BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A new audit from the State Comptroller's Office says Burgard Vocational High School in Buffalo would have been considered potentially dangerous based on incident data from 2011-2012; however, that data was improperly reported to the state, so nobody knew.
The audit looked at seven different schools across the state outside of New York City, to see how they complied with reporting standards under the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act, which requires schools submit data regarding violent and other disruptive incidents in schools.
In the Burgard report, auditors found the school only submitted data for incidents that included suspensions, instead of all applicable incidents.
The audit, while incomplete on Burgard, was able to calculate its School Violence Index based on the assessments that auditors were able to identify. It shows the school would have been violent enough to be "well above the threshold the Department (of Education) uses to identify persistently dangerous or potentially persistently dangerous schools."
Dr. Will Keresztes, Associate Superintendent at Buffalo Schools, welcomed the audit, but said there is insufficient data to show if the school would or would not have been considered "dangerous."
"We've asked the state to come in and take a look at all those incidents," Keresztes said. "If we scored them incorrectly for the purposes of their reporting, we want to know about it."
Dr. Keresztes said the data error has been corrected, because the district now uses electronic reporting.
He also correctly pointed out Burgard is much safer than it was a few years ago during the years examined in this audit.
"The new Burgard High School is really significantly in a different place than it was then," he said. "We've made substantial progress over the years in reducing suspensions, not only at Burgard, but really all of our high schools."
The stats show he is right. In the 2012-2013 school year, reported "violent" incidents dropped at Burgard by 59 percent compared to the year before, according to an analysis by 2 On Your Side.
"Burgard High School is one of our high schools on the rise," Keresztes said. "We have an advanced manufacturing program. It's recognized by the governor, really second to none around the state."
Keresztes said this audit will help Buffalo and many other districts make sure they are properly reporting violence and disruptive data, which he said is quite important.
"The public needs to know what's going on inside every school house in a school district, not just in Buffalo but everywhere," Keresztes said.
