FACT BRIEFDid Las Vegas schools experience a spike in violence during the 2021-22 school year?
YES
School violence is an ongoing issue in the Clark County School District, but climbed to even higher levels last year.
During the 2021-22 school year, around 8,300 calls were made from Clark County schools to police dispatch reporting incidents of violence — an increase of about 1,300 calls compared to the 2018-19 school year.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Clark County schools shifted to remote learning for a year and three months — longer than many districts. The rise in violence followed the return to in-person learning in the fall of 2021.
Pandemic ills such as social isolation and mass layoffs hit Las Vegas particularly hard due to its entertainment-centric economy. The mental-health toll this has taken on students has largely gone unaddressed by Nevada’s ill-equipped mental health care system, which ranks last in the nation for youth.
This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
NPR Las Vegas struggles with rising violence in schools
City of Las Vegas How The Pandemic Has Affected The Mental Health Of Our Youth
Mental Health America Ranking the States 2022
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