Data shows that Southeast Raleigh High School, site of a student's stabbing death on Monday, has a higher rate of criminal acts and arrests reported than Wake County or North Carolina schools’ average rate.
Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School had 30.84 criminal acts per 1,000 students, compared with 9.45 in all Wake County Public Schools and 8.77 in all schools in North Carolina. Arrests are also 1.47 at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School, compared with .49 in Wake County schools and .09 in North Carolina schools.
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It’s important to note that these rates include elementary schools, which typically have fewer criminal incidents than schools with older students.
Comparatively, Southeast has the 7th most criminal offenses of all Wake County high schools.
Southeast had 38 total offenses in the 2021 – 2022 school year, the most recent time period for which data is available. Of those, most were for drug possession, but 13 of the incidents related to possession of a weapon on school grounds. Weapons included in the data could be anything from a gun to BB or stun gun to switchblades, razors or brass knuckles.
Bringing a weapon to school is a crime, even if the weapon isn’t used; and weapons brought to campuses are rarely used in crimes, the data shows.
During the 2021-22 school year, 3,292 students were reported for bringing a weapon to a North Carolina public and charter school campuses, usually a knife, according to the state Department of Public Instruction, which compiles annual data on reportable criminal offenses in schools. The data shows the number of students reported for an offense, not necessarily the number of criminal incidents that occurred. The latest year of available data is from the 2021-22 school year, when the total was up from some recent years but less than a decade ago. During the year, 62 students were reported for an assault involving a weapon, up from the year before but less than a decade ago.
In the Wake County Public School System, five students were reported during the 2021-22 school year for assault using a weapon at school, while 442 students were reported for bringing weapons to school. Eight students were reported for bringing a firearm to campus.
The student accused of stabbing two others on Monday had a knife, but his mother told WRAL News that he did not bring it from home.
"I don’t believe he took the knife into school," Cherelle McLaughlin said. "I believe he got the knife from somebody in the school because he did not go to school with a knife. I dropped him off at school, he did not go to school with it."
She identified her son in video that circulated of dozens of students swarming into the gymnasium to watch a fight.
"It’s clear he was defending himself, and he was scared," she said.
Wake County doesn’t use metal detectors, some of which could detect some knives. Traditional metal detectors could cost millions of dollars and prompt long lines to get into school. Some newer weapons detection systems often don’t catch knives.
Behind closed doors, Wake school leaders discuss student safety after stabbing death
The Wake County school board met behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss the fight, the death and student safety. Before going into closed session, the board committee took a moment of silence to recognize Monday's incident.
After closed session, Superintendent Robert Taylor spoke briefly, offering support for the school and its principal as the school tries to help students deal with the trauma of Monday's events.
"We want to express to the community that our number one responsibility is making sure that students are in a mentally safe place, that we recognize what has happened, and that the first thing we want to do is to let them know that we are there for them," Taylor said.
Information for this article was contributed by WRAL education reporter Emily Walkenhorst.
Editorial note: This article has been updated to provide more clarity and context around Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School’s comparison to state and county numbers.