brought the weapon to campus on Jan. 18, 2019, and it was quickly confiscated. Over the last 10 years, five handguns and no rifles were reported on Hawaii public school campuses.

Meanwhile, the number of school shootings across the country has soared from 16 in 2011 to 111 last year, according to a national database maintained by Center for Homeland Defense and Security. The 491 incidents between Jan. 1, 2011, and Jan. 19, 2020, include just one case in Hawaii that involved a student with a gun.

In that incident a 14-year-old student at Highlands Intermediate School picked up a handgun he found outdoors on campus at 6:30 a.m. May 23, 2011, and it discharged accidentally when he was showing it to friends and one pushed it away. The weapon was confiscated and he was arrested.

Mendoza said public schools are taking proactive steps to prevent, mitigate and respond to man-made and natural disasters and to keep students safe.

“We have implemented new safety initiatives to mitigate the security challenges associated with our open-campus schools,” he said, “including performing vulnerability assessments, contracting a private security firm to provide active threat response training, and dedicating resources to increase surveillance and overnight security at schools.”

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