While reports of crime and violence continue to rise in Rowan-Salisbury schools, the number of incidents reported for Kannapolis schools continues to fall, according to a report released this week by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

The number of incidences of crime and violence in Rowan-Salisbury schools continued to increase, though not as dramatically as they did in 2011-12.

A total of 127 cases were reported last school year, which is 6.44 incidents per 1,000 students.

The previous year, 104 acts were reported and the year before that, there were 76.

Crime and violent acts continued to fall in Kannapolis City Schools, which had one of the lowest rates in the state.

The school system reported a total of 17 incidents, only 3.232 per 1,000 students.

Last year, 28 incidents were reported.

Statewide, crime and violent acts reported by schools dropped by 531 cases, a decrease of 4.8 percent since the 2011-12 school year.

The most frequently reported acts were possession of a controlled substance, possession of a weapon and possession of an alcoholic beverage. That was true for Rowan-Salisbury and Kannapolis City schools.

Rowan-Salisbury schools reported 79 cases of possession of a controlled substance. There were 15 cases at East Rowan High; 12 at Carson; 10 at Henderson Independent; nine at West Rowan High; six apiece at North Rowan High, Salisbury High and China Grove Middle; four at Southeast Middle; three apiece at Erwin and North Rowan middle schools, two apiece at Southeast and West Rowan middle schools and one at Koontz Elementary School.

Twenty-one incidents of students possessing weapons were reported, including four at West Rowan Middle; three apiece at East Rowan High and Southeast Middle; two apiece at Salisbury High, North Rowan Middle, Koontz Elementary and Woodleaf Elementary, and one apiece at West Rowan High, Millbridge Elementary and Rockwell Elementary.

Fourteen cases of possession of an alcoholic beverage were reported — seven at South Rowan High, three at East Rowan High, two at Corriher-Lipe Middle and two at North Rowan High.

There were eight cases of assault on school personnel, including three at Koontz Elementary, two at West Rowan High and one each at Landis Elementary, Salisbury High, and Henderson Independent.

Two cases of assault involving the use of a weapon were reported, one at North Rowan Middle and another at Southeast Middle.

There were two sexual assaults reported — one at Overton Elementary and another at Corriher-Lipe Middle. One sexual offense incident occurred at West Rowan Middle.

By far, East Rowan had the highest rate of crime and violence reported, with 21.42 acts reported per 1,000 students. A total of 22 incidents were reported, including 15 possession of a controlled substance, three possession of alcohol, three possession of a weapon and one sexual assault.

Carson and South Rowan High Schools had the second highest number of crime and violence incidents, with 12 incidents reported. At West Rowan, nine of those were possession of a substance, two were assault on personnel and one was possession of a weapon. At Carson, all incidents were related to possession of a controlled substance.

South Rowan and Henderson Independent had 11 incidents each. At South Rowan, they all related to the possession of alcohol or controlled substances, while 10 of Henderson’s were possession of a controlled substance. The other incident was an assault on personnel.

Bostian, China Grove, Cleveland, Shive, Enochville, Faith, Granite Quarry, Isenberg, Hanford-Dole, Hurley, Knollwood, Mount Ulla and North Rowan elementary schools reported no crime or violent incidents, as well as Knox Middle School and Rowan-County Early College.

A press release from the school system indicated that multiple programs have been implemented to help reduce these numbers in the future, such as bullying awareness, hiring behavioral specialists, hiring middle school resource officers and a teen court program in all the high schools.

Kannapolis City Schools saw a total of six cases of possession of a controlled substance, including one at Kannapolis Middle and five at A.L. Brown High School.

There were five incidents of possession of an alcoholic beverage, all of which were reported by Kannapolis Middle School.

Four incidents involving the possession of a weapon were reported. They happened at Jackson Park Elementary, Kannapolis Intermediate, Kannapolis Middle and Woodrow Wilson Elementary.

There were two assaults on school personnel reported, one each at Kannapolis Intermediate and Woodrow Wilson Elementary.

Kannapolis Middle saw the most incidents of crime and violence, with five cases reported.

A.L. Brown was next with the five controlled substance reports

Forest Park, Fred L. Wilson, and Shady Brook elementary schools had no reports of crime or violence.

Kevin Garay, principal of A.L. Brown High School, said Kannapolis City Schools strives to build students socially and to build character.

“We know our students really well. We’ve had a lot of stability in our administration,” he said, adding that those were important factors along with being proactive and building rapport with students.

“We just want to continue to have a positive trend,” he said.