Haddonfield, Haddon Schools See Drop In Substance Abuse: New Data

Both the Haddonfield and Haddon Township public school districts saw reductions in the number of substance abuse cases for the 2019-20 school year, according to a list recently released by the state.

Haddonfield saw a decrease of 0.76 cases per 1,000 students in terms of drug and alcohol cases last year, according to the list. Haddon Township saw a drop of 2.03 cases. The decreases reflect a drop from the 2018-19 to 2019-20 school years, which were the most recent years available.

Haddonfield averaged 1.51 cases per 1,000 students, ranking it 239th on the list of 322 districts. Haddon Township had 1.01 cases, ranking it272nd on the list. Read more here: NJ School Districts With Most Drug, Alcohol Cases: New Data 2021

The state Department of Education has cautioned that these numbers are reported by each district, so each jurisdiction is responsible for reporting its results fairly and accurately. But they are required by law to report them.

The data was compiled as Gov. Phil Murphy shut down school buildings because of the coronavirus crisis and many districts continue to teach remotely. It's not known what kind of impact the crisis has had on substance abuse, but many fewer districts (93) showed increases in 2019-20 than they did the previous year (242).

The data was part of the Wednesday release of the 2019-2020 School Performance Reports, which contain a wide variety of information on student demographics.

"We have always stated that the annual School Performance Reports serve as a springboard for discussion," said Angelica Allen-McMillan, acting commissioner of education. "These discussions are more important now than ever before as students, staff, and others in the school community navigate this difficult time."

With reporting by Tom Davis, Patch Staff