<p>I briefly skimmed other responses to this thread and some I agree with, some I disagree with. I can only post about my school Stevenson School (Previously Robert Louis Stevenson) in Pebble Beach, CA.</p>
<p>1) Crime rates on campus. Property crime/violent crime...including victim advocacy and when are perpetrators dealt with in-house and when are police brought in.</p>
<p>Crime IS non-existant (not counting petty theft and drugs, because I will address those issues later). We live in a gated community, and the school itself has security guards that regularly patrol the campus. There are multimillion houses all around us (for example, Charles Schwab, Clint Eastwood, etc) so we are not too big a target.</p>
<p>2) Deaths and incapacitating injuries. Suicides, drownings, and other incidents that lead to a student's death or withdrawal from a BS. How often do they occur; when did the last one occur; what steps are taken to prevent such things from happening? Is there a safety committee, psychologist, etc.?</p>
<p>We have a psychologist on campus, and nurses as well. There have been cases of depression, but the students just took some medication or left the school. The chances of this happening are probably lower than the national average, due to a variety of factors, such as the generally charmed life of the students here, etc.</p>
<p>3) Drugs (including alcohol). How prevalent is drug use among students? How is it dealt with?</p>
<p>Drugs will always be an issue at any school. Students have been known to smoke cigarettes and pot, as well as a small group indulging in harder narcotics such as cocaine or meth. This is WAY less than college, so if you are planning to let your kid go to college, then you really don't need to worry about much. There is absolutely NO peer pressure to do drugs here. Most of the popular kids don't do anything besides maybe some alcohol (there has been only two incidents of alcohol at my two years here). As for statistics? I would say that paradoxically, more day students than boarders abuse substances. This is due to a number of reasons, such as teacher supervision, etc. Among boarders, the number is 12-14% for hard substances (cocaine, meth, etc), and 20-27% for softer substances (pot, cigarettes, alcohol). Those estimates are for regular/semi-regular usage (more than once or twice EVER). Teachers have a "brown bag" day, where boarders' rooms are searched. Teachers are also alert to the possibility of substance abuse. However, most substance abuse happens off campus, either in the city (monterey, CA) or a day student's private residence. Statistics come from people I know who engage in such behavior (pretty accurate, as I only use people in my grade and our school is small enough, I'm sure I got almost all of them).</p>
<p>4) Sex. I can read the handbooks and see the steps taken regarding co-ed interaction, but -- practically speaking -- how prevalent is it, including same-sex encounters? I'm referring to consensual sex here. If it's non consensual it clearly belongs in 1, above.</p>
<p>Condoms are always used. I personally don't have any problem with consensual sex between minors, and there have been no cases of severe peer pressure to engage in sex. However, sex does happen, but once again, this is more common among day students. There simply isn't anywhere private enough for sex, except for the bathrooms (awkward and disgusting, and rarely used) and cars (awkward, semi-public, but the most common place). Don't have any statistics for you, but unless you are very uptight, nothing to worry about. Only consensual sex with condoms. BTW, students will be expelled if in a dorm of the opposite sex.</p>
<p>5) Fire safety. How safe are the dorms? Are they inspected by fire marshals during the school year? Do they have sprinkler systems or are they exempt or grandfathered in?</p>
<p>We had an electrical fire in our President's house. Since we live in a forest, we have a dedicated fire station just for our area, and they arrived very promptly, and the fire did not spread to any houses, though they were in very close proximity. Also, we have a spouse that is a fireman in my dorm, and he often suggests improvements. Rooms are required to have a direct path out, we have alarms that you can pull (we are only 50 year old school), we have fire evacuation plans, we have fire drills, we have fire extinguishers, etc. BTW, since the houses here have an average price of like 1 million, the fire dept is well staffed and very fast. </p>
<p>6) Religion. Do students at BS just take a vacation from weekend worship services with their faith communities or is there some provision made for keeping the students connected in that way?</p>
<p>We have a chapel on campus, which is in fact the only one within the town/gated community and is very beautiful (many, many alumni, faculty, local townspeople get married here). We also have our own minister (our school is secular, but used to be religious, and there is no mandatory church service). I know at least two teachers that fairly regularly offer to take students to the church they go.</p>
<p>7) Health care. How can parents be assured that they're getting up-to-date medical information and to what extent are infirmary visits shielded from me by HIPAA and school rules and policies?</p>
<p>Dunno about the policies, but we have nurses and a psychologist on campus. We also have great local hospitals available to us.</p>
<p>8) Mid-year withdrawals. How frequently do students withdraw from the school during the school year and what are the reasons for those withdrawals?</p>
<p>How often? Maybe three to five people a year, out of a population of about 525. This is often due to either medical reasons or just not fitting in (NOT a problem with the school, but with the student being either very antisocial or something). It is much more likely to be kicked out then leave (though there are strategic withdrawals that students facing expulsion sometimes use to cover up the expulsion on their permanent record). Expulsions are pretty common at my school, mostly for drug related issues.</p>
<p>9) Covered up scandals. I want to know that a BS can deal with its problems directly and address them...as opposed to hiding them, denying them, and otherwise deflecting and obfuscating. I feel more at ease with schools where problems are dealt with transparently...because that tells me that there are solutions in place (or in the pipeline). Schools that hide from negative situations are less likely to be guarding against problems from all of the above situations that concern me. And they make me doubt the completeness of the information I'm getting.</p>
<p>EVERYTIME, there is a "JC" (judiciary committee of students and teachers that decide the fate of the offender), within a week, the Dean of Students makes a presentation in front of the entire school at assembly and tells everyone what happened to clarify rumors (though they are generally very accurate, as students on the JC tell friends). Also, often, probably about half of the time, when more than one or two students are involved, or the issue is of particular severity, the Dean of Students sends an email to all parents about it. However, the school does not like to publicize any scandals in newspapers or the like, obviously. Unless you know someone involved with the school, it is somewhat unlikely that you will be informed of all the happenings, though if you have the patience to search through newspaper archives, you can see for example, a case where our track coach shot his daughter's abusive boyfriend in self defense (the article was how he was a respected and well-liked member of the community).</p>